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O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! SEASON 2026

“Doubt that the sun doth move... But never doubt I love.” ‒ Hamlet

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Rickey Watson, Jr., Romeo and Juliet, 2025 Photo by Nile Scott Studios

TABLE OF CONTENTS A MESSAGE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR.......................................3 A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR...................................5 A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR.................................................7 FIREFLIES.................................................................................................9 TWELFTH NIGHT....................................................................................11 CIRCUS & THE BARD: THE NEXT CHAPTER.........................................13 PLAYS IN PROCESS...............................................................................15 FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE.................................17 SHAKE IT UP: THE REMIX......................................................................19 HAMLET..................................................................................................21 MIDSUMMER DREAMERS.....................................................................23 THE NORWEGIANS................................................................................25 CELEBRATING JEWISH PLAYS..............................................................27 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.........................................................................29 EDUCATION PROGRAM.........................................................................31 FIVE QUESTIONS WITH MOLLY MERRIHEW.........................................35 THE CENTER FOR ACTOR TRAINING...................................................37 DENNIS KRAUSNICK FELLOWSHIP FUND...........................................39 FACULTY FOCUS: MARIE RAMIREZ DOWNING...................................41 HAROLD GRINSPOON SCULPTURES ARRIVE.....................................43 THE BLACKBAUD IMPACT AWARDS.....................................................45 SUPPORT SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY...............................................47 PHILIP HELLER FUND & AWARD...........................................................47 STAY, SHOP, DINE, EXPLORE.................................................................49 BUSINESS SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT.......................................................51 A DEBT-FREE SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY.........................................53 TALKS & TOURS.....................................................................................55 THE STRATFORD CIRCLE......................................................................57 OUR SUPPORTERS................................................................................59 SECOND ANNUAL GIVING DAY.............................................................63 THE BEER GARDEN IS BACK................................................................65 AUSTEN & AFTERNOON TEA.................................................................66 THE HOMES OF JANE AUSTEN.............................................................67 A LIFE WELL-LIVED: TINA PACKER.......................................................70 VOLUNTEER WITH US............................................................................73 FOUR QUESTIONS WITH C. DENBY SWANSON..................................74 BUSINESS SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT.......................................................77 PLAYERS’ SOCIETY................................................................................81 LEADERSHIP & STAFF............................................................................83 NEWSWEEK'S TOP 10 THEATERS.........................................................87 WHO’S WHO IN SEASON 2026..............................................................94 CALENDAR...........................................................................................114 BUSINESS SPONSORS’ INDEX...........................................................116

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S W T R Z 38 CHURCH ST. LENOX, MA 413-637-9193

Welcome back, friends. We want to offer you some solace and laughter in a very turbulent year on the global stage. You being here with us to engage in the shindig that is live theater may just prove that the penchant for community is gaining ground on that for conspiracy. Here’s hoping. Our season themes—this year’s is Integrity and Absurdity—often reveal themselves in a crafty fashion, sometimes hiding in plain sight after we assemble a collection of resonant offerings. Integrity is frequently examined from different angles, an exercise Shakespeare returned to many a time. Absurdity is integrity’s counterpoint, and these days the earth can seem to be swimming in it; and so we keep calm and carry on. First up on our stages is Fireflies by Matthew Barber, directed by the insightful Daniela Varon. We’re delighted to welcome Isabel Keating and Jeb Brown to the company, joining Annette Miller and Greg Boover to round out a wonderful cast. This will mark a return to Barber’s work for us, having produced his Enchanted April in 2004. Outdoors on our Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre, we’re very excited to have Kate Kohler Amory return to direct Twelfth Night, a romantic romp full of music and mischief that will be stunningly complemented by Berkshire sunsets under towering spruce trees. In the Tina Packer Playhouse, we’re thrilled to bring back Circus & the Bard and Shake It Up: The Remix. Both have been infused with new songs, acts, and performers to entice you to return to see what surprises await. We continue with Plays in Process, a wonderful opportunity for you to catch works fresh off the printer, as playwrights explore new and intriguing stories, some of which have gone on to have world premieres here. Shakespeare was a new playwright once, not easy to remember when you consider such iconic stories as Hamlet, which we are thrilled to do under the direction of Ariel Bock, joined by a powerful cast. We are also honored to bring back Jennifer Apple (from Shake It Up) and Jamal James (from The Taming of the Shrew last year) to thoroughly inhabit the modern classic, Terrence McNally’s volcanic and intimate Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, directed by the inventive Nicole Ricciardi. Toward the end of the summer we combine a great cast (Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Michael Toomey, Peggy Pharr Wilson, and Mark Zeisler) and a sublime director, James Warwick, on an absurdist comedy about two Norwegian hit men; laughs are sure to abound. There’s so much to take in and enjoy this summer at Shakespeare & Company, and we’ll head into the fall with momentum, presenting the return by popular demand of Celebrating Jewish Plays, as well as more Jane Austen with Pride and Prejudice. Just thinking about all of this programming leaves me breathless, and we can’t wait to breathe life into these stories for you, to show you how much we appreciate you taking them in. Finally, we lost our Founder, Tina Packer, at the beginning of this year, and we miss her very much. Tina was an inspiration to us all, and she touched so many people’s lives in a personal and significant way that will remain with them forever. We’re resolved to gather the energy she created and carry it forward. Thanks so much for being part of that effort. In gratitude,

Allyn Burrows Artistic Director

On the Cover: Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer Quote from Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. v

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50 Years and Counting . . . 1976 – 2026!

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Great Barrington, MA • (413) 446-1850 • canopyihc.com

Welcome to Shakespeare & Company! Whether this is your first visit to our campus or one of many over the years, we are deeply grateful you are here. Gathering to experience live theater is an extraordinary act of community, imagination, and shared humanity, and it is a true privilege to welcome you into that experience. As I step into my first season as Executive Director, I do so with tremendous excitement for this company’s future and profound respect for its remarkable legacy. For nearly 50 years, Shakespeare & Company has been a home for bold artistry, transformative training, dynamic education programs, and meaningful community connection. Together, we have invited artists and audiences alike to wrestle with enduring questions, engage deeply with language and ideas, and experience the power of storytelling. This season continues that tradition with work that is ambitious, entertaining, thought-provoking, and alive. None of it would be possible without you—our audiences, supporters, artists, students, donors, volunteers, and community partners. Your presence sustains this work and helps ensure that live theater continues to thrive in the Berkshires for generations to come. I am especially honored to return to Shakespeare & Company in this role after spending many formative years earlier in my career on this campus. To come back now alongside Artistic Director Allyn Burrows and an extraordinary staff and board, feels both deeply meaningful and wonderfully full circle. At a moment when the world can so often feel designed to isolate us—to polarize, distract, and separate us from one another—I find myself especially grateful for the arts, for live performance, and for the creative learning environments fostered here at Shakespeare & Company and throughout the Berkshires’ vibrant cultural community. Here, we are offered another path: one rooted in curiosity, empathy, collaboration, and human connection. We are reminded how to listen, how to imagine together, and how to belong to something larger than ourselves. We believe theater can be both a gathering place and a catalyst—a space where artists and audiences come together to reflect, question, celebrate, and grow. Through performance, training, education, and community engagement, Shakespeare & Company strives to create experiences that awaken the imagination, expand perspectives, and invite us into deeper conversation with ourselves and one another. We are drawn to bold storytelling, the electric connection between actor and audience, and the enduring exploration of what it means to be human. In a world that often feels increasingly divided and fast-moving, these shared spaces of inquiry, empathy, and discovery feel more vital than ever. As we look toward the future, we remain committed to honoring the enduring power of Shakespeare while also embracing new voices, fresh ideas, and evolving forms of storytelling. My hope is that every person who spends time here feels welcomed, inspired, challenged, and connected—and leaves carrying a bit of this place’s magic with them long after the lights come down. Thank you for being part of our community and Season 2026. We are so glad you are here. With gratitude,

Molly Merrihew Executive Director

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Lets Talk 6

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Kim Baker 195 Main Street Lee, MA 01238 (413) 243-0089

Dear Friends, As we enter this new season, it is a bittersweet time for all of us at Shakespeare & Company. Our founder and our inspiration, the inimitable Tina Packer, passed away this winter and she will be irreplaceable. But her vitality, her imagination, and her genius encourages us and demands of us that we embrace the future as she would have done. We continue her legacy and commit to delivering Performance, Education, and Actor Training that honors our past and gives us some answers for our lived experience in our present strange, often alarming, world. Tina never stopped challenging all of us at Shakespeare & Company with the three questions she was answering with her art and her life every day—What does it mean to be human? How should we act? What must I do?—the same questions Shakespeare asks and seeks answers to in every one of his plays. But there is also much sweetness to celebrate when we take stock of where the company is at this moment, entering our 50th year; the fourth year of my Chairmanship, and a new beginning. We are financially solvent for the first time in our history. We had record attendance at our theaters last year. We are experimenting with brand new productions and events that are attracting new and different audiences, including: Circus and the Bard, Shake It Up, Celebration of Jewish Plays, and Community Day. We have just hired a wonderful Executive Director, Molly Merrihew. We have added new board members, and we are working to beautify our unique campus. I feel it’s an honor to serve alongside these talented and committed artists, craftsmen and professionals, dedicated to the healing power of theater, and, through our Actor Training and Education programs, building the actors and audience of the future. I had no idea what I was signing up for when I agreed to take on the role of Chair. It asks so much more than I had anticipated, and it delivers so much more than it demands.

Beverly Hyman Chair, Shakespeare & Company Board of Trustees

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Beverly Hyman, Chair Jeffrey B. Konowitch, Vice Chair Ken Werner, Treasurer Michael A. Miller, Clerk Allyn Burrows, Artistic Director, Trustee Ex-Officio Henry Baker, Trustee Ex-Officio Sandra Bourgeois, Trustee Mary Brabeck, Trustee Jadwiga Brown, Trustee Kevin G. Coleman, Founding Trustee Kelly Galvin, Artist Trustee Phoebe L. Giddon, Trustee Michael S. Helfer, Trustee Anita Heller, Trustee MaryAnn House, Trustee Ex-Officio Greg Lipper, Trustee Barri R. Marks, Trustee Ricardo Morales, Trustee Bonnie Saks, Trustee Jenifer Salzberg, Trustee Barry R. Shapiro, Trustee Irina Shifrin, Trustee Licia Sky, Trustee Robert B. Strassler, Trustee John Douglas Thompson, Artist Trustee Andrew B. Weinberger, Trustee

AMBASSADORS FOR SHAKESPEARE Kevin Bartini Helene Berger Roxanne Bok Scott Bok Judy Boomer George Camarda Robert Cohen Linda B. Colvin Janet Egelhofer Audrey Friedner Barbara A. Mahony Bruce Miller Deborah Miller Marybeth Mitts Claudia Perles Suzanne Priebatsch Myra Sallet Howard Shawn Natalie Shawn Steven Somkin David Sorkin Frank Speizer Jeanne Speizer Dottie Weber Rhea Werner Leone T. Young

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ELAYNE P. BERNSTEIN THEATRE

Leo Tolstoy: “All great literature is one of two stories: a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.”

FIREFLIES

by Matthew Barber

Sally Field, when asked if she thinks about her legacy: “No, I don’t. I really think about what’s next. And will there be a next? You know, as you get older, boy they’re hard to find. People don’t think older women are interesting, but I have news for you.”

Directed by Daniela Varon

There are at least three things wrong, or a dozen, with Tolstoy’s famous but highly reductive pronouncement, which I first heard proffered as truth by one of my English professors. It sounded clever and so did he, so I bought it. The next year a woman visiting professor went on a journey to my college — thus, a stranger came to town!—and I started thinking differently about whose stories are worthy of literature, and of drama. That’s one great thing about getting older: you learn stuff. Your perspectives shift. You make discoveries about the world, about other people, and perhaps most dramatically, about yourself. This can be true whether you’re going on 18 or 80.

2 pm & 7 pm

Playwright Matthew Barber, bless him, is interested in women’s stories. His adaptation of Elizabeth von Arnim’s 1922 novel Enchanted April—a bunch of women go on a journey to Italy—played here in Normi Noel’s wonderful 2006 production. Fireflies is adapted from Annette Sanford’s 2003 novel Eleanor and Abel. In this story, a stranger, Abel, comes to the small town of Groverdell, Texas, population 1,742, and a woman, Eleanor, goes on a journey, even though she barely leaves her house. Two people who think they know who they are risk shaking up their lives, their habits and their expectations, as they are surprised by the timeless dance of attraction, resistance and passion. They dare to ask themselves what’s next. That they are old enough for Social Security checks and Medicare makes this play a rarity: a mature love story, told without condescension. And, spoiler alert, a play with three major characters over 60—Grace is the neighbor whose friendship Eleanor takes for granted, until she doesn’t—in which nobody has dementia, nobody feuds with their children, and nobody dies. (King Lear it ain’t.) Fireflies is set in 1995, so, you know, the good old days. May you enjoy visiting there for a couple of hours. Step up to the porch, sit back, have a glass of lemonade, and get to know these folks. Might be interesting. —Daniela Varon

PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

with Gregory Boover, Jeb Brown, Isabel Keating, and Annette Miller

JUNE 19–JULY 19 From the author of Enchanted April comes the story of retired schoolteacher Eleanor Bannister, settled into her routines and secure in her standing as her Texas town’s most respected woman. When a hole in her roof brings Abel Brown—a charming, smooth-talking drifter—onto her doorstep, he offers to repair the house and quietly begins to upend her carefully ordered life. As an unexpected late-life romance flickers to life, gossip spreads and doubts surface. Can Abel be trusted, or is he not quite who he seems? Either way, the whole town is watching. This production is generously supported by Phoebe Giddon.

FREE BEHIND THE CURTAIN TALK Moderated by Ann Berman Saturday, June 6, 10:30 am with Director Daniela Varon

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ARTHUR S. WALDSTEIN AMPHITHEATRE (OUTDOORS)

Twelfth Night is a delightful, romantic, musical-romp exploring he madness of love, deception, and role-reversal—with a side plot that descends into the darkness of tyranny. It is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved and complicated comedies; one which divides audiences into those who love its melancholic undertones and those who would surgically remove them from its charming frothier elements. I feel, in our current time of polarization and chaos, that this is the story we need to rekindle our aspirations for hope, awakening and transformation. This production will feature lively Irish folk music, joyous dancing, and a rollicking good time to show why the darkness must in the end give way to the light. The play begins with unrequited love by the music- and self-loving Duke Orsino, and the grieving Countess Olivia rejecting his adoring missives. Into this tumult comes the separated castaway twins Viola and Sebastian. Viola— literally coming from the sea—is the bringer of light and truth to challenge the selfdelusions and misrule rife in Illyria. Shakespeare’s at his twinning best: the plot hinges on mistaken-identity with Viola’s pageboy disguise (Cesario) sparking a chaotic love triangle: Olivia falling for Cesario, who is in love with her master, Duke Orsino, while Orsino pursues Olivia. The confusion reaches its peak when Viola’s ‘identical’ twin brother, Sebastian, is mistaken for Cesario. Meanwhile, Olivia’s household descends into its own chaos with the antics of her drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and his sidekick, ill-fitting suitor Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and faithful maid Maria. Trying to create order in this chaos is Olivia’s manservant, the puritanical Malvolio, who becomes victim to a prank by the household revellers gone wildly out of control. Accompanying all these antics is Olivia’s wise, witty, fiddle-playing clown, Feste, who provides an empathetic eye through which to see the height of comedy and the darkness of revenge in one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. —Kate Kohler Amory

PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare Directed by Kate Kohler Amory

with David Bertoldi, Allyn Burrows, Rory Hammond, Tamara Hickey, Nick Nudler, Kirsten Peacock, “ranney”, Omar Robinson, J. Austyn Williamson, and Ryan Winkles

JULY 4–26 7 pm

Shipwrecks, disguises, and mistaken identities spark the joyful chaos of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s most playful romantic comedy. Love runs amok and wit flies in this sunsoaked tale of music and mischief. Performed outdoors at our largest outdoor theater, this summer production invites audiences to relax, laugh, and revel in Shakespeare under the open sky. This production is generously supported by Howard and Natalie Shawn and

Free Youth Tickets are sponsored by the Harvey and Virginia Kimmel Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation. Learn more at shakespeare.org. FREE BEHIND THE CURTAIN TALK Moderated by Ann Berman Saturday, June 20, 10:30 am with Director Kate Kohler Amory

Join us on Sunday, July 19, 7 pm for our thirdannual Canine-friendly performance of Twelfth Night! Regular human ticket prices apply; dogs attend for free!

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TINA PACKER PLAYHOUSE

This is the second season of our ongoing exploration into the dynamic intersection between circus arts and Shakespeare— two worlds that at first glance may seem wildly different, yet somehow speak the same language of risk, wonder, transformation, and play. With Circus & the Bard: The Next Chapter, we continue our voyage into that shared terrain, inspired this year by Shakespeare’s most magical and mysterious meditation on illusion, forgiveness, power, and human connection. The Tempest feels uniquely suited to circus thrills. Shipwrecks, spirits, the pasde-deux of romance, and acts of grace all find their reflection in the heightened world of the circus, where the body itself becomes capable of poetry. In both disciplines, audiences are invited to believe in something extraordinary unfolding before them in real time. Both ask us to embrace vulnerability, danger, humor, and awe. As collaborators, we remain fascinated by what happens when Shakespeare’s language collides with the visceral storytelling of the circus. Sometimes the mash-up creates harmony; sometimes tension; often surprise. But always, we hope, a deeper glimpse into the resilience and imagination of the human spirit. On this island of storms, mischief, music, and marvels, our Shakespeare characters and circus artists encounter one another with equal curiosity and wonder. We invite you to join them—and us—as we continue this tempest-tossed adventure together.

CIRCUS & THE BARD The Next Chapter

Created by Allyn Burrows, Robin Eldridge, and Pedro Reis

Directed by Allyn Burrows and Pedro Reis with Chris Allison, Jan “Yahn” Damm, Lydia Isabel Duff, Justin Durham, Ariele Ebacher, Seth Ingram, Zoë Isadora, Marcus Kearns, and JoJo McDonald

JULY 16–26

11:30 am & 2:30 pm Circus & the Bard: The Next Chapter bounces back July 16–26! Shakespeare & Company and Spirit of the Circus reunite for a playful mash-up of jaw-dropping circus acts paired with Shakespeare’s beloved characters. When highflying feats meet the Bard’s words, sparks fly, laughs abound, and something truly magical happens. This production is generously supported by the Harvey and Virginia Kimmel Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, Jadwiga Brown, Phoebe Giddon, Elaine B. Panitz, and Bonnie Saks. Join us on Wednesday, July 22 and Thursday, July 23 for relaxed, sensory-friendly performances.

WHAT IS A SENSORY-FRIENDLY PERFORMANCE? Sensory-friendly performances are adapted to create a more welcoming theater experience for individuals with sensory sensitivities, including people who are neurodivergent and first-time theatergoers. These performances may include reduced lighting and sound, pre-show guides, and a relaxed atmosphere where movement and noise are welcome. These shows are open to all patrons.

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Zoë Isadora, Circus & The Bard, 2025. Photo by Nile Scott Studios

—Allyn Burrows, Robin Eldridge, and Pedro Reis

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PERFORMANCE

CREATORS’ TAKE

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ROSE FOOTPRINT THEATRE (OUTDOORS) PERFORMANCE

PLAYS

in Process

An Introduction to New Works JULY 28–30 7 pm

The Plays in Process series returns for its fifth year, showcasing developing works and offering a behindthe-scenes look at scripts as they are readied for the stage. Held outdoors at the tented Rose Footprint Theatre, the series focuses on refining narratives through staged readings and post-show discussions, and has successfully transitioned several early-stage plays into fully realized world-premiere productions. Since its inception, Plays in Process has introduced 12 new or reimagined titles: 2025 The Shallows, by Jim Frangione Free and Equal, by Kaia Calhoun Adults at Play, by Ken Ludwig 2024 Ado, by Lavina Jadhwani Oak, by Terry Guest The Victim, by Lawrence Goodman*

2023 The Aves, by Jiehae Park Three Tall Persian Women, by Awni Abdi-Bahri* 2022 This Soil, These Seeds…, by Bonita Jackson Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love, by Bella Merlin** This Is It, co-written by Tamara Hickey and Kate Kohler Amory* All That Fall, by Samuel Beckett

*These titles went on to premiere as full Shakespeare & Company productions. This Is It was staged at the Boston Center for the Arts. **Tilly No-body was produced at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2025, earning the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Theatre Award.

This production is generously supported by an anonymous donor.

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ELAYNE P. BERNSTEIN THEATRE

In 1987, Terrence McNally was about to turn 50. He was at the end of a relationship, and a good friend told him, “Face it, Terrence, you’ve had your last cookie.” But McNally “violently rejected that notion and wanted to write about someone who said ‘no’ to that. It was the New York of graffiti and it seemed gray all the time. There were a lot of homeless [people]. You could rent any theater on Broadway, practically; they were all empty, gathering dust…People were afraid to make any kind of connection with strangers because AIDS was on everybody’s mind—gay and straight alike—and they were spending a lot of time alone on weekends… It was the bleakest period I remember of New York. I’m not a bleak person and I wanted to imagine something positive. I’m a bit like Johnny that way. There’s a little of me in each character…It was kind of my personal SOS. It was to connect to someone—and it turned out to be with an audience.” In 2026, despite being hyper-connected through technology, true human connection is eroding, leaving us deeply polarized and isolated behind self-built walls. Loneliness is now a significant public health crisis, with social isolation recognized as being as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and twice as deadly as obesity. It increases premature death risk by 30%, drives depression, dementia, and physical ailments like heart disease, making it a deadly modern epidemic. McNally’s play is a profound look at the terrifying leap of vulnerability required for two lonely people to truly connect. It centers on the emotional chasm between Johnny’s determined dismantling of human barriers and Frankie’s cautious, shielded desire for intimacy. It is timely, timeless, and perhaps even more relevant than the year it was written. As McNally says: “Frankie and Johnny is the most poetic and unnaturalistic play I’ve written. No one behaves that way really… but to me, theatre gets realer than reality, it transcends. It can really show us what it’s like to die and to love. Life is too inconsequential without someone pointing out the highlights, ‘hey, it’s not just about raising the kids and being on time and paying the bills.’ It’s about really mattering to other people, how we can hurt one another, how we can help, save, touch, heal…and we have to be reminded of it sometimes through art.” —Nicole Ricciardi

PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

FRANKIE AND JOHNNY

IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE by Terrence McNally

Directed by Nicole Ricciardi with Jennifer Apple and Jamal James

JULY 30–AUGUST 23 2 pm & 7 pm

Set over the course of a single late night in a small Hell’s Kitchen apartment, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune is a tender, funny, and deeply human play about two people standing at the edge of connection. Frankie, a guarded waitress, and Johnny, an earnest short-order cook, work together at a Manhattan diner. After their first date, they find themselves in bed—and talking through the night. What unfolds is an intimate conversation filled with humor, vulnerability, and longing. As they circle each other— sometimes clashing, sometimes connecting—the play reveals the quiet courage it takes to risk love after life has left its marks. Accompanied by the soft glow of Debussy’s “Clair de lune” playing on the radio at Johnny’s request, McNally’s play blends gritty realism with gentle romance. Both funny and achingly honest, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune explores loneliness, resilience, and the possibility that even late in the night love may still be waiting. This production is generously supported by Scott and Roxanne Bok. CONTENT ADVISORY: Frankie and Johnny takes an honest, often funny look at two adults in the late-night hours of a first date. Please be advised that the production includes moments of sexual intimacy and brief nudity.

FREE BEHIND THE CURTAIN TALK Moderated by Ann Berman Saturday, July 11, 10:30 am with Director Nicole Ricciardi

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TINA PACKER PLAYHOUSE

When Jacob Ming Trent and I started talking a few years ago about creating a mashup of songs and Shakespeare text, I didn’t fully imagine that it would bloom into the rollicking good time that Shake It Up has become. We knew it would be a whole lot of fun, and sometimes a great re-introduction to Shakespeare text that might otherwise be avoided by folks who might have a less than fond memory of the Bard in their high school English class. What has transpired over these last couple of years has been an exploration of alchemy, and that has proven to be a dialectical journey. I love music, although my musical knowledge is very limited, and so I’m grateful for Jacob’s and the band’s patience with me as I fall over with excitement at the sound they create. I’m enormously thankful to the artists: Jacob Ming Trent, Benny “Fingers” Kohn, Conor Meehan, Johnny Irion, Jaclyn Stevenson, Greg Boover, Jim “Chetz” Keegan, Jennifer Apple, Raya Malcolm, Naire Poole, Merlin McCormick, Jennie Jadow, Brendan Doyle, Cyril Putzer, Erika Johnson, and the crew—whose generosity of spirit has allowed this idea to blossom into a rockin’ event. This the third year in a row we’ve run this up the flagpole, and I’m excited to have even more artists join us anew this year. We may want to go out on a high note and give it a rest after this year, but we sure have had a ball. If this isn’t your first time getting all shook up at Shake It Up, welcome back to The Remix. If it is, thanks for being here!

PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

SHAKE IT UP THE REMIX

Created by Allyn Burrows and Jacob Ming-Trent Directed by Allyn Burrows with Jennifer Apple, Gregory Boover, Trezure Coles, Ani Djirdjirian, Kait Hickey, Johnny Irion, Jim ‘Chetz’ Keegan, Benny ‘Fingers’ Kohn, Raya Malcolm, Conor Meehan, Jacob Ming-Trent, and Jaclyn C. Stevenson

JULY 31–AUGUST 3 3:30 pm, 6 pm & 7 pm

The hit that had audiences on their feet returns—revved up and remixed. The Tina Packer Playhouse transforms once more into the Elephant Lounge for Shake It Up: The Remix, an exuberant mash-up of modern music and Shakespearean verse. Audiences are invited to clap, sing, stomp, and dance in the aisles as the players unleash a breathless, rocking revue. This production is generously supported by Paul Clark & Carol Parrish, Jim Cochran & Fran Pilato, and an anonymous donor.

—Allyn Burrows

Join us in the Beer Garden on Monday, August 3 for Shake It Up: The Remix’s Final Bow Party.

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Hamlet is a rare and unique gem—a diamond so beautifully cut that the light glints off of it differently each time we look at it, hold it, dream of it, or think about it. One can be fascinated with the multiple surface textures and glints or find hidden depths in the expertly created facets of the stone. Even the flaws seem to tell a story about the time and immense pressure it must have taken to make it. We can back up and see the jewel in relation to its setting, imagining who discovered this stone, what its history might be, and who else has worn it. Held up to sunlight we see one perspective, in moonlight another—or by candle light, another unique luminous experience. Hamlet tells the story of a world in chaos, of a country taken over by a popular ruler with a criminal past, of disaffected young people, women who are sidelined or unheard or worse, of ambition, treachery, and more—all in the close-boundaried world of ‘Denmark’. Something is indeed rotten in that world and in ours too. Age after age, this play has fascinated. Why is that? Perhaps because Prince Hamlet talks directly to us from such self-awareness and depth of soul that we cannot help but identify with him. Is it the conflict between parents and children, truth and lies, peace and violence, between living and dying? Do we see our violent natures reflected back? Our drive to laugh? To fall in love? Hamlet dares to ask these hard questions and dares to leave them unanswered. For Hamlet the readiness to ask is all.

PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

HAMLET

by William Shakespeare Directed by Ariel Bock

with A.J. Baldwin, Jonathan Epstein, David Gow, Yaala Muller, “ranney,” Eddie Shields, J. Austyn Williamson, and Kristin Wold

AUGUST 13–30 2 pm & 7 pm

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most searching play—a gripping story of grief, conscience, and the cost of inaction. Haunted by his father’s ghost, a young prince must navigate a world of secrets, power, and betrayal, where nothing is as it appears. By turns thrilling, darkly funny, and deeply human, this August production brings Shakespeare’s language to life with clarity, physicality, and immediacy. This production is generously supported by Scott and Roxanne Bok. Free Youth Tickets are sponsored by the Harvey and Virginia Kimmel Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation. Learn more at shakespeare.org.

Hamlet invites us to wonder about how to make ethical choices, to consider the meaning of existence, the boundary between life and death and the mystery of how we can be guided by the spirits of lost loved ones. It asks us to consider what the role of the artist and especially of live theater has been in shaping our past and present – and what it may be in our virtual futures. Who’s there? It’s a tragedy of course, set in times as troubled as our own, and yet to me it never seems gloomy, but optimistic. It is illuminated by the relentless courage it takes to examine ourselves and our motives and times. I am excited, awed, and fortunate to spend time with this stellar cast exploring the jewel. —Ariel Bock

FREE BEHIND THE CURTAIN TALK Moderated by Ann Berman Saturday, August 1, 10:30 am with Director Ariel Bock

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TINA PACKER PLAYHOUSE

In the much-loved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare fills the play with lovers at odds—Titania and Oberon, Helena and Demetrius, Hermia and Lysander, even Pyramus and Thisbe. When Nick Nudler and Kirsten Peacock approached us at Cape Rep with their idea of exploring this story in bed, taking us into the private landscape of a relationship, I knew immediately I was in. When a pair of lovers goes to bed angry, of course their dreams would explore that turmoil. There is nothing more exciting than finding artistic collaborators who feed your creativity. Nick, Kirsten, and I had worked together on earlier devised works at Cape Rep (From the Heart of the Wreck, Jason and Medea), but I always came into their process further down the creative road. I had been hoping for the chance to build something together from the ground up; Midsummer Dreamers was that opportunity. It is a joy to work with theater-makers who say yes to exploring every idea, trust one another’s vision, and try as many outrageous choices as possible in an effort to make something exciting and new. Kirsten and Nick are artists constantly training and adding skills to their actor toolbox, searching for the most creative and physical ways to expand their storytelling. Our collaborations are really about telling stories in ways only live theater can. Hard at work growing their aerial skills, Midsummer Dreamers became the perfect marriage of story and physical storytelling.

PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

MIDSUMMER DREAMERS

Created and Performed by Nick Nudler and Kirsten Peacock Directed by Maura Hanlon

SEPTEMBER 1–3 7 pm

Two lovers fall asleep angry—and wake inside a rare vision, challenging them to confront each other and themselves. Blending the poetry of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with physical theater, aerial performance, and rambunctious comedy, Midsummer Dreamers reimagines Shakespeare’s classic as a surreal, seductive journey through a couple’s subconscious. Performed by just two actors, this 90-minute whirlwind explores love, resentment, reconciliation, and the mysterious forces that shape our inner worlds. This show is presented in collaboration with Cosmic Mirth.

CONTENT ADVISORY: This production includes strobe lights, suggestive content, and brief staged violence.

I can’t say I know of any director who hasn’t loved diving into the world of dreams on stage—they give you the freedom to make bold, unusual, intuitive choices. Dreams became our guide through Shakespeare’s text, and through the aural and visual language of the piece. In the end, they allowed us to explore not only these lovers, but the strange, fragile, funny ways we hold onto one another even in the midst of conflict. —Maura Hanlon

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ELAYNE P. BERNSTEIN THEATRE

Someone asked me recently…what is a dark comedy? Is it a play that contains sinister undertones and still makes you laugh? A guilty pleasure which, if you laugh out loud, will land you in all sorts of trouble? If you’re sitting in a theatre full of other people…all laughing out loud, will you be swept up into some sort of spontaneous combustion? Will you lose all sense of decency and propriety and start behaving in an uncharacteristically whacky way? Where could this possibly lead….? Enter The Norwegians. Two polite, wellmannered hit men, are hired by two jilted ladies of a certain age, to exterminate their ex-lovers in no uncertain terms. Both parties have an expectation…and an understanding. All concerned must be objective, calm and undetectable; while maintaining a wry sense of humor to help alleviate some of the more unsavory elements in their deadly mission. C. Denby Swanson’s dark comedy first saw the light of day in an off-off-Broadway Theatre called The Drilling Company in 2013 and ran for a year. It has since been produced in two revised versions, the latest of which I now have the good fortune to start rehearsing with four outstanding actors, a superb production design group and a highly experienced stage management team.

THE NORWEGIANS by C. Denby Swanson Directed by James Warwick

with Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Michael F. Toomey, Peggy Pharr Wilson, and Mark Zeisler

SEPTEMBER 4–OCTOBER 4 2 pm & 7 pm

Set in a Minnesota bar where heartbreak is served alongside beer, The Norwegians is a sharp, surprising dark comedy about love gone wrong—and the lengths we go to set things right. Betty and Olive, two women reeling from romantic betrayal, hatch an unlikely plan: hiring a pair of Norwegian hitmen to deal with the men who wronged them. Enter Tor and Gus, professional killers who turn out to be unfailingly polite, disarmingly gentle, and almost aggressively nice. With witty dialogue and a clever premise, The Norwegians explores the culture of America’s “flyover country,” where kindness runs deep—even in the most unexpected professions. At once dark, funny, and oddly tender, the play examines love, revenge, and cultural identity, reminding us that people are rarely what we expect and that even the politest among us may be capable of surprising extremes. This production is generously supported by Phoebe Giddon and Gary & Jeanie Knisely.

The play is set in Minnesota, home to over 800,000 Norwegians, primarily due to a massive wave of immigration between 1850 and 1920. The state’s lakes, forests and cold climate resembled rural Norway, and The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres to anyone who would farm it for five years. Word got about, resulting in Minnesota and particularly the Twin Cities, becoming known as the ‘capital of Norwegian America’. Re-enter our Norwegians. Now fully established with their traditions and inventions firmly in place and their culture and customs fully integrated into their new environment. A little diversity of professional expertise may be called for. What more inventive than starting a business knocking off a few undesirables? While not strictly legal, it seems to have a ready-made desperate clientele, 83% of these clients want rid of their ex-partners. And so, our story starts to unfold…

FREE BEHIND THE CURTAIN TALK Moderated by Ann Berman Saturday, August 29, 10:30 am with Director James Warwick

—James Warwick

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PERFORMANCE

DIRECTOR’S TAKE

Knesset Israel Presents

Six Mondays July 6 - August 10 - 2026 Show Times 3:30pm & 7:30pm Lenox Memorial Middle & High School 197 East Street, Lenox , MA

FOR INFORMATION info@berkshirejewishfilmfestival.org

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TINA PACKER PLAYHOUSE & ELAYNE P. BERNSTEIN THEATRE PERFORMANCE

CELEBRATING JEWISH PLAYS OCTOBER 9–11 10:30 am, 2 pm, 4 pm & 7 pm

Following its successful debut in 2025, Shakespeare & Company brings back Celebrating Jewish Plays, an immersive weekend of staged readings, now expanded with live poetry, music, and guest speakers.

AFTER THE REVOLUTION by Amy Herzog

Friday, October 9 at 2 pm Tina Packer Playhouse Emma Joseph proudly carries the torch of her family’s Marxist tradition, devoting her life to the memory of her blacklisted grandfather—until a shocking historical truth forces the entire family to confront questions of honesty and allegiance they thought long resolved. After the Revolution is a bold and moving portrait of an American family thrown into an intergenerational tailspin, forced to reconcile a thorny and delicate legacy.

BAD JEWS

by Joshua Harmon Saturday, October 10 at 7 pm Tina Packer Playhouse

OPENING LECTURE Friday, October 9 at 10:30 am Kick-off the weekend with a morning lecture by Michal Peles-Almagor, Ph.D. Watch shakespeare.org for details!

A STRING TRIO AND A TRIO OF POETS Sunday, October 11 at 2 pm Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre This special event features the Sherman Chamber Ensemble and poets from Western Mass Yetzirah—Richard Michelson, Lesléa Newman, and Owen Lewis—paired with chamber works including Gideon Klein’s final trio, composed in Theresienstadt.

The night after their grandfather’s funeral, three cousins engage in a verbal—and sometimes physical—battle. In one corner is Daphna Feygenbaum, a self-proclaimed “Real Jew,” volatile and unbending. In the other is her equally stubborn cousin Liam, a secular and entitled young man with his non-Jewish girlfriend, Melody, in tow. When Liam stakes claim to their grandfather's Chai necklace, a vicious and hilarious brawl over family, faith, and legacy ensues.

BROKEN GLASS by Arthur Miller

Sunday, October 11 at 4 pm Tina Packer Playhouse Set in 1938, the play centers on Sylvia Gellburg, whose sudden and mysterious paralysis sets the story in motion. When her husband, Phillip, and doctor, Dr. Hyman, find no physical cause for her condition, they are forced to probe into her psyche—slowly peeling away the layers of each character's life in this stunning exploration of what it means to be American and Jewish on the eve of World War II. This production is generously supported in part by Jadwiga Brown, Beverly Hyman & Larry Birnbach, Owen Lewis, MD & Susan Ennis, Barri Marks & Woody Exley, and an anonymous donor.

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ELAYNE P. BERNSTEIN THEATRE PERFORMANCE

A Lively, Costumed Reading

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Claire F. Martin Directed by Ariel Bock

Based on the novel by Jane Austen

DECEMBER 18–20 2 pm & 7 pm

Join us for our traditional, Jane Austen-inspired Winter Show: a lively, costumed reading of Pride and Prejudice. Our smash Austen & Afternoon Tea event will also return this season, offering a pre-show talk, a tea party complete with beverages, treats, and Regency-era costumes on display!

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20

11:30 am • Tickets $20–$25

COME VISIT GEORGE AND SUZY’S HOUSE.

IT’S JUST AROUND THE CORNER FRELINGHUYSEN MORRIS HOUSE & STUDIO 92 HAWTHORNE STREET | LENOX TOURS | frelinghuysen.org

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EDUCATION

The Education Program

Shakespeare & Company’s Education Program is one of the most extensive theaterin-education initiatives in the Northeast. Starting as young as age seven, more than 30,000 students and educators are introduced to Shakespeare each year through the the Riotous Youth Summer Theater program for young actors; the Fall Festival of Shakespeare; Elementary, Middle and High School Residencies; the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, Professional Development Workshops, performances, and more. Keep an eye on shakespeare.org/education for more information!

FREE RIOTOUS YOUTH FINAL PERFORMANCES

Fridays in July and August, starting at 10 am Outdoors at the Rose Footprint Theatre These “greatest hits” performances of selected Shakespeare plays, performed by actors ages 7–15, are shared with family and friends at the close of each session. Check shakespeare. org/education for full schedules. July 10 – The Winter’s Tale July 24 – Twelfth Night August 7 – Hamlet August 14 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Riotous Youth 2025. Photo by Four Wings Photography

FREE RIOTOUS COMPANY FINAL PERFORMANCE

Friday, August 14, 12 pm Outdoors at the Rose Footprint Theatre Actors ages 14–18 close their three-week experience by performing scenes chosen specifically for them from several of Shakespeare’s plays, following an intensive, ensemble-based training experience.

Riotous Company 2024, Lovers & Madmen

The Education Program is generously supported by Anonymous, Arts Midwest, the Feigenbaum Foundation, the Janey Fund Charitable Trust, Karen & Steven Kaufman, the Harvey and Virginia Kimmel Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, Local Cultural Councils—supported by Massachusetts Cultural Council, Mass. Cultural Council—YouthReach, Mill Town Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Peter & Candy LaPlante, Suzanne Priebatsch, Emily Rechnitz, Barry & Marjorie Shapiro / Dr. Robert C. & and Tina Sohn Foundation, Geoffrey Simon and Andrea Graham Family Foundation, Amy & David Sorkin, and theatreworks!.

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EDUCATION

THE 38TH FALL FESTIVAL OF SHAKESPEARE Thursday, November 19– Sunday, November 22 Tina Packer Playhouse Our annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare brings hundreds of high school students together each year for an in-depth exploration of Shakespeare’s works, culminating in full-scale productions performed during Fall Festival weekend at the Tina Packer Playhouse. When young artists are turned loose through the power of Shakespeare’s language, the energy is palpable and the houses are packed. For young people, the festival is a “rock concert of Shakespeare” where they feel supported and cheered on by peers and adults alike.

Chatham High School presents Hamlet, Fall Festival of Shakespeare 2025. Photo by Four Wings Photography

Ryan N. Murray, John Leggett, Joslyn Eaddy Meléndez, Abigail St. John, and Jonathan Perkins, Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, Hamlet, 2026. Photo by Four Wings Photography

THE 2027 NORTHEAST REGIONAL TOUR OF SHAKESPEARE A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare and Shakespeare and the Language That Shaped a World by Kevin G. Coleman February 10–May 1, 2027 Since 1982, Shakespeare & Company has sent touring productions of Shakespeare’s plays, along with a variety of related workshops, into middle and high schools, colleges, large-scale performance venues, and community centers all over the Northeast and beyond. These performances reach more than 20,000 students, teachers, and audience members each year. Check shakespeare.org/education for public performance dates in April 2027! To book the Tour at your school, contact springtour@shakespeare.org.

Kirsten Peacock, Courtney Bryan Devon, Eliana Anneliscia Rowe, Madeleine Rose Maggio, Nick Nudler, and Devante Owens, Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, Shakespeare and the Language that Shaped a World, 2021.

Have you participated in the Education Program? Register with our alumni network to update your information at shakespeare.org/education and join us for future Education reunions. Next up: Fall Festival Alumni Night on campus on Friday, July 24. Visit shakespeare.org/education for more information, or scan the QR code.

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INTRODUCING SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY’S NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Five Questions with Molly Merrihew

As Shakespeare & Company enters an exciting new chapter, we are thrilled to welcome Molly Merrihew as our new Executive Director. A longtime advocate for the Berkshire arts community, Merrihew brings more than 15 years of experience in nonprofit theater and arts leadership. We sat down with her to learn more about her journey, leadership philosophy, and hopes for the future of the organization. S&Co: What drew you back to Shakespeare & Company? MM: Shakespeare & Company has been an important part of my professional journey for many years. Early in my career, I worked here in public relations and marketing, and during that time I witnessed firsthand the power of theater to bring people together. From Mainstage productions to Fall Festival and Training Workshops, I was continually inspired by the artists, educators, and students who make this place so alive. Returning now as Executive Director feels deeply meaningful and wonderfully full circle. This organization has such a strong commitment to artistry, education, and community, and I’m honored to help steward its next chapter alongside Artistic Director Allyn Burrows.

Molly Merrihew. Photo by Outdoors Chronicles Photography

At a time when so much of our lives is lived through screens and division, live theater feels more essential than ever. It asks us to slow down, listen deeply, and experience something together in real time.

S&Co: How would you describe your leadership philosophy?

Shakespeare & Company already has an extraordinary foundation of artists, educators, students, and supporters. I’m excited to help build on that legacy while exploring new possibilities for accessibility, partnership, and community engagement.

shared human experiences that are increasingly rare and deeply needed. I hope audiences leave feeling energized, moved, and reminded of the power of storytelling and community. So grab a glass of wine, gather your friends, and I’ll see you at the theater. n

MM: I lead with curiosity, transparency, and care. S&Co: What experiences have prepared you for this role? I believe strong organizations are built on trust, communication, collaboration, and a clear sense of MM: Over the past two decades, I’ve worked with shared purpose. I also believe the arts are essential to organizations ranging from grassroots ensembles to healthy vibrant, communities. theater creates spaces large nonprofit institutions across both the nonprofit where people can gather, reflect, question, and connect and for-profit arts sectors. Those experiences taught with one another. In a world that can often feel isolating me the importance of balancing bold artistic vision with and polarized, live performance reminds us of our strong and unified operations. shared humanity. I care deeply about collaborative leadership and S&Co: What do you hope audiences experience at creating environments where artists, staff, audiences, Shakespeare & Company? and supporters feel connected to a shared mission. I’m always thinking about long-term sustainability and how MM: I hope people feel welcomed, inspired, and connected. Whether someone is visiting for the first arts organizations can deepen their impact within the time or returning season after season, I want them to communities they serve. feel this is a place where they belong. The Berkshires S&Co: What excites you most about this moment are such a special place, where creativity, natural for Shakespeare & Company? beauty, and community intersect. MM: I think we’re at an important moment for arts I hope audiences experience that unique alchemy and organizations. People are hungry for authentic magic here — gathering under the trees, sharing stories connection and meaningful shared experiences, and together, and stepping into conversations that linger theater can offer that in a powerful way. long after the performance ends. Live theater creates

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When Action is Eloquence BY BELLA MERLIN AND TINA PACKER Shakespeare & Company: When Action Is Eloquence is the first comprehensive insight into this internationally acclaimed company founded in 1978 in Lenox, Massachusetts, by actor-director Tina Packer and voice pioneer Kristin Linklater, with the transformative power of Shakespeare’s language at its heart. Actors, directors, students, educators, scholars and theatre-lovers alike will find practical acting strategies, inspirational approaches to theatre making and lively insights into the sustaining of a unique and robust theatre company that has been thriving for over forty years.

Tina Packer

Bella Merlin

Available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, audiobook, and Shakespeare & Company’s Gift Shop! For more information visit: www.routledge.com/9780367262556

ACTOR TRAINING

The Center for Actor Training Theater artists from around the world seek out Shakespeare & Company’s Center for Actor Training not only to train their voices and bodies, but also to delve deeply into their own imaginations, intellects, and emotional lives. Join us throughout the year for free public showcases by participants in our signature intensives, and learn more about workshops and training opportunities for theater artists and curious learners of all experience levels at shakespeare.org/actor-training. 9-DAY INTENSIVE OPEN SHOWCASE Saturday, September 5, 3 pm Designed for mid-career professionals seeking to reinvigorate their skills through integrated voice, movement, and text work, this immersive intensive culminates in a showcase performance of Shakespeare’s sonnets, monologues, and dances. This event is free and open to the public.

“Beyond just career advancement, this training provided a profound space for self-discovery. The breathwork remains a vital part of my process, feeding my character work and helping me navigate the physical demands of a large stage. The faculty’s passion for their craft is infectious; they don’t just teach you how to deconstruct Shakespeare; they give you a technical foundation that elevates every contemporary role you take on.” —Danny Gómez, 2025 Summer Shakespeare Intensive

SUMMER SHAKESPEARE INTENSIVE SCENE SHARING Sunday, June 21, 11:30 am & 2 pm Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre Artists’ Studio 3 See our 2026 Summer Shakespeare Intensive participants in action, performing scenes from Shakespeare plays at the close of a transformative, four-week actor-training experience. This event is free and open to the public. WEEKEND INTENSIVES Select Cities across the Country Weekend Intensives are open to anyone seeking to deepen their connection with Shakespeare in a digestible but rigorous format. Visit shakespeare.org/ actor-training for the latest listing of locations for 2026 including New York, San Jose, Chicago, and Lenox.

“I came in with near zero Shakespeare experience and I left with clear tools on how to approach the text... For a lot of the program, I felt thrown into an ocean and was given one step at a time on how to swim across. I had to be so present. I had to let go of looking “good.” I had to stop comparing myself with someone else’s progress because it was about me swimming across.” —Nancy Ma, 2025 Month-long Intensive

MONTH-LONG INTENSIVE SCENE SHARING Sunday, January 24, 2027, 11:30 am & 2 pm Tina Packer Playhouse Mid-career professionals who have completed our signature actor training intensive present selected scenes from Shakespeare’s work at the close of a rigorous, fourweek program. This event is free and open to the public.

Are you an alum of the Center for Actor Training, having completed the Month-long Intensive, Summer Shakespeare Intensive, or Conservatory programs? Register with our alumni network to update your information at shakespeare.org/actor-training or scan the QR code to join us for future Alumni Nights and Gatherings. Next up: Training Alumni Night on our Lenox campus Friday, July 24. The Center for Actor Training is generously supported by Beyond Classical Theater, Inc. and Theatrical Fund of the Lotta Crabtree Trust.

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ACTOR TRAINING

The Dennis Krausnick Fellowship Fund The Dennis Krausnick Fellowship Fund was established in 2018 by Company Founder and long-time Director of Actor Training, the late Dennis Krausnick (1942–2018). One of Dennis’ final missions was to establish this fund in order to offer scholarships to artists of the Global Majority wishing to study with Shakespeare & Company’s Center for Actor Training. Gifts to the Dennis Krausnick Fellowship Fund help bring Dennis’ vision to life. In an overwhelming outpouring of love and support, more than 1,000 individual donors have contributed to the DK Fund in his memory, enabling Shakespeare & Company to grant more than $180,000 in scholarships to 133 artists of the Global Majority over the past eight years.

Dennis Krausnick

These gifts play a vital role in increasing access to training for a greater number of theater-makers and teaching artists, helping to build a more inclusive and encompassing theater community. We would love your support, visit shakespeare.org/donate.

Scholarship Spotlight PRINCESS JACOB ’24

Princess Jacob is a proud alumna of Shakespeare & Company’s 2024 Month-long Intensive and one of its newest Company Artists, featured in the 2025 winter show reading of Sense and Sensibility. Her stage highlights include The Essentialisn’t (HERE Arts Center), The Christians (Baltimore Center Stage), and Home Is Where the Fund Is (Elevate Theatre Company). Her television credits include Before (Apple TV+) and Bull (CBS). “Shakespeare & Company’s Month-long intensive gave me a real practice. I left feeling connected to my body and breath in a way that I had always dreamt of, and now I approach my work with a sense of playfulness and boldness that I feel proud of. This intensive has forever changed my life and given me skills that I continue to practice daily.” —Princess Jacob ’24

Princess Jacob

Sense and Sensibility, 2025.

2024 Month-long Intensive. Photo by Christina Lane

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COMPASSION | ACCOUNTABILITY | RESPECT | EXCELLENCE

Marie Ramirez Downing Marie Ramirez Downing is a member of the Center for Actor Training’s faculty and an Assistant Professor of Acting, Voice, and Speech at the University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. She teaches voice at many of Shakespeare & Company’s acting intensives and is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, completing Marie Ramirez Downing her designation in 2012 as part of the last group to do so on the Shakespeare & Company campus with Kristin Linklater. She holds an MFA in Acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University and a B.A. in Theatre Arts, Acting from California State University, Fresno. Center for Actor Training Senior Workshops Director Susan Dibble interviewed Marie recently to learn more about her work as an artist and her history with Shakespeare & Company.

SD: How did you first come to teaching? MRD: I knew I was interested in directing and teaching when I was an undergraduate at California State University, Fresno. I became curious about different methods and techniques that could make me and those around me more connected and compelling actors. Going to graduate school in Chicago at The Theatre School at DePaul University and training there with some of the best teachers in their specialties, (i.e., Alexander, Feldenkrais, Linklater, Laban, Grotowski) and deepening my work as a Shakespearean actor opened the door for my passion to teach methods that not only made me a better actor, but a more well-rounded human who cares about the world. SD: What is your favorite quote that speaks about your teaching philosophy? MRD: It’s a Kristin Linklater quote (of course!). “Know your voice–It’s Strong, It’s Resilient, and It’s YOU.” I love saying that to my students, “It’s your voice, you are just letting more of you through–and that’s powerful.”

SD: How did you first connect with Shakespeare & Company? MRD: My first encounter with Shakespeare & Company was very memorable because it was at a 2004 Weekend Intensive in Chicago with {Center for Actor Training Director} Dennis Krausnick. I was in graduate school and had a bad relationship with Shakespeare. I just wasn’t connecting to the work; I didn’t think it had anything to do with me being a Mexican American woman from Fresno, Calif. But I was wrong! The care, love, and detail Dennis gave to the many diverse identities in the room was astonishing and life-changing. I never felt more strongly that Shakespeare was for me, and it was Shakespeare & Company’s training style that made it accessible to me. I have been teaching and training actors for the Summer Shakespeare Intensive, weekend intensives, and in the Monthlong Intensive since 2021.

SD: What is currently inspiring you as an artist and educator? MRD: I recently worked with an actor who was going “off” his voice into a whisper, and I asked him if he could explore his middle resonance, a place Kristin talked about as the most revealing part of the voice; it's child-like and has a searching quality. When he did, that moment on stage was so different. His voice led the audience back to his childhood, a haunting and painful place, yet beautiful storytelling that supported the message. I am inspired by actors who share the vulnerable parts of their voices to reach the audience in a deep and meaningful way. n

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Large-scale Sculptures Add Drama to the Shakespeare & Company Lawns By Jaclyn C. Stevenson As patrons turn into the Shakespeare & Company property this season, they’ll notice some new additions to the grounds—galactic orbs reaching toward the sky, multi-colored starbursts swaying with the trees, and a 30-foot, 1,100-pound dinosaur that seems to be lumbering down Kemble Street on its way to Lenox village. In total, six sculptures created by philanthropist and sculptor Harold Grinspoon were installed—with the artist’s close supervision—on the company’s 30-acre property in November. Two grace Kemble Street, a well-trafficked and pedestrian-friendly section of Lenox’s Cultural District, and four more are placed along the drive at the entrance. Shakespeare & Company’s Artistic Director Allyn Burrows said the installation creates a new attraction on the property that visitors can enjoy year-round. “We’re delighted to have the works of the eminent Harold Grinspoon grace our grounds,” he said. “These pieces will enliven the landscape and will surely be the source of animated conversation.” The sculptures were constructed using materials including segments of live oak branches, acrylic rods, stainless-steel poles, and reflective spheres, while adapting resources such as boat paint and varnish and roofing torches for charring to protect the wood-based sculptures.

DINOSAUR, created by sculptor Harold Grinspoon in 2021, is one of six large-scale sculptures loaned to Shakespeare & Company through 2030. Photo by Madeline Carnavale

In 2015, he and his wife, Diane Troderman, signed The Giving Pledge and joined a growing list of leading philanthropists who have committed to dedicating at least 50% of their wealth to philanthropy.

Harold Grinspoon personally supervised the installation of his sculptures on the property in November. Photo by Katie McKellick

Now 97, Grinspoon launched his career as an artist in his eighties after decades of professional success. He’s the founder of Aspen Square Management and creator of PJ Library, the flagship philanthropic endeavor of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, which presents more than 650,000 free books each month to children across 40+ countries, on six continents, in seven languages.

