Performances take place Oct. 27 – 31 in the Zellerbach Theatre The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts continues its season of Shakespeare with the highly-anticipated return of the world’s leading Shakespeare company, the Globe Theatre of London, in six performances of Love’s Labour’s Lost, October 27 – 31, 2009. After a four-year absence, the Globe Theatre returns to the U.S. to perform “Shakespeare’s largely neglected and most ludicrous comedy,” (Time Out) complete with Renaissance staging, costumes and music. These performances mark only the second time the Globe has performed in Philadelphia, and the first tour under the leadership of Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole.

The Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania is the second of seven universities that will present the Globe during the 2009 tour and one of only two East Coast theatres presenting the show. Love’s Labour’s Lost is directed by Dominic Dromgoole and features designs by Tony® Award nominee Jonathan Fensom and music by Claire van Kampen. Tickets for the performance are $20-$55. Ticket holders are also invited to attend special pre-show discussions led by University of Pennsylvania faculty. For tickets or for more information, please visit AnnenbergCenter.org or call 215.898.3900. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Annenberg Center Box Office.

In Love’s Labour’s Lost, love comes when one least expects it. The play centers around four strong-willed noblemen who have forsworn every kind of pleasure, including romance. But a visit from the Princess of France and her lovely entourage soon has this all-male ‘academe’ tearing up its own rulebook. Employing every weapon in the playwright’s arsenal, Love’s Labour’s Lost is filled with puns, rhymes, and parody. The play is a revival of the highly successful 2007 Globe Theatre production, also directed by Dominic Dromgoole and featuring many of the same actors including Michelle Terry as the Princess of France and Trystan Gravelle as Berowne. Dromgoole describes the play as having a “youthful, zesty, sexy energy to it,” but acknowledging “it can also be the single most irritating play in the canon, with these kids being witty with each other. You sometimes want to roll up your program and go onto the stage and beat them with it” (New York Times).

Love’s Labour’s Lost Enhancement Programs
Enhancement programs surrounding Love’s Labour’s Lost performances include chats with University of Pennsylvania professors as well as an opportunity to speak with members of the cast. All enhancements programs are free for Love’s Labour’s Lost ticket holders.

10/27: Love, Poems, Masques, and Pageants: An Exploration of Love’s Labour’s Lost. Pre-show chat with Dr. Cary Mazer, Associate Professor in Theatre Arts and English at Penn.

10/28: Pre-show chat with Dr. Peter Conn, Vartan Gregorian Professor of English at Penn.

10/29: Too long for a play: The Limits of Comedy in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Pre-show chat with Dr. Melissa Sanchez, Assistant Professor of English at Penn.

10/30: Post-performance chat with the cast of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

Cast list
Jade Anouka - Maria
Phil Cumbus - Ferdinand, King of Navarre
Seroca Davis - Moth
Jack Farthing - Dumaine
Patrick Godfrey - Sir Nathaniel
Christopher Godwin - Holofernes
Trystan Gravelle - Berowne
William Mannering - Longaville
Fergal McElherron - Costard
Rhiannon Oliver - Jacquenetta
Thomasin Rand - Rosaline
Paul Ready - Don Armado
Siân Robins-Grace - Katherine
Tom Stuart - Boyet
Michelle Terry - Princess of France
Andrew Vincent – Dull
For complete cast biographies, please email Lauren Saul at lasaul@ac.upenn.edu.

The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts has been the region's leading multi-disciplinary performance venue for Theatre, Dance, Jazz, World Music, New Music and children’s programming since its inception in 1971. The Annenberg Center’s curatorial vision emphasizes four primary values: artistic integrity, cultural diversity, curatorial balance and a willingness to take risks. By presenting world renowned and cutting edge artists and companies who express adventuresome perspectives on contemporary issues, timeless ideas and diverse cultures, the Annenberg Center promotes critical thinking and dialogue among its audiences, creating a uniquely rewarding arts experience.

The Annenberg Center has achieved national recognition for its outstanding Dance Celebration series (presented in partnership with Philadelphia's Dance Affiliates), touring theatre series, and for its superior offerings for children, including both its Student Discovery Series and the acclaimed 25-yearold Philadelphia International Children’s Festival, the oldest festival of its kind in the United States. Through a generous grant from the Wallace Foundation, the Annenberg Center also showcases its commitment to local artists each year through its By Local series. Throughout its history, the Annenberg Center has presented innovative and critically-acclaimed theatre productions with some of the biggest stars of stage and screen including Liv Ullmann and Sam Waterston in A Doll's House, A Streetcar Named Desire with Glenn Close, Jessica Tandy in Beckett's Not I, and Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth with Irene Worth and Christopher Walken of which Ms. Worth won a Tony® for her performance when the show moved to Broadway. University of Pennsylvania alumnus and noteworthy Broadway producer and director Harold Prince and Joseph Papp staged many of their plays at the Annenberg Center before taking them to Broadway. As part of the Dance Celebration series, a broad range of world-class and emerging dancers and companies have appeared at the Annenberg Center each season including the Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, Parsons Dance Company, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor and Alvin Ailey.

SHAKEPEARE’S GLOBE THEATRE
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Tuesday, October 27 at 7:30 PM
Wednesday, October 28 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 PM
Friday, October 30 at 8:00 PM
Saturday, October 31 at 2:00 PM
Saturday, October 31 at 8:00 PM

Zellerbach Theatre at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts The King of Navarre and his courtiers have forsworn every kind of pleasure, including romance. But a visit from the Princess of France and her lovely entourage soon has this all-male ‘academe’ tearing up its own rulebook. A humorous tale complete with parody, pun and surprises, Shakespeare’s celebration of young love is a festive parade of every weapon in the youthful playwright’s comic arsenal. Don’t miss Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost, fresh from a critically acclaimed run in London.

Tickets: $20-$55. For more information please call 215.898.3900 or visit www.AnnenbergCenter.org.