Elm Shakespeare
2023 Online Playbill
at the Alexander Clark
Playhouse Stage
Directed by
Dawn Monique Williams
Costumes by
Rebecca Welles
Conceptual Sound by
Nathan A. Roberts
Set & Props by
Karen Root
Lighting by
Jamie Burnett
Musical Direction by
Maxwell Brown
Stage Managed by
Cameron Jackson*
Terysa Malootian*
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Generously
Sponsored By…
Lead Sponsor
Presenting Sponsors
Production And Advertising Benefactors
Elm Scholar Sponsors
Centerpointe Luxury Apartments
Hopkins School
Marcum LLP
Suzio York Hill
Yale University
Sponsors
Babbidge Construction Company, Inc.
Beers Hamerman, Cohen & Burger, PC
Blueprint Benefit Advisors
Hamden Hall Country Day School
New Haven Bank
Press/Cuozzo Realtors
M & T Charitable Foundation
United Illuminating/Southern Connecticut Gas, part of the AVANGRID Family
Foundation Support
The Burry Fredrik Foundation
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
Carolyn Foundation
The Jane and William Curran Foundation
Mabel Burchard Fischer Grant Foundation
The Ethel & Abe Lapides Foundation
The Nora Roberts Foundation
The Werth Family Foundation
The Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts
The Seedlings Foundation
Theaterleague Kansas City
The Jana Foundation
Elm Shakespeare Company is deeply honored to receive federal, state and city funding from The National Endowment for the Arts, The State of Connecticut’s Office of the Arts, CT Humanities, The City of New Haven’s Cultural Vitality Grant and American Rescue Plan Funds. This funding supports bringing world-class Shakespeare to everyone wishing to partake.
Who’s Who in Windsor
John Falstaff: Raphael Massie*
Nym: Stefani Kuo 郭佳怡*
Pistol: Hannah Leamon+
Bardolph: Colleen Wilson
Robin: Atlas Salter+
Master Ford: Walton Wilson
Mistress Ford: Liz Daingerfield*
Mr. Page: Malachi Dré Beasley
Mistress Page: Abigail Onwunali*
Anne Page: Terra Chaney
William Page: Atlas Salter+
Robert: Mekhi Robertson+
John: Oliver Barber+
Justice Shallow: Gracy Brown*
Slender: Michael A. Crawford
Simple: Mekhi Robertson+
Dr. Caius: James Andreassi*
Mistress Quickly: Martine Fleurisma*
Rugby: Oliver Barber+
Host of the Garter Inn: Michael A. Crawford
Parson Hugh Evans: Michael J. Asberry*
Fenton: Stefani Kuo 郭佳怡*
*denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association
+denotes Elm ‘Scholar’ Intern Company
Elm Shakespeare Company is proud to work with:
Actors' Equity Association (“Equity"), founded in 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. #EquityWorks
Who’s Who Behind the Scenes
Director: Dawn Monique Williams*
Production Stage Manager: Cameron Jackson*
Stage Manager: Terysa Malootian*
Fight Choreographer: Benjamin Curns*
Music Director: Maxwell Brown
Voice & Text Coach: Rebecca Goodheart
Set & Props Designer: Karen Root
Playhouse Designer: Izmir Ickbal
Lighting Designer: Jamie Burnett
Light Board Operator: Jules Vasas+
Technical Director: Kevin DeCello
Lead Carpenter: Fiona Jennings
Construction Crew: Mekhi Robertson+
Jules Vasas+
Liam Welsch
Costume Designer: Rebecca Welles
Costume Assistant: Joseph O’Brien
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rae Mainuli
Conceptual Sound Design: Nathan A. Roberts
Sound Infrastructure: Charles Coes
A1 Sound Assistant: Nick Moran
Sound Board Operator: Liam Welsh
Company Manager: Trevor Burch
House Manager: Olivia O’Connor
Ass’t House Manager: Eva LaRue Barber
Spotlight Operator: Charles Jeffery +
Fiona Donahue +
Lightboard Operator/Backstage Assistant: Willow Oliveira+
*denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association
+denotes of Elm ‘Scholar’ Intern Company
Elm Shakespeare Company Staff
Producing Artistic Director: Rebecca Goodheart*
Development Director: Barbara Schaffer
Director of Education: Sarah Bowles*
Production Manager: Rebecca Goodheart*
Publicity and Communications: Liz Daingerfield*
Development Associate: Lourdes Rivera
Executive Assistant: Maya Lwazi Rose
Meet Our Board
of Directors
William E. Curran (he/him/his)
Founding President
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Bill attended public schools until he was admitted to Yale University at age 16. As an undergrad, he studied engineering, economics, and business management for three semesters before entering the Navy, where he served for eight years. After his service, he then returned to Yale to complete his degree.
After being recalled for the Korean War, where he was a full lieutenant assigned as the Damage Control officer and Auxiliary and Repair Divisions officer, Bill pursued graduate studies in finance and management at Marquette University. He worked with an equity team at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, persuading that conservative company to buy their first common stocks. He then joined with Yale University‘s investment office to convince an equally conservative Yale Finance Committee to purchase growth stocks, such as IBM and General Reinsurance, for the Yale endowment.
Through the Jane and William Curran Foundation, his family and he have made significant donations to both Gateway and the Gateway Community College Foundation, as well as to Elm Shakespeare, New Haven Symphony, Long Wharf Theatre, Common Ground, and Yale-New Haven Hospital, just to name a few. The hallmark of Bill’s life has been his dedication to country, community, career, and family.
Dr. William Brown (he/him/his)
Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Gateway Community College in 2020, Dr. Brown has had an illustrious career in higher education. After serving on the faculty at Norwalk Community College and in various administrative roles at Naugatuck Valley and Housatonic Community Colleges, Dr. Brown served as the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and then Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives at Nashville State Community College. His experience and capabilities are broad and extensive, including integrating academic and student affairs efforts and initiatives, enrollment management, development of budget management processes and systems, strategic/institutional planning, accreditation, procurement of extramural funding, clinical assessment, and therapeutic intervention, and program development and evaluation. Dr. Brown holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and both an M.A. and PhD in Clinical Psychiatry from the University of Delaware. The NAACP recently honored Dr. Brown by calling him a renowned influencer and trailblazer in Connecticut.
Victoria Dancy (she/her/hers)
A lifelong New Haven resident with over 20 years of leadership experience in non-profit and higher education sectors, Victoria is the Development Associate and Scholarship Administrator at Gateway Community College, where she has worked for 11 years. She is a graduate of New Haven Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Program, and holds a Bachelors in Business Management from Albertus Magnus College, and an M.B.A. University of New Haven.
Victoria’s passion for the arts began at an early age and views community theater as opportunity to promote dialogue and engagement with diverse backgrounds. Victoria enjoys singing and loves to lend her gift wherever it is needed. She is the proud mother of one son who is an aspiring musician and a graduate of Cooperative Arts High School.
Currently, a resource specialist and professor at Gateway Community College, Victora has over 10 years of non-profit sector work and education, with expertise in Workforce development, project management and Community Outreach. She is a graduate of the New Haven Chamber of Congress Leadership Program. A New Haven native, she is a graduate of Hill House High School, Albertus Magnus College, and University of New Haven, where she earned her M.B.A.
