* A member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY

• After a recent military victory, Don Pedro of Aragon and his troops arrive in Messina where they are welcomed by Leonato, the governor.
• Beatrice (Leonato’s niece) and Benedick (Don Pedro’s friend) verbally spar with one another. Both adamantly swear they will never fall in love.
• Claudio, another of Don Pedro’s contingent, tells Benedick that he is in love with Hero, Leonato’s daughter. Benedick shares this news with Don Pedro.
• In an effort to help, Don Pedro plans to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf and obtains Leonato’s consent for their marriage.
• Leonato and his brother Antonio prepare for the evening’s festivities and mistakenly think Don Pedro plans to marry Hero himself.
• Don Pedro’s bastard brother Don John rejects his sidekick Conrade’s advice to play nice and make up with his brother. Instead, he villainously opts to disrupt the lovers’ plans.
• At the party, Don John convinces Claudio that Don Pedro has successfully wooed Hero for himself.
• Don Pedro and Leonato undeceive Claudio and plan for the pair to wed. Don Pedro proposes a plot to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love.
• Don John devises another scheme against Claudio enlisting Borachio, another of his men, to make Claudio believe Hero has been unfaithful.
• Arranging for Benedick to eavesdrop on them, Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato spin elaborate falsehoods alleging Beatrice’s love for Benedick.
• Arranging for Beatrice to eavesdrop on them, Hero and Ursula (her gentlewoman) spin elaborate falsehoods alleging Benedick’s love for Beatrice.
• Don John tells Claudio that Hero is unfaithful and promises to provide proof. Claudio vows to break off the wedding if the accusations are true.
• Dogberry the Constable and his partner Verges prepare their watchmen for the night patrol.
• Public shaming, love vows, murder plans, and redemption ensue.

DR. Ralph Brief

1. When was the play first performed?

A single edition of the play appeared in 1600; it was performed one or two years earlier.

2. Where was the play first performed?

To start with at James Burbage’s outdoor playhouse, The Theatre, north of London Wall, but soon after that at the newly constructed Globe.

3. How does this play fit into Shakespeare’s career?

Roughly in the middle; scholars group it as a “mature comedy” with The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.

4. How is this play like Shakespeare’s other plays?

In terms of gender relationships, the play seems to be a reworking of Shakespeare’s theme (Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labors Lost, Julius Caesar) that guys who hang out together are generally idiots and largely undeserving of the women they claim to love.

5. How is this play unlike other Shakespeare plays?

Owing in part to its language (see below) and in part to Beatrice’s views on marriage, men, and male privilege, Much Ado About Nothing feels as contemporary as any of Shakespeare’s plays.

6. What do scholars think about this play?

They admire it. Though, oddly, they have less to say about it than they do about the comedies they group with it. This relative quiet may be a subconscious response to the play’s message that much of what we have to say is nonsense, a message neatly summed up in the play’s title. Marjorie Garber calls it “Shakespeare’s great play about gossip” and a “forerunner of ‘screwball comedy.’”

7. Is there any controversy surrounding the work?

No.

8. What characters should I especially look for?

Beatrice and Benedick, one of the great couples in literature, are among Shakespeare’s wittiest creations, and Beatrice is among his wisest. People who love words cannot resist the two of them nor the play’s hilarious foil to witty language, Dogberry, whose words are a very fantastical blanket.

9. What scenes should I especially look for?

For laughs: Act Two, scene three, called “the Gulling Scene,” is theatrical magic in which Benedick’s friends trick him into realizing he’s in love with Beatrice. For not laughs: The sudden descent into darkness of Act Four, scene one, has few parallels in comedy, and the duet at the end of the scene may be the stage’s most important exchange about romantic love.

10. What is the language like?

This play has more prose in it than all but one of Shakespeare’s plays (Merry Wives), and, rich and intricate as it is, that prose contributes to the sense that the play is so contemporary.

* A member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

^ Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

STUFF THAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE PLAY

• Hamlet, King of Denmark, dies.
• Claudius, his brother, is crowned King and marries the dead king’s widow, Gertrude.
• Prince Hamlet returns to court at Elsinore from studying at Wittenberg University.
• The ghost of the dead king appears on the battlements twice.

STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY

• Two soldiers bring Hamlet’s friend Horatio to the battlements where the ghost appears again but does not speak.
• King Claudius addresses his court and grants permission for Polonius’s son Laertes to return to France, but Claudius beseeches Hamlet not to return to school in Wittenburg.
• Laertes says goodbye to his sister Ophelia and gets much advice from his father before departing.
• Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet has “made many tenders of his affection” toward her; Polonius says “do not believe his vows” and tells her to stop speaking with Hamlet.
• Hamlet goes to the battlements where the ghost appears again, claiming to be Hamlet’s dead father; it tells Hamlet that Claudius murdered the King by pouring poison in his ear.
• The ghost asks Hamlet to “revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.”
• Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet came to her chamber acting strangely after she “did repel his letters and denied his access.”
• The King and Queen welcome Hamlet’s friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and ask them to discover what’s troubling Hamlet.
• Fortinbras of Norway vows to keep the peace with Denmark and requests permission to march his army through Denmark to battle Poland.
• Hamlet calls Polonius a “fishmonger,” greets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and asks them if they were “sent for” or if “it is a free visitation.”
• Players arrive at Elsinore; Hamlet knows them and requests a performance of The Murder of Gonzago.
• Hamlet tells the audience that the players will “play something like the murder of my father.” Hamlet will watch how Claudius reacts to the play to know for sure if the ghost speaks the truth.
• Polonius positions Ophelia where Hamlet will encounter her while Polonius and Claudius hide to eavesdrop.
  Hamlet questions “to be or not to be.”
• Ophelia tries to “redeliver remembrances” to him; he urges her to “get thee to a nunnery.” Hamlet gives acting advice to the players; the players perform their play for the court.
• Discoveries, drowning, plotting, poisoning, and other tragedies ensue.