He’s gone on to garner national attention as a renowned sculptor, producing more than 170 sculptures in 11 years and exhibiting or loaning more than 75 sculptures to prominent locales across the U.S., including the Boston Museum of Science, Kent State campus in Kent, Ohio, the Bulfinch Building at Boston’s Mass General Hospital, the Jill Rosenzweig Memorial Sculpture Garden in Tucson, Ariz., and many others. A longtime summer resident in the Berkshires, Grinspoon said he has long dreamed of having his art at Shakespeare & Company. “Art is many things, from performances, music, exhibitions, history, and imagination,” he said. “I have esteemed the community of creatives at Shakespeare & Company and am honored to have my sculptures among them for a time.” n

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Shakespeare & Company Staffer Recognized in the 2025 Blackbaud Impact Awards Behind the scenes, hundreds of less-touted, but no less super-powered, strategies are employed every day at Shakespeare & Company as we strive to offer exceptional theater for all. The maintenance and constant improvement of our patron and donor databases is one such job, and it’s having its moment: Development Operations and Database Manager Liam Castellan has been recognized by the 2025 Blackbaud Impact Awards, which celebrate organizations and people achieving results and driving impact with technology from Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact. Castellan won the Rising Star Award in recognition of his technical skills and strategic vision. According to Blackbaud’s assessment, his skills “position him as an emerging leader who elevates the entire organization’s effectiveness.” Blackbaud’s Chief Customer Officer Todd Lant said the 2025 award recipients exemplify how innovative use of technology can drive meaningful change for the missions and communities they support.

“We are so proud of Liam for being recognized with the Rising Star Award at the 2025 Blackbaud Impact Awards! Liam’s innovation, dedication, and leadership “Every day our teams at Blackbaud show up to create and deliver exceptional technology to power shine every day at Shakespeare & Company—and now the world knows it too. Congrats, Liam!” these organizations, and we’re honored to play a small role in their success,” he said. “We’re excited Castellan was celebrated along with other winners at to celebrate our customers’ accomplishments bbcon 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa., Blackbaud’s annual through the Blackbaud Impact Awards—it’s stories technology conference held in October. like this that motivate us to continue pushing the “It was an honor to represent Shakespeare & needle for social impact technology.” Company at bbcon, in my old stomping grounds Shakespeare & Company’s Director of Development of Philly,” he said. “Over three and a half days, Sunie Gorey added that she’s pleased to see I attended classes and presentations from Castellan’s contributions to the company’s Blackbaud staff and other users on several topics, development efforts recognized on a national level. and came back to Lenox with even more ideas on how to use our donor database to move our mission forward. I just might have to stick around here long enough to implement all of them!” The Blackbaud Impact Awards were created to spotlight the work of its customers worldwide. Blackbaud customers from across the globe were invited to nominate their organizations and leaders across seven award categories, and finalists included organizations and individuals from across the social impact community, including nonprofits, schools and universities, healthcare institutions, and other purpose-driven companies. n Development Operations and Database Manager Liam Castellan receives the Rising Star Award in the Blackbaud Impact Awards from Blackbaud CEO Mike Gianoni. Photo credit: EPNAC

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It’s a terrific tie for Shakespeare & Company volunteers Melody ‘Mel’ Mason and Lori Robbins, recipients of the 2025 Philip Heller Distinguished Service Award. Mason, a key member of the Oral History and Archive Project (OHAP), and Robbins, the company’s probono attorney, were each recognized Philip Heller for their significant time spent yearround supporting the company. Established in 2019, the Heller Award and Fund was created by Anita Heller of Lenox in memory of her husband, who served as pro bono legal counsel to Shakespeare & Company from its inception in 1978 until his death in 2018.

Artistic Director Allyn Burrows, Melody ‘Mel’ Mason, Anita Heller, and Lori Robbins

The fund supports improvements to the Shakespeare & Company campus and programming, such as the creation of an on-campus composting system and new awnings for the Tina Packer Playhouse, as well as annual recognition of members of the community who have performed extraordinary service for the company. “Phil loved Shakespeare & Company, and he loved both the community and the arts of the Berkshires,” said Heller. “He volunteered a lot of his time, so it seemed logical to do something in his honor that also honors our very special volunteers.”

Mason was one of OHAP’s first members, signing on when it was established in 2016 with the intention of preserving and safeguarding Shakespeare & Company’s nearly 50year history. Two years later, she became its co-chair, and since then has continued to lead and, cataloging, projects, as well as creating a paper, video, and audio trail of Shakespeare & Company’s vast store of materials. Sarah Lytle, who conceived of and started OHAP with support from then-Volunteer Company President Sandy Bourgeois and its first co-chair Kristen Lochrie, called Mason “a vigilant custodian of the collections.” “She is meticulous, and an inspired administrator, matching the right person to the best job,” said Lytle, “and she is the keeper of the photographic images that document five amazing decades of Shakespeare & Company’s evolution.” Lori Robbins has carried on Phil Heller's tradition of pro-bono work with Shakespeare & Company since his passing, including with land and property matters relative to the company’s 30-acre campus. Artistic Director Allyn Burrows said Robbins has been a significant help with the recent conversations and procedures around the property that have required a great amount of time, effort, and persistence. “Her work is noted with considerable admiration,” he said. “Every time we have a legal question, Lori answers it with dispatch, knowledge, and expertise. We are enormously grateful for her ongoing assistance.”  PHILIP HELLER DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD PAST RECIPIENTS Sarah Lytle, Richmond, Mass. Bob Lohbauer, Lee, Mass.^ Scott Rubinow, Durham, N.C.^ Mary Ann Turney, Otis, Mass. Ken Werner, Lenox, Mass. Sandy Bourgeois, Richmond, Mass. Barbara Mahony, Pittsfield, Mass. ^ Deceased

Support Shakespeare & Company Patrons, performers, parents, and friends: since 1978, you’ve supported Shakespeare & Company in its mission to offer world-class productions, life-changing education programs, and inspiring training opportunities. In thanks, we are pleased to offer a variety of benefits designed to bring those who contribute to our future even closer to the work of today, including invitations to special events, early-access to season tickets, complimentary behind-the-scenes tours, and more.

To make a contribution, visit shakespeare.org/donate or mail a check to: Shakespeare & Company Attn. Development 70 Kemble Street Lenox, MA 01240 DONATE ONLINE

For more information on making a gift, including stock or estate planning, email development@shakespeare.org, or call 413.637.1199 ext. 180.

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SUPPORT

Melody Mason and Lori Robbins Awarded the 2025 Philip Heller Award

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Stay, Shop, Dine & Explore! We urge visitors and residents alike to visit the fine establishments that have joined us as Business Sponsors in 2026. These charming hotels, top-rated restaurants, eclectic shops, one-of-a-kind attractions, and professional services not only support Shakespeare & Company, but also contribute to the thriving, cultural community that defines the Berkshires as one of the premiere cultural destinations in the world. 51 Park Restaurant & Tavern A.W. Confections Acrisure Insurance Adams Community Bank Allison Crane Interiors Alta Restaurant & Wine Bar Antimony Craft Brewery + Kitchen Arcadian Shop Barrington Brewery & Restaurant Barrington Stage Company Berkshire Agricultural Ventures Berkshire Botanical Garden Berkshire Classic Leather & Silver Berkshire Cosmetic Reconstructive Surgery Center Berkshire Eagle Berkshire Fine Arts Berkshire Greenscapes Berkshire Health Systems Berkshire International Film Festival Berkshire Jewish Film Festival Berkshire Money Management Berkshire Mountain Distillers Berkshire Muse Berkshire Opera Festival Berkshire Pulse Berkshire South Regional Community Center Berkshire Theatre Group Betty’s Pizza Shack Blu Salon & Spa Blue Q Blue Spark Financial Brava Wine Bar Brook Farm Inn Canopy Integrative Health Canyon Ranch Carrie Haddad Gallery Casablanca Casablanca South

Chesterwood Chocolate Springs Café Clark + Green, and Bek, Inc. Architecture Design Close Encounters with Music Cohen + White Associates Community Television for the Southern Berkshires (CTSB) Concord Hill Soap & Candle Considine, Arnold & Schopp LLP, Attorneys at Law Crissey Farm Berkshire Banquet House Dare Bottleshop & Provisions Decumanus Green Design Menagerie Devonfield Inn Doctor Sax House and Dulu Restaurant & Bar Douglas James Rose Attorney & Counsellor at Law Drama Studio Elyse Harney Real Estate Fluff Alpaca Forge by Pennrose Frankie's Ristorante Italiano Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio Glad Rags Glimmerglass Festival Great Barrington Bagel Company & Deli Great Barrington Public Theater Greylock Federal Credit Union Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Guido’s Fresh Marketplace H. Terry Designs Haddad Auto Group Hado-Mark Gallery Hampton Terrace Bed & Breakfast Happier Valley Comedy Haven Café & Bakery Heller & Robbins, Attorneys at Law

Henry’s Electric, Inc. Hideaway Inn Hill-Engineers Architects, Planners, Inc. Home On Main HomeFarm at Undermountain Honeychurch House of Polish Inspired Dental Wellness Jacob’s Pillow Julia Britell Design Juniper Berry Vintage Rentals Kent’s Vacuum Center Kimball Farms Life Care Retirement Community Kushi & Company, PC Laurie Donovan Designs Lenox Chamber of Commerce Lenox Coffee Lenox Family Chiropractic Lenox Fit LePrevost Plumbing, Heating & Cooling Loeb’s Foodtown Love, Eat, Heal Kitchen Lykke Living Mac-Haydn Theatre MacKimmie Co. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center Marton & Davis Meadow Farm Equipment Miraval Berkshires Nejaime's Wine Cellars Norman Rockwell Museum October Mountain Financial Advisors Ombra One Mercantile Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Pignatelli Electric Contractors Pizzeria Boema QualPrint

Red Mannequin Renaissance Investment Group Riverbrook Residence Roberts & Associates Realty, Inc. Second Life Books, Inc. Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Sharon Playhouse Shear Design Shooz Spirited Stone House Properties Stonover Farm SWTRZ Tanglewood The Bidwell House Museum The Bookstore The Chatham Bookstore The Fernery The Gifted Child The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home The Pack Shack Dog Day Care The Red Lion Inn The Soules Team The Triplex Cinema The Warm Ewe The Yankee Inn Town of Ripton Villa Amonoka Walker Street Market WAM Theatre Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center What A Gift WHDD Robin Hood Radio Williams & Sons Stockbridge Country Store Windy Hill Farm Zinc Bistro & Bar

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A BUSINESS SPONSOR? WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? Complimentary show tickets, Annual VIP party, special invitations and more! Promote your business in our Season Playbill and digitally on our website. Rates starting at just $475 for the entire season. Contact Community Relations Manager Elizabeth Aspenlieder at aspenlieder@shakespeare.org, or by phone at 413.637.1199 ext. 110.

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NEW BUSINESS SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

Hanging with the Inn Crowd This spring, Hideaway Inn Lenox—one of the town’s newest destinations—welcomed its first guests, and Shakespeare & Company arrived at its front door soon after to say hello, explore partnerships, and head into the summer months with shared enthusiasm.

The Living Room at Hideaway Inn Lenox

Hideaway Inns Director of Marketing Strategy Owen Wexman said being part of Lenox and partnering with Shakespeare & Company is illustrative of the outreach the Hideaway team hopes to continue in town, and the relationships they hope to foster. “This partnership is something we genuinely treasure,” he said. “For us, it’s never been only about the financial side. It’s about real relationships with the actors, the producers, and the whole Shakespeare & Company community.

Joslyn Eaddy Meléndez, at left as Laertes, and Ryan N. Murray as Hamlet perform at Hideaway Inn Lenox this spring.

Founded by Saxton Sharad and Michael Mathis, Hideaway Inns was built around a simple idea: where you stay should be as memorable as what you do while you’re there.

“If you need something, email us, call us, and seriously, don’t be shy and don’t feel weird about it,” Wexman continued. “We’ll figure out some way to help because we’re partners here, and that’s what makes it special. That’s the spirit we want to extend to the Lenox community and to anyone visiting this special place.” Learn more at hideawayinns.com. n

This hotel brand blends thoughtful design, original amenities, and smart technology to create welcoming, community-focused stays in the kinds of regional destinations travelers love—places like Mount Sunapee, Mount Snow, and now the Berkshire Hills. In Lenox, Hideaway Inn has taken up residence at 11 Old Stockbridge Road, and enlivened the space with vinyl record collections, outdoor fire pits, playrooms for kids and workspaces for weekend warriors, and more. To help celebrate its opening, members of Shakespeare & Company’s Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare performed scenes from Hamlet at Hideaway’s launch party in March. An audience of all ages at Hideaway Inn’s launch party enjoyed the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

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ESCAPE TO WELLNESS In the Heart of the Berkshires

SCAN TO EXPLORE OR VISIT CANYONRANCH.COM/LENOX

Shakespeare & Company Marks its First Debt-Free Era in 47 Years Shakespeare & Company has achieved a milestone more than four decades in the making: for the first time since its founding in 1978, the Berkshiresbased nonprofit theater is completely debt-free. The company has paid off the remaining $1.7 million on its $4 million mortgage on its campus, thanks to contributions from its Board of Trustees and a combination of successful property transactions, community support, and a strong box office season. Beverly Hyman, Chair of Shakespeare & Company’s Board of Trustees, said this new development is “truly a turning point.” “We have some long-term board members who have been around the block a few times in terms of financial ups and downs, and even they see this as a new turn into all-new territory,” she said. “We now have the opportunity to expand education programs—including our nationally recognized Shakespeare in the Courts program—and to focus on our Center for Actor Training, which requires highly skilled faculty.” Hyman added that freeing the organization from mortgage payments opens the door to more artistic and community-focused programming.

“We won’t falter in our pursuit to present highquality works of both contemporary and classic playwrights, including, of course, our namesake,” she said. “But it’s also exciting to create new programs and present things we’ve never done before like Shake It Up, Circus & the Bard, and the Celebration of Jewish Plays, all created by Shakespeare & Company in the last three years.” Artistic Director Allyn Burrows agreed, adding that ensuring Shakespeare & Company’s longterm financial stability is also a move toward more creative expansiveness. “We are extremely grateful to the members of our Board of Trustees who made this advancement in the company’s journey possible. The payments on the mortgage were fairly crushing, and now we can breathe a little. We’re very thankful for all the support.” n

Gathered following the formal announcement at a recent meeting of the Board of Trustees are Director of Development Sunie Gorey; Trustee Greg Lipper; Artistic Director Allyn Burrows; Chair of the Board of Trustees Beverly Hyman, Ph.D, and Board of Trustees Clerk Michael A. Miller.

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Celebrating 29 Years!

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TALKS & TOURS

Talks & Tours Shakespeare & Company offers a full summer of discounted walks and free talks through the summer with the Behind the Curtain lecture series and Merry Wanderers Guided Tours!

BEHIND THE n i a t r u C Our Behind the Curtain talks feature directors, cast, and other creative team members exploring various themes of Season 2026 productions throughout the summer. All Behind the Curtain talks are hosted by Shakespeare scholar Ann Berman, and held on Saturdays in the Friedman Family Garden tent. These events are outdoors and free to all, but tickets are required.

UPCOMING TALKS June 6 – Fireflies, with director Daniela Varon June 20 – Twelfth Night, with director Kate Kohler Amory July 11 – Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, with director Nicole Ricciardi August 1 – Hamlet, with director Ariel Bock August 29 – The Norwegians, with director James Warwick

For more information, visit shakespeare.org/talks-tours or scan the QR code!

Merry Wanderers Guided Tours Shakespeare & Company’s General Manager Steve Ball and his canine companion Willie lead weekly walking tours on Thursday mornings at 10:30 am, July 2 through August 27. These two-hour experiences offer a peek at what it takes to make theater happen, from the costume and prop shops to the armory and beyond. Tickets are $15 or $8 for students. Visit shakespeare.org/talks-tours for more information or to purchase tickets! DID YOU KNOW? Donors of $100 or more can become Merry Wanderers for free! Email development@shakespeare.org for more information.

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TINA PACKER LEGACY FUND 56

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Craft Your Own Legacy

“This place has magic.”

—Julie Quain, longtime volunteer, new Stratford Circle member

What kind of legacy do you wish to leave in this world? It’s a question that we all answer in different ways: through love, family, our life’s work, and by actively deciding the ways we want our financial assets to speak for us after our deaths. If Shakespeare & Company makes the kind of impact you wish to have with your own legacy, then we invite you to join The Stratford Circle, our planned giving program. The Stratford Circle honors those who have committed to the future of Shakespeare & Company through a will, trust, or beneficiary designation. In recognition of their deep commitment, members receive exclusive opportunities to engage with the company including recognition in our annual playbill and on our website (unless anonymity is requested), invitations to the annual Stratford Circle event and other special occasions, and the reassurance that you’re helping Shakespeare & Company thrive for future generations. This is a powerful way to support Shakespeare & Company’s mission of bringing integrated and sustainable performance, training, and education programs to our community. Not only does your gift provide essential financial support, but it can also offer valuable tax benefits during your lifetime and beyond. To learn more or share your plans, contact our Development Department at 413.637.1199 ext. 180, or email development@shakespeare.org. You can find more information, as well as a Letter of Intent, at shakespeare.org/thestratford-circle, or scan the QR code.

SUPPORT

The Stratford Circle –

We express our heartfelt gratitude to the following supporters who have included Shakespeare & Company in their estate plans: • Anonymous • Carol Anderson • Honie^ and Jerry Berko^ • Elayne P. Bernstein Schwartz^ • Sandy Bourgeois and Sarah Lytle • Carol Braun • David S. Brink • Dr. Barbara Chasen • Shera Cohen • Gretchen DeKalb • Ruth E. Dinerman • Hans R. Fehlmann^ • Stuart M. Fischman, Esq. • Marilou B. Flint^ • Monique Gershon^ • Katharine Goodland • Robert D. Gorden^ • Paula Lee Gottschalk^ • Howard Kaufman^ • Jeff Konowitch & Wendy Laurin • Dennis Krausnick^ • Greg Lipper • Claire Cox Lowenthal^ • Barri Marks • Lucille McCabe^ • Robert B. Neff^ • Tina Packer^ • Julie R. Quain • Richard Russell • Linda Sambel^ • Mary and Gary Shipp • Marilyn Thompson^ • Nancy^ and Michael Vale^ • Dr. Raymond Vale ^ deceased A legacy gift makes a lasting impact on the future of Shakespeare & Company. We honor these members for choosing this meaningful way to give.

Shakespeare & Company is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (EIN# 04-2666826). All gifts are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law. Please consult your legal or financial advisor to determine your personal tax and estate plans.

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Second Life Books, Inc.

Antiquarian Books & First Editions Bought & Sold Appraisals • Catalogues Issued Browsers welcome by appointment

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www.secondlifebooks.com

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TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION, VISIT SHAKESPEARE.ORG

Shakespeare & Company gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the following individuals, foundations, businesses, and government agencies whose annual support is essential to our programs. Individual donors who contribute $1,500 and above are members of the Players’ Society, our leadership gift society. Through their generous philanthropy, leadership, and service, these donors exhibit a deep commitment to the organization.

PLAYERS’ SOCIETY PRODUCER $50,000+ Anonymous (2) The Bok Family Foundation Faro Foundation Michael and Ricki Helfer TPLF Bev Hyman and Larry Birnbach Virginia and Harvey Kimmel Karen A. Kowgios and Robert Fried Greg Lipper and Kate Kohler Amory Massachusetts Cultural Council Michael A. and Annette Miller Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism Robert B. Neff^ Emily Rechnitz Stephen and Pilar Crespi Robert Deborah and Bill Ryan Amy and David Sorkin

PRODUCER $25,000-49,999 Anonymous Arts Midwest Virginia S. Akabane DKFF The Elayne P. Bernstein Family The Feigenbaum Foundation Susan and Richard Grausman Liz and George Krupp, Krupp Family Foundation Theatrical Fund of the Lotta Crabtree Trust Suzanne Priebatsch Joan Rechnitz Kathleen Rogers and Rick Teller Barry and Marjorie Shapiro, Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation Natalie and Howard Shawn The Shubert Foundation

THE BARD $10,000-24,999 Berkshire Money Management Beyond Classical Theatre Inc. Jim Cochran and Fran Pilato TPLF Phoebe Giddon Geoffrey Simon and Andrea Graham Family Foundation Harold Grinspoon and Diane Troderman Anita F. Heller Barbara and Amos Hostetter Amy Berko Iles TPLF Karen and Steven Kaufman

Gary and Jeanie Knisely Jeffrey Konowitch and Wendy Laurin TPLF Peter and Candy LaPlante Barri Marks and Woody Exley Microsoft Matching Gifts Program Ricardo Morales and Melissa Agosto Anne Rothenberg, The Janey Fund Charitable Trust Dr. Bonnie Saks and Bradley Minnen Jenifer and Mark Salzberg Dr. Licia Sky and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk Jeanne and Frank Speizer TPLF Stone Soup Fund Toni and Robert Strassler The Helen Matchett Demario Foundation, Inc. Sandra Urie and Frank Herron TPLF Andrea Waldstein Andrew B. Weinberger and Meredith Sue Willis Rhea and Ken Werner

THE DIRECTOR $5,000-9,999 Anonymous (3) Deborah and Alan Annex Shari and Steve Ashman DKFF Jody Bourgeois Mary and Michael Brabeck Jadwiga Brown James Chambers, Honey Dog Farm Paul Clark and Carol Parrish Cohen Family Fund of Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, Inc. Suki Diamond and Tyler Whisnand Chip and Cindy Elitzer Jane Gilbert Marlo Hyman and Ken Goldman Martha and Todd Golub Ellen and Scott Hand Donald Hicken Lisa and Tim Kent James Kistler and Christine Conklin Debra and Abraham Klein David M. Kozak Barbara A. Mahony K. Ann McDonald Jim Miller The Neil Family Myra Sallet TPLF Kiki Smith Paul V. Walsh and Jennifer S. Walsh Dottie Weber Jacqueline Werner

Catherine Wheeler TPLF Reid and Laird White Junior Winokur and Craig Vickers Rose Zoltek-Jick

THE POET $2,500-4,999 Mary and Dan Abbruzzese Hillel and Liliana Bachrach Henry Baker and Jerry Arko Helene Berger Judy and Tim Boomer Sandy Bourgeois and Sarah Lytle TPLF John Bousa Patrick J. Buckley Wende and David Carver Mary and Robert Cohen Joey Coleman and Berit Oskey Michael J. Considine & Shawn P. Leary, Attorneys Frank Curran Claudia Davidoff and Joseph Kahan Joanne Dreher TPLF Jody Dushay and Paul Gompers Deborah and Robert First Ricki Gardner and William Cavanagh Deborah Grausman Stephen Graves and Caroline Marten-Ellis Martin and Judy Isserlis Leslie and Stephen Jerome Dominic Kirchner II HELLERFUND Lenox School Alumni Association, Inc. TPLF DKFF Jaan and Jacqueline Metsma TPLF Bruce Miller and Valeska O'Leary Mill Town Foundation Ann and Donald Morrison Carole Murko and Jim Finnerty Brooke Owen Thomas Carole Robinson and Mark Palermo TPLF DKFF Elaine B. Panitz, MD, MPH Michael Paskin and Danielle DeMaio Peter B. F. and Helen G. Randolph Lawrence Rosenthal Margery and Lewis Steinberg Dr. Adam and Deborah Miller Strickberger theatre works! Janet Wynn and Roger Kubarych Leone T. Young Michael Zody

THE PLAYER $1,500-2,499 Anonymous Steve and Cathy Bader Nancy and Mark Belsky, Rita J. & Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation Sandra and Eric Berkowitz Carol and Robert Braun Linda Cantoni TPLF Linda Benedict Colvin Paula Consolini and Jim Mahon Leslie Curtis John and Janet Egelhofer Robert^ and Iris Fanger Gerald and Deborah Goodman Davis William and Suzanne Harley Charlie Huisking Dr. Lawrence Kadish Dr. Eugene W. Leibowitz Nancy Lukitsh Darlene McCampbell Esther Messing Leah Modigliani and Nicky McGrane TPLF Jerry and Linda Monchik Selina Morris-Grinspoon Mary Ellen O'Connor Penny and Claudio Pincus Noni Pratt TPLF Edith Pye and Ernest Nieratka TPLF DKFF Joanne Sattley Lynne Sebastian and George Klemp Jennifer Sendek Barbara Serating and Ted Shiffman Steven Somkin and Naomi Spatz Damon Suden TPLF John Douglas Thompson Dr. Michael and Debbie Troner Kevin Truex and Frank Burnes Jane Weingarten Mara and Randy Winn Jessie Wolfson and Larry Kron

SOVEREIGNS $1,000-1,499 Anonymous (4) TPLF Margaret and James Andreassi Jillen Axelrod and Sherman Pheiffer Martin Baron Beacon Bank Vicki Bonnington and David Schecker Christine and Larry Carsman Elisabeth Sullivan Chapman Jennifer Kotler Clarke

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SUPPORT

Thank you for your support!