Adele Edgerton (she/her/hers)
Treasurer
I have resided in New Haven, Connecticut for over thirty years. I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. I attended Vassar College for two years and I graduated from Yale University in 1971. I have a J.D. from Boston University School of and an Llm. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. I am a self-employed Trusts and Estates Attorney. In New Haven, I have worked on a contract basis for Paul E. Farren, Jr., Laurence Nadel and Evans, Feldman and Associates. I have practiced law in New York City, Boston, and Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I was a member of the Board of Directors of Leila Day Nurseries for twenty years. I was a member of the Board of Directors of the Gesell Institute for Child Development. I am a member of the Board of Directors of Elm Shakespeare Company. I am a co-trustee of the Mabel Fischer Burchart Grant Foundation.
Andrew Forsyth (he/him/his)
President
Andrew Forsyth is the board president of Elm Shakespeare Company. Andrew currently serves as strategic advisor for university life at Yale University, from where he received his Ph.D. in 2017. He advises senior university leaders, is a trusted partner in the creation and oversight of major projects—including recent diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives—and is a collaborator and consensus-builder on institutional priorities, working with varied university and community stakeholders. A native of Glasgow, Scotland, ESC’s outstanding professional performances, innovative educational programming, and community partnerships have enriched his life since 2011. He is proud to serve with enthusiastic and dedicated board members, Producing Artistic Director Rebecca Goodheart, and the company’s talented artists and staff in bringing people together through Shakespeare—of all backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences—to celebrate our shared humanity and strengthen community in Greater New Haven. Andrew lives in New Haven with his spouse Josh Goodbaum, a lawyer who represents employees and other civil rights plaintiffs in litigation and negotiation.
Evelyn Gard (she/her/hers)
Evelyn (Evie) Gard is the Associate Dean of Communications and Marketing for the Connecticut State Community College’s Shoreline-West region, where she serves as regional spokesperson and oversees a vibrant, creative team for Gateway Community College, Housatonic Community College, and Norwalk Community College.
Evie is an advocate for community engagement through collaborations with Yale University for MacNeil/Lehrer’s By the People project, the Festival of Arts and Ideas, WNPR, and national media to promote open dialogue and discourse on matters of civic relevance. She is a firm believer in the power of mentoring and devotes time to multiple students each semester, to provide guidance and opportunities through her professional affiliations. Evie’s work has been recognized by Business New Haven (Rising Stars), Connecticut Business Times (Twenty Noteworthy Women). In 2018 she was awarded PRSA’s Practitioner of the Year Award, and New Have Biz’s Inaugural Women Who Mean Business Award.
Evie also enjoys a modest career in entertainment as a producer, director, and performer. She has performed in some of the region’s most popular entertainment venues including Carnegie Hall, Foxwoods and MGM casinos, and the Toyota Oakdale Theater, but her favorite venue is still the St. Thomas More Chapel at Yale choir loft.
Evie has a bachelor’s degree is in Liberal Arts from Mount Saint Mary’s University, and a master’s degree is in Education from Loyola Marymount University. She is married to, Richard Gard, with whom she shares six grown children and five grandchildren.
Frank Mitchell (he/him/osai)
Planning Committee
Frank Mitchell is a cultural organizer in visual arts and public humanities based in New Haven. As a historical researcher, curator, and educator his interests begin at the intersection of race, identity, and American visual culture. His curatorial and interpretive projects include the exhibitions Keeping the Faith: Promises + Persistence in Dixwell; Afrocosmologies: American Reflections; Soulfood: African American Cooking and Creativity; A Birds-Eye View: Citizen Science & Social Media; the documentary Unsung Heroes: The Music of Jazz in New Haven; and the culinary study African American Food Culture. He has taught at the University of Connecticut, Trinity College, Franklin & Marshall College, and the University of the Arts.
Mitchell is curatorial adviser for the Toni N. and Wendell C. Harp Historical Museum at The Dixwell Community (Q) House and Director Emeritus of The Amistad Center for Art & Culture. In addition to Elm Shakespeare, the Fair Haven resident serves on the boards of The New England Foundation for the Arts, the Eli Whitney Museum, and CT Humanities. An occasional cabaret performer, Mitchell has studied with Anne Tofflemire, Erick Comstock, Barbara Fasano, and Liz Rubino.
David Newton (he/him/his)
Secretary & Co-chair of Governance Committee
David Newton is currently President of Elm Advisors, LLC, 110 Whitney Ave, New Haven CT, which he founded in September 2007. Elm Advisors provides consulting services to not-for-profit institutions focused on real estate development, property acquisition, and leasing as well as on facilities management and capital improvement strategies. From 2002 to 2007, he served as the Associate Vice President and Director of University Properties at Yale University. In this capacity, he was responsible for the management of the University’s commercial real estate portfolio in New Haven, CT. From 1998 until 2002, he served as Executive Vice President of Aramark Education Services, an international facilities management company serving not-for-profit institutions. At Aramark, he was responsible for business strategy and marketing, as well for integration of new business acquisitions. He joined Aramark after its acquisition of the Facilities Resource Management Co. (FRM) which Newton co-founded in 1977. As FRM’s President he was responsible for directing the firm’s operating, technical and capital project divisions providing facilities management and technical support to colleges, universities, schools, hospitalsand municipal governments throughout the United States. David has served on a variety of not for profit boards in New Haven including the Hospital of St. Raphael, the Arts Council, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the Connecticut Health Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven and the Hopkins School where he chaired the Board for 7 years and received the Hopkins Medal-the school’s highest honor for leadership and service. Currently, he is a Trustee of Lesley University, Cambridge MA., and the Elm Shakespeare Co, as well as serving as a Director of the New Alliance Foundation, Project Access, St. Martin de Pores School, and New Haven Bank. In 2014, he was elected to the Connecticut Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. In 2015 he was the recipient of the Alexis De Tocqueville Society Award given by the United Way of Greater New Haven to “recognize the American spirit of philanthropy and volunteerism”. He is a graduate of the Hopkins School in New Haven, CT.,Williams College and the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University.
Mary Pepe (she/her/hers)
Co-chair of Governance Committee
Mary Pepe is presently the Director of Human Resources for the Town of Greenwich, CT. She is the former Vice President of Operations at the Regional Water Authority in New Haven where she also served as Director of Human Resources. Previously,
Mary held that role at Valley Cable Vision/Tele-Media Company of Western Connecticut. Mary began her career as a teacher of English and also served in the administrative offices of the Derby Public Schools as Director of Staff Development, Curriculum and Public Relations.
Mary holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Languages and Literature from the College of New Rochelle and a Master of Arts in Education and American Studies from Fairfield University and completed additional post graduate work at the University of Connecticut. Mary has a history of community involvement with numerous non-profits both in New Haven and in the Valley. She has served as Board Chair of: The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Long Wharf Theatre, the Valley United Way and the Birmingham Group/Valley Mental Health Center (now BHCare). She is a founding member of the Community Foundation’s Fund for Women and Girls and a founding trustee of the Valley Community Foundation. Presently, in addition to Elm Shakespeare, Mary is on the Board of Directors of Gaylord Hospital.