DR. Ralph Brief

1. When was the play first performed?

1601.

2. Where was the play first performed?

At the Globe, Shakespeare’s outdoor theatre, but only because his company, the King’s Men, had been denied the use of the Dominican dining hall they had converted into the Blackfriars Playhouse. If you see it at our theatre, you’ll be sitting in a re-creation of the place where Shakespeare had hoped his play might open.

3. How does this play fit into Shakespeare’s career?

Hamlet is the dividing line between the first half of his career, in which he concentrated on comedies and history plays, and the second half, in which he concentrated on tragedies and tragicomedies.

4. How is this play like Shakespeare’s other plays?

As in all but his earliest plays (and possibly the Merry Wives of Windsor), Hamlet is full of characters who are hard to pigeon hole. His villain Claudius has a heartfelt soliloquy admitting his guilt but also declaring his love for Gertrude. His hero Hamlet kills five people (but only two of them deliberately).

5. How is this play unlike other Shakespeare plays?

Hamlet is the longest; Hamlet is the first to start in darkness; the role of Hamlet is the largest; Hamlet is the only play of Shakespeare’s in which two young men fight over a woman in her grave. Oh wait…that happens in Romeo and Juliet as well.

6. What do scholars think about this play?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1811): “All that is excellent in nature is combined in Hamlet, with the exception of one quality…. resolve.” William Hazlitt (1817): “It is we who are Hamlet.” A.C. Bradley (1908): “In Hamlet’s absence, the remaining characters could not be a tragedy at all.” Mark Van Doren (1939): “Hamlet is an enigma because he is real.” Harold C. Goddard (1951): “No one but a dead man can escape projecting himself on the Prince of Denmark.” Wylie Sypher (1956): “Hamlet more than once arouses our suspicion that the tragic hero is eligible for comic roles, or is it the other way around: that Hamlet is a comic hero?” Harold Bloom (1998): “Hamlet is a great player, like Falstaff and Cleopatra, but the dramatist seems to punish him for getting out of hand.” Marjorie Garber (2004): “It could be said that in the context of global culture—global as well as Anglophone culture—one never does encounter Hamlet ‘for the first time.’” Ralph Alan Cohen (2023): “When Hamlet tells the audience, ‘Now I am alone,’ the actor performs the quintessential theatrical magic trick—simultaneously being Hamlet alone and an actual human being surrounded by a crowd of other human beings. This magic trick is true of any play, but if we’ve been listening to Hamlet’s words, words, words about life, death, grief, and ‘the heartache…that flesh is heir to,’ what sets Hamlet apart is that when we return from that collective audience to the loneliness of individual lives, we know we are not alone.”

7. Is there any controversy surrounding the work?

Hamlet is unarguably the most famous play in the world. In terms of its literary popularity, Hamlet has twice as many books written on it than any other of Shakespeare’s plays. In terms of theatrical popularity, only A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet get produced more often.

8. What characters should I especially look for?

Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. Tom Stoppard wrote a play about what it was like to see Hamlet through these outsiders’ eyes. I’d give you the title of that play, but it’s kind of a spoiler.

9. What scenes should I especially look for?

The longest scene, Act Two, scene 2, has more than 500 lines and is almost a play in itself. You hear Polonius “explain” things to the King and Queen and snitch on his daughter, Ophelia; Hamlet acts crazy in his conversation with Polonius; Hamlet greets his school chums, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; gives them his “what a piece of work is a man” speech; welcomes a traveling troupe of actors; watches the lead actor give a speech describing the death of Priam; shares his second soliloquy with the audience; and comes up with a plan for revenge. My favorite short scene is Claudius’ conversation with Hamlet after the killing of Polonius.

10. What is the language like?

Oddly familiar since so many lines in it have become a common part of our discourse.

* A member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

STUFF THAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY

• Roman citizens are rioting against Caius Martius, the most successful Roman general. His good friend, Menenius Agrippa, calms the crowd.
• When Martius arrives, his anger and reputation frighten the crowd away, but not before he announces that two Tribunes have been appointed as go-betweens for the common people and the Senate. They are Sicinius Velutus and Junius Brutus.
• Two other Roman generals, Cominius and Titus Lartius, ask Martius to help them fight a neighboring tribe of Volscians. The Volscian leader, Tullus Aufidius, is Martius’s enemy.
• Aufidius is commissioned by the Volscian Senate to fight outside the city of Corioles.
• Volumnia, Martius’s mother, and Virgilia, his wife, chat about their opposing views of Martius as a warrior. Another woman, Valeria, stops by to cheer up Virgilia since Martius is at war.
• Almost single-handedly, Martius defeats the Volscians at Corioles, earning him the honorary surname “Coriolanus.”
• Back in Rome, Volumnia encourages Martius to go through the ritual of seeking the common people’s approval in order to be appointed to the highest political position, the Consul.
• The Tribunes, Sicinius Velutus and Junius Brutus, believe Martius is too prideful, so they manipulate the people to turn against him. They banish him from Rome.
• Martius seeks out his great enemy Aufidius in the city of Antium and swears allegiance to the Volscians. Together, they plot a war on Rome.
• Rome’s fate is left in the hands of Volumnia, Virgilia, and Young Martius (Martius’s son) who must intervene to persuade Martius to spare the city before it’s too late.
• Begging, betrayal, and butchery ensue.