SUPPORT

INDIVIDUAL & INSTITUTIONAL DONORS Merry Conway and Frederic Cosandey Barbara Cooperman Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire Constance and Michael Cunningham Andrea Degenhardt Paul Deutsch and Kiu Ling Tom Beverly Carolan DKFF Edward Dyer Marianne Deignan and Gray Ellrodt Thomas Flanigan and Jonathan Stone R. Constance Giesser Google, Inc. Carol Green Greylock Federal Credit Union Christopher Grisanti Susan Henshaw Jones Dr. Gary and Susan Jacobson Jennie and David Jadow Julie and Saskatoon Merle and Leo Kailas Gail Kitch, Ed Kitch, and Charles Leftwich TPLF Dana Gliserman Kopans and Matthew Kopans Nathan Kravis Maxene Kupperman-Guiñals Thomas Patrick Lane Steve and Jorie Latham DKFF Amy Cohen Bauman and Alan Laves Lenox Cultural Council Owen Lewis, MD and Susan Ennis Paula Stern and Paul A. London Joan Lonergan and John Merrow Ellen and Peter Maggio Charles and Debra McCambridge Martin Messinger Alan Miller and Katherine Smith Marybeth and Kevin Mitts Dr. Peter B. Mudge New Marlborough Cultural Council Paul and Deborah O'Brien TPLF Arthur T. Oliver Claudia Perles and Gerry Fultz Pittsfield Cultural Council Wendy and Richard Polins Lia and Bill Poorvu Susan Popper and Robert Greenberg Dr. Donald and Fran Putnoi Rachel Rivin and Corinne Heyes Ro Family Foundation Roberts & Associates Realty, Inc. Pamela Roberts Laura Rosenthal The Jeffrey and Karen Ross Charitable Fund Melinda and Andy Rothstein Barry and Jane Salzberg Linda Saul-Sena and Mark Sena Raquel and Michael Scheck David Scudder and Betsy Ridge Irina and Alexander Shifrin The Sholley Foundation Rita and Harvey Simon

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TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION, VISIT SHAKESPEARE.ORG Lawrence Goodman Alan Gordon Glenn Gorelick Mark Grebler and Kathy Grogan Rob and Wilma Guerette Charls Sedgwick Hall and Henry Bachofer TPLF Miles and Penny Herter Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss Higgins Petie Hilsinger Melissa and Santa Claire Hirsch TPLF Daniel and Judith Hoffman Timothy and Elaine Hurley Kirk James Joel Isaacson & Co., LLC Barbara and George Kafka Jane and Joel Kamer Jeff Kaplan and Ellen Cohen Kaplan Joseph Kaufman and Janet Korins David and Joanne Sheehan Keator Lynn Kelley and James Castellan Lucy Kennedy Margaret and Karlis Kirsis Leslie and Roy Kozupsky Howard and Gay Kraft Carol and Stuart Kuller Claude Lamedica William and Susan Landay Cassandra Lane and Adrian Elliot Larry Lane and Susan Lyman Lee Cultural Council Bob Lee James W. Lees Alan and Melanie Levitan TPLF Norman and Nancy Lipoff Steven M. Lobel DKFF Govane Lohbauer Max Madole Dawilla Madsen Michele and Steven Marantz Judy Marcus State Senator Paul Mark Melody Mason Sara McCain Martha McDonald Kate McNulty-Vaughan and Robert Vaughan Robert Miller and Victoria Choy HELLERFUND Magda and Gus Mininberg Jeff Mitchell and Karen Hobbes Paula Molk Martin Monas Dawn and Matt Mott Manny and Alice Nadelman Carolyn Newberger Brian O'Hagan Kevin and Joyce Parks PayPal Charitable Giving Fund Lisa and Taylor Perron Pauline and Mark Peters Christian and Carol Pfister Suzi Plaut Stephen and Janis Porter Mary Porter Elizabeth and Jeffrey Pyle Sanford and Shelley Reback Judith W. Reichert Edward Reidy

Susan and Michael Reuben Lisa Reznik and Dan Meyers Teresa Ribadeneyra and Joseph Lalka Frederick Rich The Rock Family Vicki and Bruce Safran Alan and Anne Schnitzer Joshua Schottenstein David Schulman Chuck Schwager and Jan Durgin Jeff and Karin Sherman Dr. Eleanor Shore Michael and Brad Simon Christopher Sink and Jon MacClaren M.B. Slaminsky Mark Stapp Max Strickberger William and Rose Ann Sturgeon Jonathan A. Swartz TPLF Carole M. Smargon and Richard T. Tibbetts Marjory Trott TPLF

Daniela Varon Mary C. Vassallo Lorraine Vekens Dr. Deborah Verlen Elsa Vivero and James Sall James Warwick and David Mead Judy F. Wein and Gerald Sussman Joel and Sarah Weinberger Audrey Weiner and Jeffrey Solomon Stephen and Linda Weisberg Muriel Wermuth Lynda Faye Wertheim West Stockbridge Cultural Council Julie and Andrew White Marna Whittington TPLF Paul Wing Marie and John Woodward Alan and Mark Wovsaniker, Wovsaniker Family Fund Marlene Zuckerman

Shakespeare & Company sends its sincere condolences to those friends, colleagues, and supporters who have recently passed away. We are forever grateful for the lives they lived and the gifts they shared—their presence enriched our stages, our community, and our mission in ways that will not be forgotten. They remain in our hearts. We are grateful to our many friends whose gifts of under $250 make a difference every year! Shakespeare & Company is also thankful for the donors who have generously contributed clothing, accessories, shoes, and fabric to our Costume Shop; props and paint to our Prop Shop; furniture for Company housing, and cars to our motor fleet. We also recognize those who have donated food, beverages, or specialized skills. If we inadvertently omitted your name or listed it incorrectly, please accept our sincere apologies and contact the Development Office at 413.637.1199 ext. 145 or development@shakespeare.org. List reflects donations received April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026. Shakespeare & Company also expresses its sincere gratitude for the invaluable pro bono assistance of the following firms: Boston Trust & Investment Management Company Goulston & Storrs, Boston Heller & Robbins PC Lori A. Robbins, Esq. Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi LLP, Minneapolis and New York KEY TPLF denotes that at least part of this donor’s generosity supported the Tina Packer Legacy Fund DKFF denotes that at least part of this donor’s generosity supported the Dennis Krausnick Fellowship Fund HELLERFUND denotes that at least part of this donor’s generosity supported the Philip Heller Fund ^ deceased

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On April 23, the world pauses to mark the birthday of William Shakespeare. Here at Shakespeare & Company, we've decided that's reason enough for a party—and then some. This spring marked the Bard’s 462nd birthday, and our second Annual Giving Day: a celebration that Artistic Director Allyn Burrows Photo by Sunie Gorey pairs community-focused fundraising with a full day of free workshops, accessible performances, community programming, and—of course—birthday treats for all.

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Second Annual Giving Day Celebrates the Bard — and the Future He Inspired In addition, a series of video testimonials were created and released throughout the day on social media, featuring Fellowship recipient Bobbin Ramsey, Month-long Intensive alumna Katherine Banos ’26, volunteer and Stratford Circle member Julie Quain, Center for Actor Training Department Administrator MaConnia Chesser, and Artistic Director Allyn Burrows, sharing their thoughts on what the company means to them.

The excitement didn’t stop with meeting Giving Day goals, however. Forever faithful to The Bard, Shakespeare & Company Education Artists held Director Kevin G. Coleman and At the heart of this year's Giving Day was the official free workshops in theater Education Ann Berman lead a Behind the Curtain talk games and fight and on Hamlet launch of The Tina Packer Legacy Fund, established movement, opening to honor the vision of our Founding Artistic Director the doors to curious newcomers and seasoned and ensure it endures for generations to come. theatergoers alike. A free screening of the Fall The fund supports the Tina Packer Women of Will Festival of Shakespeare short documentary Speak Directing Fellowship for early-career directors who What We Feel was followed by a talkback with have a passion for Shakespeare, scholarships Founding Director of Education Kevin G. Coleman, for mid-career actors attending the Month-long Intensive, and deepened training for Fall Festival of and a free Behind the Curtain talk hosted by Shakespeare scholar Ann Berman complemented Shakespeare directors and designers. the afternoon’s open-captioned performance of Director of Development Sunie Gorey added the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare’s that the event also had a strong “friendraising” production of Hamlet, directed by Coleman and component, aimed at raising awareness of Victoria Rhoades. Shakespeare & Company’s year-round work, and Next year, the party will be back to celebrate Giving welcoming donations at any monetary level. Day and Shakespeare’s 463rd. It’s a date that won’t “Our goal for Annual Giving Day was to collect at change, with more than one cause worth celebrating. n least 38 individual donations to represent each of Shakespeare's plays that Tina directed—all of them,” she said, noting that the goal was exceeded. “The first 38 donors were matched with one of those play titles—a small piece of the effort they can call their own. “Two donors declared that it was a wonderful opportunity to read or re-read the plays they had been paired with,” added Gorey. “Some of the titles are quite obscure! A donation of any amount made a real difference, and helped us reach our goal and complete the canon.” Company Artist Victoria Rhoades leads a free workshop in dance and movement

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A HIDDEN TREASURE JUST MINUTES FROM THE BERKSHIRES shopping | dining | entertainment | nature | ...and more!

Shakespeare & Company's Beer Garden Is Back for Another Round Raise a glass—the Beer Garden at Shakespeare & Company returns for its second year, offering libations and celebrations at the tented Friedman Family Garden. Featuring a handcrafted bar built by Company Artist Marcus Kearns, the Beer Garden will remain open Friday–Monday throughout Twelfth Night’s run, July 4–July 26, with a series of hosted events on Monday evenings continuing through August 3. Shakespeare & Company has partnered with Antimony Brewing of Lenox to offer a variety of their year-round and seasonal offerings, plus one special brew available on-site only: A Midsummer Night’s Summer Ale, featuring customized labels with the Shakespeare & Company logo. Rob Trask, Antimony’s owner and founder, said he’s excited to see this new development take shape.

Patrons take part in the Shakespeare & Company’s Beer Garden’s first Monday event, trivia with Abigail St. John. Monday events continue through August. Photo by Anthony Feola

“We’re excited to bring the Beer Garden back for a second year as part of our summer season programming,” Barbieri said. “This is an incredible opportunity to build community through free, fun programming—and provide some respite to those working in the theater industry to kick back and relax with each other on a Monday night.” Artistic Director Allyn Burrows added that he is thrilled to expand on an existing, positive relationship with Antimony Brewing. “Rob Trask has been a long-time friend of the company, and we’ve been looking to collaborate for a while,” he said. “Serving his fine craft brews on our property helps to celebrate that friendship.”

Antimony Brewing of Lenox has partnered with Shakespeare & Company and offers an exclusive, Bard-inspired beer for summer 2026. Photo by Anthony Feola

“Shakespeare & Company holds a special place in our hearts, as we have long admired their artistic work and vision for the campus,” he said. “We are very excited to be partnering with them in their Beer Garden as we share our vision of bringing joy to the community.” Scheduled Monday events hosted by Shakespeare & Company Artists and curated by Haley Barbieri offer a diverse line-up, including open mic nights, trivia, board games, and more.

From July 10 through July 26, Friday through Sunday, the Beer Garden will be open at 5 pm, closing at the show’s intermission. On Mondays, the garden opens at 6 pm with events beginning at 7 pm. For more information, call the Box Office at 413.637.3353 or email boxoffice@shakespeare.org. n

UPCOMING MONDAY EVENTS July 6 – Meet the Brewer with Antimony Brewing July 13 – Open Mic Night with Company Artist Greg Boover July 20 – Trivia Night with Education Artist Abigail St. John July 27 – Board Game Night August 3 – The Final Bow for Shake It Up: The Remix

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Austen & Afternoon Tea Celebrates Jane Austen's 250th Birthday

While Shakespeare is undoubtedly our patron saint, Jane Austen has become our grande dame. For a decade, Shakespeare & Company has staged costumed readings of Austen-inspired plays as its winter show, creating a new tradition for local and visiting literary lovers alike—and this past December, the event was made even more special as patrons raised a teacup for Jane on the occasion of her 250th birthday. Devised by Patron Services Manager Haley Barbieri and Director of Marketing & Communications Jaclyn Stevenson as a one-time gathering, Austen & Afternoon Tea offered a lowercost event that could, but did not need to, be paired with tickets to the show. “We began discussing celebrating Jane Austen’s birthday in 2024, and the resulting event was very close to what we envisioned,” said Stevenson. “As it happens, our existing resources, gathering spaces, and the talents of our staff are the perfect mix for an afternoon tea.”

The day began with a talk led by Ann Berman, host of Shakespeare & Company’s Behind the Curtain series, exploring Austen’s enduring influence and importance. An afternoon of tea and croissants, sweet and savory nibbles, and of course a birthday cake adorned with pink and red roses followed, with Regency-era costumes curated by costume designer Govane Lohbauer on display throughout the room and tea pots, creamers, and sugar bowls borrowed from the prop shop doubling as flower vases. Following the tea, guests could also purchase tickets to the matinee showing of last year’s production of Sense and Sensibility, or follow the celebration even further into Lenox village. Two paper-and-cardboard models representing small and large homes from Austen’s novels created by Shakespeare & Company scenic designers were on display at the Lenox Library, part of their own series of Austen-inspired events throughout December, and The Bookstore created a display of Austen titles at its Housatonic Street location.

Soon, heads turned quickly toward Season 2026, and Jane’s 251st birthday. Positive ticket sales and an overall sense of camaraderie at the event had people asking if there would be an encore, or if the tea might become part of the festivities every year. As such, Austen & Afternoon Tea is slated to return on Sunday, December 20, during the four-show run of Claire F. Martin’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, directed by Ariel Bock. “It’s gratifying to see an event we thought would be a singular celebration continue on for another year, with the possibility of becoming a permanent aspect of this already beloved winter tradition,” said Barbieri. “It’s joyful, welcoming, and adds warmth to the season that we are looking forward to sharing again. And who doesn’t love afternoon tea?” For more information, visit shakespeare.org, or call the Box Office at 413.637.3353. n

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Shop small. Shop local. Wine • Beer Specialty Foods & More Two models inspired by the homes featured in Jane Austen’s novels remained on display at the Lenox Library for the month of December in 2025, marking Austen’s 250 th birthday. Photo by Hayden Whisnand

Since 2021

The Homes of Jane Austen To better inform set design for Jane Austen– inspired productions, Shakespeare & Company scenic designers created two models—aptly dubbed The Big House and The Little House— using foam core, watercolors, mat board, paper, pins, spray adhesive, and fine-point pens. The Big House, created by Scenic Designer Patrick Brennan, is a composite of houses he sourced from books, in-person visits, and his imagination—including French- and Englishderived decorative elements. Props Artisan Hannah Sotnek built The Little House with scale in mind, depicting the difference in both size and scope between the estate and the cottage. Models like these help inform set design for Jane Austen–inspired productions and illustrate the worlds in which the plays take place. In Sense and Sensibility, for instance, The Big House represents Norland Park, the home the Dashwood sisters must leave due to a greedy sister-in-law, while The Little House represents the cottage where they resettle. In works, such as Pride and Prejudice, The Big House stands in for Pemberley, the country estate owned by Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. —Jaclyn C. Stevenson

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A Life Well Lived: Tina Packer

SEPTEMBER 28, 1938–JANUARY 9, 2026 Acclaimed actor, director, writer, teacher, and Founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company Tina Packer passed away on Friday, January 9, 2026, surrounded by her son, Martin, and close friends.

Tina and co-founder Kristin Linklater

Tina believed in speaking the truth through Shakespeare’s text. Holding to the idea that Shakespeare’s language offers actors a valuable combination of practices that focus on the voice, body, mind, soul, and spirit, she created Shakespeare & Company’s Training Program—now known as the Center for Actor Training—with Kristin, to train actors in classical performance. This training introduced a common language the Company could embrace and a practice of work that has a lifelong effect. The program evolved, blossomed into an internationally acclaimed entity, and became Tina’s pride and joy. Sir Ian McKellen and Tina, David Copperfield, 1966

Born in Wolverhampton, England and raised in Nottingham, Tina was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1964 with honors and the Ronson Award for Most Promising Actress. She went on to perform as an Associate Artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in multiple television series for the BBC and ITV, including David Copperfield and Doctor Who, as well as the 1967 film Two a Penny.

Today, Shakespeare & Company continues to offer performance, education, and actor-training opportunities year-round from its permanent home: a 30-acre parcel on Kemble Street in historic Lenox, Massachusetts.

Tina moved on from television acting to direct and teach at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and, having been awarded a Ford Foundation Travel and Study Grant to research the visceral roots of Shakespeare’s plays, traveled to India, Israel, Italy, and the United States. There, she co-founded Shakespeare & Company in 1978 in the Berkshires of Massachusetts with actor, director, writer, and teacher Dennis Krausnick (1942–2018), who later became Tina’s husband; renowned voice and text teacher Kristin Linklater (1936–2020), and a cadre of theater artists. The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, Mass., served as the Company’s first venue. 70

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Allyn Burrows, Tina, and Timothy Douglas

Tina retired as artistic director in 2009, when her focus turned largely to directing and teaching. She continued to act, with theater acting credits from across the country. She portrayed Edith Wharton on several occasions, as well as Shakespeare’s Volumnia, Gertrude, and Cleopatra. Ultimately,

Tina acted in eight of Shakespeare’s plays— never when directing, she was sure to note— and directed all of them, many multiple times. Beyond Shakespeare & Company, Tina directed Shakespeare productions around the world, most recently Titus Andronicus Christianna Nelson and Tina, Antony and Cleopatra, 2007 in 2022 at Portland Playhouse in Portland, Ore., as well as at Boston’s Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Prague Shakespeare, the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va., the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Festival, and many others.

of the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal Award. Shakespeare & Company: When Action Is Eloquence, cowritten with Bella Merlin, provides the first comprehensive insight into the Company, published by Routledge. Tina’s book Women of Will, published by Knopf in 2015, was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice. It grew from a passion that took root decades earlier: an examination of the women of Shakespeare’s works through a series of performances, in which Tina portrayed every female role and delivered short lectures for each segment. The show was performed in Mexico, England, The Hague, China, and across the United States, marking her New York acting and writing debuts. Thirty years later, the Women of Will Directing Fellowship, conceived by actor and Shakespeare & Company Center for Actor Training alumnus John Douglas Thompson, was created in Tina’s honor to further the development of early-career stage directors who identify as women and have a passion for Shakespeare. Tina is survived by her son, Martin Jason Asprey; brothers Julian Packer (wife Sue Packer) and Nicholas Packer; aunt Pauline Perry; cousin Simon Perry; nephew Francis Hanson; grandnephew Samuel Hanson, and many nieces and nephews who will deeply miss Tina’s irreverent and indefatigable spirit and all-encompassing love. n

Tina in her playhouse

A consummate academic, Tina taught the entire Shakespeare canon at more than 30 colleges and universities, including Harvard University, MIT, and New York University. At Columbia University, she taught in the MBA program for four years and co-authored Power Plays: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Leadership and Management with Columbia Business School Professor John O. Whitney, published by Simon & Schuster. She went on to pen several more books and scholarly articles, including the children’s book Tales from Shakespeare for Scholastic, recipient Clockwise: Co-founder Dennis Krausnick, Tina, and co-founder Kevin G. Coleman; Nigel Gore and Tina, Women of Will, and Tina at The Mount, early 1980s

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VOLUNTEER WITH US!

Shakespeare & Company Volunteers are truly the stars of the show—as well as of the gardens, the Gift Shop, guest services, and beyond. The Volunteer Company supports Shakespeare & Company year-round, and touches thousands of lives from audiences to youth groups to actors-in-training. Plus, Volunteer Company members enjoy several benefits in thanks for their service, including free ticket vouchers to performances and special programs. Recently, we asked several volunteers to tell us what VOLUNTEER has made their time at Shakespeare & Company special. Here’s what they had to say: OPPORTUNITIES “I need to be busy because I was a teacher for 33 years! I love the arts, and there is nothing here that you don’t want to do because everyone is really friendly, and very helpful, and it’s a casual atmosphere.” –MaryAnn “One of my favorite things to do is the Fall Festival of Shakespeare with the kids from high schools. It’s the best and everybody should know about it! I usher for it, and get to meet some of the kids, and it’s really a fun time, the whole thing.” –Ruth “I have loved being a gardener because you see the results of your efforts and you get to garden with lots of wonderful people.” –Clay

Ushering Administrative Support Company Event Support Community Event Support Company Hospitality Flower Arranging Gardening Gift Shop Sales & Support Patron Greeting Oral History & Archive Project Support Tour Support To get involved, email volunteers@shakespeare.org.

“I bake, usher, work in the gardens, and I curate Behind the Curtain talks. What I love about Shakespeare & Company is how welcoming it feels. The possibility of doing anything that you’re interested in is made pretty easy. If you’re a baker you should join the baking gang, if you love gardening, there’s plenty of things to do in the gardens. Ushering is always a treat, and you get to see the show for free. I hope you’ll join us!” –Ann

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FROM THE NORWEGIANS

Four Questions with Playwright C. Denby Swanson C. Denby Swanson, playwright of The Norwegians, took time earlier this summer to answer a few questions about the play ahead of the production’s opening. The Norwegians runs September 4 through October 4 at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre directed by James Warwick. Learn more about the show on page 25. S&Co: The Norwegians balances dark humor with emotional vulnerability. How did the idea of this story come about and what drew you to telling this story through comedy rather than straight drama? CDS: The play came about because my friend Joe Salvatore, who teaches at NYU, asked me to be part of a 24 hour play project for a theater he works with in New Jersey. They gave us three ingredients to start, then our 10-minute plays were due the next morning. Joe was writing one also. I don't even remember what the ingredients were, but at like 3 am we were talking on the phone, both super punchy, and all I wanted to do was laugh. I had lived in Minneapolis for two years on playwriting fellowships, and I think I just said something like, “My play is going to be about hitmen. Super nice ones. Because they're from Minnesota.” And we both just howled.

C. Denby Swanson

When I decided to write the full length version, it was, again, on a complete whim. The late agent Morgan Jenness had told me to write what she described as a “molly bolt play;” a molly bolt is that anchor that you hammer into drywall, then it expands on the other side and becomes load-bearing, so it lets you hang heavy things. What she meant by a "molly bolt play" was something clean, simple, threeto-four characters, a single set. It's a play that gets you in the door—essentially, it prepares the wall so that you can hang your heavier, deeper plays on it. But I was dumb and was like, I don't want to write that. So I didn't for a long, long time. My work was usually dense, very poetic, lots of theatrical spectacle, puppets, people transforming into animals, some enormous historical framework or big, impossible ideas. And it didn't get me very far and I got frustrated. I turned 40. I decided that the writing life had interfered with my ability to become a parent, so I got licensed to foster. My first kiddo was a toddler who came from this immense trauma. He didn't eat, sleep, or talk. He had no words. I don't think he could depend on grownups for very much. He had been very unsafe. So the 10 months of having him in my life was this great journey of rediscovering the power of language. It was profoundly moving. It was such a privilege to watch him learn that words could get him what he wanted. So being with him was what eventually got me back to writing. I'd have these 15 minute blocks, that's it. I had to be very focused and very open. And that’s how I wrote the expanded version of The Norwegians—simple, clean, direct, episodic. Only four characters. The molly bolt play that I should have written to begin my career, but which I finally wrote when I thought my career was over. Backwards, as usual. And also, God bless Morgan Jenness. She was right, she was always right, and I only figured that out years later and I never got to tell her. S&Co: The play explores themes of loneliness, revenge, and human connection in unexpected ways. Were there particular experiences, relationships, or cultural influences that shaped the characters? CDS: The Norwegians is basically a diary entry from my own romantic failures, except for the murder part. The old joke is that a papercut equals tragedy, but someone falling into a giant hole in the street and dying equals comedy. I fell into a giant hole in the street and felt like I was dying, then I wrote a funny play about it. I do get a lot of joy in cashing my checks. 74

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S&Co: Minneapolis winter and Scandinavian identity feel almost like characters in the play themselves. How important was setting the atmosphere and emotional tone you wanted to create? CDS: I did not set out to write about the cultural sectarianism in different pockets of America, but I think the play ultimately needed to have these two iconic places, Texas and Minnesota, braced against each other. Texas summer vs. Minnesota winter. They are about the same length. Surviving that single, brutal, interminable season is the bulk of our understanding of ourselves. And yet, in the middle of weather that really, really, wants to kill everybody until they are dead, dead, dead, Minnesotans are just so darn pleasant. The radio is playing warnings like, “At 40-below zero, you have 10 minutes before your skin starts to die.” And the voice is like this Lutheran church volunteer lady. It's so sweet and so bleak at the same time. The extremes are where the comedy lives. S&Co: Audiences often describe the play as both unsettling and strangely heartfelt. What kinds of reactions do you hope people leave the theater with after seeing it? CDS: This is a delightful thing to hear. I love the combination of unsettling and strangely heartfelt. It feels a lot like my family's holiday gatherings. Also, pervasive sarcasm and dad jokes. Like, serve that to me on a platter. I am there all day. One of my favorite experiences of theater is when the audience becomes friends during the show and complete strangers are still talking to each other on the way to their cars. I hope that a revelation about the story hits them in the parking lot. I hope a joke lands the next day. I hope they mutter “The Norwegians invented that” every once in a while. That would be pretty lovely. n —C. Denby Swanson, interviewed by Elizabeth Aspenlieder

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TAB BENOIT July 12 JOHN WAITE July 16 TOM PAPA July 18 BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET July 24 HEATHER HEADLEY July 31 GALA: ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO August 2 BERKSHIRE OPERA FESTIVAL August 22, 25 & 28 LOS LONELY BOYS September 25

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BUSINESS SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT

Berkshire Money Management Shakespeare & Company is grateful to recognize one of our long-time Business Sponsors, Berkshire Money Management, for their steadfast support as a valued community partner. Their partnership not only supports our artists, productions, and programming, but also strengthens our broader mission to serve and enrich our community. Headquartered in Dalton, Mass., Berkshire Money Management was founded in 2001 by Allen Harris, CEO and Chief Investment Officer. The firm specializes in comprehensive financial planning and active investment portfolio management, helping clients navigate retirement, business transitions, divorce, inheritance, and new beginnings through fee-only financial planning, Social Security and Medicare coaching, tax and estate optimization, and business valuation services. Community involvement is a foundational pillar of BMM’s culture. The firm maintains a dedicated outreach budget, contributing more than $100,000 annually to local nonprofits, emergency funds, and

community events—with a focus on Food Security & Basic Needs, Animal Welfare, Community Health & Healthcare Worker Support, and Hands-on Volunteerism & Local Culture. That last pillar includes longstanding sponsorships of Shakespeare in the Park Allen Harris, CEO and Chief Investment and downtown First Fridays Officer of Berkshire Money Management Artswalk events. All of us at Shakespeare & Company are deeply grateful for Berkshire Money Management's generosity, energy, and goodwill—especially Allen Harris, Lusha Martin, and Kimberly Campagna—for believing in what we do and continuing to build this meaningful community partnership with us. We truly could not do this work without your support. n

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2026 SEASON

Andris Nelsons MUSIC DIRECTOR

EXPLORE YOUR MUSICAL PLAYGROUND There are performances for everyone to enjoy at Tanglewood all summer long. World-class BSO and Boston Pops musicians, classical music superstars, and popular artists light up our stages. Plus, engaging workshops, fun family events, and a weeklong series curated by Yo-Yo Ma will deepen your connection to music and each other.

Learn more and buy tickets at tanglewood.org

JOIN THE PLAYERS’ SOCIETY Patrons who contribute $1,500 and more enjoy inside access to all the Company has to offer, including a free Ticket Hotline for priority seating, no-cost ticket exchanges, invitations to special events including rehearsals, Meet-the-Artist receptions, opening night cocktail hours, and many other benefits. For more information, please contact Director of Development Sunie Gorey at 413.637.1199 ext. 180, or email sgorey@shakespeare.org.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR DONOR BENEFITS AT ALL LEVELS Ashley McCauley Moore, Rory Hammond, Juan Luis Acevedo, and J. Austyn Williamson, Romeo and Juliet, 2025. Photo by Nile Scott Studios

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THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE “Shakespeare wrote plays that demand an active participation of all people involved…without the truth of others, the plays do not exist. Shakespeare’s words are the piercing shafts to drill deep, penetrating the conscious and unconscious minds of the players, the characters, and the audience.” –Tina Packer

Available in Hard Cover, Paperback, and Ebook!