Mary has taught both Shakespeare and drama and has long been involved with theater. This experience, along with her passion for all three, has made her participation with Elm Shakespeare exceptionally rewarding and enjoyable.
Robin Sauerteig (she/her/hers)
Chair of Development Committee
A Connecticut native and longtime resident of greater New Haven, Robin Sauerteig’s professional experience encompasses public relations, marketing and development in a variety of senior positions in the US and abroad, in fields ranging from technology and management consulting to theater administration. A politics and literature major with degrees from UConn and Yale University, Robin has deep experience in the nonprofit sector and has served in executive board positions at many area arts and cultural organizations and educational institutions, including the Shubert Performing Arts Center, Long Wharf Theater, Yale University Art Gallery, Friends Center for Children and the Southern Connecticut State University Foundation. Notable recent board experience also includes the New Haven Land Trust, where she played an active role in the merger of the Trust with New Haven Farms to form Gather New Haven, an organization dedicated to environmental justice, food security and programs to connect underserved communities to the natural world.
At Elm Shakespeare, Robin currently serves as Development Chair. What she finds most inspiring about Elm is its creativity in forging partnerships and delivering inclusive programs that connect a wide public, in both physical and virtual spaces, with Shakespeare’s work to be re-imagined in fresh and innovative interpretations that resonate with the world as we know it today.
Mike Shea (he/him/his)
Vice President
Mike Shea grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended Loyola College there. After completing his doctorate at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, he joined the faculty at Southern Connecticut State University in 1985. He regularly teaches English courses in Shakespeare and Shakespeare’s contemporaries, as well as twentieth- and twenty-first-century drama and film. Having picnicked in Edgewood Park at productions by Elm Shakespeare since its inception, he was delighted to be invited to join the board of this splendid theatre company. Now a longtime board member, he is especially invested in the company’s educational arm and its community outreach. He is particularly proud of the Teen Troupe’s achievements, most notably their professional perseverance and personal triumphs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Phil Smith (he/him/his)
Finance Committee
Phil Smith spent 40 years as a Professor of Mathematics, Dean, Vice President, and Acting President at Southern Connecticut State University. Currently Treasurer of New Haven’s Community Soup Kitchen and serving as immediate past president of the Orange Rotary Club, Phil remains active in community affairs. Although retired, he also still teaches every semester at SCSU as well as at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Having fallen in love with Hamlet and Macbeth during his high school days, Phil retains fond memories of attending performances at the former Stratford, Connecticut, Shakespeare Festival during long-ago summers. His support of theatre at Southern even led to his election as Theatre Department Chairperson for a year!
Phil is especially appreciative of the strong relationship between Elm Shakespeare and SouthernConnecticut State University. “The educational outreach programs are a strong part of Elm’s contribution to our local community,” according to Phil, who can regale you with enthusiastic tales of his interactions with young people who have shared their Elm Shakespeare experiences with him.
Jim Wright (he/him/his)
Past President, Developement Committee
Jim Wright is a retired Development, Fundraising, and Philanthropy specialist with nearly 30 years of successful experience in working with non-profit organizations. Most recently he served as Vice President of Greenwich Hospital Foundation and prior to that as the chief development officer for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. A strong believer in the power of the works of William Shakespeare, Jim is proud to have served as an ESC Board member for the past 9 years.
Emerita Board
Joan Hickey
Honorary Board
Donald Marguilies, Jerome Meyer,
Jennifer Spinach
Founders Board
Louise Endel (1995-2020)
Cheever Tyler (1996-2017)
What’s Up in Windsor?
Windsor is a close knit town filled with gossips. The latest whisperings center around the marital status of Anne Page, daughter of one of the richest families in town. Old Justice Shallow thinks their nephew, Slender should would be the best match, though Slender himself seems less than enthusiastic. Mistress Page, Anne’s mother, thinks she should marry the rich (if eccentric) Dr. Caius. But no one is asking what Anne wants!
Meantime, Sir John Falstaff's arrival in Windsor seems to have brought chaos and trouble to the town, especially for his entourage of followers who are quickly booted from his charge. With his financial situation becoming dire, Falstaff devises a plan to woo two wealthy women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, in hopes of securing some much-needed money.
Left without his usual followers, Falstaff turns to the youngest member of his group, Robin, to take on the task of delivering a love letter to each of the wives. It becomes clear that Falstaff is determined to pursue his plan to win the affections of these wealthy women, regardless of the consequences or the feelings of those around him.
Upon receiving two identical letters, the wives are not pleased with Falstaff's audacity. Together, with the help of local busybody Mistress Quickly, they scheme to turn the tables on him and teach him a lesson for his inappropriate, presumptive advances. In a clever and mischievous plan, they pretend to respond dotingly to Falstaff, even though they can’t stand the sight of him.
Meanwhile, Pistol and Nym, two of Falstaff’s ex followers, decide to take revenge on Falstaff for deserting them by warning Master Ford and Master Page about Falstaff's intentions with their wives. While Master Page trusts his wife fully, Master Ford is filled with suspicion and doubt regarding his wife’s loyalty.
In a fit of jealousy and insecurity, Master Ford concocts a plan to catch his supposedly unfaithful wife in the act. He convinces the Host at the Garter Inn, a local watering hole, to call him by the name 'Brooke' while he is in disguise. This disguise will allow him to confront Falstaff without being recognized, ensuring that he can witness the truth of his wife's fidelity.
In the continued (and confusing) fight for Anne’s heart, Dr. Caius challenges Sir Hugh Evans to a duel. The townsfolk, aware of the potential chaos and harm that could result from such a duel, decide to intervene. They mislead Dr. Caius and Evans by providing them with different locations for the duel, keeping them apart and preventing any confrontation.
While this is happening, Anne has her own forbidden love interest, young Fenton, whom her parents disapprove of. Determined to be with Fenton, Anne seeks help from Mistress Quickly.
Back on the other side of town, Master Ford, now disguised as "Brooke," arrives at the Inn and confesses to Falstaff that he is in love with Mistress Ford, but cannot afford to court her properly. As a solution, he offers to pay Falstaff to try and seduce her, intending to see if his wife remains faithful. However, Falstaff already has plans with Mistress Ford and quickly leaves to meet her. This development fuels Ford's jealousy and suspicion. Consumed by rage, Ford decides to follow Falstaff and Mistress Ford, hoping to catch them in the act of infidelity.
Upon arriving at Mistress Ford’s home, Falstaff is startled to find both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. After Master Ford comes home in a suspicious rage, the two women come up with a clever plan to hide Falstaff in a basket of dirty laundry. Falstaff agrees to hide from Ford in the basket, thinking it will help him escape unscathed. However, once he’s in place, the women quickly have the contents of the basket – Falstaff included - dumped into the nearby river.
Falstaff returns to the Inn, dejected and soaked, and immediately hits the bottle. Mistress Quickly arrives with a message from Mistress Ford, inviting Falstaff to meet her again. As Falstaff prepares meet Mistress Ford once more, he is unexpectedly intercepted by Brooke (Master Ford). “Brooke" learns of Falstaff's plans to meet Mistress Ford for the second time, and becomes even more determined to catch him in the act.
