(NEW YORK, NY) -- The Acting Company is proud to announce Love’s Labour's Won, a hilarious Shakespearean sequel by Alice Scovell, staged by Award-winning director Brian Isaac Phillips. The all-star cast features Steven Boyer, Christian Conn, Ismenia Mendes, and Sarah Stiles. The one-night only play reading will take place on Monday, September 15, 2025 at 7:00pm at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College (68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues). All proceeds from the event will benefit The Acting Company.
Shakespeare’s sequel, Love’s Labour’s Won, has been lost to time. Until now. With an assist from playwright Alice Scovell, three couples—on the cusp of marriage, torn apart for a year—are finally reunited. Still, a lot can change in a year. Happy endings aren’t guaranteed, but maybe they can be won.
“I am delighted The Acting Company is presenting this enchanting comedy. It is exactly the kind of "new" classic The Acting Company continues to champion and a feast of delicious language for actors” says Kent Gash, Artistic Director of The Acting Company. “The Shakespeare comedy we know, Love’s Labour’s Lost, ends with a cliffhanger in which the betrothed couples are divided for a year. Alice Scovell brings these characters back to life so we can finally learn: what will happen when they are finally reunited twelve months later? Wedding bells? Sour notes? We hope you will join us, Brian Isaac Phillips and his tremendously talented cast to learn, at long last: what will a happy ending look like?”
Proceeds for the evening will benefit The Acting Company’s national tour and education initiatives that reach tens of thousands of students and audience members in more than a dozen communities annually. Tickets range from $50-$500. Sponsorship packages are available for $5,000. For sponsors and premium ticket holders, the evening will include a post-performance reception with the artists. For tickets and information, visit theactingcompany.org/benefit, or call (212) 772-4448.
Alice Scovell (Playwright) Raised in Newton MA, Alice stayed close to home to attend Harvard and wandered farther afield for NYU Law School. After a few years at Sullivan & Cromwell, Alice kept her pen in hand, but stopped drafting wills. Two of her children’s novels—Engraved In Stone and The Spirit of Chatsworth Mansion—have been published, as well as many magazine articles. In fall 2019, Alice wrote her first full-length play and has kept at it ever since.
Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley in 1972, The Acting Company has helped launch the careers of nearly 500 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Rainn Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Lisa Banes, Jeffrey Wright, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Roslyn Ruff, Jimonn Cole, and Kelley Curran. The Company has performed for over four million people in 48 States, 10 foreign countries, on and Off-Broadway, and at leading resident theaters including The Guthrie and The Kennedy Center.
New works commissioned by the Company include plays by Lisa Peterson, Kirsten Childs, William Finn, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, John Guare, Beth Henley, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Meg Miroshnik, Ntozake Shange, Maria Irene Fornés, Spalding Gray, Marsha Norman, Charles Smith, Samm-Art Williams, and Wendy Wasserstein. Among many accolades, The Acting Company received the 2003 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theater, and won the 2019 Audelco Award for Best Play for its production of Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son directed by Seret Scott.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kent Gash, Producing Director Devin Brain, and Managing Director Erik Schroeder, the Company brings professional productions and education programs to thousands of audience members in diverse communities throughout the United States each year. Annually, over 20,000 audience members see a Company production and nearly 2,000 students in New York City benefit from the Company’s award-winning arts-in-education curriculum.