Drawing on new interviews with original casts and creative teams as well as with Tina Packer herself, this book examines the work of the acclaimed director and founder of Shakespeare & Company. Sign up to our newsletter for an alert on publication! www.bloomsbury.com/newsletter

www.bloomsbury.com/drama

Leadership & Staff Allyn Burrows, Artistic Director Molly Merrihew, Executive Director ADMINISTRATIVE Stephen Ball, General Manager Ariel Bock, Producing Associate Isaiah Woods, Company Manager Matthew Garrity & Eden Kammeyer, Arts Administration Interns

CENTER FOR ACTOR TRAINING Susan Dibble, Senior Workshops Director MaConnia Chesser, Department Administrator Workshop Faculty: Sarah Kate Anderson, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, Ariel Bock, Andrew Borthwick-Leslie, Kevin G. Coleman, Susan Dibble, Marie Ramirez Downing, Michael Hammond, Rory Hammond, Edgar Landa, Madeleine Maggio, Raphael Massie, Kristen Moriarty, Normi Noel, Lisa Ann Porter, Jen Rabbitt Ring, Michael F. Toomey, Ryan Winkles & Kristin Wold Jessie Chapman & Mitchel Csermak, Workshop Managers

COSTUMES Michelle Hathaway, Costume Shop Manager Michelle Benoit & Cal Murphy, Drapers Aimee Green, Shop Assistant/Rentals Manager Mary Boyce, Costume Crafts Rin Menge & Ollie Webb, Design Assistants/ First Hands Stitchers: Dan Doherty, Aimee Green, Nora Kempner, Lezlie Lee, Silas Leiter & Peggy Walsh Wardrobe: Rayne Barrett, Cal Murphy, Joy Stachmus & Melissa Ziccardi Aimee Green & Dan Doherty, Riotous Youth Costuming Caroline Atukunda, Costumes Intern

DEVELOPMENT

FINANCE & IT

Sunie Gorey, Director of Development Emily DeVoti, Annual Giving Manager Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Community Relations Manager Alexander Zaretsky, Development Strategist Liam Castellan, Development Operations & Database Manager Keelin Sanz, Development Events Coordinator Olivia Linn, Development Intern

MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS & FRONT OF HOUSE

EDUCATION Kevin G. Coleman, Director of Education Megan Marchione, Education Programs Administrator Caitlin Kraft, Residency & Riotous Youth Programs Manager Education Artists: Lochlan Angle, Ellie Bartz, Mitchel Csermak, Heather Damia, Joslyn Eaddy, Lori Evans, Grace Goosman, Rory Hammond, Luke Haskell, Tapaynga Hill, Erin Jones, Darius Journigan, Charlie Lavaroni, John Leggett, JoJo MacDonald, Madeleine Maggio, Kirsten Mulrenan, Ryan Murray, Nick Nudler, Chloe Otterson, Corrie Owens, Kirsten Peacock, Jonathan Perkins, Naire Poole, Victoria Rhoades, Anna Rock, Abigail St. John, Madeline Weltchek, Ryan Winkles, Malle Winters & Kristin Yates Education Production & Costuming: Ellie Bartz, James Bilnoski, Mary Boyce, Tc Clarke, Brendan Doyle, Alex Drake, Grace Goosman, Aimee Green, Rey Hankinson, Michelle Hathaway, Tapaynga Hill, Erika Johnson, Marcus Kearns, Lezlie Lee, Silas Lieter, Govane Lohbauer, Rin Menge, Cal Murphy, Cyril Putzer, Sean Sweeney, Peggy Walsh & Alec Westmoreland

FACILITIES & HOUSEKEEPING

Jaclyn C. Stevenson, Director of Marketing & Communications Katie McKellick, Graphic Designer & Marketing Associate Haley Barbieri, Patron Services Manager Art Williams, Front of House Manager Lydia Duff, Box Office Manager C. Collins, Assistant Box Office Manager Front of House Associates: Ellie Bartz, Cassie Brey, Teagan Demler, Robin Donovan Bocchiaro, Fiona Misiura, Cole Seitz, Caitlin Teeley & Malle Winters

PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGEMENT Erika Johnson, Production Manager Rey Hankinson, Assistant Production Manager Sean Sweeney, Technical Director Madelyn “Mad Dawg” Carrillo & Gus Gustafson, Assistant Technical Directors Madelyn “Mad Dawg” Carrillo, Lia Smit & Izze Clark, Carpentry Alex Drake, Props Supervisor Eden Clementine, Scenic Charge Mia Adrian, Jakob Baur & Makena Ellenberger, Props & Paints Artisans Luke Willson, Lighting Supervisor Sam Hoffman, Lights & Sound Technician Jonah Hane, Lights & Sound Operator Cyril Putzer, Sound Supervisor Equity Stage Managers & Assistants: Nathaniel Bokaer, Hope Rose Kelly, Josh Rodrigues, Kathleen H. Soltan & Adele Nadine Traub Stage Managers & Assistants: Jayden Rema Dudley, Grace Goosman, Rey Hankinson, Kulia McLaughlin & Fiona Misiura Juliette Barto, Kendall Holloway & Erin McKay, Production Department Interns

Shakespeare & Company, 2025. Photo by Katie McKellick.

Graham Moriarty, Facilities Manager Bonnie Wilson, Housekeeping Manager Al Hiser, Robert Pelliciotti & Gina Squires, Facilities & Housekeeping Associates

Martha Read, Director of Finance Stan Bolton, Staff Accountant Kevin Andle, IT & Systems Director

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based on a concept by Sherman Edwards

directed by David Adkins music direction by Erin White

choreography by Kathy Jo Grover

Moonlight Sonatas July 26th at 7PM

July 31–August 16 at The Colonial Theatre

by Abi Morgan

directed by David Auburn

Karen Rebecca Shawn Allen Brooksher Fagan

David Garrison

October 1–31

at The Unicorn Theatre The Larry Vaber Stage

a music-filled comedy

Featuring faculty:

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directed by Isadora Wolfe

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The Colonial Theatre 111 South Street • Pittsfield, MA The Unicorn Theatre 6 East Street • Stockbridge, MA

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Shakespeare & Company Named Among the Best in the U.S. Last May, Shakespeare & Company received word that it had been recognized as one of the Top 10 Outdoor Theater companies in the country, featured on Newsweek magazine’s 2025 list of Best Outdoor Theater Performance venues.

According to Newsweek, the list celebrates outdoor theater experiences across the United States that merge artistic excellence with striking natural settings. Nominations were editorially driven with contributions by a panel of travel Landing at a respectable number six, Shakespeare experts and voted on by readers. & Company shares the distinction with stages Shakespeare & Company was lauded for its work across the U.S., including Free Shakespeare in the on all three of its outdoor stages: the 540-seat Park at the Delacorte Theater in New York, N.Y., Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre, the 280-seat Broadway Under the Stars: Transcendence Theatre Friedman Family Theatre (formerly the Roman Company in Sonoma County, Calif., and Classic Garden Theatre) and the tented, 250-seat Rose Theatre of Maryland in Annapolis. Footprint Theatre. Artistic Director Allyn Burrows said the company is honored to be included among such inspiring outdoor theaters.

Newsweek described the property as a “romantic location for Romeo to fall for Juliet…bordered by verdant spruce trees.” n

“Performing under the open sky connects us directly to the roots of classical theater, and we’re proud to share that tradition each summer with our audiences in Lenox,” he said.

Gina Fonseca, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, Javier David, and Michael F. Toomey

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NEXT UP WITH WAM THEATRE WRITTEN BY

DIRECTED BY

a.k. payne Vernice Miller FEATURING Sabine Denise Jacques

W W W. M ACHAYDNTHEATRE.ORG (518) 392-9292 JUNE 11–21

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SUN, JUN 14, 2PM & 7PM, VENTFORT HALL, LENOX MA

WRITTEN BY

DIRECTED BY

Keiko Green Cat Ramirez

SUN, AUG 16, 2PM & 7PM, VENTFORT HALL, LENOX MA WRITTEN BY

DIRECTED BY

Bess Wohl Genee Coreno

OCT 16 - NOV 1, LENOX MA

TICKETS & INFO HERE wamtheatre.com

250 Reasons to Visit...

American Stories:

From Revolution to Rockwell June 6 - Oct 26

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July 25th - Aug. 9th

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June 20th - July 5th

Get Your Tickets For Our 2026 Summer Season Here

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Expand • Transform • Empower

DEC. 27, 2025 – JAN. 18, 2026 Lenox, Mass.

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GROUP TOURS 2026 Save 20% or more!

“The heavenly-harness’d team Begins his golden progress in the east.”

– Henry IV, Part I, Act III, sc. i

Whether you’re a travel and tourism industry professional, an event planner, or a tour director, Shakespeare & Company is a premiere destination for a memorable professional theater experience in the Berkshires. Bring your group of 10 or more to a Shakespeare & Company performance and enjoy exclusive group benefits, including complimentary tickets, discounted ticket pricing, free talks and tours, and more!

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RENT OUR SPACES “Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” –Sonnet 18

Shakespeare & Company has some of the most creative and technically advanced spaces on the East Coast, as well as a full range of props, costumes, and other production resources. We also have a wide range of event and studio spaces available for workshops, meetings, retreats, weddings, and other special events. Rental opportunities include props and furniture that has been designed, built, and curated by our talented scenic and props artisans; weapons from an armory assembled over the course of 30 years; more than 50,000 costumes including contemporary and period pieces, hats, shoes, masks, and accessories; indoor and outdoor theater spaces; dressing rooms; on-site accommodations, and more. To learn more about rentals of our theaters, studio spaces, and production resources, visit shakespeare.org/rentals, or contact Shakespeare & Company General Manager Steve Ball at steve@shakespeare.org. LEARN MORE

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WHO’S WHO over a decade touring The Greatest Show on Earth® before taking his talents worldwide. You may have seen him at Disney properties, on national television, or making audiences laugh across the globe. He’s thrilled to return to Circus & The Bard, where he hopes to finally answer the age-old question: “To be funny, or not to be funny… that is the question.” OMID AKBARI (Scenic Designer, Hamlet) Omid Akbari is an Iranianborn scenic designer and costume concept artist based in NYC. He was named THE 2024 BURRY FREDRIK DESIGN FELLOW. He holds an M.F.A in Theater Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Recent credits: DCPA: English, Long Wharf Theatre: Gem of the Ocean, Unbecoming Tragedy; Berlind Theater: A Moment of Silence; Shakespeare & Company: Mother Play, Three Tall Persian Women; Lookingglass Theatre: Iraq, But Funny; Boise Contemporary Theater: The Life You Gave Me; Juilliard: The Seven; Yale Repertory Theatre: Wish You Were Here. He was the associate creative director of MIGUEL-CAOS World Tour.

CHRIS ALLISON (Comic Narrator, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Chris is a former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown who spent

AMY ALTADONNA she / her (Sound Designer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) S&Co: King Lear, The Chairs, Time Stands Still, Merry Wives, The Children, HIR, Creditors, 4000 Miles, Or, Red Velvet, and others. NYC: Eureka Day, Joan, Cal in Camo, Dry Land, Seven Minutes in Heaven, (Colt Coeur), American Daughter, Glengarry Glen Ross (NYU Tisch). Regional: All’s Well That Ends Well (OSF), 10x10 (BSC), Dear Elizabeth (Dorset Theatre Festival), Julius Caesar (Actors Shakespeare Project), How I Learned to Drive (Round House), Our Town (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Death of a Salesman, Fences (Virginia Stage Company), Peter and the Starcatcher, Skin of Our Teeth (Perseverance Theater). She is the Undergraduate Program Director for UMass Theater. Thank you to my incredible daughter...life is most joyous with you.

KATE KOHLER AMORY she / her (Director, Twelfth Night) Kate is an award-winning director and multihyphenate theater maker. Some favorite directing/devising credits include: Shakespeare & Company: Comedy of Errors, Henry VI, Pt. II (Associate to Tina Packer), This Is It: Plays in Process; Midsummer Nights - Dream Love Escape, The Birds, Romeo and Juliet: A Space Oddity (The Ridiculous Project); F***ing A, D.arc Water, Dog Act, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, The Mermaid Hour: Remixed, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Boston Conservatory Berklee); Macbeth, Big Love, Ghosts of Troy, The Wolves, Comedy of Errors (Salem State University) and Hamlet (Brandeis University, co-directed). Co-Founder (with Tamara Hickey) MetaGirl Productions, Artistic Director, The Ridiculous Project, Professor of Movement and Acting for Boston Conservatory Berklee. MFA Naropa University, MA RADA/ Kings College, BFA Goldsmiths College London. Teacher of Acrobat of the Heart psychophysical actor training, Trish Arnold Pure Movement, DE-SMTT: Somatic Movement Educator and CYT.

JENNIFER APPLE* (Frankie, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Actor / Musician, Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret) Jennifer Apple is an actor, coach, writer, and podcast host from NYC, who is in playful pursuit of truth, vulnerability, and empathy in the arts. She originated the role of Anna in the 10x Tony Award-winning The Band’s Visit First National Tour and received the Elliott Norton Award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for Dina in The Band’s Visit at the Huntington/SpeakEasy Stage. With performances at regional theaters like The Huntington Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Chautauqua Theater Company, American Conservatory Theater, Goodspeed Musicals, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Jennifer has made her mark on both stage and screen, with TV credits including a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU and New Amsterdam. She has an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater, has workshopped numerous new plays and musicals, and lent her voice to multiple original cast recordings. Jennifer’s mission as a sought-after acting coach is to empower others to embody their truest selves, so they can confidently and authentically express themselves with integrity in everything they do. She specializes in

H TERRY DESIGNS

holly@hterrydesigns.com 413.315.7236

• Brand Development • Marketing + Advertising • Web Design + Development • Consulting 94

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helping artists find new monologues through Monologue Sourcing, teaches strategy for breaking down text, and prepares folks for BFA/MFA auditions and last-minute auditions. She also teaches masterclasses and workshops virtually and in-person for schools, universities and theater programs all around the country, specifically within the framework of her Empowered Artist Intensive container. Jennifer is the founder and executive director of the Empowered Artist Collective, a community for women and non-binary artists to help foster sustainable and thriving careers in the arts. She hosts the Empowered Artist Collective Podcast, sharing valuable insights and advice for artists at all stages of their journeys.

ELIZABETH ASPENLIEDER* (Betty, The Norwegians; Community

Relations Manager) S&Co: Over 40 plays: The Winter’s Tale (Paulina), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), The Approach, The Waverly Gallery, HIR, God of Carnage; Mother of the Maid (pre–Broadway, originated Lady of the Court); Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Parasite Drag; Merry Wives of Windsor; The Winter’s Tale; Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Bad Dates (Elliot Norton Award Best Solo Performance); Rough Crossing; King Lear; Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia, final performance at The Mount). Regional: Silverthorne Theatre: The Cake; Great Barrington Public Theatre; Simon’s Rock: The House of Bernarda Alba; Oldcastle: The Consul, The Tramp & America’s Sweetheart, The Lion in Winter; Barrington Stage: 10X10 Play Fest; Merrimack Rep: Bad Dates; Boston Theatre Works: Angels in America, Othello. Directing: Merchant of Venice (Assistant Dir, Tina Packer Dir.). Indy Films Actor: Trigger Finger; Seriously Twisted. Voice Over actor/producer/ audiobooks: Choosing Joy: Alzheimer’s – a Book of Hope); Peregrine Island. Producer & Casting Dir feature films: Unfinished Song (BIFF, Berlin, Boston film fests ’26); Thickly Settled (BIFF,

LA, Boston film fests ’26), Cold Wallet (Amazon Prime w/ Joshua Brener, Tony Cavalero, SXSW, BIFF); Onyx The Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (Sundance, BIFF Amazon Prime/ Sling); The Secret Art of Human Flight (Amazon Prime/AppleTV w/ Lucy DeVito, Paul Raci); Skelly (Netflix w/ Brian Cox, Torrey DeVitto, John Palladino); I’m Not Him (Amazon Prime w/ John Palladino); Stroke of Luck (Netflix w/ John Popper). Theatre Producer: Rhinoceros (w/ Chris Noth at The Cutting Room NYC), Living the Dream (by Mark Roberts, 52nd Street Project). Lizzy’s performance is dedicated to her mother Faye and sister Cathy whose spirits and light walk with her every day.

ALICIA AUSTIN^ (Costumer Designer, Fireflies) Alicia is a Brooklyn-based costume designer for theater, dance,

and film. In NYC, she has worked Playwright’s Horizons, Roundabout Theatre Company, Page73, Clubbed Thumb, and LaMama ETC, among others. Regionally, she has designed at Baltimore Center Stage, Northern Stage, Ancram Center for the Arts, and the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Notable TV & Film projects include: Babes (Film Nation), Bupkis S1 (Peacock), Only Murders In The Building S2, S3 (Hulu). She is the Assistant Professor of Costume Design at Skidmore College. She graduated from Yale School of Drama and is a recipient of the Princess Grace Theater Award, Pierre Cardin Honor. I dedicate my work on this production to my grandfather, Ike—the eternal ladies man. I love and miss you.

A.J. BALDWIN* she / her (Soldier / Rosencrantz / Player / Fortinbras

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/ Hamlet {understudy}, Hamlet) A.J. Baldwin is overjoyed to join this company of Hamlet and make her Shakespeare & Company premiere! A.J. is an Actor, Playwright, and Director originally from Montgomery, AL. This is her third production of Hamlet. and A.J. is ready to dive into this text with new eyes, and new players. Recently, she has been Harriet Smith in Emma at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; and Carina in Eureka Day at Everyman Repertory Theatre. Other Shakespeare Credits include: Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing; Olivia in Twelfth Night; Rosencrantz in Hamlet; Mistress Page in Merry Wives of Windsor, and more! A.J. is an alumni of the Shakespeare & Company January Month-long Intensive, 2025-26. A.J. sends love to all who may be reading. STEPHEN D. BALL he / him (Merry Wanderer’s Tour Guide; General Manager) Steve leads the “Merry Wanderers” behind-the-scenes tours here at Shakespeare & Company on Thursday mornings each summer. He started at S&Co in 1989, after receiving a Bachelor’s in Technical Theatre and a Master’s in Business from the University of Miami along with a Master of Fine Arts, set design, from New York University’s Tisch School, and subsequently participated in Executive Education in non-profit management at Harvard’s Kennedy School. After interning at the Greater Miami Opera, Steve has been box office manager, charge artist, carpenter, company manager, set and/or lighting designer for theatre and dance in Boston, Falmouth, Foxboro, and Lenox, MA, Sharon, CT, New York,

NY, New Hope, PA, Marietta, GA, and Miami, FL, and has consulted on home, theatre, and museum design projects. Steve received the prestigious 2002 Achievement Award from the Town of Ripton, serving as a staff advisor to their Candlelight Council. At S&Co, Steve has been Production and Company Manager, Set and Lighting Designer, Theatre Designer, HR Officer, Volunteer Liaison, General Manager and Interim Managing Director, always helping to coordinate the company’s multi-faceted, multi-departmental activities. “Steve Ball Day” is October 1.

MATTHEW BARBER (Playwright, Fireflies) Matthew Barber was born in Los Angeles, California, and studied film, theatre and literature at UCLA. Moving to San Francisco after graduating, he enjoyed early careers as an arts journalist and publicist, while continuing to work in a creative capacity with a variety of small theater companies and arts organizations. This led to a commission to adapt for the stage the 1922 Elizabeth von Arnim novel The Enchanted April. The resulting stage play premiered at Connecticut’s Hartford Stage in 2000, followed by a Broadway production in 2003, earning the John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play and Drama League

and Tony Award nominations for Best Play. Matthew Barber currently lives in New York City. He also authors the original screenplay Independence and the stage play Eleanor & Abel.

CHRISTINA BEAM she / her (Costume Designer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Christina Beam is a freelance costume designer and technician whose work spans theater, opera, dance and film. Christina holds an MFA in costume design from UMass Amherst, having completed an assistantship that included rigorous work in costume construction. Her designs for The Lily’s Revenge at UMass Amherst were included in the 2019 USITT/USA Prague Quadrennial Emerging Artist Exhibit and the 2022 World Stage Design Emerging Artist Exhibit, and her costumes for the “In the Woods” photography series were featured as part of the 2023 USITT/USA Prague Quadrennial Emerging Artist Exhibit. Some of her other Shakespeare and Company costume design credits include last summer’s Romeo and Juliet, Flight of the Monarch, and A Walk in the Woods. Christina is also currently working as the Costume Lab Manager at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

DAVID BERTOLDI* (Sebastian, Twelfth Night) S&Co: Henry VI: The Contention, King Lear, Emma, The Waverly Gallery, Sense & Sensibility, Julius Caesar, Pride & Prejudice, Love’s Labor’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet. Off Broadway: The Comedy of Errors (Fiasco Theatre). Regional: Pride and Prejudice 2 (Westport Country Playhouse); The Comedy of Errors (Actors’ Theatre of Louisville); Execution of Justice, All the Little Boxes (Chautauqua Theatre Company); La Broa, The Inheritance (Trinity Repertory Company); REALLY (WAM Theatre). Education: Brown/Trinity Rep MFA.

ARIEL BOCK she / her (Director, Hamlet; Director, Pride and Prejudice, Vocal Coach, Twelfth Night; Producing Associate) S&Co: Acting: Duke (Measure for Measure), Rose (The Children), Mom (Ugly Lies the Bone);

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Mistress Quickly (Henry IV Pts. 1 & 2); Goneril (King Lear); Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing); Elizabeth (Richard III); Audrey (As You Like It); Hippolyta (Midsummer Night’s Dream); The Nurse (Romeo and Juliet); Mistress Quickly (Merry Wives of Windsor); Paulina (The Winter’s Tale), Ruth (Private Eyes), The Woman (Laughing Wild); Arlene (Off the Map) Directing: Paula Vogel’s MOTHER PLAY: a play in five evictions, Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Miss Bennet, Christmas at Pemberley; The Wickhams, Christmas at Pemberley; Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility. At Mixed Company: Ramona (Zara Spook and Other Lures) and Eileen (The Cripple of Inishmaan). With the Ensemble for the Romantic Century in NYC: Nadezhda VonMeck (None But the Lonely Heart), as well as Fanny Mendelsohn, Emily Dickinson, Sonia Tolstoy, and Anna Akhmatova (in multiple shows). Ariel is a Designated Linklater Teacher.

People, Just Another Day). Chester Theatre Company: Stage Manager (Mr. Joy, Big Big Sky). Nathaniel has also worked with Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, CATA, and many other local arts and education organizations. They hold a BA in Theatre and Psychology from Simon’s Rock, and live in South County with their wife, child, and dog. NATHANIEL BOKAER* they / them (Stage Manager, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Nathaniel Bokaer is a Stage Manager and Costumer based in the Berkshires. This is their sixth season at Shakespeare & Company, and their first since 2022. S&Co: Asst. Stage Manager (Heisenberg, hang), Stage Management Intern (2020 Northeast Regional Tour), Wardrobe (Love’s Labour’s Lost, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear, The Chairs, Much Ado About Nothing), Costume Designer (2019, 2021, 2022 Fall Festival of Shakespeare). WAM Theatre: Stage Manager (1999, Rooted), ASM (Galileo’s Daughter). Great Barrington Public Theater: Stage Manager (Madame Mozart), ASM (How to Not Save the World with Mr. Bezos, Survival of the Unfit, Dog

GREGORY BOOVER* (Eugene Claymire, Fireflies; Actor / Musician, Shake It Up: The Remix) S&Co: Much Ado, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Merry Wives, As You Like It, 4000 Miles, Tartuffe, The Tempest; Ed. tours of Othello/Midsummer, Twelfth Night/ Macbeth, Hamlet, R&J. Seventime director for the Fall Festival of Shakespeare. Regional: Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Waitress, The Ladyslipper (The Majestic Theater); Marcus is

Walking (Mixed Company); A Christmas Carol (Hanover Theater); As You Like It (Catskill Mountain Shakespeare); The Feast (Urbanite Theatre); Mary’s Wedding (The Theater at Woodshill); The Old Man and The Old Moon (The Umbrella Stage Company); WAM Theatre, Emergent Ensemble Theater, The Theatre at Monmouth, Looking Glass Theater (NY), and more. Greg serves on the faculty at Community Access To The Arts, and produces independent film, music and artwork. His short film Notification won Best Screenplay at the 2026 Easthampton Film Festival and is now available free on Youtube. Training: S&Co 2017 Monthlong Intensive; (BA) UMass Amherst. For Caroline and Owen always.

JEB BROWN* (Abel Brown, Fireflies) Jeb Brown debuted on Broadway at age 10 in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof;

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and survived the original cast of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Other Broadway: Dead Outlaw (Tony nomination); Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; Ring of Fire; Time Stands Still; High Fidelity; I’m Not Rappaport; Aida; Bring Back Birdie; Grease. Off-Broadway: Beau: The Musical (OutoftheBox), Dead Outlaw (Lortel, OCC noms); Pal Joey (City Center); Becomes a Woman (the Mint); Whisper House (The Civilians); Scotland PA (Roundabout); The Undeniable Sound of Right Now (WP/Rattlestick); Romantic Poetry (MTC); Terms of Endearment (The Directors Co). Film: My America (Hal Hartley); The Namesake (Mira Nair); Salt (Philip Noyce); Renaissance Man (Penny Marshall); I’ll Do Anything (James L Brooks.) Favorite TV: The Path; The Good Fight; Star Trek: DeepSpace9; Neon Joe: Werewolf Hunter; Romper Room. Founder of Evidence Room Theatre co; former Whiffenpoof; in Germantown with Elyse, Eleanor and Nicky.

Midsummer Night’s Dream (2023), Shake It Up (2024,2025), Circus & the Bard (2025). Shakespeare & Company performances: Flight of the Monarch, Henry VI, Part 2, A Walk in the Woods, King Lear, God of Carnage, Or, King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV, Part 1, among others. As Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Allyn directed and acted in numerous productions. Other Boston area performances include Can You Forgive Her (Huntington Theatre), Breaking the Code (Underground Railway Theatre), Shipwrecked (The Lyric Stage), The Seafarer and The Homecoming (Merrimack Repertory Theater), Five by Tenn (Speakeasy Stage). Elliot Norton Award for The Homecoming, King Lear, Five by Tenn; IRNE Award for Breaking the Code. Off-Broadway: Bug, Killer Joe, Louis Slotin Sonata, Closetland. Regionally: Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theatre, Long Wharf, Denver Center, Walnut St. Television: Julia,The Broad Squad, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Against the Law. Films include The Company Men, Julie & Julia, Manchester by the Sea, Don’t Look Up, Tony, and the forthcoming Enemy of the People.

ALLYN BURROWS* he / him (Creator / Director, Shake It Up: The Remix; Creator / Director, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter; Malvolio, Twelfth Night; Artistic Director) S&Co: Director: The Tempest (2017), As You Like It (2018), Twelfth Night (2019) A

KEVIN G. COLEMAN Founding Member (Fight Choreographer, Hamlet; Director of Education) Kevin is one of Shakespeare & Company’s artistic and administrative leaders. He works in the Performance and Training departments as an actor, teacher, and director, and oversees the mission of the Education department. Kevin has been a guest teacher or director at MIT, Harvard, L.S.U., Stanford, Shenandoah Shakespeare, Q.U.T.- Brisbane, Lincoln Center, the Folger Library, Shakespeare Festivals in both Stratfords, and the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, UK. Kevin is the Theatre Director at the Austen Riggs Center, where he has directed over 30 productions. In 2016, Kevin was Runner-Up for the Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. Along with Patrick Toole, Kevin recently produced the soon to be released film, Speak What We Feel, documenting the Fall Festival of Shakespeare.