Dr. Ralph Brief coming soon!

^ Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

* A member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of
professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

Understudies do not substitute for a listed performer without notification of the audience.

Reminisce with our Summer Season SPOTIFY playlist

35th Anniversary Fall Season 2023 Spotify Playlist

PRITHEE!

It’s likely that you will hear this plea shouted out from the Blackfriars Playhouse stage during a rehearsal when an actor forgets his or her lines. You might even hear it in a show today. That’s not because our actors are lazy. It’s because learning their lines is the least of their troubles.

Born of an experiment to bring Shakespeare’s performance conditions into our rehearsal hall, The Actors’ Renaissance has become a hallmark of ASC’s unique blend of scholarship and practice. It’s our deepest dive into the Elizabethan era, and in doing it we continue to make discoveries about how things might have happened in the original Blackfriars Playhouse. For our 35th Anniversary Summer/Fall Seasons, Much Ado About Nothing will be produced in this signature style.

Here are the basics: A 12 to 15 member acting company composed entirely of Shakespeare veterans performs a play in rotating repertory with others, rehearsing it in 10 days or less, without a director. Decisions about setting, music, props, and costumes are made by the company collectively and individually, accessing our stock of clothes, swords, and furniture.

Nothing empowers the actors more than being given the reins. We’ve practiced this way for a dozen years now, and it has created some of our most memorable productions (for good and ill)!

So if you hear a prithee, consider yourself lucky. It’s all part of the magic of the Ren!

SHAKESPEARE’S REHEARSAL CONDITIONS

CUE SCRIPTS

In the absence of copiers and printers, actors were provided scripts with only their lines, and with three or four words before each speech—their cues. They relied on listening to each other closely on stage to hear their cue.

NO DIRECTOR, NO DESIGNER

Actors assembled the play and chose their own costumes from what was on-hand, often discarded clothing from their supporting patrons. Scenery? That’s taken care of by lines like, “This is the forest of Arden.”

LIVING PLAYWRIGHT

The playwright fed off the actors’ questions, feedback, and performance to hone the text. This closeness between playwrights and actors may be why so many plays were written between 1580 and 1642 (when the Puritans—boo!—closed the theatres).

REN RUN

Our self-termed “Ren Run” approximates what might have happened in the early stages of Shakespeare’s short rehearsal process where actors run through the play, inventing and improvising as they go.

Video: What Is An Actors’ Renaissance Show?

Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

THIS SEASON: Director of Hamlet

OTHER THEATRE: Director, The Tempest, Utah Shakespeare Festival; Director, Richard III, Utah Shakes; Director, Shakespeare in Love, Hope Summer Rep; Director, Skeleton Crew, Bristol Riverside Theatre

EDUCATION: University of Delaware (MFA)

ACADEMIC WORK: Associate Chair, Head of Acting, Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Director of the Rutgers Acting Conservatory at Shakespeare’s Globe, London UK

PRONOUNS:

he/him

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON:

Friar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing; Player King in Hamlet; Menenius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC:

More than 41 roles in over 22 productions including: Jaques in As You Like It, Bertram in All’s Well That Ends Well, Foresight in Love for Love, Don John/Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, Malcolm in Macbeth, Fred in A Christmas Carol, Claudio/Froth in Measure for Measure, Pharamond in Philaster, Horatio in Hamlet, Merrythought in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Esculus/Barnardine in Measure for Measure, Trinculo in The Tempest, Franville in The Sea Voyage, Iarbus in Dido Queen of Carthage, Angelo in The Comedy of Errors, Gunwater in A Mad World, My Masters, Fabritio in Women Beware Women, Paris/Gregory in Romeo and Juliet, Horatio in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Clarence/Ratcliffe in Richard III; Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew; Lucio in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRES:

Nick Bottom, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Prague Shakespeare Company), Mysterious Man, Into the Woods (Arkansas Repertory Theatre), Richard in Richard III, Fool in King Lear, Caliban in The Tempest, Angelo in The Comedy of Errors, Third Fisherman/Cerimon in Pericles (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Feste in Twelfth Night (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Hal in Henry IV. Macbeth in Macbeth (Renegade Players) Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (City Lights Theatre Company), Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar, Jaques in As You Like It, Lucifer in Doctor Faustus (Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Company) Billy in The Cripple of Irishmaan. Bertolt Brecht in The Kurt Weill Cabaret, Marcellus in Fortinbras (Actor’s Theatre of Santa Rosa), Macbeth in Macbeth (Arkansas Studio Theatre) Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (CAPS Productions) Richard in Richard III (Marin Shakespeare Company) Hamlet in Hamlet, Feste in Twelfth Night, Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew, Prince Conti in La Bete, Leslie in The Hostage, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Avalon Players)

O’Reilly served as the Artistic Director of the Renegade Players from 2007-2011 and the Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Company from 2012-2015.

FILM:

Writer/Producer, Last Call (Manchester European Short Film Festival, London Independent Film Festival).

AWARDS:

Nomination, Outstanding Performance by an Actor, Principal: Antonio Salieri in Amadeus, City Lights Theatre Company.

EDUCATION:

BA in Acting with Honors, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), London, UK.

