Allison Glenzer

In William Congreve's witty farce, love and money square off as two brothers attempt to follow their hearts without losing their inheritance. Populated by a lover named Valentine; his clever beloved, Angelica; a less-than-virtuous Miss Frail; and a braggart, Tattle, Love for Love takes a satirical and sardonic look into Restoration-era romance.

Rumors abound in this searing comedy of manners, where no one can avoid the stinging bite of gossip – even when the truth is sometimes juicier. A rich guardian tests his wards to choose the worthier heir, but there's more to them than meets the eye. Throw in a few scandal-mongers, a wandering wife, and a sneaky hireling named Snake, and A School for Scandal will have you rolling in you seat. (How undignified.)

Loaded with startling contemporary commentary on politics, politicians, and "the people" politicians represent, Coriolanus gives us a stark look at the triumphs and failures of a tragic hero. With his insightful analysis on the political journey of Rome's most famous military man, Shakespeare highlights the pitfalls of pride and the danger of arrogance in one of his final and most complex tragedies.

Against the backdrop of social intolerance suddenly buffeted by inevitable change, Shakespeare weaves interconnected tales of friendship, love, and family while bringing to life one of his strongest and most resourceful heroines. Mingling dreamy romance with senseless and timeless cultural conflicts, The Merchant of Venice reveals that mercy and love can come from unexpected places.

Judith Shakespeare has one ambition: to be a playwright, just like her famous brother Will. When her debt-ridden father forces her into an engagement, she runs away with the help of dashing actor Ned Alleyn, hoping to join her brother in London. But when Judith arrives in the plague-stricken capital, she finds her brother gone, Ned engaged to another, and her play refused. Judith befriends the women in a local brothel, and together, they decide to stage her play in secret. But Elizabethan London is a dangerous place to perform an unlicensed play. Shakespeare’s Sister is full of ideas and events as relevant to Shakespeare’s London as they are to today’s Virginia: the challenges of making a living, religious extremism, and the conflict between social expectations and individual dreams.

Everybody loves the fair maid, Phillis – or maybe it's just the three smitten Golding brothers. Anthony, Ferdinand, and Frank must battle it out to win her love, and they're not above underhanded tricks and disguises to get her attention. This wickedly witty city comedy pits brother against brother, and shows even in sibling rivalries, somebody has to come out on top. ASC veteran actor René Thornton, Jr. steps into the director/manager chair like Peter Quince in Midsummer to lead the troupe in reviving this show for (we think) the first time in over 400 years.

Inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, Fletcher and Massinger's homage throws French pirates, Portuguese castaways, and a society of Amazonian women together on a New World island. Replete with shipwrecks, unexpected love, reunions, and a little buried treasure, The Sea Voyage will take audiences on an unforgettable adventure.

Family betrayals, romantic infidelities, and false friendships abound in Women Beware Women, where the ladies of the Florentine court must play to win in a deliciously wicked game of lewdness and lies or else risk the ultimate loss, their lives. Middleton's searingly wicked play is as provocative now as it must have been 400 years ago.

An unblinking look into the way humanity confuses lust and love, goodness and self-righteousness, Measure for Measure explores who sins most in a congregation of murderers, pimps, politicians, whores, nuns, and nobles. Shakespeare's electrifying exploration of the arrogance of power hovers tantalizingly between comedy and tragedy.

Shakespeare's final solo play is a moving fairy tale, a wondrous magic show, and a farewell to the stage that still defines our humanity. From the spectacular storm that opens the play, to the island creatures Ariel and Caliban, to the glistering masque of the spirits, and, finally, to Prospero's last acts of reconciliation and forgiveness, The Tempest  is a beguiling theatrical miracle.

Four controlling fathers attempt to engineer advantageous matches for their respective children, but the children in question have their own ideas about love. Mix in four overly-helpful servants, a slew of disguises, a pair of uncomfortably in-love siblings, and a nurse with a big secret, and the fathers’ best-laid plans quickly unravel in this romantic roller-coaster ride.

Larger-than-life characters collide when Brainworm, a clever servant, works to foil the plans of his master, Knowell, through a series of deceptions and disguises that take him all over London. Jonson uses a single day and a single setting to weave a tight picture of everyday life in a bustling Early Modern city comedy.

When the spouses of Vittoria Corombona and the Duke of Brachiano discover their partners’ infidelities, revenge knows no bounds. Ambitious schemes, murderous plots, and devilish double-crosses run rampant in Rome as the lovers attempt to protect their affair. But, their safety is short-lived, and when the past finds them, it leaves a trail of bodies in its wake.

A group of amorous English exiles revel through Naples during Carnival in this witty comedy featuring disguises, thefts, catfights, and lovestruck antics of all kinds. Writing in the wanton atmosphere of the Restoration, Behn was one of England’s first professional female writers, and her voice shines in her heroines, including a reluctant nun, a famous courtesan, and a thieving wench.

This hilarious comedy is much more than a “battle of the sexes”; it is also a profound look at the necessity of “play” in our lives. This production includes Shakespeare’s “Induction,” which presents the Kate and Petruchio story as a play within the play. Blending romantic comedy and outlandish farce, Shakespeare gives us a love story of psychological liberation and the mysteries of being married.

Harry Horner has a plan. To bed as many of London’s finest lasses as possible, Harry spreads the rumor that he is...unable to perform. Readily gaining entrance to their chambers, Harry’s plan is brilliantly discharged. Meanwhile, the charming, naive, beautiful, but ever-so-lusty country wife, Margery Pinchwife, comes to the city to seek her own pleasures. William Wycherley’s rollicking sex comedy is one of the supreme delights of the Restoration. Deemed too dirty for 18th- and 19th-century audiences, The Country Wife will have Blackfriars audiences revelling in the joys of this deliciously filthy farce.

In this hilarious and touching tragicomedy, the outrageous “custom” in the title is that the Governor has the right to deflower any new bride in his realm. One couple secretly marries and flees the custom and the country. Meanwhile, the groom’s brother is forced into service in his dream job: head stud at a male brothel. This remarkably modern romp journeys through shipwrecks and lost loves with magic potions, power plays, and repentant rulers on its way to a happy ending where love triumphs over lust.

Rich, sexy, virile, powerful. Henry Tudor has everything. Everything except a male heir. Resolved to dissolve his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, Henry attempts to bend the church to his considerable will to grant him what he desires. Shakespeare and Fletcher’s dazzling play concludes the saga of the Kings of England with the story of one of its most fascinating monarchs — and the birth of one of its most glorious, Elizabeth.

In The Two Noble Kinsmen, Shakespeare and Fletcher audaciously re-tell Chaucer’s “The Knights’ Tale.” Two princely cousins, imprisoned by Duke Theseus, fall in love with the same woman: Emilia, the Queen of the Amazons’ sister. Prison breaks, county fairs, crazed lovers, dueling friends, and granted wishes ensue in this beautiful and bewitching late romance, perhaps Shakespeare’s final play.

In this profoundly moving, thrilling, and deeply human play, Shakespeare shows us a world on fire; a world spinning out of control; a world where some of history’s most famous men commit horrific crimes in the name of patriotism and honor. Julius Caesar is a dazzling masterpiece of betrayal, violence, and perhaps most surprisingly — love.