At Mistress Ford's home, the two cunning wives trick Falstaff into believing that Master Ford is returning in a fit of jealous rage. Terrified of being thrown into the river again, Falstaff pleads with the wives not to expose him to Master Ford. To help him escape detection, the quick-thinking wives convince him to dress up as an old woman. When Master Ford arrives preparing to catch his wife in the act of infidelity, he mistakes the now disguised Falstaff him for the woman of Brentford, whom he despises. Falstaff endures the blows (literally) and humiliation, all the while maintaining his disguise, even while being beaten up and thrown out of the house by Ford.
Eventually, the wives reveal the tricks they played on Falstaff to their husbands. Instead of being angry, the husbands find the whole situation rather amusing and decide to join in on the fun for one last trick on Falstaff. They come up with a plan to have Falstaff meet the wives by the old oak tree in the forest, under the pretense of yet another romantic encounter. However, this time, the town's children, dressed as fairies, will be hiding in the forest to scare Falstaff and teach him a final lesson.
As instructed by the wives, Falstaff arrives in the woods dressed as "Herne, the Hunter," complete with horns on his head. Unbeknownst to him, the whole town is in on the prank and disguised as fairies. They scare Falstaff by pinching him and burning him with candles, causing him to panic and reveal his true cowardly nature.
Dr. Caius and Slender make their way to the forest, both having been tricked by Anne Page. Anne had promised them that she would be dressed in green (for Dr. Caius) or in white (for Slender) so they could elope with her. However, it is revealed that in the midst of all the trickery, Anne and Fenton have secretly eloped and are now married. Quickly after, the misunderstandings are cleared up, and the Page family finally accepts Fenton as their son-in-law. The play culminates in a merry celebration, emphasizing the importance of love, friendship, and reconciliation.
Won’t you help us make it all happen?
Donating Made Easy!
Scan the codes below to donate to Elm Shakespeare or buy tickets to our Annual Gala
Join us for an evening of merriment to benefit programming all year long!
Support Free Shakespeare in the Park by purchasing a ticket for our benefit Gala & Auction and joining us for an evening by the sea!
GALA & AUCTION
September 13, 2023 - Rain or Shine!
AMARANTE’S SEA CLIFF
62 Cove Street - New Haven, CT 06512
5:30pm Cocktails, Buffet & Auction
For Tickets & Auction, visit: Elm Gala
Start your bidding early!
Silent Auction items available for viewing and bidding online.
Bidding continues at the event!
DESSERTS
Carol Merriman
Whitneyville Market
New Haven Lawn Club
Lucibellos
LIBATIONS
Cocktail courtesy of:
Tim Cabral, Ordinary
Wine & Beer courtesy of:
Puglia Imports
The Wine Theif
Black Hog Brewing Co.
Jason Sobocinski
Silent Auction
and Educational Scholarship Paddle Raise
Thank You!
Welcome to Shakespeare in the Park and the beautiful Alexander Clark Playhouse Stage!
You make the magic of live theatre possible!
Thank you to EVERYONE that supports Elm Shakespeare Company and the work we do … in the park, in our classrooms, and in our neighborhoods! Together we make magic possible!
Elm Scholars Company
Meet Our Mighty Interns!
What is a Scholar? A person dedicated to advanced study in a specialized field resulting in mastery and a distinguished reputation.
The Elm Scholars High School Internship is a paid pre-professional training program for the serious student of theatre, those considering making it their profession. An essential part of our summer company, Scholars work alongside actors, directors, designers, and production personnel during our Free Shakespeare in the Park summer production, gaining invaluable hands on experience.
Joining them are our College
Apprentices from throughout
the region
Eva LaRue Barber, Assistant House Manager
University of Connecticut
Trevor Burch, Company Manager
Southern Connecticut State University
Fiona Jennings, Lead Carpenter
Sarah Lawrence College
Olivia O’Connor, House Manager
Yale University
Maya Lwazi Rose, Arts Administration Associate
Southern CT State University
Liam Welsch, Construction, Sound Crew
Southern Connecticut State University
Colleen Wilson, Acting Apprentice
Southern Connecticut State University
Help us welcome these remarkable young artists to
the world of professional theater!
Sponsorship Circles
Thank you to everyone who makes our work possible!
Benedick’s Bounty: $25,000+
Curran Foundation
Carolyn Foundation
Mabel Burchard Fischer Grant Foundation
The Seedlings Foundation
Titania’s Magic Grove: $10,000 - $24,999
Alexander Clark
CT Humanities Cultural Fund
National Endowment of the Arts
Jennifer Spinach
State of Connecticut Department of the Arts
Werth Family Foundation
Whitney Center
Caesar’s Palace: $5,000 - $9,999
CT Dept. of Economic Community Development
Elizabethan Club of Yale University
Burry Fredrik Foundation
Jana Foundation
Melanie Barocas & Rick Mayer- MFund
New Alliance Foundation
David Newton
Scripps Family Foundation for Education and the Arts
Shakespeare Theatre Association
Theatre League of Kansas City
Cleopatra’s Throne: $2,500 - $4,999
Joshua Goodbaum & Andrew Forsyth
City of New Haven- Department of Arts, Culture & Tourism
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
Robin Sauerteig
Phillip & Loretta Smith
Doolittle Family Fund
Hopkins School
Marcum LLP – Barry Fischman
Michael & Barbara Schaffer
Schaffer Associates LLP
Southern CT State University
Southern CT State University Foundation
Yale University Office of New Haven Affairs
Yale University Summer Bulldog Program
Prospero’s Island: $1,000-$2,499
Harold Bornstein in memoriam
Mark & Connie Bowles
in honor of Sarah Bowles
William & Clare Bright Fund
Anne & Guido Calabresi
Vince & Linda Calarco
in honor of Mary Pepe & David Newton
Maria Freda
John Stuart Gordon
Joan Hickey
Nina Scherago & George Jones
John & Peggy Kebabian
Amy Justice & Joseph King
