Equivocation at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

At once an explosive comedy of ideas and a high-stakes political thriller, this bold new work deftly reveals the cat-and-mouse games in politics and art, and the craft of learning how to speak the truth in difficult times. In London in the year 1605, a down-and-out playwright called "Shagspeare" receives a royal commission from King James to write a play promoting the government's version of the Gunpowder Plot, a recent failed attempt to blow up Parliament and the Monarchy. As Shag navigates the dangerous course between writing a lie and losing his soul — or writing the truth and losing his head — his devoted theater troupe helps him negotiate each step of the way. Winner of the 2010 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. "One of the most bracingly intelligent, sizzlingly theatrical American plays in a decade." — Variety