TREZURE B. COLES* she / her (Actor, Shake It Up: The Remix) Trezure was recently in New York rehearsing for the new production of Dreamgirls as the youngest cast member. Previously, she served as an ensemble member and a repeated swing for the supporting and lead

roles of I3 and Hope in the world premiere immersive experience, Bob Marley: Hope Road in Las Vegas. Based in Las Vegas, Trezure is a triple threat with extensive starring roles on stage. She is a versatile singer, proficient in everything from soulful ballads and reggae to rap and rhyme, and is also skilled in spoken word and poetry. A proud native of Newport News, VA, she is an alumna of both Norfolk State University and the FSU Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training.

JAN “YAHN” DAMM (Rolla Bolla / Eclectic Duo, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Jan (“Yahn”) Damm has been a professional clown and circus artist for 19 years. Originally from Maine, he learned to juggle at age 10 and trained with acclaimed clown Avner Eisenberg at 18. After graduating Bard College, he studied at Circus Center San Francisco in clown and acrobatics. Jan enjoys creating original work, but is also at home in classic circus spectacles. Career highlights include Circus Bella, Venardos Circus, Celebrity Cruises’ Silhouette, Cirque Mechanics’ Pedal Punk, Big Apple Circus, Ringling, and Teatro Zinzanni. He lives in Brattleboro, Vermont with his wife Ariele and their two children.

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ANI DJIRDJIRIAN* she / they (Actor / Singer, Shake It Up: The Remix) Native New Yorker Ani Djirdjirian is an Elliot Norton Award–winning actor, vocalist, and composer. Favorite credits include performing alongside Amber Ruffin on Late Night with Seth Meyers and the role of Marsinah in Kismet under the direction of Lonny Price, becoming the first SWANA woman to play this timeless role. Now living in LA, beyond the stage Ani facilitates somatic healing and breathwork experiences for artists and professionals through their platform, Awaken with Ani. Rooted in the intersection of performance, embodiment, and emotional healing, their work explores how voice can serve not only as artistic expression, but as a pathway toward liberation and human wholeness.

BRENDAN F DOYLE^ (Sound Designer, Hamlet; Sound & Project Design, Shake It Up: The Remix) Brendan F Doyle is a designer for live performance and fixed media: working with sound, projections, and reactive

systems of all sorts. Works have been heard in bars and basements, chapels and concert halls; in intentional and improvised venues alike, as well as across the internet. Training includes an MSc in Sound Design from the University of Edinburgh, a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from Emerson College, and more than two decades working with musicians. Brendan is the Technical Director for Performing Arts at SUNY Geneseo and a proud member of IATSE Local USA 829 - Previous Shakespeare & Company credits include Shake it Up, Taming of the Shrew, The Islanders, Midsummer, The Contention, Hymn, The Approach, hang, Art, Topdog/Underdog, The Waverly Gallery, and Macbeth.

JAYDEN DUDLEY she / her / they / them (Assistant Stage Manager, Twelfth Night) This is Jayden’s second season with Shakespeare & Company and is excited to work on the beautiful outdoor stage! She has loved working on shows like Edward Tulane: The Musical, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Rudolph (PSM, Childsplay Theatre AZ), The Mother Play (ASM, Shakespeare & Company), We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: A Hymon and Parfunkel Musical, and Jersey Boys (ASM, Phoenix Theatre Company), and (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (ASM Utah Opera). Jayden has also worked as a dresser for Pioneer Theatre Company on their 2021-24 seasons most notably on Hello Dolly, Something Rotten, and Shucked on their pre-Broadway

run. Jayden also is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BFA in Stage Management. She would like to thank everyone for supporting her throughout this journey in theatre.

LYDIA ISABEL DUFF (Actor, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Lydia is a theatre artist based in Western Massachusetts. She was introduced to theatre through Shakespeare & Company’s education programs, and continued on to study in programs at Carnegie Mellon University, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Bennington College, and then returned to Shakespeare & Company to take the Month-Long Intensive. This is her fourth year with the company, having performed in Circus and the Bard (2025), the staged readings of Sense & Sensibility (2025), Emma (2024), and Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley (2023), and stepped in as understudy to perform in A Body of Water (2024), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2023).

JUSTIN DURHAM he / him (Hand Balancing / Duo Aerial, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Justin Durham is a Chicago-born handbalancer, aerialist, acrobat, and dancer whose passion for circus began at age three with the Actors Gymnasium. An honours graduate of the National Centre for Circus Arts in London, his dynamic stage presence has taken him around the world with companies including Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Dreams, and the sultry spectacle AirOtic Soirée. Justin’s artistry has earned him a Silver Medal at Viva Fest in Las Vegas and an International Circus Award at Krystallpalast in Germany. He’s thrilled to be back in the Berkshires this summer to share more of his talents at Shakespeare & Company!

ARIELE EBACHER (Tight Rope Walking / Eclectic Duo, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Ariele Ebacher has been a performing circus professional for 25 years. Coming of age in the traditions of dance and theater, she takes great joy and pride in fusing the spectacle and virtuosity of circus, with the poetry and storytelling of dance and theater. She has had the great pleasure of traveling the world performing in every context imaginable, from black box theaters to international festivals; small circus tents to cruise ships; and everywhere in between. Some of the circus companies she has worked with include The Midnight

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Circus, Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, NoFit State Circus, Circus Flora, Cirque Mechanics, Flynn Creek Circus, Big Apple Circus, and Circus Bella. She is also a co-founder of the American Circus Alliance, which aims to unite and champion circus arts and circus workers across the nation.

ROBIN ELDRIDGE (Creator, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Raised on theater and dance stages in Boston — including the A.R.T., the Huntington Theatre, and the then-named Wang Center of Performing Arts — and shaped by formative time studying at S&Co, Robin has never forgotten the visceral power of live collaborations. Certainly for the artists involved and hopefully for audiences, as well. Since those early years immersed in theater and dance, Robin has shifted, by way of Brown University and a decade in educational psychology, into developing creative cultural content. Her projects have included: directing an eight-part audio series on trauma and resilience with social psychologist Dan Ariely; producing a weekend of S&Co performances in Sarasota, FL; designing a Berkshire panel discussion among regional arts leaders about the role of performance in our lives; and now co-creating this evolving fusion of Shakespeare and circus arts. She is eager to be building Spirit of the Circus with her partner Pedro Reis.

JONATHAN EPSTEIN* he / they (Polonius, Hamlet) S&Co: Jonny has directed or acted in more than 70 S&Co productions since 1987 including Walk in the Woods, Creditors, Henry V, Merchant of Venice, Tempest, Cymbeline, Midsummer, Merry Wives, Private Eyes, Brief Lives, Heroes, An Iliad and the title roles in King Lear, Henry IV, Richard III and Macbeth. In 1990, he created the role of The Men in Tina Packer’s original Women of Will. He has performed on and offBroadway and at scores of regional theatres around the country including Berkshire Theatre Festival (Amadeus, Cuckoo’s Nest, Via Dolorosa, Educating Rita...) and ART (Merchant of Venice, Phaedra, Paradise Lost, Picasso at the Lapin Agile). He is a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award and is Teaching Professor of Classical Performance at the FSU/ Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training where he was recently honored with the university’s Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. He was a graduate of the 1988 Month Long Intensive and thereafter taught at more than 30 month-long workshops. His former S&Co and FSU/Asolo students are regularly featured on S&Co stages.

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GRACE GOOSMAN she / her (Stage Manager, Midsummer Dreamers; Assistant Stage Manager, Hamlet, Twelfth Night) Grace Goosman is a Stage Manager, Designer, and Technician from Binghamton, NY. Shake & Co. Credits: August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson (Asst. Stage Manager), Sense and Sensibility (Stage Manager), 2024 Season (Asst. Production Manager), Flight of the Monarch (Board Op.), A Midsummer Night’s Dream Regional Tour (Accessibility Coordinator). Off-Broadway: Mind Mangler (Spotlight, New World Stages). Regional: Newsies, Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid (Spotlight, Tuacahn Amphitheater), Cyrano de Bergerac (Spotlight, KC Rep), Doubt, Rent, Beautiful (Electrician/Operator, Theatre Aspen). Design Credits: Fall Festival of Shakespeare (Production, Shakespeare & Co.), Children’s Acting Academy of NY (Scenic Designer & Props Master), PMP Festival (Lighting, Barrington Stage), The Full Monty (Sound, Tiahwaga Players). Education: BA in Design Technology & Performance from Western Connecticut State University.

DAVID GOW* he / him (Hamlet, Hamlet) TV/Film: The Girls on the Bus (HBO), Chrissy Judy (Apple TV), The Good Fight (CBS), Madam Secretary (CBS), Jon Glaser Loves Gear (truTV), The Savant (Apple TV), The Intruder (Apple TV), Candice (Austin Film Festival). NY THEATER: Banya (Theaterlab), Burning Leaves (Duke Theater), Chokehold (14th St Y), What I First Desired (Soho Playhouse), Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone (Workshop Theater), Bleach (Wilson’s Lounge), Decky Does a Bronco (Royal Family Productions). REGIONAL: The Inheritance (Round House), Rust on Bone (Denver Center), Measure for Measure, Mothers & Sons, Waverly Gallery, Dear Jack Dear Louise, Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare & Company), Sweat (Capital Rep), Pirira, Giant Void in My Soul (Luna Stages), The Foreigner (A.D. Players), Sense & Sensibility, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (4th Wall Theater), Why Do You Stand There In The Rain (Edinburgh Fringe), Scooter Thomas Makes It To The Top Of The World (Hollywood Fringe). David holds a BFA from University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Love to Kennedy.

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RORY HAMMOND* she / her (Maria / Vocal Coach, Twelfth Night) This is Rory’s 37th season with us. Her latest credits include: The Tracy Letts Festival (reading series with Animus Theatre Company) at Circle in the Square in August: Osage County as Karen Weston. Last Summer she played Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet, and Bianca in Taming of the Shrew. She played Angelo in The Comedy of Errors which won the Broadwayworld. com award for Best Ensemble. She is currently teaching Voice for the Actor at the University of Hartford (UHart Conservatory). Rory just earned her MFA and Linklater Designation in London, at the Rose Bruford College of Music and Drama. During her London studies, in addition to her concentration on the Linklater Method, she was immersed in the work of Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed, as well as Trish Arnold’s Pure Movement, and the Michael Chekhov technique. Throughout these studies there was an emphasis on devising, working to create one’s own performance pieces through the art of theatrical storytelling. Directing Credits: Macbeth at the Roberts Theatre (mainstage), and Do You Feel Anger, at the University of Hartford. Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, and Macbeth, all for

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the Fall Festival of Shakespeare at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass. New York acting credits include: Pericles, directed by Edward Berkeley, produced by Animus Theatre Company at SoHo Rep; Measure for Measure, also directed by Edward Berkeley, at Circle in the Square Theatre School; Bachelorette, directed by Lesley Headland, produced by Animus Theatre Company at Circle in the Square; John Patrick Shanley’s Where’s My Money, produced by Animus Theatre Company at the Cherry Lane Theatre; Shakespeare & Company credits include: Measure for Measure, Duke Vincentio, directed by Alice Reagan; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Princess of France, directed by Kelly Galvin; Christmas at Pemberley, directed by Ariel Bock; Ugly Lies the Bone and Taming of the Shrew, both directed by Daniela Varon; King John, Richard III, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, all directed by Tina Packer. The Wharton Salon at the Mount: Autres Temp, Xingu, and Summer, all directed by Catherine Taylor Williams. TV credits include: Dr. Pepper commercials circa 1998. Rory received much of her early training at Shakespeare & Company, starting with Young Company and ending as a member of the Summer Performing Institute (SPI). Rory is a graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City, and is a founding member of Animus Theatre Company in New York City. This performance is dedicated to Alan Langdon, my beloved acting teacher, mentor, and friend.

REY HANKINSON they / them (Stage Manager, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Rey Hankinson is thrilled to be joining Circus & The Bard for its second season! Although this is their first production as a stage manager with the company, Rey is this season’s Assistant Production Manager here at S&Co, and previously joined the 2025 Fall Festival as a Production Design Coordinator. Other recent work includes the world premiere production of Like Flies: a Rage Play, A Christmas Carol (Portland Stage), The Rewards of Being Frank (Theatre at Monmouth), and Two Gentlemen of Verona (Camden Shakespeare Festival). They would like to thank their partner Rayne, the summer production staff, and YOU for supporting this incredible, collaborative work! Rey holds a BA in Theatre, focusing in Stage Management, from the University of Rochester.

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MAURA HANLON she / her (Director, Midsummer Dreamers) Maura Hanlon is the Associate Artistic Director at Cape Rep Theatre, where she has directed many, many productions, is a frequent sound designer, and has also worked as an actor and playwright. Recent directing credits include Midsummer Dreamers, Our Town, and Trish LaRose’s musical memoir Come On-A My House. Favorite projects include the world premiere musical Archibald Avery (written by her sons Paddo, Seamus, and Macklin Devine), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Indecent, Men on Boats, Eurydice, and Jerusalem. A well-respected acting teacher, Maura founded and directs Cape Rep’s free professional training program, Young Company (YoCo), which recently staged its tenth production. She is a graduate of Holy Cross, studied acting/directing at Trinity Rep, and holds an MFA in directing from UCSD.

JOSHUA HARMON (Playwright, Celebrating Jewish Plays: Bad Jews) Joshua Harmon’s plays include Bad Jews, Significant Other, Admissions, Skintight, and Prayer for the French Republic. He and Sarah Silverman co-wrote the libretto for The Bedwetter

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based on her memoir. His plays have been produced on Broadway and the West End; off-Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theater Club and Atlantic Theater Company; across the country at Geffen Playhouse, Speakeasy, Studio Theatre, Theater Wit, About Face, Actor’s Express, and The Magic, among others; and internationally in a dozen countries. He is a two-time MacDowell fellow and an Associate Artist at Roundabout. Graduate of Juilliard.

MADELEINE HÉBERT (Light Designer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Recent work includes WAM: Rooted (LD). Shakespeare & Co: Mother Play (LD). Westfield State University: Pippin (LD), The Servant of Two Masters (LD). Des Moines Metro Opera 2026 Season (ALD). Santa Fe Opera 2025 season (ALD). San Francisco Opera 2024 Fall season (ALD).

AMY HERZOG (Playwright, Celebrating Jewish Plays: After the Revolution) Amy Herzog’s plays include After the Revolution (Williamstown Theater Festival; Playwrights Horizons; Lilly Award), 4000 Miles (Lincoln Center; Obie Award for the Best New American Play, Pulitzer Prize Finalist), The Great God Pan, and Belleville. Amy is a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Helen Merrill, the Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, and the New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. She is a Usual Suspect at NYTW and an alumna of Youngblood, Play Group at Ars Nova, and the SoHo Rep Writer/ Director Lab. She has taught at Bryn Mawr and Yale. MFA, Yale School of Drama.

TAMARA HICKEY* she / her (Olivia, Twelfth Night) S&Co: Mother Play, The Contention (Henry VI, Part II), Much Ado About Nothing, Time Stands Still, Heisenberg, Cymbeline, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona; Regional: Appropriate, God’s Ear (Elliot Norton Award Best Actress & Best Production), Henry VIII, Pericles, Living In Exile, Cabaret; Film/TV: An

Enemy of the People, Sheepdog, Mother/Android, John And The Hole, The Equalizer 2, The Judge; Defending Jacob; Bull; The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe; Olive Kitteridge; Chasing Life; Canadian TV: Blue Murder (Series Lead), The Associates (Series Lead); MFA American Repertory Theatre. Tamara is a ’03 alumna of the January Intensive (formerly the January Monthlong Intensive).

KAIT HICKEY* (Actor / Singer, Shake It Up: The Remix) Kait Hickey is a writer, composer, and performer whose work is driven by the healing powers of dark humor. Her plays include SWIM (Finalist, ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition 2025; Semi-finalist, Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference 2025; Red List: Drama Stage Play), How to HotWire a Lamppost (sold-out run: UNIT J, upcoming immersive remount). Jazz singer/bandleader: Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Blue Note and for over 3,100 hospital patients with Musicians On Call. BA: Music, Hunter College: Shirley P. Mintz Award for Excellence in Music.

SETH INGRAM (Rope Jumper, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Seth began his rope jumping journey in kindergarten after joining the Proform Airborne Jump Rope Team. He went on to win multiple National and World titles, including an Individual World Title in 2019. After graduating from Utah State University, he began his performing career. Known for delivering a high energy performance, he combines powerful acrobatics with quick choreography to create something truly unique. He has had unforgettable experiences performing worldwide for Disney, Cirque Dreams, CirqueUS, the NBA, and countless schools! Seth hopes to make people smile, promote physical fitness, and inspire audiences everywhere, one jump at a time.

JOHNNY IRION (Musician, Shake It Up: The Remix) Have you heard of

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Johnny Irion? Maybe you have. Maybe you heard the new album, Sleeping Soldiers of Love, featuring Mike Mills of R.E.M. and Jeff Bridges (a.k.a. The Dude). Maybe you read about Johnny in Rolling Stone — six times now, between the 4-star U.S. Elevator review, the Mike Mills & Pat Sansone feature, the Ravi Shankar tribute with Jeff Bridges, and a “Songs You Need to Know” pick. Maybe you caught Johnny in Twin Peaks with Sharon Van Etten. Maybe you noticed Sir Chloe recorded at Camp Irion, his studio in the Berkshires centered around Jackson Browne’s old 24-track Studer tape machine. Maybe you heard about Johnny curating Blackwing Music — the record label born out of the iconic Blackwing pencil brand, the same 602 favored by Steinbeck, Sondheim, and a century of Grammy, Emmy, and Pulitzer winners. Maybe you heard his work with Jeff Tweedy on Wassaic Way, recorded at Wilco’s Loft. Maybe you heard his duet Tonight with cult underground folk legend Sibylle Baier of Colour Green. Maybe you saw the new US Elevator single Let Me Take Your Foto — a Speedies cover featuring artwork by Johnny’s Berkshire neighbor, photographer Gregory Crewdson, who will also feature Johnny in his next photo series. Maybe you saw him on stage with the Guthrie family — alongside Pete Seeger, Arlo, and Sarah Lee at Carnegie Hall — or maybe you caught him at the Royal Albert Hall opening for the Black Crowes. He’s been writing songs since the tender age of 19 — Robert DeNiro, from his first band Queen Sarah Saturday, crossed a million streams on Spotify, and his best work has

landed on Yep Roc, Smithsonian Folkways, and now Blackwing. With Sarah Lee Guthrie, Johnny released a string of acclaimed records over two decades together, including Exploration (produced by Gary Louris of The Jayhawks), Bright Examples (produced by Thom Monahan and Andy Cabic of Vetiver), and the Grammy-nominated Go Waggaloo on Smithsonian Folkways — songs Johnny wrote for the children using lyrics from the Woody Guthrie archives. As a solo artist and frontman of U.S. Elevator, Johnny has earned 4-star reviews in Rolling Stone and MOJO, a KCRW “Today’s Top Tune” for Dangerous Love, and an NPR Weekend Edition feature for Driving Friend. He set Woody Guthrie’s 1949 lyric Beach Haven Ain’t My Home (a.k.a. Old Man Trump) to music at Nora Guthrie’s request, and his Mike Stinson collaboration Working My Way Down was premiered by The Bluegrass Situation. Sleeping Soldiers of Love (Blackwing Music) features Mike Mills, Pat Sansone, Jeff Bridges, and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes. Rolling Stone France and No Depression reviewed it; Jeff Bridges and R.E.M. shared it on social. Whether he’s producing, singing harmonies, playing guitar, or sitting down at the piano, Johnny is at the top of his game right now. And he keeps on grinding.

Musical; TV/Film Credits: Blue Bloods, GOTHAM, City on a Hill, FBI: Most Wanted, Hit Me, Power Out, Lost Time. All love to God, his family and friends and to you and yours.

ZOË ISADORA (Duo Aerial / Silks, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Zoë Isadora is proud to carry forward the excellence and joy of her family legacy in circus arts. She blends technical precision, intuitive flow and seamless dancing on multiple apparatuses: aerial silks, dance trapeze, aerial hoop, and more! Each sequence she performs is a fluid, expressive convs ersation with the apparatus that is unmistakably her own. Zoë experienced a unique performance upbringing, growing up on circus backlots, balancing swords on her head dancing with her mother and grandmother, and a lifelong training in both stage craft and behindthe-scenes technicalities. An honor’s graduate of Wellesley College, she has toured around the U.S. with The Wallenda Family Circus, Westchester Circus Arts, Cirque Dreams, Les Farfadais and Airotic Cirque Soirée as well as performed at corporate contracts and cabarets around Europe including Athens, the Azores and Paris.

JAMAL JAMES* (Johnny, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Jamal James is ecstatic to be back at Shakespeare & Co!!! An actor who has performed all over the country, Jamal currently lives in sunny LA exploring Hollywood and its vibrant community. Always willing to talk about God, Star Wars, and Superheroes at any given time, he has also worked in voiceovers, television, features and short films, improv and is currently working on writing his own projects. Some of his recent favorite productions include: The Monsters, The Taming of the Shrew, The Royale, Hamlet, Feeding Beatrice, The Color Purple, Peter and the Starcatcher, Beauty and The Beast, Violet: The

ERIKA JOHNSON she / her (Scenic Designer, Twelfth Night; Light Designer, Hamlet, Midsummer Dreamers; Production Manager) Erika is excited to return to S&Co for a fourth summer season. Before relocating to the Berkshires, Erika was based in New York City lighting for television, theater, and dance. She had the pleasure of designing shows for everything from Red Bull Music to Animal Planet; and spent full seasons with some truly fabulous institutions such as San Francisco Opera, New York City Ballet, Broadway, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Erika spent her summers before S&Co as the production manager/ head electrician for Adirondack Theatre Festival, putting on Broadway-bound productions like Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat, Loch Ness, Calling All Kates, and Beau. Erika has spent the last seven years traveling the world as the lighting supervisor for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, a company of folks very close to her heart. She is happy to finally put down roots and call Shakespeare & Company her artistic home.

MARCUS KEARNS he / him (Actor, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) For the last decade, Marcus has been in and out of NYC where he was staying busy as a props carpenter for Broadway, production manager for everything from Redbull to Rhianna, and performing whenever he had the chance. He moved back to the Berkshires in 2021 and worked as

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Director of Production & Operations for Barrington Stage Company until 2024 when he left to be a full time Dad. He’s currently working with Majestic Theater in West Springfield as a Production Manager. He’d like to thank his wife Erika for her love, his son Porter for being such an amazing person, and his daughter Lumen for being his ray of Sunshine.

ISABEL KEATING* she / her (Eleanor Bannister, Fireflies) Isabel Keating most recently appeared on Broadway this season in The Queen of Versailles. She also starred in Doubt, Wicked, It’s Only a Play, Hairspray, Spider-Man, Enchanted April and The Boy from Oz (Tony Award, Drama League, Outer Critics nominations; Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards). Off Broadway appearances include A Sherlock Carol (New World Stages); Atlantic Theatre Company; Primary Stages; Rattlestick; and others. Isabel won the Helen Hayes Award for her work in Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink at DC’s Studio Theatre, and has played regionally at Arena Stage, Old Globe, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Williamstown, Bay Street, and others. Films include Indignation, Life Before Her Eyes and The Nanny Diaries. Television: New Amsterdam; The Path; Emmy Award-

winning PBS American Masters Judy Garland: By Myself.

JIM “CHETZ” KEEGAN he / him (Musician, Shake It Up: The Remix) Jimbo is celebrating 52 years of performing music! He has played bass guitar and guitar in many, many groups based in the Berkshires, the Pioneer Valley and the Greater Boston areas. He has toured the U.S. and Canada, performed extensively in Florida and on the East Coast. A native New Englander (and Berkshire boy), he studied music and business at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is currently developing a musical theater piece entitled “SHY”.

HOPE ROSE KELLY* (Stage Manager, Twelfth Night / Shake It Up: The Remix / The Norwegians) S&Co: Romeo & Juliet (2025), Taming of the Shrew, The Islanders, The Contention, Golda’s

Balcony, Lunar Eclipse, An Iliad, Measure for Measure, The Chairs, King Lear (w/ Christopher Lloyd), Topdog/Underdog, Macbeth (2018), Heisenberg, Cymbeline, God of Carnage, Or, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Comedy of Errors (2015), Richard II, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Henry IV, Rough Crossing, Blue/Orange, The Ladies Man, Othello, Richard III, The Taster, As You Like It (2011), The Hound of the Baskervilles, The War of the Worlds, Santaland Diaries. Regional: TheatreSquared, Central Square Theatre, WAM Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, Majestic Theater, American Stage Company, Hartford Stage Company, Montana Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The Wilma, Wallis Center, The Public Theatre, McCarter Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Stonington Opera House Arts, CLOC. Based in Pittsfield, MA, Hope Rose is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Managers’ Association where she serves as the International Cohort Chair, and OISTAT.

is a Berkshire based pianist/singer/ composer. Benny joins forces with many local artists spanning a variety of genres (Jazz, Blues, Funk, R&B, Popular, Rock) including Wanda Houston, Ed Moran, Andy Wrba, Gina Coleman, Glori Wilder, The O-tones, Samirah Evans, Hot Sauce, Chantell McFarland, The Rejuvinators, Rev Tor and many others. Benny can also be found leading his own combos and playing Solo.

GOVANE LOHBAUER she / her (Costume Designer, Twelfth Night) Now retired as Costume Director, Govane is in her 45th year with Shakespeare & Company and enjoying costume design as her primary commitment. Selected credits at S&Co: The Victim, The Taming of The Shrew, Comedy of Errors, Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Golda’s Balcony, An Iliad, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Martha Mitchell Calling play and film, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, The Tempest, Ugly Lies the Bone, Or..., It’s a Wonderful Life, Henry V, Mother of the Maid, Shakespeare’s Will, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Private Lives, Loves Labor’s Lost, Kaufman’s Barbershop, The Learned Ladies, Women of Will, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Taster, Mengelberg and Mahler, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Shirley Valentine, The Ladies Man, Enchanted April, Ice Glen, Lettice and Lovage, House of Mirth, Glimpses of the Moon and many years of the Holiday productions and costumed, staged readings and the Education Department’s Fall Festival BENNY “FINGERS” KOHN (Musician, and Tour productions. Selected Shake It Up: The Remix) Benny Kohn Regional credits: Grant & Twain,

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Emilie..., The Long Run, In Darfur, Arabian Nights, Red Noses, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Metamorphosis, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Alice in Wonderland, Our Country’s Good.