Lapides Foundation
Jerry & Roz Meyer
New Haven Bank
Mary Pepe
Candace Barrington & Mike Shea
Kerala Snyder
Suzio York Hill- Len Suzio
Michael Taylor
Cheryl Wolansky
Hamlet’s Castle: $500 - $999
Anonymous
in honor of Jim Andreassi
Avangrid
Tracy & Alex Babbidge
Babbidge Construction Company
Beers, Hamerman, Cohen, & Burger
Lauren Pinzka & Steven Berry
Blueprint Advisors
Robert & Kathleen Bradley
Mary Ann Frank
Rebecca Goodheart
in memory of Jeannette Kemper
Hamden Hall
David & Jeanette Kemper
Karen Kessler
Frank Mitchell
Matt & Marie Nierenberg
Jeffrey & Jennifer Possick
Press Cuozzo
D. Ellen Shuman & Douglas Rae
Liddy Karter & Alexander Richardson
Adele Edgerton & Todd W. Rofuth
Nancy Ruddle
Richard Sasson
Heather Gerken & David Simon
Rebecca Weiner & Mike Rastelli
Washington Trust Wealth Management
Noreen Bartolomeo & Jim Wright
Celeste Suggs & Joel Zackin
Juliet’s Balcony: $250-$499
Rachel & Ian Alderman
Paula Armbruster
Donald & Maggie Barkin
Ethel & Eric Berger
Sam Boushee
William Brown
Angela & Santo Bruno
Crews McKenzie Family Fund
Karen Jane Crouse
Alexandra Daum
Jamie Cohen & Fran DeToro
R. Kemerer & Phoebe Edwards
Dana Eisenstat
Marcy Stovall & James Farnham
Evelyn & Richard Gard
Alexis Gardiner
Karin Gould
Hope & Alvin Hageman
Susanna Holahan
Elizabeth Keenan
Frank & Daniela Ladore
Henry Lord
Fred & Carol Martin
Ruby Melton
Robert & Beth Moorman
Laura Nasrallah
Marian Chertow & Matt Nemerson
Isabel & Rodion Rathbone
Ben & Christin Sandweiss
Gloria Schaffer
Doug Schaffer
Michael Skinner
Andrew Smyth
R. Lee Stump
Anne & John Tubis
Allison M. Tynan
Falstaff’s Tavern: $100-249
Jody Abzug
Adams & Kaplan Giving Fund
Julian Aiken
Judy & Steve August
William Aynat
Alissa Monteleone & Daniel Banks
Rita Berkson
Susan & Robert Blanchard
Donald M. Brown
Gloria Caprio
Elaine Carroll
David & Bob Parker Carter
Cheryl Chapis
Nicholas Civitello
Bernard & Janice Clancy
Bitsie Clark
Constance Clement
Mary Ellen Cody
Michael Conlon
Kathleen Crisafi
Victoria Dancy
Margaret Durante Denninger
Margaret Devane
Victoria M. DiSesa
Joel Dodson
Gale Egan
Susan & Harvey Feinberg
Toni Dorfman & John Gaddis
Lizanne Cox & David Gibson
Katharine Goodbody
Amy Goodheart
Marianna Goodheart
Margaret C. Haggerty
Douglas Hawthorne
Barbara Hill
Robert Hoppenstedt
Alison & Christopher Illick
Michael Isko
Sezair Julien
Margit & Bob Kaye
James Kenny
Juliet Avelin & Jeanne Kerr
George & Meghan Knight
Christy Fisher & Harold Koh
Jane Kovel
Michael Kurtianyk
Bindu Lal
Si Hoi Lam
Helen Lankenau
Deborah Freedman & Ben Ledbetter
Carol Lee in memory of Rae Lee Siebel Lee
Molly Levan
Phil Lowery
Hanna Madler
Margaret Mann
Robert E Marra
Helen Marx
Alice E. & Edward L. Mattison
Virginia May
Ada Fenick & Yair Minsky
Doug Murray
David Norman-Schiff
Nkechi Obiora
Kate & Fred O'Brien
Tina Packer
Christine Pedreschi
Margaret W. Pereira
Joseph V. Prior
Arnold & Gretchen Pritchard
Shelley Quiala
Peggy & Peter Rae
Sarah Elizabeth Roman & Tim Rahr
Betsy Ratner
Marta Moret & Peter Salovey
Cynthia Scanlon
Ted & Deb Schaffer
Jodi & Marc Schneider
Sandra Shaner
David Alan Shaw
Andrew Smyth in honor of Francis Smyth Smyth
Betsy Stern
Lynn Street
Michael & Susan Tucker
Rebecca Weiner
in honor of Sarah Bowles
Walton Wilson
Steven & Elsa Stone Wolfson
Andrew & Ellen Wormser
Puck’s Forest: $1.00-99.00
Sara Armstrong
Kate Baker
Anna Bartow
Edward & Jan Beaudette
Anne Olcott & Robert Beech
Marty Hartog & Terri Bennett
Elizabeth Bolster
Rebecca Bombero
Jerome Boryca
David Barber & Amy Bowers
Francis Broderick
Sahar Usmani-Brown & Josiah Brown
Brenda Burt
Jenny Byers
in honor of Rebecca Goodheart
Allan & Lois Lake Church
Anne Coates
Andrew & Christina Cohen
Steven Fraade & Ellen Cohen
Roger & Sarah Berry Colten
Liza Comita
Rita McCleary & Richard Davis
Fran Dodge
Gary Drucker
Barbara Endres
Marilyn Fagelson
Mary Fichandler
Phyllis H. Freedman
Sarah Gordon
Bruce Graham
Alice-Anne Harwood Sherrill
Daksshi Punsara Hettiarachchi
Robert Horwitz
Melissa Huber
Donald Julian
Katrice Kemble
Michael Kemper
in memory of David & Jeannette Kemper
Ean Kessler
Andrew Kim
Karel Koenig
Joan & Colin Lane
Stephanie Lane
Adri Latouf
Robin & Barbara Levine-Ritterman
Julie & Mark Dione Linden
Martin & Sylvia Lipnick
Susan Klein & Henry Lowendorf
Joshua Lubarr
Richard Anthony Lynch
Thomas Allen Martin
Kim Math
Dave McCoart
Ann & Tom McGloin
Francis & Dena Metzger
Julie & Bill Moore
George & Joan Morrison
Manju Nalawatta
Robert Narracci
Kathleen O'Donnell
Margaret Oliveira
Daniel Moore & Karen Orzack-Moore
Ellen Jaramillo & Ronald Osokow
Stephanie Perniciaro
Anna Ruth Pickett
Linda Hewlett & Philip Pivawer
Gail Preziosi
Peter & Susan Rogol
Bernadette Huang & Geert Rouwenhorst
Janet Hall & David Schaefer
Olivia Schaffer
James & Barbara Segaloff
Cissy & Jim Serling
in honor of Zoe Patel's birth
David & Bonnie Sloane
Kirby Stafford
Joseph Sullivan
Laura Tedeschi
Nancy Todd
Jennifer Christiansen & Joel Tolman
Daniela Varon
Bertrand & Martha Weisbart
Jourdan White
Elizabeth & James Whitney
Jim & Sue Wildes
Edward & MaryLou Winnick
Carol Withers
Steven & Barbara Zalesch
Eva Scopino & Peter Ziou
We wish we could list every gift. It is with our deepest appreciation to all who graciously
made a contribution to Elm Shakespeare to support our programs!
Director Spotlight
Meet Dawn Monique Williams
Dawn is a nationally acclaimed director known for her innovative and contemporary mastery of Shakespeare's classics. As a director, Williams seeks to challenge conventional interpretations of Shakespeare by infusing the plays with contemporary relevance, diversity, and anachronistic elements. In Merry Wives, Williams brings a daring new spin to the bard’s comedic farce, inviting audiences from all walks of life to participate in an evening of radical anachronism. In this production, Williams explores new perspectives, challenges established norms, and makes the story more relevant and accessible to a diverse audience. This approach falls right in line with Elm’s commitment to breaking down barriers and creating a more inclusive and engaging theatrical experience.
