Where There’s a Will: Theatre Opener Chronicles Creation of Shakespeare’s First Folio

In the early 1620s, actors Henry Condell and John Heminges undertook one of the most significant acts of cultural preservation in history -- these friends of the late, great, William Shakespeare managed to publish a single, bound volume, containing all of the Bard's works.

After his death and a couple of badly botched productions, Shakespeare's fellow actors and friends realize that his lines are disappearing from memory. Playwright Lauren Gunderson's comedy, "The Book of Will," chronicles their journey as they battle an unscrupulous publisher and their own mortality to create a complete copy of Shakespeare's plays, the First Folio.

“The playwright offers the director and the cast many theatrical challenges, such as how to create a printing press in action on stage,” Costa said. “We have had lots of fun in the rehearsal hall improvising various possibilities -- I like what we have come up with, and I think the audience will as well.”

“The Book of Will,” will run Oct. 24-28 in the Duke Family Performance Hall, Knobloch Campus Center. Get tickets.

View Photo Gallery

• Davidson Theatre opens the 2018-19 season with “The Book of Will,” directed by Prof. Ann Marie Costa.

Watch Members of the Cast