WEBSITE:

www.aidan-oreilly.com

INSTAGRAM:

@cycloptic_wolfman

PRONOUNS:

he/him

Full Bio

THIS SEASON: Margaret and George Seacoal in Much Ado About Nothing; Marcellus, Fortinbras, Player Queen in Hamlet; Caius Martius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Gremio and Haberdasher in The Taming of the Shrew; Barnardine, Friar Thomas, Justice, Gentleman, Officer in Measure for Measure; Gonzalo, Nymph in The Tempest;  Escanes, Philemon, Pander, Lord, Sailor of Mytilene in Pericles; Gonzalo in Une Tempête; Jim Casy in The Grapes of Wrath; Iachimo in Imogen (aka Cymbeline); Francis Flute, First Fairy, and Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2019-2020 tour); Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol; Gremio and Haberdasher in The Taming of the Shrew; Barnardine, Friar Thomas, Justice, Gentleman, Officer in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE: Pinkalicious, Stupid Fucking Bird, Art Dog, How I Became a Pirate, Angels in America, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), sixteen summers of Saturday’s Voyeur (Salt Lake Acting Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream tour, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Oliver!, One Man, Two Guvnors (Pioneer Theatre Company); The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), The Three Musketeers, Romeo & Juliet, Henry IV Part One (Southwest Shakespeare Company); Dear World (Sundance Summer Theatre); Beyond Therapy, The Sex Habits of American Women (Pygmalion Productions); The Boys in the Band (Wasatch Theatre); Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Theatreworks West).

FILM/TELEVISION: 12 Dogs of Christmas: Great Puppy Rescue; Granite Flats.

EDUCATION: University of Utah: Actor Training Program

PRONOUNS: what you will

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing; Polonius in Hamlet; Volumnia in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Curtis/Widow in Taming of the Shrew; Escalus in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE:

Phyllis in Follies (Renaissance Theatre, Mansfield); Poet in An Iliad (CATCO Columbus); Maria Callas in Master Class (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre); Medea in Medea (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre); Kate Hepburn in Tea At Five (InTandem Theatre); Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop (Renaissance Theatreworks); Roxie in Chicago (Marriot Lincolnshire); Lady Bracknell in Importance of Being Earnest (Titan Theatre, NYC).

EDUCATION:

BFA from Wright State University, MFA from Illinois State University

AWARDS:

Folger Shakespeare Library Artist in Residence/Research Fellowship, Joseph Jefferson Award, Best Actress in a Musical; Footlights Award, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Broadway World Award, Best Actress, 10 Chimneys/Lunt-Fontanne Estate Fellow, Hendrix-Murphy Directing Fellow, American Theatre and Drama Society Research Award.

PRONOUNS: She/Her

WEBSITE: https://www.angelaiannone.com

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

THIS SEASON: Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing; Ophelia in Hamlet; Lieutenant in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Over 50 roles in 30 productions, including Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Henry V in Henry V, Prince Hal/King Henry in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Orlando in As You Like It, Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night, Cassio in Othello, Cassius in Julius Caesar, Banquo in Macbeth, Hortensio in Taming of the Shrew, and Claudio in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE:

The Tempest, Macbeth, The First Noel, and The Three Musketeers (Classical Theatre of Harlem); The Brothers Size (Luna Stage); Blood at the Root (Market Theatre, Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe, Kennedy Center, The Apollo, National Black Theatre) Shakespeare in Love and The Christians (Virginia Rep); Drunk Shakespeare & Black Angels Over Tuskegee (Off-Broadway).

EDUCATION:

The Pennsylvania State University, MFA in Acting

AWARDS:

Hip Hop Theater Creator Award (Kennedy Center); Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Award (Adelaide Fringe Festival); Holden Street Theatres Edinburgh Award (Edinburgh Festival Fringe)

SOCIAL MEDIA:

@mistercart3r

PRONOUNS:

he/him

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing; Horatio in Hamlet; Valeria in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY AT ASC: Belle and Belinda in A Christmas Carol, Ariel in The Tempest; Antiochus’s Daughter, Marina, Ensemble in Pericles; Ariel in Une Tempête; Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet; Angelo (u/s Adriana, Luciana) in Comedy of Errors; Bianca in Taming of the Shrew; Juliet/Froth in Measure For Measure

OTHER THEATRE: Miranda in The Tempest (Firebrand Theatre Co), Juliet in the touring production of Romeo and Juliet, Luciana in Comedy or Errors, and Perdita in The Winter’s Tale (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre); Ellison in Crying on Television and Emmy in A Doll’s House pt.2 (Nashville Repertory Theatre).

EDUCATION: University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Theatre Arts and Dance program with a B.A in Theatre Arts

PRONOUNS: she/her

Full Bio 

Corrie dedicates these performances to her late grandmother, Willie Ruth Green. She is the spirit that empowers this work into our world.

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Borachio and Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing; Gertrude in Hamlet; Titus Lartius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY AT ASC: Mrs. Cratchit – A Christmas Carol, Stephano – The Tempest; Antiochus, Bolt, Ensemble – Pericles; Stephano – Une Tempête; Nurse, Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Emilia, First Merchant, Second Merchant in The Comedy of Errors; Tranio inTaming of the Shrew; Pompey in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATER: Recent credits include Medea in Mojada, Luis Alfaro’s adaptation of Euripides’ Greek Tragedy (Indianapolis Shakespeare Company); The River Bride, Hamlet, Cymbeline, and Assistant Director of The Moors (American Players Theatre Company), Select credits: Illinois, St. Louis, and Arkansas Shakespeare Festivals.