For more info on Dawn, visit www.dawnmoniquewilliams.com
Actors
Raphael Massie* - Falstaff
Raphael is thrilled to be returning for his umpteenth season with Elm. He is an award-winning actor, director, educator, etc. focused on the interrogation and re-imagining of western classical theatre through a socio-cultural lens. He is a Drama League of NY Classical Directing Fellow, OSF Killian Fellowship finalist, and was the Associate Director on critically acclaimed productions of The Cymbeline Project (OSF) and The Merchant of Venice (Shakes and Co.) Acting credits include: England: Elysium Theater Company: Henriad/Wars of the Roses (various). Regional: Hartford Stage: Romeo and Juliet (Gregory/Peter), Long Wharf Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio, soldier), Elm Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nick Bottom), Twelfth Night (Malvolio), Pericles (Simonedes/Cerimon), Art (Ivan), Hamlet (Horatio), Three Musketeers (Porthos), Oak Park Festival Theatre: (Othello), ARTFARM: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theseus/Oberon), King Lear (Kent). Training: BA in Theatre/BS in Education from SCSU, MFA in Staging Shakespeare from the University of Exeter.
Abigail C. Onwunali* - Mrs. Page
A multi-faceted Nigerian-American theater maker who recently graduated from David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Her acting credits include Charly Evon Simpson’s it’s not a Trip it’s a Journey at the Chautauqua Theater Conservatory; for the honey you gotta say when at the New York Theater Workshop; Valor at the Guthrie; Rent Free, The Cherry Orchard, Swimmers, Love I Awethu Further, and Love Labors Lost at the School of Drama; Is God Is and BurnBabyBurn at the Yale Cabaret; Twelfth Night with the Shakesperience Theater Company. She is a graduated acting fellow of Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Mentorship Program. She was the 2022 John Gore Princess Grace award winner. She served as the Associate Artistic Director of the 2021-22 Yale Cabaret where, in addition to performing, she has directed projects and a number of plays she has written have been produced like #4, In Between Bitches, and Ikenga in Wahalaland. Abigail’s play, Jewel, was one of the 2021 Red Bull Theater’s Short New Play Festival winners, and her slam poems have been viewed worldwide.
Malachi Dré Beasley - Mr. Page
This is Malachi's first season with Elm Shakespeare Company. Malachi was born and raised in San Diego and currently lives in New York, where you’ll find him playing soccer at his local park or tucked away in a café writing. Credits include YALE - Cabaret: Every Brilliant Thing (John) and Tempo (Jay). DGSD: Julius Caesar (Brutus) and Green Suga Blues (Pa). REGIONAL – Chautauqua Theatre Company, in NY: Blood at the Root (Justin) and Commedia dell’arte (Pantalone). California Repertory: The Funfair (Cash). Cleveland Public Theatre: Van Sonata (Van). He studied at Yale where he received his MFA and CSU Long Beach where he received his BA. Fun fact: He learned how to play the ukulele, in the army, when he was deployed to Guantanamo Bay Cuba.
Terra Chaney - Anne Page
This is Terra’s second season with the Elm Shakespeare Company. She is honored and excited to be in this production and grateful for the opportunity. She is based in NYC and is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Her credits include NYC-Royal Family Productions: Women on Fire (Rachel) The Secret Theater: Othello (Montano) Corkscrew Theater Festival: Cradle to Grave (Chorus). The #metoo Plays: And Then I Saw His…. (Girl). REGIONAL: Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey: A Midsummer Night’s Dream LIVE! (Titania/Hippolyta) Macbeth LIVE! (Female Swing) Much Ado About Nothing (The Watch). COLLEGIATE- American Musical and Dramatic Academy: Our Lady of 121 st Street (Nezzie), In the Red and Brown Water (Oya). She would like to thank her family, especially her mother, and close friends for all their love and support.
Liz Daingerfield* - Mrs. Ford
Liz, an actor and educator, is thrilled to be making her Elm debut with this incredible company. NEW YORK - Love Creek: Twelfth Night (Viola). Theatre 2020: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena). REGIONAL - Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), Julius Caesar (Portia). Baltimore Center Stage: As You Like It (Silvius/Charles). Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: Shakespeare in Love (Mistress Quickly/Kate). Taffety Punk: Trojan Women (Cassandra/Menelaus), Othello (Duke/Lodovico). Eugene O’Neill Theater Center: Twilight Bowl (Sam). Studio Theatre: Cloud 9 (u/s Ellen/Mrs. S). Liz holds an MFA from the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting and an MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College. She is a certified K-12 Drama teacher specializing in arts integration, devising and bringing Classical texts to underserved students.
Walton Wilson - Mr. Ford
is delighted to make his debut with Elm Shakespeare Co. NEW YORK -- BAM Next Wave Festival, Dance Theatre Workshop, La Mama ETC, Lincoln Center Theatre/Clark Studio, Ohio Theatre, The Piano Factory, PS122, Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival, Vineyard Theatre, &c. REGIONAL -- Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Double Edge Theatre, The Empty Space; Shakespeare Festivals of Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Pittsfield, Santa Fe, St. Louis, and Texas; Shakespeare & Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Swine Palace Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, &c. Faculty, David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
Martine Fleurisma* - Ms. Quickly
This is my first season with Elm Shakespeare Company. I live in Jersey City, NJ. Actor and singer, I have a love of language, so the classics are my absolute favorite medium. My Credits include REGIONAL- Orlando Shakespeare Festival: Intimate Apparel (Mayme), Davis Shakespeare Festival: Twelfth Night (Maria) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Princess Puffer), Heights Players: Raisin in the sun (Ruth), National Tour: Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom (Betty Fikes) New Jersey Shakespeare Festival (SPTP): The Winter’s Tale (Camillo) and Atrius Variations (Hera) Institute of Outdoor Theater: Pathway to Freedom (Esse). I have a couple degrees, love life, and got my first pet last year a goldfish named Apaa.
Stefani Kuo* 郭佳怡 - Fenton/Nym
Stefani is thrilled to be making her Elm Shakespeare Company debut this season! She lives in New Haven and is an MFA candidate in playwriting at the Yale School of Drama. Credits include NYC – Yangtze Repertory: June is the First Fall (Jane), HERE Arts Centre: Period Sisters (Hannah), Faultline Theater: The American Experiment (#5). REGIONAL – Bedlam Theater Company: King Lear (Kent/France/Albany), Park Square Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), Yale Summer Cabaret: The Betrayal Project (Performer). As a playwright, she is interested in crafting multicultural, multilingual narratives for an international audience. Her play Final Boarding Call, on the Hong Kong protests, was the winner of the 2021 Leah Ryan FEWW Prize. She has been an awardee of the Jerome Fellowship at PWC, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, Creative Residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm, and the Travis Bogard Fellowship with the O’Neill Foundation. She is represented by Jacob Epstein at Lighthouse Management. (www.stefanikuo.com) (For more on Hong Kong http://parachute.substack.com)
James Andreassi* - Dr. Caius
James Andreassi is delighted to be returning to The Elm Shakespeare Company! Jim has performed at theatres across the United States, including Palm Beach Dramaworks, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Rep of St. Louis, Cleveland Playhouse, Shakespeare & Co., Pioneer Theatre Co., Lyric Stage of Boston, Merrimack Rep, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, and Elm Shakespeare Co., among many others. In NYC he has performed at the Mint Theatre and the New York Theatre Workshop. Jim has taught Shakespeare, acting and theatre studies at Southern Connecticut State University, Yale University, Quinnipiac University and the Yale Center for British Art. Jim is the founder and artistic director emeritus of the Elm Shakespeare Company in New Haven, CT. He lives with his wife Margaret, their cats, Bambi and Rocco, and their exceptional dog, Winston, in Palm Coast, FL.