MADELEINE ROSE MAGGIO she / her (Assistant Director, Twelfth Night) S&Co: Nurse, Romeo & Juliet, Adriana, The Comedy of Errors; Hippolyta/Snout, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Don John, Much Ado About Nothing; Robert Shallow/ Bardolph, Merry Wives; Longaville/ Jaquenetta, Love’s Labor’s Lost; Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Elizabeth Bennet, Pride & Prejudice; Marianne Dashwood, Sense & Sensibility; Elizabeth Darcy, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley; S&Co Regional Tour: Lady Capulet/ Benvolio, Romeo & Juliet; The Majestic: Lana, The Ladyslipper; The Humanist Project: “Dorkus Hoare”, A Crucible: A Puritanical Celebration of Witches and Turkeys; “Bubbles”, Mad Mad Mad! (A Devised Clown Play); Lavinia, Titus Andronicus. Madeleine attended the two-year professional course at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, is an alumni of the Shakespeare & Co. Winter Intensive ’18, studied at The Second City in Chicago and

is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

RAYA MALCOLM* (Actor, Shake It Up: The Remix) Raya Malcolm is an actor and musician based in the Capital Region and thrilled to be back for the third year of Shake It Up! Select credits include: Majestic Theater (Steel Magnolias). Barrington Stage Company (10x10 Play Festival, ’25 & ’26). Capital Repertory Theatre (Midsummer Night’s Dream). Great Barrington Public (Things I Know To Be True, Breakwater). Central Square Theater (Matchless & The Happy Prince). Saratoga Shakespeare Company (Romeo & Juliet, Henry IV: Parts I & II). Raya also makes up one-third of local, award winning, indie-folk trio, Hold On Honeys.

CLAIRE F. MARTIN (Playwright, Pride and Prejudice) Claire is a

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playwright, director, actor, and dramaturg based in Atlanta. S&Co: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Anne), Fall Festival Director, Riotous Youth instructor (2022). Playwright: (middle)march (1319 Press), Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility (Atlanta Shakespeare Company), Wayward Daughters (Ethel Woolson Lab), 2 Cities (Hollins New Play Festival), The Poet’s Comedy (PlayHaven), A Christmas Carol (Stage Door Theatre), Arabella (Scrap Paper Shakespeare), Northanger Abbey, The Declaration of Evelina, Lady Susan, Arabella (Belle Esprit). Actor: Emma, Heartbeat Ophelia, Dead Girls No Mothers, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, Troilus and Cressida (Atlanta Shakes). MFA Playwriting Candidate (Hollins University). MA Theatre Directing (Royal Holloway, University of London). SDC Associate. Love to Tycho. xx

MARCELO MARTÍNEZ GARCÍA^ he / him / él (Scenic Designer, Fireflies) Marcelo Martínez García is a proud Mexican Scenic Designer and Architect. Off-Broadway: Manahatta (The Public Theater), The Wind and The Rain (EnGarde Arts & Vineyard Theater). Regional: The Heart Sellers (Studio Theater), AZAD: the rabbit

and the wolf (Hakawati & Golden Thread), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Gulfshore Playhouse), Dial M for Murder (Alley Theater & CPIP), Sandra (TheaterWorks Hartford), The Garbologists (TheaterWorks Hartford), Torera (Alley Theater), Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (Yale Repertory Theater). Associate/Assistant Credits: SUFFS (Broadway), Lempicka (Broadway), Scene Partners (Vineyard Theater), Spelling Bee (Off-Broadway). Martínez holds a degree in Architecture from ITESM MTY, a specialization in Scenic Design from CENTRO CDMX, and an MFA in Theater Design from Yale School of Drama.

MERLIN MCCORMICK* he / him (Actor, Shake It Up: The Remix) Merlin is a performer and screenwriter originally from Raleigh, North Carolina and is excited to be in the Berkshires again this summer. Merlin made his Shakespeare & Company debut in the Northeast Regional Tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His other favorite credits include: Young Martius in Coriolanus (Off Broadway: TFANA),Viola in Twelfth Night (National Black Theatre Festival), Millie in Trouble in Mind (Clarence Brown Theatre), and Hero and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (Starling

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Shakespeare) Training: MFA from University of Tennessee Knoxville.

JOHN MCDERMOTT (Scenic Designer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Previous set designs at Shakespeare & Co. Include Red Velvet, The Creditors, Time Stands Still, and others. Recent work includes Are the Bennet Girls Ok? for Bedlam, Chains for Mint Theater (Drama Desk nomination). Colt Coeur company member designing Dry Land, Zurich, Cal in Camo, and others.

JOJO MCDONALD she / her (Actor, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) JoJo McDonald is an actor, tap dancer, and teaching artist raised and based in the Berkshires. Performance credits include Circus and The Bard (Shakespeare & Co), Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (Northeast Regional Tour, Shakespeare & Co), Henriette in

The Learned Ladies (Riggs Theatre 37), Viola in Twelfth Night (Riggs Theatre 37), co-creator and performer of Civil Motions (work in progress, premiered at the Nairobi Dance Life Festival), creator and performer of devised tap pieces for Dancers of the Berkshires, and ensemble in The People’s Tap Dance Theater (Community Access to The Arts). She teaches in Shakespeare & Co education programs including The Fall Festival of Shakespeare. Other teaching credits include community art initiatives such as ArtistYear (Americorps) in Queens, NY, and They Dance For Rain in Nairobi, Kenya. Education: BA from Williams College, Month-Long Intensive at Shakespeare & Co. Proud Fall Festival alumna. Thanks to all my loved ones. Thanks for coming!

RYAN MCGETTIGAN (Original Set Design, Midsummer Dreamers) Ryan McGettigan is a scenic designer for theatre, opera, and dance. Previous credits with Shakespeare & Company: Julius Caesar directed by Tina Packer (2014). He is a Core Artist with Catastrophic Theatre, the resident designer at Cape Rep Theatre, and has been a company artist with Prague Shakespeare Company and the Classical Theatre Company.

Houston: TUTS, Stages Repertory, Catastrophic, Main Street Theater, A.D. Players, 4th Wall Theatre. Awards for Best Scenic Design from Houston Press in 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2025. Regional: 100a Productions (San Antonio), Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Cape Rep, Abilene Shakespeare Festival, Prague Shakespeare. Opera and Dance: Glimmerglass Festival, Florentine Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera San Antonio, Opera San Jose, HGOco, Rice’s Shepherd School and Moody Center for the Arts, Asia Society in collaboration with Houston Ballet, Open Dance Project.

KULIA MCLAUGHLIN she / her (Assistant Stage Manager, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune / The Norwegians) Kulia is excited for her second season with Shakespeare & Company as an Assistant Stage Manager. She is a rising senior at Tufts University, majoring in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies with a minor in Music and Political Science. Kulia previously Assistant Stage Managing The Victim among other shows at Shakespeare & Company last season as the summer Stage Management Intern. Originally from Sherwood Oregon, Kulia began her stage management journey with the Sherwood Foundation for the Arts and is delighted to continue pursuing her passion as an Assistant Stage Manager at Shakespeare & Company.

ERIN MCKAY (Stage Management Intern, Fireflies / Twelfth Night / Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter / Hamlet / Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Erin McKay is very excited to join Shakespeare & Company this summer! They are a rising senior at Smith College studying English and Theatre. Previously technical theatre experience includes assistant stage manager for You on the Moors Now, stage manager for Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., both with the Smith College Department of Theatre, and production assistant at The Firebird Project in New York City, NY. TERRENCE MCNALLY (Playwright, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de

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Lune) Terrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist and LGBTQ+ trailblazer, described by the New York Times as “the bard of the American Theater.” One of the few playwrights of his generation to successfully pass from the avantgarde to mainstream acclaim, Terrence redefined American playwriting for six decades and was the recipient of five Tony Awards (two for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, two for the books to his musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime, and the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement). Terrence received many honors throughout his life, including the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (where he was Vice President from 1981 to 2001), the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, and inductions into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018. His incredible legacy lives on in his plays, musicals and operas that continue to be performed all over the world, as well as in his papers, which are kept and open to the public at the Harry Ransom Center in the University of Texas at Austin.

John Medeski, David Spinozza, The Midtown Men, Reggie Workman, Albert Cummings, Jeremy Pelt, Heiruspecs, Sonya Kithcell, Samirah Evans, Whiskey Treaty Roadshow, Andy Suzuki & The Method, Norma Miller, Berkshire Symphony among many others.

JAMES MCNAMARA he / him (Light Designer, Fireflies) James McNamara is the Professor of Light/Sound Design and the Founding Chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Westfield State University. Professional Design: The Chester Theatre Company, Great Barrington Public Theatre, The Majestic Theatre, Silverthorne Theatre Company, Ancram Center for the Arts, LaMaMa ETC, CompanyOne, Lost Nation Theater, Pilgrim Theater Company, New Century Theatre, Strong Coffee Stage, New World Theater, Vermont Commons Group, Sankofa Dance Project, World Myth and Music and The Calvin Theater. Assistant design: The Guthrie Theatre Center, The McCarter Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Clarence Brown Theatre and Bard SummerScape. James received his MFA in Theatre Design from The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

CONOR MEEHAN he / him (Musician, Shake It Up: The Remix) Conor Meehan is a versatile drummer currently based in western Massachusetts. As an in demand sideman, Conor has appeared on over 50 recordings and has toured extensively throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Brazil. Since 2005, he has held the position “Artist Associate of Jazz Drums” at Williams College and has also served as a clinician at numerous summer institutes including Jazz in July at UMass and Interplay Jazz Workshop. Conor’s comfort playing a wide range of styles, from straight ahead jazz, to rock, r’n’b, samba and everything in between, has led to opportunities to work with artists across many genres, including Dr. John, Charles Neville, The Boston Pops, Brian MacNight, Honeyhoney, Ted Rosenthal Trio,

MOLLY MERRIHEW (Executive Director) Molly is an arts executive and nonprofit leader with more than 15 years of experience across nonprofit theatre and the arts and entertainment sector. She has collaborated with organizations, artists, and clients ranging from grassroots ensembles to multimilliondollar institutions. A passionate advocate for the Berkshire arts community, her work has also brought her to Boston and New York City. From activist art in found spaces to large-scale Shakespeare festivals and award-winning audiobook launches, Molly is energized by bold

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artists, creative collaboration, and lifelong learning. Molly is the Executive Director of Shakespeare & Company. Most recently, she spent six years at WAM Theatre as Managing Director, where she also served for four years as Artistic Associate. Earlier in her career, Molly spent eight years at Shakespeare & Company in Public Relations and Communications. Before moving to the Berkshires, she worked at Florida Studio Theatre. In addition to her full-time leadership roles, Molly has led consulting projects for artist organizations and creative initiatives as a strategist, project manager, and fundraising consultant. Molly holds a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources from Cornell University, an M.S. in Arts Administration and Fundraising Management from Boston University, and a B.A. in Theatre and English–Creative Writing from SUNY Potsdam. Most recently, she completed the Transformational Leadership Program for Non-Profit Leaders at Kripalu. Molly loves soaking up the vibrant arts scene and dense forests of the Berkshires; you may cross paths with her if you are taking in a show at a local theatre, wandering through a new art exhibit, or hiking one of the many beautiful trails of Berkshire and Columbia County.

ANNETTE MILLER*(Grace Bodell, Fireflies) Annette Miller has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in Boston, in Regional Theaters, and in Film and Television. She has been a leading actor at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass. for 25 seasons. Annette was seen in the well-received new play by Lawrence Goodman The Victim. In 2024, she was awarded a Special Citation at the Elliott Norton awards ceremony, for her body of work and her recent sold-out reprisal of Golda’s Balcony at Shakespeare & Company and at Boston’s Emerson Paramount Theater, February and March 2024. She was acclaimed by The Wall Street Journal as the best actor of the 2020 season in regional theater for her performance as Gladys Green in The Waverly Gallery. She received the 2018 Berkshire Theater Critics Association Award for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Katherine in Mothers and Sons. Annette originated the role of Golda Meir in Golda’s Balcony before it went to Broadway for which she received both Boston’s Elliot Norton Best Actor Award and the Independent Reviewers of New England Best Actor Award. In Florida, she received the Carbonell Best Actor Award nomination for her portrayal of Vi in August Osage County and the Elliot Norton Best Actor Nomination for her role as Martha Mitchell in Martha Mitchell Calling. Other favorite roles include Maria Callas in Master Class, Madam Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Vera in 4,000 Miles, Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop, Duchess of York in Richard III, and Maria in Twelfth Night.Film role credits

include: Mrs. Tanken in Don’t Look Up with Leonardo DiCaprio, You Will Not Play Wagner (featuring Annette, which has been successfully seen at the New Plaza Cinema in NY and the Miami, Sarasota, Boca, Chicago, and Vancouver Jewish film Festivals and this June at the prestigious Berkshire International Film Festival.), Company Men, Autumn Heart, The Imported Bride Groom, The Next Karate Kid, The Eye Has to Travel (documentary on Diana Vreeland), and See How She Runs. On TV, Annette had recurring roles on As The World Turns and Ryan’s Hope. Other awards include the Boston Jewish Film Festival Award and the Zev Cohen Leadership Award. Annette studied with Stella Adler and holds a BA and MFA from Brandeis University. She is currently an Alumni Scholar at Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center where she wrote and continues to perform for organizations and colleges. Now is Our Time: for a Theatrical Collage on the Pleasures and Perils of our Third Chapter.

ARTHUR MILLER (Playwright, Celebrating Jewish Plays: Broken Glass) Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan.

His plays include The Man Who had All the Luck (1944), All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays (1955), After the Fall (1964), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972), The Archbishop’s Ceiling (1977), The American Clock (1980) And Playing for Time. Later plays include The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1993), Broken Glass (1994), Mr. Peters’ Connections (1998), Resurrection Blues (2002), and Finishing the Picture (2004). Other works include Focus, a novel (1945), The Misfits, a screenplay (1960), and the texts for In Russia (1969), In the Country (1977), and Chinese Encounters (1979), three books in collaboration with his wife, photographer Inge Morath. Memoirs include Salesman in Beijing (1984) and Timebends, an autobiography (1988). Short fiction includes the collection I Don’t Need You Anymore (1967), the novella Homely Girl, a Life (1995) and Presence: Stories (2007). He was awarded the Avery Hopwood Award for Playwriting at University of Michigan in 1936. He twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, received two Emmy awards and three Tony Awards for his plays, as well as a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also won an Obie award, a BBC Best Play Award, the George Foster Peabody Award, a Gold Medal for Drama from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library, the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement

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Award, and the Algur Meadows Award. He was named Jefferson Lecturer for the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2001. He was awarded the 2002 Prince of Asturias Award for Letters and the 2003 Jerusalem Prize. He received honorary degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University and was awarded the Prix Moliere of the French theatre, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.

JACOB MING-TRENT* (Creator / Musician / Actor, Shake It Up: The Remix) TV: White Famous, Showtime (series regular), Watchmen, HBO (series regular). Ray Donovan, Showtime (recurring), Feed the Beast, AMC (recurring). Only Murders in the Building, WU-TANG: An American Saga; New Amsterdam, God Friended Me, High Maintenance and more. Film: Superfly, Forty-Year-Old Version, Snakes, R+J, Possession of Hannah Grace, The Bygone, Julie Taymour’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The shallow tale of a writer...starring Steve Buschemi, Friendship, staring Paul Rudd . Broadway: Gypsy revival, (original cast) Shrek the Musical (original cast), Hands on a Hardbody, (original cast). Off-Broadway: Medea Reversed at RedBull theater (Lucille Lortel Nom) The Harder They Come at the Public Theater, (Lucille Lortel Nom, AUDELCO, Nom); Falstaff in Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare in the Park (Drama Desk Nom); Sir

Toby Belch, Twelfth Night, Public Theater; Father Comes Home from the Wars, Public Theater, (Lortel Award, AUDELCO Nom); Cymbeline, and The Tempest; Public Theater. Mother Courage, Classic Stage Company; The Alchemist, Mammon at Red Bull Theater, (Lortel Nomination); Merchant of Venice, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theatre for a New Audience; Widowers’ Houses, Epic Theater Ensemble; On the Levee, Lincoln Center Theater. Regional theaters: Yale Rep, Long wharf, Berkley rep, lojolla playhouse, A.C.T, The Folger theater, The studio Theater, 5th Ave Playhouse, City Theater, Pittsburgh Playhouse, A.R.T, Emerson, Hudson valley Shakespeare festival. England: Birmingham rep, The Barbican. Writing/creator credits: How Shakespeare Saved My Life, the film Mac n Beth and Shake It Up Cabaret.

FIONA MISIURA she / her (Assistant Stage Manager, Fireflies) Fiona Misiura is thrilled to be joining Shakespeare & Company for her first season. She has previously worked at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Flea, Theatre Row, Urban Stages, and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Fiona has a BA from Ramapo College of New Jersey and will be pursuing an MFA in Stage Management at the David Geffen School of Drama in the fall.

YAALA MULLER* she / her (Ophelia, Hamlet) Yaala Muller is thrilled to make her Shakespeare & Company debut! Originally from Israel, she began her career as a political organizer and voting rights advocate working on national campaigns, before returning to acting and earning her MFA at the Asolo Conservatory this past Spring. Past stage work includes: The Mirror Crack’d and the American premiere of The Unfriend (u/s) at Asolo Repertory Theater; Alice in Wonderland and Shakespeare45 (Asolo Rep on Tour); John Proctor Is the Villain and The Winter’s Tale at the Asolo Conservatory. She holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and the Clinton School of Public Service and is based in New York City.

NICK NUDLER he / him (Creator / Performer, Midsummer Dreamers; Feste, Twelfth Night) Nick Nudler has appeared at Shakespeare & Company as Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew, and Ensemble, I HAVE HAD A MOST RARE VISION. As part of the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare, he’s played Macbeth, Macbeth; Antipholus of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors, and Claudius, Hamlet. His training includes earning a BFA from the University of Connecticut. He is half of the collaborative theatre duo Cosmic Mirth with his partner, Kirsten Peacock. They build highly physical interpretations of classic and folk stories. Be sure to catch their production of Midsummer Dreamers September 1–3 in the Tina Packer Playhouse!

KIRSTEN PEACOCK (Creator / Performer, Midsummer Dreamers; Viola / Dance Captain, Twelfth Night; Dance Captain; Choreographer, The Norwegians) Kirsten Peacock has appeared in several Shakespeare & Company productions, including as Kate, The Taming of the Shrew; Emma, EMMA; Ensemble, I HAVE HAD A MOST RARE VISION. As part of Shakespeare & Company’s Northeast Regional Tour, she played Lady Macbeth, Macbeth; Antipholus of Syracuse, The Comedy of Errors; Ophelia, Hamlet; Titania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Desdemona, Othello. Kirsten is an actor/theater-maker of British/ American parentage, but grew up in Norway. Outside of Shakespeare, some of her favorite acting credits include Halina in Indecent, Sherlock in Holmes & Watson of #2B (Playhouse on Park), Brooke in Noises Off, Hallet in From the Heart of the Wreck (Cape Rep Theatre) and Adelle Ratignolle in The Awakening (Breadbox Theatre).

VINNY PRUCHNICK he / they (Sound Designer, The Norwegians) Vinny Pruchnick is a multidisciplinary artist based in NYC. His main focus in theatre is sound design, but his work has been seen in the capital region as a lighting designer and projection designer as well. Previous credits include sound design for Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 at The Great Barrington Public Theatre and 9 to 5: The Musical at Desales University. Projection design credits include Next to Normal at Steamer No. 10 Theatre in Albany. Vinny is also an educational artist, working primarily with students as a director. He would like to thank his friends and family for being supportive of the arts, and his daughter Sylvie for being the best daughter ever!

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“ranney”* he / him (Sir Tobey Belch, Twelfth Night; Claudius, Hamlet) West End: The Bomb-itty of Errors (Ambassadors Theatre). Regional: The Piano Lesson, The Islanders, Fences, Hymn, Art (Shakespeare & Company); The Piano Lesson (Actors Shakespeare Project); The Counter (Umbrella Stage Company ); How I Learned What I Learned, Sweat (Ensemble Theatre Company); A Soldier’s Play, The Amen Corner, Hamlet, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, All the Way, Fences (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Jitney, Radio Golf, Two Trains Running, The Piano Lesson, Gem of the Ocean, Crowns, The Bomb-itty of Errors (American Stage Theatre Company); Scarlet, The Piano Lesson (Portland Playhouse Theatre); Water By the Spoonful, Seven Guitars (Nevada Conservatory Theatre); Zora Neale Hurston, The Piano Lesson (Center Theatre Company), Topdog/Underdog, Race, The Boys Next Door (Jobsite Theater Company) Solo: Cufflinks and Jolly Ranchers for Dummies (Edinburgh Festival Fringe); And the Horse You Rode In On (Projects Arts Center, Dublin); Glossolalia: “ranney” is Speaking in Tongues, Whatever (Peoples Improv Theatre); Incendiary, The Break of Dawn: Tracing the Origins of Speech, Pardon Me: I Promise to Do My Best; “ranney” in Surround Zound (Straz Center for the Performing Arts); The Chicken or the Egg (American Stage Theatre Company).

PEDRO REIS (Creator / Director, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter) Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Pedro Reis began his circus training at the age of 12 at a local YMCA. He developed his skills on the flying trapeze and later helped develop the first circus school

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in South Africa. In a land divided by color, the school ignored politics, giving students from all walks of life the opportunity to channel their energies in a positive, healthy manner. Pedro then moved on to create The Survivors, one of the most dangerous acts in circus history performing without safety devices making their American debut with Ringling Bros. in 1984. In 1987 Pedro became a solo artist, performing with many renowned circus companies including the Big Apple Circus in New York and The International Circus Festival of Monaco. In 1997, he co-founded Circus Sarasota, a one-ring circus in the European tradition, and a not-forprofit organization now named the Circus Arts Conservatory (CAC). The CAC presents circus arts at the highest level - through performance, education and integrated community arts and service programs. He has received the Sarasota County Arts Council prestigious Arts Leadership Award, and is inducted into the John and Mable Ringling Circus Museum Hall of fame and the Circus Ring of Fame at St. Armand’s Circle. In 2017, the CAC partnered with the Smithsonian Institute to produce their Folklife Festival, which that year focused on international circus arts. Pedro led the team, setting up the Big Top on the National Mall, and producing/directing the international Circus talent. He and Robin Eldridge have recently formed Spirit of the Circus, a company that illuminates circus arts from different angles, including original collaborations such as this production with Shakespeare & Company.

NICOLE RICCIARDI† (Director, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Shakespeare & Company: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Time Stands Still, Creditors, 4000 Miles, The Taming, The How and The Why, Cassandra Speaks. Third Avenue PlayWorks: Moonlights and Magnolias, The Book Club Play. Berkshire Playwrights Lab: Above Water. The Nora at Central Square

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Theater: Cassandra Speaks. Samuel French OOB: Happy Anniversary. Ars Nova Out Loud/Bushwick Arts: The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight. Several new plays for Youngblood/Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Bats/ Flea Theater. Associate/Assistant Director: The Belle of Belfast (Irish Repertory Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare and Company), Richard II (Shakespeare and Company), Melissa Arctic (Two River Theatre), The Cenci (Red Bull), and The Government Inspector (Red Bull). Faculty, The Theatre School at DePaul. MFA, Carnegie Mellon University. Member, SDC.

OMAR ROBINSON* he / him (Count Orsino, Twelfth Night) S&Co.: The Piano Lesson. Regional: Macbeth, King Hedley II, Seven Guitars, Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The School for Scandal, The Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Pericles (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Toni Stone, Common Ground Revisited, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Tartuffe (Huntington Theatre Company); Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Winter’s Tale (Hartford Stage); Radio Golf, black odyssey, The Hunchback of Seville (Trinity Repertory Company); Dorset Theatre Festival, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, Central Square Theater, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. Film: The Finest Hours. Education: BA, Emerson College. Training: Shakespeare & Company’s Summer Shakespeare Intensive, 2016. JOSH RODRIGUES* he / they (Stage Manager, Fireflies / Hamlet) Josh is overjoyed to be returning to Shakespeare & Company for another Season after last season’s The Victim and 2022’s Much Ado About Nothing! A Proud AEA Member and Massachusetts Native, they have worked around the country settling for now in Philadelphia. Some other favorite credits include (Pirates of Penzance) Quintessence Theatre Group (School of Rock, Escape to Margaritaville) Little Theatre On the

Square, (The Play That Goes Wrong) Lyric Stage Company of Boston, (Murder for Two) Greenbrier Valley Theatre, (The Underpants) Lake Dillon Theatre Company.

MADDIE ROTH (Associate Director / Intimacy Coordinator, Twelfth Night) Based in Philadelphia, they are a theatre artist specializing in directing, devising, and intimacy direction. A certified Content Forward Artist, they hold a BFA in Directing from Salem State University and are currently pursuing an MFA in Devised Performance at the Pig Iron School. They are a co-founder of Fall Risk Theatre Collective and debuted their inaugural devised, immersive theatre production, Adventures at Skyline Wilderness Camp, during the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Their practice is rooted in a feminist directing model, prioritizing consent-based and trauma-informed rehearsal spaces. Directing credits include Fun Home and Evil Dead The Musical, while performance highlights include Ophelia in Hamlet. An ACTF SDC Directing Initiative winner, they are dedicated to creating impactful, collaborative theatre that challenges traditional hierarchies and fosters artistic safety. BRYN SCHARENBERG (Sound Designer, Fireflies) Bryn Scharenberg is a New York-based sound designer and engineer. She grew up in Seattle, where the murmur of rain is near-constant. The vividness of the natural world is a core theme in their designs, as well as an earnest love for the moody and melodramatic. Her professional credits include a mix of designing, associate designing, and engineering for New York Theater Workshop, Juilliard, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Yale Repertory Theater, and the New School, among others.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE founding member (Playwright, Twelfth Night, Hamlet) He was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. His works, including some collaborations, consist of about 37 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

EDDIE SHIELDS* he / him (Laertes, Hamlet) Eddie Shields is thrilled to be back at Shakespeare & Company this summer having recently appeared in Mother Play. Recent Credits: Breaking the Code, Bedlam’s Angels in America (BEDLAM/CST) The Inheritance, A Man of No Importance, Shakespeare in Love, Casa Valentina, and Significant Other (Speakeasy Stage), Edward II, The Comedy of Errors (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Central Square Theater); Hair (New Rep); Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Company One); The Seagull (A.R.T/BTC). Off Broadway/NY: A Class Act (Playwrights Horizons); Billy Redden (Theater Row); Europa Escapes Europe (Austria Stage); Miss Julie (Workshop Theater); Twelfth Night, Henry VI.3, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Drilling Company). Film/ TV: Kill that Man, Moonrise Kingdom, Unsure/Positive, Road to Joy, The Entertainment. Plays: Julie (Midtown Theater Fest. Best in Show); The Good Girls High (Manhattan Rep. Official Selection). Eddie has been nominated for the Elliot Norton award three times and holds an IRNE award and 4 IRNE nominations. MFA – Brandeis University. AEA/SAG-AFTRA.

KATHLEEN H. SOLTAN* she / her (Stage Manager, Plays in Process; Assistant Stage Manager, Twelfth Night) Kathleen H. Soltan is a Philadelphia based Stage Manager and Creator. Selected Theatre Credits: King Lear, The Waverly Gallery, Macbeth with Shakespeare & Company, I Do! I Do! with Purple Crayon Productions, Cadillac Crew, Kamloopa with WAM Theater Company, Noises Off!, Othello, The Birds, The Handmaid’s Tale with CurioTheatre Company. Selected Training: BA Theater Temple University. Creative Inspiration: Kathleen is dedicated to providing and promoting safe spaces for all Performers, Designers, and Artistic Creators. Special thanks to Hope and Jayden, the cast and crew, and SPF 50!