TV/FILM: Law & Order: SVU, En Algun Lugar, Midwestern

AWARDS: Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship

EDUCATION: MFA, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

SOCIAL MEDIA: @theecruz

PRONOUNS: she/her/hers

THIS SEASON: Don John/Sexton in Much Ado About Nothing; Barnardo in Hamlet; Virgilia in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY AT ASC: Biondello in Taming of the Shrew; Isabella in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE: Belmira, River Bride (American Players Theatre); Jaquenetta, Love’s Labour’s Lost (American Players Theatre); Adalina, ¿Y tu abuela, Where is she? (Visión Latino); Chalie, Back in the Day (Urban Theater Company); Carmen, Sergio’s Museum (Theatre[502] ); Ariel, The Tempest (Warehouse Theatre Educational Tour); Yordanka, Erógenas (Teatro Fragmentario)

EDUCATION: MFA Theater, University of South Carolina, Professional Actor Training Program; BA Music, Northern Kentucky University

AWARDS: 2021 SNL/Second City Scholar; 2021 Kentucky Foundation for Women Grant Recipient

INSTAGRAM: @gabi1086

PRONOUNS: she/her

Gabriela dedicates her season with ASC to her invaluable acting coach, James Tompkins. With unwavering dedication and profound expertise, James has been instrumental in nurturing Gabriela’s passion for the craft ever since their serendipitous encounter. His selfless guidance and tireless support have paved the way for her growth and development as an actor. This dedication is a heartfelt tribute to the unwavering bond they share and a testament to James’ indelible impact on Gabriela’s artistic journey.

THIS SEASON: Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing; Reynaldo, Francisco in Hamlet; Young Martius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUS SEASON: Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew; Mariana/Officer in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE: Viola, Twelfth Night (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); Regan, King Lear (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks); Alabaster (16th Street Theatre); The Locusts (The Gift Theatre); I Now Pronounce (New Jewish Theatre); Twelfth Night, Henry V, Travesties, Failure: A Love Story, Iago’s Plot, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Kingdom City (Illinois Theatre); My Father’s Keeper (Latinx Theatre Commons); La Fulana Respetuosa, Blowout (Aguijón Theatre).

EDUCATION: MFA in Acting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; BA in Theatre and Performance Studies, The University of Chicago

AWARDS: Windy City Times LGBTQ 30 Under 30 (Chicago)

PRONOUNS: she/her

WEBSITE: http://www.jessicakadish.com/

Full Bio

THIS SEASON: Conrade, Balthazar in Much Ado About Nothing; Guildenstern in Hamlet; Aufidius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUS SEASON: Vincentio in Taming of the Shrew; Mistress Overdone, Friar Peter in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE: Duchess of York’s Voice/ASL Interpreter, Richard III (Shakespeare in the Park/The Public Theater); Ensemble, Hamlet (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Peter/Ensemble, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Giles, The Mousetrap (Judson Theatre Company); Horatio, Hamlet (Grassroots Shakespeare DC); Prep, columbinus (1st Stage); Romeo’s Shadow/Voice, Romeo and Juliet (Endangered Species Theatre Project); Pavel Vasilyevich/Shelestov, The Sneeze (Compass Rose Theater); Thomas, Venus in Fur (Compass Rose Theater); Perchik, Fiddler on the Roof (Compass Rose Theater); Mayor/Radio Man, Inherit the Wind (Compass Rose Theater); Ferdinand, The Tempest (Toms River Shakespeare Festival); Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Toms River Shakespeare Festival); 2nd Gentleman/Abhorson/Friar Peter, Measure for Measure (Toms River Shakespeare Festival)

EDUCATION: Loyola University Maryland

PRONOUNS: he/him

WEBSITE: joemucciolo.com

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)

ASC DEBUT

THIS SEASON: Antonio, Verges in Much Ado About Nothing; Claudius, Ghost in Hamlet; Junius Brutus in Coriolanus

OTHER THEATRE: Stan in Sweat (Northern Stage); Macbeth in Macbeth (Bay Street Theatre); Sipos in She Loves Me, Ralph/Catlin in Shakespeare in Love, Player Murderer/Second Gravedigger in Hamlet (South Coast Repertory); Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof; Ragueneau in Cyrano de Bergerac; Dromio of Ephesus in Comedy of Errors (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Sturdyvant in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Mark Taper Forum, dir. Phylicia Rashad); Goldberg in The Birthday Party; Fluellen in Henry V (New Fortune Theatre Company); Geronte in Heir Apparent; Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (International City Theatre); Martin Doul in Well of the Saints; Caliban in The Tempest (Calaveras Repertory); Chorus in Henry V; Sir Toby in Twelfth Night; Shylock in Merchant of Venice; Fool in King Lear (Marin Shakespeare Festival); Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls; Doolittle in My Fair Lady (Musical Theatre West); Horatio in Hamlet; Albany in King Lear; Prosecutor in Romance; Zimmer in Brooklyn Boy (San Diego Repertory Theatre); Lin To in Good Person of Szechwan (La Jolla Playhouse); Galileo in Life of Galileo (SummerArts 2000); Peter in Romeo and Juliet (The Ahmanson, dir. Peter Hall)

FILM/TV: One Day at a Time, The Fosters, Hung, The Bernie Mac Show, A Christmas Carol (dir. Robert Zemeckis), Mars Needs Moms, Disney’s Jungle Book