Gracy Brown* - Justice Shallow
Gracy Brown is a native of Caracas Venezuela and a New Haven based award-winning actor, director, and educator. Credits include REGIONAL- Elm Shakespeare Company: The Tempest (Sebastian), Comedy of Errors (Emilia), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Boyet), Romeo and Juliet (Nurse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Egeus), Pericles (Gower). Long Wharf Theatre: The Good Person of New Haven (Taiwa/Taiwo). Great Lakes Theater Festival: Peter Pan (Adult Wendy). Edinburgh Fringe Festival: A Clockwork Orange (Dr. Brodsky), Fahrenheit 451 (Mildred). Cornerstone Theatre Company: An Antigone Story (Ismene). Mark Taper Forum: For Here or to Go (Luce). Collective Consciousness Theatre Company: Rasheeda Speaking (Jaclyn), Web Series: Ringer$ (Claudia). Gracy is a proud alumni of Southern Connecticut State University where she earned a BA in Theatre and is an Adjunct Faculty member in the Theatre Department. She recently Co-directed Out of Bounds, an original play devised by a company of SCSU students. This production gained national recognition, receiving 14 awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival including the Citizen Artist Award, Special Achievement in Direction by Faculty Artists, and Special Achievement in a Company Generated (Devised) Production.. A proud member of Actor’s Equity Association.
Michael J. Asberry* - Hugh Evans
Enthusiastically represents Pittsburg, CA in his Elm Shakespeare Company Debut. Regional and National Theatre credits: Center Repertory Company Sweat (Brucie); Aurora Theatre Company Paradise Blue (Corn); Marin Theatre Company Two Trains Running (Holloway); Cal Shakes Lear (Gloucester); Orlando Shakes Sweet Water Taste (Elijah); Sacramento Theatre Company Fences (Troy Maxson); San Francisco Shakespeare Festival Pericles (Cleon); San Francisco Mime Troupe The Good Cop (The Gravedigger); American Conservatory Theatre The Matchmaker (Joe Scanlon/Malachi Stack); Artists Repertory Theatre Seven Guitars (Red Carter), Lorraine Hansberry Theatre King Hedley II (Mister), TheatreWorks Superior Donuts (Officer James Bailey), and the 6th Street Playhouse Topdog/Underdog (Linc).. Film: A Christmas Mystery; San Andreas; FreeByrd; and Mr. Incredible and Pals. TV: Chance; Trauma, and Nash Bridges. Voiceover: Pixar Animation, Pine Sol and Clorox, and appears as characters in the video games Watchdogs 2 and Battlefield Vietnam. michaeljasberry (Instagram) and Michael J. Asberry (Facebook).
Michael A. Crawford - Slender/Host
is excited to be working on his first show with Elm Shakespeare. Regional Theatre: Are You There? at the 44th Humana Festival, Fifth Third Bank's A Christmas Carol and Fifth Third Bank's Dracula at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Black Like Me at Chautauqua Theatre Company, Proof, A Raisin in the Sun and Sister Act at Little Theater of the Rockies. University Theatre: Julius Caesar at DGSD at Yale University, The Crucible, The Piano Lesson, Legacy of Light and The Importance of Being Earnest at University of Northern Colorado. Education: BA in Acting from University of Northern Colorado, currently working on MFA at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.
Colleen Wilson - Bardolph
This is Colleen’s first season with Elm Shakespeare Company. She is a student at Southern CT State University where she studies Theater and Psychology. Colleen’s credits include SCSU Theater Department: Gallathea(Venus), SCSU Theater Department:TimeFlies(May), SCSU Theater Department: Antigone (Chorus/FightCaptain), and SCSU TheaterDepartment: You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (Woodstock). Colleen is honored to be involved with Elm this summer and is looking forward to continuing her acting career. Colleen expresses her gratitude to SCSU Theater, the Crescent Players, her incredible friends, and of course her family for their gracious love and support.
Hannah Leamon+ - Pistol
Hannah has been a part of many Elm Shakespeare teen productions, but this is her debut on the big stage! She would like to dedicate her performance to her parents who spent much of their summer driving her to rehearsal.
Atlas Salter+ - Robin/William
Atlas, or Haley, Salter has always craved the stage. She's about to be a junior in high school and she's currently sixteen years old, and has been in three stage productions: Lion King Jr., Annie Jr. and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Being someone else and creating a story has always been her passion and you will see, and feel, that in this production! I want to thank all of my family and friends who indulged me up to this point. I want to thank you for letting me shine and allowing me to get to the point where I am. Mostly, I want to thank my mom, both of them. My adopted mom for playing as much Micheal Jackson for me and watching as I mimicked his moves in on our living room floor. And my biological mom for believing in me and telling me, "Since you were a baby, I knew your name was supposed to be in lights." This one, and many more in the future, is for you.
Oliver Barber+ - John/Rugby
Oliver Barber is a seventeen-year-old hailing from North Haven. He has been a part of the Elm Shakespeare community for years, beginning in Players Camp, then progressing to Teen Troupe. Now he is returning as an acting Scholar this summer. In Teen Troupe, Oliver played many roles; some of his favorites include but are not limited to: Orlando in As You Like It, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, and Don Adriano de Armado in Love's Labour's Lost. In his free time, Oliver also makes pottery, writes movies, and practices Tang So Doo. Oliver hopes acting will always play a part in his life in some way.
Mekhi Robertson+ - Simple/Robert
I have done a couple of Shakespeare plays such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A MidSummer Nights Dream and now Merry Wives Of Windsor. I also been in a short film called 3LK(The Three little Kids) My Goals: My short term goal is to continue being a theatre actor and hope to gain a lot of experience to help me become a better actor. My long term goal is to become a film actor. I always love seeing action as a kid and wanted to be in one. The movies that inspired me to act were the marvel and DC movies. If you ask me would I rather play a hero role or a villain it will be a villain, simply because in my eyes the villain sleep are cooler.
*denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association
+denotes Elm ‘Scholar’ Intern Company
Behind The Scenes
Dawn Monique Williams - Director
Dawn Monique Williams (she/her), an Oakland native, served four years as the Associate Artistic Director at Aurora Theatre Company and was the Artistic Associate and a resident artist at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for six seasons before that. She's worked in theatres across the US including: The Kennedy Center, Orlando Shakespeare, American Shakespeare Center, Cal Shakes, Profile Theatre (Portland), American Conservatory Theatre, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, and African American Shakespeare Company. Williams holds an MA in Dramatic Literature and an MFA in Directing. She serves on the Board the of Directors of Theatre Bay Area and the Playwrights’ Foundation, and is a member of The Drama League National Directors Council. www.dawnmoniquewilliams.com
Rebecca Goodheart - Producing Artistic Director
Rebecca Goodheart has been a director, actor, and teacher specializing in Shakespeare and Voice for over 25 years. She is a designated Linklater Voice teacher who has directed over 30 professional and 50 educational productions. She is a proud lifetime member of the Shakespeare Theater Association and has worked with a dozen Shakespeare theaters around the world, including as Director of Training at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Producing Artistic Director for Maryland Shakespeare Festival (an equity theater she founded in 1999), Artistic Director of the Metawhateverphor Theater in NYC, and Director of Education for Baltimore Shakespeare Festival. She is a classical text and voice teacher at Shakespeare & Co. in Massachusetts and adjunct faculty at Southern CT State University. She holds a BFA from NYU/Stella Adler Conservatory, a Master of Letters in Shakespeare & Renaissance Literature, and an MFA in Directing (both from the American Shakespeare Center). She is a published scholar known for her research into physicalizing Shakespeare’s wit and rhetoric onstage and is currently co-authoring a book on the Tudor Worldview for theatremakers.
