Watch The World Premiere Performance Of Edith Wharton's THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT

Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) continues its ReDiscovery Reading Series with the world-premiere performance of Edith Wharton's play The Shadow of a Doubt on Monday, November 13 at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW). The event is FREE.

Written in 1901, it is the only known play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and was rehearsed for a production on Broadway but sadly never reached the stage. It was recovered earlier this year when two copies of the play text were found by Wharton scholars in the archives at the Harry Ransom Center at UT-Austin.

Now, 80 years after Wharton's death, the reading will finally hit the stage in a staged reading. Directed by STC Artistic Associate Craig Baldwin and performed by a cast that includes Caroline Clay and Katie DeBuys, the suspenseful plot follows Kate Derwent, a nurse, newly married to widower John Derwent. But soon after their honeymoon strange letters begin to arrive, divulging details about the tragic and mysterious death of John's first wife-in the hospital where Kate and John met.

Drew Litchenberg, STC Literary Manager, will lead a post-show panel discussion. "The discovery of this play is exciting as it reveals a significant chapter in Wharton's literary career," said Lichtenberg. "Not only does it suggest the published poet and world-renowned novelist aspired to be a playwright, it's also a glimpse at the formidable playwright she might have been. Most intriguingly, few people ever wrote such complicated female protagonists as Wharton, and Shadow's Kate easily belongs in the same conversation with Lily Bart from The House of Mirth, written just 4 years after this play."

To reserve your free tickets visit http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/events/rediscovery-reading-shadow-doubt/ or call the box office on 202.547.1122

Now in its 25th season, the ReDiscovery Series aims to introduce audiences to new adaptations of great but lesser-known classic plays under consideration for STC's mainstage seasons, and the readings are often the first step in bringing a new adaptation or an under-produced classic back into the spotlight.