EDUCATION: BA from Yale University, MFA from University of California, San Diego

AWARDS: Ovation Award: Best Ensemble for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Dramalogue Award: Featured Actor for Firebugs; Craig Noel Award: Best Direction of a Play for Henry V

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)

THIS SEASON: Hero in Much Ado About Nothing; Hamlet in Hamlet; First Citizen in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC:

Meg has been a resident company member with the American Shakespeare Center since 2018. She has previously performed in more than 26 productions and played more than 45 roles; some favorites including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Katherine/Dauphin in Henry V, Meg Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Feste in Twelfth Night, and Anne Page in Anne Page Hates Fun, Grumio inTaming of the Shrew; Elbow in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE:

Pistol/Alice in Henry V (Virginia Stage Company); Viola in Shakespeare in Love, Mabelu in The Old Man and The Old Moon, Clarice in West Side Story (Hope Repertory Theatre); Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff, and Witch 3 in Macbeth, Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing (Houston Shakespeare Festival, Houston, TX); Tatyana in Enemies (Main Street Theater, Houston, TX); Performer in Rock Nativity (AD Players); Lysander, Flute, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Rec Room, Houston, TX).

EDUCATION:

MFA in Acting, University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program

PRONOUNS: She/Her

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing; Rosencrantz in Hamlet; Sicinius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Christmas Present/Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol; Duncan, Porter, Old Man, Lord, Siward in Macbeth; Grey, French King, Gower, York in Henry V; Clown (Lavatch), Soldier in All’s Well That Ends Well, Cover/Swing in Twelfth Night; First Gentleman/Cover/Swing in Othello; Lucentio in Taming of the Shrew; Provost in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE: Toby in Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the ‘Burg); Falstaff in Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 (Gallatin); Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare-to-Go); Matt, Burns in Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (Gallatin); Josh in These and Those (New York Theatre Festival); Officer in Comedy of Errors (Smith Street Stage); Lucio, Froth, Barnadine in Measure for Measure (Smith Street Stage).

EDUCATION: BA in Individualized Study, Gallatin at New York University

PRONOUNS: He/Him

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

Fight CHOREOGRAPHER

THIS SEASON: Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing; Laertes in Hamlet; Cominius in Coriolanus

PREVIOUS SEASON: Christopher Sly in Taming of the Shrew, Angelo in Measure for Measure

OTHER THEATRE:

Edmund, King Lear (Utah Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre); Bertram, All’s Well That Ends Well (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Claudio, Much Ado About Nothing (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre); Slender, Merry Wives of Windsor (Texas Shakespeare Festival); Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet (Queer Classics Theater); Algernon, The Importance of Being Earnest (Queer Classics Theater); Richard, Ah Wilderness! (Artist Repertory Theater); Boy, The Play About the Baby (Road Theater Company); Sam, A Delicate Ship (Road Theater Company); Truffaldino, Servant of Two Masters (Nomadic Theater Company)

EDUCATION:

INSTAGRAM: @philiporazio

Full Bio

ACTING FELLOW

THIS SEASON: 

Swing in Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and Coriolanus

OTHER THEATRE:

Nicodemus Nothing in Birth of Merlin (Treehouse Shakespeare Ensmble); Wendy in When Wendy Grew Up (GoodViews Theatre); Sonia in Vanya, Sonia Masha and Spike (Wayne Theatre); Ensemble in As You Like It (Four County Players); Luisa in The Fantasticks (Southern Virginia University)

EDUCATION:

ACTING FELLOW

THIS SEASON: 

Swing in Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and Coriolanus

ACTING FELLOW

THIS SEASON: 

Swing in Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and Coriolanus

ACTING FELLOW

THIS SEASON: 

Swing in Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and Coriolanus

OTHER THEATRE:

Lord Talbot in 1 Henry VI (MBU S&P); Antigonous/Shepard in The Winter’s Tale (MBU S&P); Duke Senior in As You Like It (Four County Players); Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Southern Virginia University); Caesar in Julius Caesar (Southern Virginia University)

EDUCATION:

ACTING FELLOW

THIS SEASON: 

Swing in Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and Coriolanus

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)

THIS SEASON: Stage Manager

BIO: Brendan M. Cullen* is happy to be back for fall at ASC. Over the years Brendan has worked as a Stage Manager in Colorado, New York, Tennessee, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Virginia. Past and favorite credits include Twelfth Night, Thrive or What You Will (ASC) In The Middle (LARK Play Development Center), Rock of Ages (Lake Dillon Theatre Company) and {my lingerie play} at Joe’s Pub. When not on the road, Brendan resides in Astoria, Queens, NYC and has a BFA from Syracuse University.

Full Bio

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Assistant Stage Manager

Madison Lindy has a double masters in Shakespeare and Performance. She worked with the ASC in multiple capacities for several years before joining them as the Assistant Stage Manager after finishing her second masters degree. When not at the Playhouse, she spends her time making art and walking the streets of Staunton with her beautiful dog, Benny.

