THE BOOK OF WILL

by Lauren Gunderson

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Lauren Gunderson is one of the most produced playwrights in America. The Book of Will, written 8 years ago, is about the efforts of the surviving members of Shakespeare’s theatre company to collect his unpublished scripts in the First Folio of 1623. This nimble caper is replete with “Pericles” gags, insider quips, eleventh-hour reversals, and good lines for the women who revered Shakespeare. The play juggles printers, editors, compositors, actors, and patrons, crafting a lively backstage drama that opens into a moving meditation on theatre as the space of shared memory and resurrection. With a transcendent ending, Shakespeare lovers will be enthralled.