A.C.T. Out Loud
A.C.T. Out Loud is a new series of play readings featuring enduring works by some of the greatest minds of generations past. These plays have the power to reach across time, speaking both to the age in which they were written and the ever-changing currents of today and include works that have been long-celebrated as well as those that never received the attention they are due.
Apr 12–Apr 18
George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man
Directed by Colman Domingo
Between a hero and a mercenary, who would you choose? In 1885’s Bulgaria, young heiress Raina finds herself in the thrillingly romantic situation of finding Bluntschli, a fleeing enemy soldier-for-hire, in her room. Raina is engaged to a Bulgarian war hero but risks her reputation to shelter Bluntschli, despite his annoying habit of undercutting her grand speeches with inveterate pragmatism. When the conflict ends, Raina’s fiancé comes home just as the mercenary reappears. Will Raina choose the hero or the cynic? Set against the backdrop of the Serbian-Bulgarian War, Arms and the Man is a comedy of manners about the limits of romance and the unexpected allure of practicality.