LIZ STANTON she / her (Sound Designer, Twelfth Night) Liz is thrilled to be back at Shakespeare & Company and working with Kate Kohler Amory. Liz is a multifaceted theatre artist — an actor, singer, sound designer, composer, and teacher. She creates award-winning devised theatre pieces, composes music for theatrical sound scores, and an opera: The Bacchaein Song and Vocal Extreme. Recent sound designs include: Comedy of Errors and This Is It (Shakespeare & Company), Medusa Volution (Fringe Arts Philly), The Man in the Newspaper Hat (Pandemic Films), Off the Wall: The Zany Plays (52nd St Project), The Yellow Wallpaper (Cleveland Public Theatre), Antigonick (Whitman College Theatre), Distant Shores (A Dance Film), Murrow (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), Refracting Miss Julie (OneArmRed), Fracked or Friction (Naropa University). Liz received her MFA in Theatre: Contemporary Performance from Naropa University. She teaches psycho physical acting and physically embodied and extended voice for graduate and undergraduate students. She has taught at NYU/ ETW, Naropa University (BFA and MFA), Denison University, Salem State University, CUNY Staten Island and at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She offers private instruction in NYC and over zoom and specializes in reinvigorating the aging voice. She is

currently working on a theatrical song cycle titled Periwinkle’s Heart: the Pulse of Grief and Joy.

JACLYN C. STEVENSON she / her (Musician, Shake It Up: The Remix; Director of Marketing & Communications) This is Jaclyn’s third season as a performer with Shakespeare & Company and her fifth as its Director of Marketing & Communications. Recent credits as a performer or speaker include: violin/vocals with Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret (Shakespeare & Company); A Conversation with Best-selling Author Terry Hayes (The Mahaiwe); Poet 13, From Stone to Song (and back again) – A Very Large Poem 2024, featured poet, Walkin’ with WordxWord, and Poet 47, The Very Large Poem (WordxWord at The Mount); feature violin at Bousquet Mountain Jam and The Iron Horse with Shakedown, and feature violin, PVPA Dance Company. Additional credits include television: Songwriter, singer, and violinist, Undressed Mtv. Albums: feature violin, Piano Planet, Derrick Cummings; singer and violinist, Pass the Sombrero, Singer Bad Dancer; feature violin, Matinee, Rob Cushing, and singer/violinist, the Cape Cod Musicians’ Social album.

C. DENBY SWANSON (Playwright, The Norwegians) C. Denby Swanson graduated from Smith College, the National Theatre Institute, and the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers, where she was a fellow in playwriting and screenwriting. She has been a Jerome Fellow, a William Inge Playwright in Residence, and a McKnight Advancement Grant recipient. Her work has been commissioned by the Guthrie

Theater, 15 Head a Theatre Lab, Macalester College, and The Drilling Company, and featured in the Southern Playwrights Festival, the Women Playwrights Project, the Lark Theater’s Playwrights Week, PlayLabs, the WPA Festival at Salvage Vanguard, JAW: A Playwrights Festival at Portland Center Stage, and multiple residencies at New York Stage & Film. Her full length adaptation, Atomic Farmgirl, was developed by the Drilling Company, at the Culture Project’s Impact Festival and at the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, and won a prize in the 2009 Earth Matters on Stage Festival at the University of Oregon. She won a 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Special Prize for her short play The Potato Feast, which was also nominated for a 2008 New York Innovative Theater Award. Her blues play Blue Monday was developed at ZACH Theatre Center as part of the NEA/TCG National Theater Residency Program for Playwrights. She is a former Artistic Director of Austin Script Works and on the faculty at Southwestern University. Her work is published by Smith & Kraus, Heinemann, and Playscripts, Inc.

SEAN SWEENEY he / him (Set Design, Twelfth Night) This is Sean’s seventh year at Shakespeare & Company, his third as the Technical Director, and second year he’s helped design a set for the Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheater. A recent graduate of the MFA program at Boston University, Sean is happy to return to his home away from home in Lenox, Mass.

MICHAEL F. TOOMEY* (Tor, The Norwegians) Michael F. Toomey is the Artistic Director of The Humanist Project and a founding member of

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Split Knuckle Theatre, which devises new works and has toured from Bangkok to Buenos Aires. He is the creator of The Onion Cycle, an ongoing trilogy of clown plays set in Danvers, MA that excavate absurdity, identity, and American myth. Toomey has been a company member at Shakespeare & Company for more than 20 years, performing roles including Serg (Art), Puck (Midsummer), Poet (An Iliad), Bassinet (Ladies Man) and Walter (Split Knuckle’s Endurance). His New York credits include Francis (Francis Goes To War) and Francis (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle). His childhood passion for The Muppets and Looney Tunes informs his ongoing obsession with clowning and comic structure. He has studied with Philippe Gaulier and Giovanni Fusetti. Toomey is a graduate of LISPA, where he earned an MFA in Lecoq-based Theatre, and teaches workshops in Fight, Clown, and Shakespeare across the U.S. and internationally. Michael is currently touring his one person comedy No Body Cares: America’s Favorite Healthcare System. ADELE NADINE TRAUB* (Assistant Stage Manager, Shake It Up: The Remix) A founding company member with Actors’ Shakespeare Project where she has stage managed over 25 productions, Adele has also stage managed for The Huntington Theatre, Playwrights Horizons in NYC, the A.R.T in Cambridge, MA, Capital Repertory Theatre, in Albany, NY; Lyric Stage, SpeakEasy Stage, Israeli Stage, Central Square Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theater, Boston Conservatory, and BU Dance Theatre in Boston, MA. Education: Brandeis University (BA). Adele is the General Manager at Lyric Stage of Boston, the Artist Coordinator for J.P. Licks, teaches stage management at Boston College, and is a professional quilter.

DANIELA VARON† she / her (Director, Fireflies) S&Co: Director, Coriolanus, Intimate Apparel, Ugly Lies The Bone, Red Velvet, Shakespeare’s Will, Romeo and Juliet, Sea Marks, Martha Mitchell Calling, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Love Letters,

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Collected Stories, The Winter’s Tale, Wit, A Room of One’s Own, The Turn of the Screw. New York: Abingdon; Culture Project; EST; HERE; Joe’s Pub; Lincoln Center Theater Directors’ Lab; Mud/Bone; New Dramatists; the Public; Shakespeare Society; Symphony Space; 78th St. Theater Lab; Upstart Creatures; Vineyard Theatre. Regional: Boston Playwrights’; Connecticut Repertory; LA Women’s Shakespeare; the Modern; Northern Stage; Sun Valley Shakespeare; Tygre’s Heart Shakespeare; Vineyard Playhouse; VoxFest; Wharton Salon. Co–founder with Kristin Linklater, The Company of Women; co–creator, Conversations with Shakespeare; Drama League Fellow; NYTW Usual Suspect. Faculty/ Guest Artist: The Linklater Center, Barnard, Bennington, Columbia, Dartmouth, David Geffen School of Drama, Emerson, NYU, Purchase, Shakespeare & Co., Smith, U. Conn., Yale University. International theater exchange projects: Sfumato Theatre Laboratory, Sofia, Bulgaria; Pro Rodopi Art Centre, Bostina, Bulgaria. Artistic Research Fellow, The Folger Institute, 2025-2026.

JAMES WARWICK† (Director, The Norwegians) James Warwick has worked on and off Broadway as a leading actor and director and played leading roles in over a dozen television series, both in the US and in his native England. He acted in UK regional theatre for several years after leaving the Royal Central School and subsequently played many leading parts in London’s West End. James became an American citizen 25 years ago and has since lived and worked in Los Angeles and in NYC as an actor and director. He is now based in the Berkshires MA and has directed productions at Shakespeare & Company, Chester Theatre, Great Barrington Public Theatre, Berkshire Theater Group and The Majestic Theatre in West Springfield. He is the recipient of awards from The Spotlight, BAFTA, Showcase Magazine LA, Ovations LA, The Berkshire Eagle, Audiophile Magazine and the Berkshire Critics Association. And still looks weeks younger than he is…

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HANNAH WILLIAMS she / her (Intimacy Choreographer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Hannah Williams is a Berkshire-based intimacy choreographer and director. She is Associate Faculty with Theatrical Intimacy Education and has worked as an intimacy choreographer and coordinator across New England, New York, the Southeast, and China. Select past intimacy choreography credits include: Boeing-Boeing and Cabaret (Flat Rock Playhouse), Cymbeline (Nemesis Theatre Co.), The Bridges of Madison County (Fort Salem Theatre), Life Sucks (University of North Carolina School of the Arts), Tartuffe and Jekyll and Hyde (Western Carolina University), and End of the Rainbow (Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre). She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Millikin University and is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

J. AUSTYN WILLIAMSON* he / him (Andrew Aguecheek / Valentine, Twelfth Night; Horatio, Hamlet) Shakespeare & Company: Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Henry VI Part II: The Contention. Select Regional: Twelfth Night (People’s Light Theatre Company); The Inheritance Parts I & II (Trinity Repertory Theatre Company); The Tempest (Oak Park Festival Theatre); How To Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens Theatre); Cold War Choir Practice, Is Cry You Cry’n?, Ironbound, One Flea Spare, [The Taming of] Hamlet, Fugitive Songs (Brown/Trinity Rep). Education: MFA in Acting, Brown/Trinity Rep.; BA in Sociology & Drama, Tufts University.

LUKE WILLSON he / him (Light Designer, Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter / Shake It Up: The Remix / The Norwegians) Luke Willson is a NYC-based lighting designer, technician, and/or manager with a passion for unlocking the puzzles at the heart of stories. He is thrilled to be back at Shakespeare & Company for the 2026 Summer Season as the staff Lighting Supervisor, as well as the lighting designer for Shake It Up, Circus & the Bard, and The Norwegians. Luke has worked on productions at The Riverside Theatre, The Danspace Project, Theatre for a New Audience, Life World, The Humanist Project, The Tank, The Flea, La MaMa, NYC Fringe, Target Margin Theatre, and many more. He would like to give a special shoutout to Sam Hoffman and Jonah Hane for all their hard work this season.

PEGGY PHARR WILSON* (Olive, The Norwegians) Shakes & Co – Leap Year. Barrington Stage Company – Associate Artist, 25 productions including all 15 years of the 10x10 New Play Festival, Forgiveness, Boca, American 2.1, To Kill a Mockingbird, His Girl Friday, Guys and Dolls, the Crucible. Great Barrington Public Theatre – Off Peak, Dad, Public Speaking 101. Co-author of the cult hit Six Women with Brain Death, performing it in NYC, Dallas, Kansas City and Chicago. Creede Repertory Theatre – over 50 performances including Shirley Valentine, Sweeney Todd (Ovation Award for best actress), Urinetown, 3 Viewings, Moon for the Misbegotten. Dallas Theatre Center, Kansas City Rep, Theatre 3, and many more.

Time Traveling Bong (Comedy Central). Ryan has a BA from FSU, an MFA from UW-Madison, and he is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and SAG.

ARTHUR WILSON he / him (Costume Designer, Hamlet; Set Designer / Costume Designer, The Norwegians) Costume design: Circus Fire (Theaterworks Hartford), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Playhouse on Park), Elephant & piggy (Playhouse on Park), Mother Play (Shakespeare & Co.), Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Board Members (Yale Rep), Cactus Queen and Uncle Vanya (Geffen School). Set Design: Public Record (The Public Theater), Hole in the Wall (LaChat Farms), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Playhouse on Park). Associate Set Design: Twelfth Night (The Public Theater ’25), Romeo & Juliet (The Public Theater ’26), A Winter’s Tale (The Public Theater ’26). MFA in Costume & Scenic Design (Yale School of Drama). 2025 Burry Fredrik Design Fellow.

RYAN WINKLES* (Sea Captain / Antonio / Fight Captain, Twelfth Night) Ryan has been a company member of Shakespeare & Company since 2006 and some of the productions he has been in include: The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Henry V, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Creditors, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Learned Ladies, Mother Courage, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and It’s a Wonderful Life. Regional Credits include: Great Barrington Public Theater: Madame Mozart, The Stones, Breakwater; WAM Theatre: ROE, The Old Mezzo; Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: The Winter’s Tale, Universe Rushing Apart; Gloucester Stage: Mr. Fulllerton: Between the Sheets; The Huntington Theatre Company: Joy and Pandemic. Film: The Boston Strangler (Hulu). TV:

KRISTIN WOLD* (Gertrude, Hamlet) Actor, director and choreographer Kristin Wold is a Berkshire resident and artist. At Elm Shakespeare Company, Kristin played in Richard III (Elizabeth) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania). Roles at Shakespeare & Company include hang (One), Creditors (Tekla), God of Carnage (Annette), Shakespeare’s Will (Anne Hathaway), Julius Caesar (Calpurnia, Portia, Lucius), The Tempest (Ariel), King Lear (Regan, Cordelia), Sea Marks (Timothea Stiles), Othello (Emilia), and Ice Glen (Sarah Harding). Kristin teaches Text and Movement for the Actor in Shakespeare & Company’s renowned professional actor training programs and has been the Movement Director and Choreographer for many productions (The Merchant of Venice, Cymbeline, Red Velvet). She recently retired from heading the Acting Programs at the University of Connecticut. Productions directed for Connecticut Repertory Theatre include Metamorphoses, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, As You Like It, Sense and Sensibility, Punk

Rock, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party, Thin Air: Tales from a Revolution, North Shore Fish and Judevine. Kristin created a dance theatre performance, Thetis: Immortal Fire, performed by Shakespeare & Company members and students from UConn. She studied acting at the Burt Reynolds Jupiter Theatre, Florida State University and with Tadashi Suzuki in Japan.

MARK ZEISLER* (Gus, The Norwegians) Mark Zeisler is returning to Shakespeare & Company for his fourth season; previous credits include The Tempest, Macbeth, As You Like It and Time Stands Still. His Broadway credits include A View from the Bridge (Tony winner for Best Revival), Brooklyn Boy and The Big Knife. Off Broadway he has been seen in Rancho Viejo, the original production of eurydice, The Accomplices, and Piece of My Heart. Regional credits include Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure at The Folger Shakespeare Theatre (Helen Hayes Nomination for Best Actor), the original production of Big Love by Chuck Mee, which played at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, The Goodman Theatre and BAM Next Wave. Other appearances include productions at

The Alley, Seattle Rep, City Theatre, the Maltz, Asolo Rep and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He has been involved in two productions at Baltimore Center Stage, five productions at Merrimack Rep, four seasons at Elm Shakespeare, seven productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville and American Repertory Theatre, where he was a company member for three seasons. Mark has appeared in over 20 television series, including recurring roles on Bull and House of Cards; Rescue Me, Castle Rock, The Blacklist, FBI: Most Wanted, The Americans, Bluebloods, six appearances on the Law and Order franchise, and the upcoming Cupertino. He narrated the documentaries GI Jews and Cinema and Sanctuary, and his film appearances include The Cathedral, as well as Afterschool, Random Hearts, Two Week Notice, Shaft, Head of State, The Thomas Crown Affair and Irrational Man. His directing credits include American Buffalo for Elm Shakespeare and Deathtrap for Legacy Theatre in Connecticut. Mark is a native New Yorker and a graduate of SUNY Purchase. MELISSA ZICCARDI (Assistant Stage Manager / Wardrobe, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) Back for another season at Shakespeare & Company, Melissa has done wardrobe for shows such as The Taming, Henry VI part 2, Fences, and The Islanders; and she’s doubled as wardrobe and ASM on shows like 4000 Miles, the Wharton One Acts and Topdog/Underdog. She started working for Shakespeare & Company back in 2016.

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION (“Equity”), founded May 26, 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional Actors and Stage Managers. Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors’ Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. Equity is governed by its own members through an elected Council, representing principal actors, chorus actors and stage managers living in three regions: Eastern, Central and Western. Members at large participate in Equity’s governance through a system of regional Boards and Committees. Equity has 28 designated area liaison cities with over 100 members each. #EquityWorks * Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. † This director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union. ^ This designer is represented by United Scenic Artists – Local USA 829 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Shakespeare & Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Shakespeare & Company is a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theater. Shakespeare & Company is a constituent of The Shakespeare Theatre Association, a forum for theatres involved in the production of works of William Shakespeare.

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2026 CALENDAR MON

JUNE

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

1

2

3

4

5

8 15

9 16

10 17

11 18

12 19 7 pm Fireflies (P)

22

23 7 pm Fireflies

24 7 pm Fireflies

25 2 pm Fireflies 7 pm Fireflies

26 4:30 pm Gala

30 7 pm Fireflies MON TUE

SAT 6 10:30 am Talk 13 20 10:30 am Talk 7 pm Fireflies (P) 27 7 pm Fireflies

SUN 7 14 21 11:30 am SSI 2 pm Fireflies (O) 28 2 pm Fireflies

29

THU FRI SAT SUN 2 3 4 5 10:30 am Wanderers 7 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 7 pm Fireflies 7 pm Twelfth (P) 7 pm Twelfth (P) 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 2 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 10:30 am Wanderers 10 am Riotous Youth 10:30 am Talk 2 pm Fireflies 7 pm Twelfth (P) 7 pm Twelfth (P) 2 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth (P) 7 pm Twelfth (O) 7 pm Twelfth 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 11:30 am Circus 2 pm Fireflies (C) 2 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 10:30 am Wanderers 2 pm Fireflies 2 pm Fireflies 2:30 pm Circus 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth 2 pm Fireflies 2:30 pm Circus 2:30 pm Circus 7 pm Twelfth 2:30 pm Circus 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 2:30 pm Circus (C) 10:30 am Wanderers 10 am Riotous Youth 11:30 am Circus 11:30 am Circus 2:30 pm Circus SF 2:30 pm Circus 2:30 pm Circus 7 pm Twelfth (C) 7 pm Twelfth 11:30 am CircusSF 2:30 pm Circus 2:30 pm Circus 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth 7 pm Twelfth 27 28 29 30 31 7 pm Plays in Process 7 pm Plays in Process 10:30 am Wanderers 2 pm Frankie & Johnny (P) 2 pm Frankie & Johnny (P) 7 pm Shake It Up 7 pm Plays in Process MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN 1 2 10:30 am Talk 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 3:30 pm Shake It Up 3:30 pm Shake It Up 7 pm Frankie & Johnny (O) 7 pm Shake It Up 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 pm 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 10:30 am Wanderers 10 am Riotous Youth 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Frankie & Johnny Shake It 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Frankie & Johnny Up (C) 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 10:30 am Wanderers 11 am Riotous Youth 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Hamlet 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Hamlet (O) 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Hamlet (P) 7 pm Hamlet (P) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 2 pm Hamlet 2 pm Hamlet 10:30 am Wanderers 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Hamlet 2 pm Hamlet 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 2 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Hamlet 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Frankie & Johnny 7 pm Hamlet 7 pm Hamlet 7 pm Hamlet (C) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 7 pm Hamlet 2 pm Hamlet 10:30 am Wanderers 7 pm Hamlet 10:30 am Talk 2 pm Hamlet (C) 7 pm Hamlet 7 pm Hamlet 2 pm Hamlet 7 pm Hamlet 31

JULY

WED 1 7 pm Fireflies

AUGUST

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2026 CALENDAR MON

TUE

SEPTEMBER

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

SUN

4 7 pm Norwegians (P)

5 7 pm Norwegians (P)

6 2 pm Norwegians (O)

11 7 pm Norwegians

12 2 pm Norwegians 7 pm Norwegians 19 2 pm Norwegians 7 pm Norwegians 26 2 pm Norwegians 7 pm Norwegians

13 2 pm Norwegians

7

1 7 pm Midsummer Dreamers (O) 8

2 7 pm Midsummer Dreamers 9

3 7 pm Midsummer Dreamers (C) 10

14

15

16

17

18 7 pm Norwegians

21

22

23

24

25 7 pm Norwegians

28 29 MON

27 2 pm Norwegians

30 TUE

WED

THU 1

OCTOBER 5

20 2 pm Norwegians

6

7

8

12 13 19 20 26 27 MON

14 21 28

15 22 29

TUE

WED

THU

FRI 2 7 pm Norwegians

SAT 3 2 pm Norwegians 7 pm Norwegians 9 10 10:30 am Jewish Plays 7 pm Jewish Plays 2 pm Jewish Plays 16 17 23 24 30 31 FRI SAT

SUN 4 2 pm Norwegians (C) 11 2 pm Jewish Plays 4 pm Jewish Plays 18 25 SUN 1

NOVEMBER 2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19 6:15 pm Fall Fest 8:30 pm Fall Fest

20 6:15 pm Fall Fest 8:30 pm Fall Fest

22 1:15 pm Fall Fest 3:30 pm Fall Fest

23 24 30 MON

25

26

27

21 1:15 pm Fall Fest 3:30 pm Fall Fest 6:15 pm Fall Fest 8:30 pm Fall Fest 28

TUE

DECEMBER

WED

THU

7 14

1 8 15

2 9 16

3 10 17

21 28

22 29

23 30

24 31

FRI

29

SAT

SUN

4 5 6 11 12 13 18 19 20 7 pm Pride & Prejudice 2 pm Pride & Prejudice 2 pm Pride & Prejudice 7 pm Pride & Prejudice (C) 25 26 27

KEY (P) = Preview | (O) = Opening | (C) = Closing | SF = Sensory Friendly Performance

* Programs, artists and talks are subject to change.

Fireflies = Fireflies Plays in Process = Plays in Process Twelfth = Twelfth Night Midsummer Dreamers = Midsummer Dreamers Circus = Circus & The Bard: The Next Chapter The Norwegians = The Norwegians Frankie & Johnny = Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Jewish Plays = Celebrating Jewish Plays Shake It Up = Shake It Up: The Remix Pride & Prejudice = Pride & Prejudice Hamlet = Hamlet SSI = Summer Shakespeare Intensive

Riotous Youth = Riotous Youth Fall Fest = Fall Festival of Shakespeare Talk = Behind the Curtain Talks Wanderers = Merry Wanderers Guided Tours

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WHERE TO STAY, SHOP, DINE, AND EXPLORE! Business Sponsors 2026

ART & ANTIQUES Carrie Haddad Gallery.......................................... 42 Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio................... 29 Hado-Mark Gallery............................................... 16 Laurie Donovan Designs....................................... 98 Walker Street Market............................................ 42 DINE 51 Park Restaurant & Tavern................................ 18 Alta Restaurant & Wine Bar.................................. 14 Antimony Craft Brewery + Kitchen........................ 18 Barrington Brewery & Restaurant.......................... 72 Bea’s House....................................................... 101 Betty's Pizza Shack............................................ 102 Brava Wine Bar.................................................... 34 Chocolate Springs Café........................................ 38 Dare Bottleshop & Provisions................................ 67 Doctor Sax House and Dulu Restaurant & Bar........ 2 Frankie's Ristorante Italiano................................ 101 Great Barrington Bagel Company & Deli............... 99 Guido's Fresh Marketplace................................... 34 Haven Café & Bakery............................................ 34 Lenox Coffee........................................................ 96 Loeb's Foodtown................................................. 12 Love, Eat, Heal Kitchen........................................ 68 Miraval Berkshires........................................ 18, 117 Nejaime's Wine Cellars......................................... 28 Ombra.................................................................. 30 Pizzeria Boema................................................... 101 The Red Lion Inn.................................................... 8 Zinc Bistro & Bar................................................ 102 EXPLORE Barrington Stage Company.................................. 44 Berkshire Botanical Garden.................................. 86 Berkshire Eagle..................................................... 85 Berkshire Fine Arts............................................... 91 Berkshire International Film Festival...................... 20 Berkshire Jewish Film Festival............................... 26 Berkshire Opera Festival....................................... 44 Berkshire Pulse..................................................... 58 Berkshire Theatre Group....................................... 86 Chesterwood........................................................ 32 Close Encounters with Music................................ 86 Community Television for the Southern Berkshires (CTSB)........................ 62 Drama Studio..................................................... 109 Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio................... 29 Glimmerglass Festival........................................... 84 Great Barrington Public Theater............................ 91 Happier Valley Comedy......................................... 78 HomeFarm at Undermountain.............................. 24 Jacob's Pillow...................................................... 90 Mac-Haydn Theatre.............................................. 88 Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.......................... 76 The Mount, Edith Wharton's Home....................... 46 Norman Rockwell Museum................................... 88 Shakespeare & Company: When Action is Eloquence................................ 36 Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship............................ 28 Sharon Playhouse................................................. 46 Tanglewood.......................................................... 80 The Arden Shakespeare....................................... 82 The Bidwell House Museum................................. 81 The Lenox Chamber of Commerce....................... 54 The Triplex Cinema............................................... 92 Town of Ripton..................................................... 56 WAM Theatre....................................................... 88 Windy Hill Farm.................................................... 42

116

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SHAKESPEARE.ORG

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SHOP Arcadian Shop...................................................... 34 Berkshire Classic Leather & Silver......................... 54 Berkshire Greenscapes......................................... 38 Berkshire Mountain Distillers................................. 14 Berkshire Muse..................................................... 99 Blue Q.................................................................. 15 Casablanca............................................................ 2 Casablanca South.................................................. 2 Chocolate Springs Café........................................ 38 Concord Hill Soap & Candle................................. 64 Dare Bottleshop & Provisions................................ 67 Design Menagerie................................................. 26 Fluff Alpaca........................................................... 38 Glad Rags............................................................ 58 Guido's Fresh Marketplace................................... 34 Henry's Electric, Inc.............................................. 32 Home On Main................................................... 105 Honeychurch...................................................... 106 House of Polish.................................................... 56 Julia Britell Design................................................ 64 Kent’s Vacuum Center.......................................... 79 Laurie Donovan Designs....................................... 98 Lykke Living.......................................................... 98 MacKimmie Co..................................................... 18 Marton & Davis..................................................... 64 Nejaime's Wine Cellars......................................... 28 One Mercantile..................................................... 77 Red Mannequin.................................................... 64 Second Life Books, Inc......................................... 58 Sett...................................................................... 77 Shooz..................................................................... 2 Spirited................................................................. 58 SWTRZ................................................................... 2 The Bookstore........................................................ 4 The Chatham Bookstore....................................... 64 The Fernery.......................................................... 26 The Gifted Child.................................................... 56 The Warm Ewe..................................................... 64 Walker Street Market............................................ 42 Ward's Nursery & Garden Center.......................... 97 What A Gift......................................................... 108 Williams & Sons Stockbridge Country Store....... 103 Windy Hill Farm.................................................... 42 STAY Brook Farm Inn................................................... 106 Canyon Ranch...................................................... 52 Devonfield Inn....................................................... 56 Doctor Sax House.................................................. 2 Hampton Terrace Bed & Breakfast........................ 75 Hideaway Inn........................................................ 26 Miraval Berkshires........................................ 18, 117 Stonover Farm........................................................ 8 The Red Lion Inn.................................................... 8 The Yankee Inn..................................................... 58 Villa Amonoka..................................................... 105

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