PRONOUNS: She/Her

@madslindytheartist

Full Bio

THIS SEASON: Costume Designer for Hamlet

BIO: Nia Safarr Banks is a Costume Designer from Richmond, Virginia. She graduated Cum Laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and she’s currently working on her Master of Fine Arts at Boston University. She was nominated in 2019 for Richmond Critic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design in a Play (An Octoroon, TheatreLab). Her credits include: Imaginary Invalid (Firehouse Theatre), Fences (Virginia Repertory Theatre), and 4000 Days (Richmond Triangle Players)

THIS SEASON: Music Director/Choreographer

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: Choreographer, 1st Fundraiser, Mrs. Fezziwig, Mrs. Fred, Little Cratchit – A Christmas Carol; Choreographer/Assistant Music Director; Boatswain, Adrian, Ceres, Ensemble – The Tempest; Lychorida, Bawd, Ensemble – Pericles; Assistant Choreographer/Assistant Music Director; Understudy in Twelfth Night and Thrive, Or What You Will; u/s for Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and u/s for Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, Dance Captain (A Christmas Carol). Fundraiser, Mrs Fezziwig, Martha, Charwoman in A Christmas Carol; Angus, Lord, Murder, and understudy in Macbeth; Jamy, Grandpre, Attendant, and understudy in Henry V, understudy in All’s Well that Ends Well.

OTHER THEATRE: Gertrude in Hamlet; Regan in King Lear; Thaisa/Dionyza/Lysimachus in Pericles; Titania/Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Clarinda in The Sea Voyage (Mary Baldwin University, MFA)

Full Bio

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

THIS SEASON: Intimacy Choreographer

PREVIOUSLY WITH ASC: First Witch in Macbeth, Mariana in All’s Well that Ends Well, Ensemble in Henry V, Tiny Tim, Beggar Boy, Fan in A Christmas Carol. Resident Intimacy Choreographer for A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Thrive, Or What You Will, Pass Over, The Tempest, Pericles, Une Tempête, As You Like It, and Eurydice.

OTHER THEATRE: Natasia has been seen previously as Mistress Quickly with Richmond Shakespeare Festival and Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati’s 2017-2018 season.

EDUCATION: Natasia recently graduated with her MFA from Mary Baldwin University with an MFA where she had the joy of performing the roles of Mercutio, Oberon, and King Lear.

PRONOUNS: She/Her

Full Bio

THIS SEASON: Movement Coach/Physical Dramaturgy

BIO: Doreen joined the ASC as an actor and choreographer in 2002 with the first Resident Troupe and then served as Director of Youth Programs, where she ran summer camps and educational programming for several years. She famously descended from the “heavens” in a circus hoop as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and previous ASC roles include Calphurnia in Julius Caesar, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Queen Margaret in Richard III, Christmas Present/Martha/Movement in A Christmas Carol 2002, Goneril in King Lear, Boy / Circus Choreographer in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Margaret / Dance Choreographer in Much Ado About Nothing, and Marianne in Tartuffe.

Doreen is Co-Program Director of the Shakespeare and Performance MLitt / MFA program at Mary Baldwin University, where she also manages the MFA company and oversees training.  As a director and movement practitioner, she enjoys both working in classical theatre and devising original work. Most recently, she directed Macbeth for Hoosier Shakespeare Festival, Romeo and Juliet for MBU’s undergrad drama department, co-directed Pericles for the MLitt program, and co-directed the devised show C.Q.D. with the MFA company Treehouse Shakespeare Ensemble, and directed Chapatti for the Virginia Theatre Festival. Doreen is also a founding member of the Performers Exchange Project, a company dedicated to developing and performing original works.

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA).

THIS SEASON: Production Manager

ASC STAGE MANAGEMENT:  Acting as the Tour Manager from 2015-Covid, Thomas has been the resident SM for the last two years. Previously at the ASC: Production Manager: Twelfth Night, Thrive, Or What You Will. Stage Management: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Winter’s Tale, Comedy of Errors (x2), Macbeth (x2), Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet (x2), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V (x2), Julius Caesar, Othello, Twelfth Night, All’s Well That End’s Well. Additional ASC SM credits: Every Brilliant Thing, The Grapes of Wrath, Our Town, The Importance of Being Earnest, Antigone, Equivocation, Goodnight Desdemona, Arms and The Man, the World Premier of Emma Whipday’s Sense and Sensibility and seven productions of A Christmas Carol! Thomas is a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Love to M&D, & KRM. www.thomasjcoppola.com #BLM Proud Member of Actor’s Equity.

REGIONAL CREDITS: Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz (American Family Theatre, National Tour) The Fall of The House of Usher, The Most Dangerous Game (Chamber Theatre Productions, National Tour)Spamalot, Les Miserables, They’re Playing Our Song, Falsettos, and Next Thing You Know (Sharon Playhouse); CATS, Hairspray, Crazy For You, HAIR, Once on This Island, Sunset Boulevard (Cohoes Music Hall); Into The Woods, All Shook Up, Seussical, Laramie Project: Epilogue (Barrington Stage Company)

PRONOUNS: He/Him

TECHNICAL PROPERTIES DIRECTOR

PREVIOUS ASC CREDITS: Technical Properties Director: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] (Again) (2023), Eurydice (2023), As You Like It (2023)

OTHER CREDITS: Props Designer: Hotel Berry, Tantrum Theater. EVERYBODY, Ohio University. Prop Shop Manager: Ohio University (2022). Head of Drama and Theater Tech- Camp Fernwood (2022). Props Journeyperson: Maine State Music Theater (2018)

BIO: Duckery Bracey is a properties director, designer, and artisan from Delta, Pennsylvania. They specialize in carpentry, foam carving, 3D print designs, magic/stage illusions, and the occasional trip out to the curling rink and climbing wall. A special yeehaw to all my fellow prop pals out there.

