Set in the early 1620’s, Lauren Gunderson’s THE BOOK OF WILL is an imaginative take on how Shakespeare’s First Folio might possibly have been created. $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$

Celebrating the birth & legacy of

LAUREN GUNDERSON

THE BOOK OF WILL

Celebrating her words through our voice
with a monologue performed by
Actors Co-op Theatre Company member, Greg Martin
 Watch Greg Martin perform THE BOOK OF WILL 

More on THE BOOK OF WILL

In writing about Lauren Gunderson’s prolific career, The New Yorker said, “You’ve probably never heard of America’s most popular playwright.”    Indeed, her plays are staged almost twice as often as anyone else’s, according to American Theatre magazine’s annual survey.

Of the over 20 plays Gunderson has written, four comprise her Shakespeare cycle:  The Taming, (inspired by The Taming of the Shrew) Toil & Trouble (a contemporary twist on Macbeth), The Heath (which draws in part on King Lear) and The Book of Will.

Set in the early 1620s, The Book of Will is an imaginative take on how Shakepeare’s First Folio might possibly have been created.   Two aging actors (members of Shakespeare’s theater company), set about the task of publishing, in a single, bound volume, all of the plays of their late and beloved pal William Shakespeare.  Borrowing, begging and banding together to get it done, Shakespeare’s legacy comes to life as the troupe faces down every obstacle and ultimately triumphs in keeping the memory of their dear friend alive forever.

Gunderson writes in The Book of Will:  “The world around and ahead of the [characters] explodes into the sound of centuries of forthcoming speeches — “To be or not to be”s, “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”s and “Romeo O Romeo”s, —  a beautiful cacophony of actors’ voices performing Shakespeare tempests and time-warps around us.”

Amidst the noise and color of Elizabethan London, The Book of Will is an unforgettable “true” story of love, loss, and laughter, and sheds new light on a man you may think you know.

Today, we continue to celebrate Lauren Gunderson’s birthday with a monologue from THE BOOK OF WILL performed by Actors Co-op Theatre Company member, Greg Martin.
 Watch Greg Martin in THE BOOK OF WILL 
 Read More about Lauren Gunderson 
 Watch other ORIGINS Performances 

“Relationships form a part of [Gunderson’s] characters’ arcs, but it’s their intellectual desires, their yearning to transform themselves and their world, that Gunderson foregrounds. Her plays are less likely to end in a kiss than in a beautiful explosion of computer data.”

— The New York Times

Learn more about LAUREN GUNDERSON:

Watch More
Round House Theatre and Marin Theatre Company production of
The Catastrophist
(streaming on demand)

Read More
Plays of Lauren Gunderson

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Actors Co-op Theatre Company, 1760 N. Gower Street, Los Angeles CA 90028 , USA

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