FSU/Asolo Conservatory Presents Love’s Labour’s Lost

March 20, 2023 – Sarasota

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, with the generous support of Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, will close its 2022-23 season with William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed and adapted by Jonathan Epstein. The production will be performed at The Ringling Museum of Art’s Bayfront Gardens under the banyan trees April 4 – 23. The performances April 4 – 6 are previews.

Love’s Labour’s Lost is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies featuring a witty and hilarious plot filled with mistaken identities, mischievous pranks, and romantic entanglements. The play follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as they swear to devote themselves to study and abstinence for three years. However, their plans are quickly derailed when they fall in love with the Princess of France and her ladies-in-waiting.

Director and adapter Jonathan Epstein brings a fresh and inventive take on this classic play, infusing it with contemporary elements. On the performances being set at The Ringling Bayfront Gardens, Epstein is excited. “Being surrounded by the gorgeous Ringling banyan trees, rich in elegant language, set in modern dress and filled with modern music and dance, Love’s Labour’s Lost is a celebration of the delight we take in getting absolutely nothing done and looking good doing it.”

FSU/Asolo Conservatory Director Andrei Malaev-Babel is thrilled to be back at The Ringling. “Our outdoor Shakespeare productions have become so popular with Sarasota audiences,” says Malaev-Babel. “After a four-year hiatus, we are so excited to be teaming up with The Ringling Museum of Art to present Shakespeare in The Ringling Bayfront Gardens.”

As both The Ringling Museum of Art and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training are part of Florida State University, Malaev-Babel felt it was the most logical choice to collaborate on returning this unique programming to Sarasota audiences. 

“On the verge of our 50th season, the return to The Ringling is greatly symbolic because it was there, in The Ringling’s Historic Asolo Theatre, that FSU/Asolo Conservatory started its performance history almost half a century ago,” said Malaev-Babel. “What a better way to begin celebrating this landmark anniversary than going back to where it all began. Through the support of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation we are able to present Love’s Labour’s Lost in a truly iconic setting at the heart of The Ringling Estate.”

“There is something magical about bringing Shakespeare to its outdoor origins,” commented Barancik Foundation President | CEO Teri A Hansen. “We know the arts have the power to make communities more cohesive, to inspire thought and provoke reflection. This experience will do that and more for diverse audiences from throughout our community on the beautiful grounds of The Ringling.” 

The cast of Love’s Labour’s Lost is comprised of second-year Conservatory students Trezure Coles (Katherine/Dull), Rebecca Rose Mims (Boyette), Falcian Page (Nathaniel / Jaquenetta), Sharon Pearlman (Maria), Jackson Purdy (Longaville / Holofernes), Jordan Rich (Berowne), Brielle Rivera Headrington (Princess), Mikhail Roberts (Dumard), Brooke Turner (Rosaline), Danielle Vivacharenko (Moth), Rueben Wakefield (Navarre) and Macaria Chapparo-Martinez (Armado). Assistant Directors for Love’s Labour’s Lost are Zoya Martin and Christian Douglass.

The creative team includes Composer Daniel Levy, Production Manager/Set & Lighting Designer Chris McVicker, Production Stage Manager Savannah Rae Heslep, Costume Designer April Andrew Carswell, Sound Designer Alex Pinchin, Voice/Dialect Coach Patricia Delorey and Choreographer Eliza Ladd. 

Love’s Labour’s Lost plays April 4 – 23 on The Ringling Museum of Art’s Bayfront Gardens beneath the banyan trees. Tickets are $35 and are available online at asolorep.org/conservatory/season, by phone at 941.351.8000 or in person at Asolo Rep’s Box Office at 5555 N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota. Student prices are also available. The performances April 4 – 6 are previews and are $25.