EDUCATION: MFA in Props Technology, Ohio University (2023) BA in Theater, Washington and Lee University (2020)

WEBSITE: www.duckbracey.weebly.com

COSTUME SHOP MANAGER

THIS SEASON: Costume Shop Manager

PREVIOUS ASC CREDITS:

Costume Shop Manager for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] (again), As You Like It, Eurydice, and 2022’s A Christmas Carol; Cutter/Draper, Wardrobe Manager, and Assistant Costume Shop Manager for Une Tempête, The Tempest, Pericles, Pass Over, Thrive or What You Will, and Twelfth Night (2022).

OTHER CREDITS:

Costume Designer for She Kills Monsters (John Tyler University) and Ripcord (CAT Theatre). Stitcher for The Wiz, The Addams Family Musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Mary Poppins, The King and I, Monty Python’s Spamalot (Shenandoah Summer Music Theater). Assistant Costume Designer for The Music Man and The Man of La Mancha (Shenandoah Summer Music Theater).

EDUCATION:

MFA in Costume Technology from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (2022), BFA in Technical Theatre from Longwood University (2015).

BIO:

A resident of Virginia (and briefly North Carolina), Marie enjoys life as a cat mom, is an avid listener of Podcasts, and part-time archer with her LARP group.

https://www.marielupia.com/

WARDROBE SUPERVISOR

Amy Wert is a new Wardrobe Manager at ASC, and enjoys working on all things costumes. Most recently she worked on West Side Story, Mamma Mía, and Blood Knot at the Flat Rock Playhouse in NC. She studied at both Anderson and Clemson University and graduated in 2020. Amy is also a swing dancing enthusiast and loves her cat, Theo. Follow along with my theatre and sewing pursuits @amys.clothesline on Instagram!

THIS SEASON: Wardrobe Supervisor / Stitcher

BIO: Tori Wright is a graduate of Longwood University, holding a BFA specializing in costume design. This is her seventh season with the American Shakespeare Center. Previous show credits include Henry V, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest, as well as No Exit, Chicago, and A Masterpiece of Comic… Timing! When not in the costume shop, she creates artistic paper dolls, and enjoys gourmet coffee.

THIS SEASON: Wardrobe Assistant

THIS SEASON: Props Artisan

BIO: Alaina Smith (she/her) is a theatre artist hailing from Nashville, TN. After completing a dual Bachelor’s in Theater Performance and Art at Freed-Hardeman University, she has worked for companies such as Stages St. Louis, Sacramento Theatre Company, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Crane River Theatre, Act 1, Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Nashville Children’s Theatre, and Nashville Rep as a performer and scenic painter. Beginning in the fall of 2021, Smith began studying at Mary Baldwin’s Shakespeare and Performance Program to earn an MLitt and MFA in Shakespeare and Performance.

THIS SEASON: Props Artisan

PREVIOUS ASC CREDITS: Props Artisan for Twelfth Night, Thrive or What You Will, Pass Over, The Tempest, Pericles, Une Tempête, A Christmas Carol 2022, As You Like It, Eurydice, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] (again) (2023)

BIO: A “storyteller of all-mediums”, Sarah White is a third year in Mary Baldwin University’s MFA Shakespeare & Performance program with a focus on acting (under the stage name Sarah Scarborough – catch her onstage with the MFA company, Meadowlark Shakespeare Players for their 2023-2024 season). She holds a BA in English and Theater Studies from Anderson University, and an MFA in Scenic Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her work as an Actor, Scenic Designer, Painter and/or Properties Artisan has been seen regionally throughout the U.S. at companies such as Duende Productions, Hollins University, Earlham College, Dragon Productions, Wisdom Tooth Theatre Project, The Coterie Theatre, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Crane River Theater Company, New Harmony Theater, The Berkshire Theatre Group, The Unicorn Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, and The Lied Center for Performing Arts.

WEBSITES: http://sarahwhitescenicdesign.com and http://sarahscarborough.com

PRONOUNS: she/her

ASC DEBUT

THIS SEASON: Stage Management Fellow

PREVIOUS ACTING CREDITS: Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island with Endstation Theatre Company, Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale with Mary Baldwin S&P, Dauphin in Henry VI Part 1 with Mary Baldwin S&P

OTHER CREDITS: Carpenter at Endstation Theatre Company

EDUCATION: BA in General Theatre from Sterling College, currently pursuing a Master of Letters and Master of Fine Arts from Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance program

WEBSITE: https://jedwardswilliams.wixsite.com/john-williams-theatr

INSTAGRAM: @john.e.s.williams

PRONOUNS: he/him/his

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35th Anniversary Virtual Tour

Celebrate 35 years of ASC by exploring behind the scenes at the beautiful Blackfriars Playhouse with a virtual Playhouse tour. Similar to our in-person tour, learn about our modern theater & its historical predecessor— with added locations inaccessible to the public!

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A weekly series of lectures, panels, and workshops featuring a line up of scholars, industry experts, ASC familiar faces, and powerful partnerships. This event happens every Friday at 5:00 PM during our season.

Visit the full schedule to see who we’ve got lined up for you to hear from!

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TEACHER SEMINARS

Spend a weekend at the Blackfriars Playhouse where you will rediscover the joy and accessibility of teaching Shakespeare. Beginning Friday afternoon and ending Sunday, this weekend is curated with workshops, lectures, performances, and more with our team of Shakespeare performance and scholarship experts.

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Spend Your Summer Performing Shakespeare in the world’s only re-creation of his indoor theatre–The Blackfriars Playhouse. Located in the beautiful Sh