For Services Rendered

Maria Aitken, director of London’s Olivier-winning Best New Comedy 39 Steps, brings her talent and an all-star ensemble of Broadway actors to the stage of the Laura Pels Theatre as The Acting Company presents a benefit staged reading of W. Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered. Now acclaimed as one of the best plays of Maugham’s career, the show initially shocked audiences by chronicling the devastating impact of World War I on an English family. Maugham, who had previously been praised for his adept and entertaining storytelling skill, had not prepared his audience for this departure.

The cast includes: Jefferson Mays (Journey’s End), Roberta Maxwell (Madras House), Brian Murray (The Rivals), Jay O. Sanders (Stuff Happens), Michael Stuhlbarg and Samantha Soule (Voysey Inheritance), Paxton Whitehead (Absurd Person Singular), Lisa Banes (Present Laughter/Huntington Theatre), Francesca Faridany, Susan Lyons and Daniel Gerroll.

Funds raised by this staged reading will underwrite education programs for The Acting Company’s upcoming New York season.

A reception with the director and actors follows the performance.