Nathan A. Roberts - Conceptual Sound Design
Nathan is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, instrument-maker, and sound designer who specializes in creating original music and soundscapes for plays, often live onstage. Previously for Elm Shakespeare Company: Twelfth Night, Pericles, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. OFF-BROADWAY- Manhattan Theatre Club: Golden Shield. Second Stage: Letters of Suresh. WP Theater: Natural Shocks. Theater for a New Audience: The Servant of Two Masters. The Acting Company: Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Macbeth. The Playwrights Realm: Crane Story, Dramatis Personae. REGIONAL- Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Way the Mountain Moved, Sense and Sensibility. Repertory Theatre St. Louis: Murder on the Orient Express, A Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice. Baltimore Center Stage: Miss You Like Hell, Fun Home, The Christians, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Milwaukee Rep: Animal Farm. Dallas Theater Center/Guthrie Theater: Sense and Sensibility. The Old Globe: Tokyo Fish Story. Yale Repertory Theater: Assassins, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Servant of Two Masters. Hartford Stage: Twelfth Night, The Tempest. Long Wharf Theatre: It’s a Wonderful Life. Nathan received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and is a Lecturer in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at Yale University.Karen Root - Set & Props
Maxwell Brown - Music Director
Maxwell is a director, composer, and actor from NY. He is a junior at Yale pursuing a BA in Theater & Performance Studies. He engages in several student productions year-round, such as directing Yale’s production of The Wiz last February and composing music for plays featured in the Yale Dramatic Association and Yale Cabaret seasons. He is so thrilled and grateful to have musically directed Merry Wives. These Shakespearean pop songs will forever be stuck in his head. www.smaxwellbrown.com
Benjamin Curns - Fight Director
Benjamin Curns is a theatre artist whose work includes acting, directing, teaching, and fight choreography. FIGHT DIRECTING CREDITS: Yale Baroque Opera, Two River Theatre, PlayMakers Rep, Starling Shakespeare, Hoosier Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Stage, Roust Theatre, American Shakespeare Center, The Shakespeare Forum, Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford, SCSU, Mary Baldwin University MFA, Longwood University, Guilford Tech, Elm Shakespeare Teen Troupe. TRAINING: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (MFA); Society of American Fight Directors (Advanced Actor/Combatant), American Freestyle Karate (Black Belt), American Mixed Martial Arts (Brown Belt). AWARDS: David Hammond Award for Excellence in Dramatic Art (UNC); David Boushey Founder’s Award for Excellence in Unarmed Combat (SAFD). Merit Award for Directing (KCACTF) FACULTY: Southern Connecticut State University, ACES-Educational Center for the Arts, Elm Shakespeare Company. www.benjamincurns.com
Jamie Burnett - Lighting Designer
A founding member of Elm Shakespeare Company, last summer’s Elm Shakespeare Youth Festival was Jamie’s 25th Season with the illustrious company. As resident Set and Lighting Designer, he has designed lighting for every Elm production and almost every set until 2009. Other lighting design credits include International Festival of Arts and Ideas: Requiem for an Electric Chair (2018), Never Stand Still (2017); Collective Conciousness Theatre: The Royale, Rasheeda Speaking, Jesus Hopped the A Train, Sunset Baby, and Top Dog Underdog; SCSU: Stop Kiss, Much Ado about Nothing, The Boyfriend, Our Country’s Good; Sacred Heart University: In The Heights, Jesus Christ Superstar; Legacy Theater Company: Hamlet, A Midsummer Nights Dream. With Projects for a New Millennium, he was Producer, Lighting Designer and Production Manager for the grand multimedia extravaganzas in the Stony Creek Granite Quarry including Terra Tractus (The Earth Moves) in 2014, Terra Mirabila in 2005, Terra Lumina in 2001, and Terra Continuum in 1999. He also designed PNM’s Branford Luminata (2010) and the Stamford Train Station Façade Lighting. Jamie is also a consultant, special events planner, film/video Gaffer, and a licensed electrical contractor. His company, Luminous Environments, specializes in Theater and TV Studio Renovations and site-specific public art installations. His latest projects include the Edgerton Center Theater Technical renovation at Sacred Heart University, four school auditoriums in the town of Wallingford, Conard High School Theater in West Hartford, and Quinnipiac University’s new Black Box Theater. He is currently consulting on upcoming renovation of the Stony Creek Puppet House for the Legacy Theater Company. He is a 2005 recipient of the New Haven Arts Award.
Cameron Jackson* - Production Stage Manager
A native Floridian, Cameron has spent several years on the road, and mostly with odd shows like “Penn & Teller, The Refrigerator Tour”, “Jekyll and Hyde”, “Dirt” with Ralph Waite and “Phantom of the Opera”. Highlights of his productions would include, “The Art of Success” with Tim Curry and Mary Louise Parker at Manhattan Theatre Club, “A Christmas Carol” with Helen Hayes, Raul Julia and Len Cariou and the New York Theatre Workshop Production of “Sally, She Left Her Name” with Michael Lernerd, David Canary, Cynthia Nixon and Robert Shawn Leonard. Cameron has been on faculty at Mars Hill College, University of Tennessee, Arizona State University, was the Executive Director of the School of Theatre at Florida State for 15 years and a founding Director of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. Cameron is a member of the National Theatre Conference and holds a BFA in Acting from NYU, a MFA in Stage Management from University of Alabama and is completing his PhD at the University of Lincoln in the UK.
Terysa Malootian* - Stage Manager
Terysa Malootian (Stage Manager) She/Her Terysa is excited to join Elm Shakespeare Company this summer! New York City Gas (Stage Manager); The Rat Trap (Assistant Stage Manager); Other People’s Dead Dads (Stage Manager); Bay Street Theater The Grift (Stage Manager), 2022 Title Wave – New Works Festival (Stage Manager) Windfall (Assistant Stage Manager), Ragtime (Production Assistant), Transforma Theatre Science in Theater Festival (Stage Manager); Bay Street Theater Becoming Dr. Ruth (Production Assistant), Wonder Wall (Stage Manager), Camelot (Assistant Stage Manager), 2021 Title Wave – New Works Festival (Assistant Stage Manager); Olmsted Theatre Fall 2019 Dance show: Cloven Kingdom (Stage Manager); Hangar Theatre Phantom Tollbooth, Jack and the Beanstalk, Unicorn Girl (Stage Manager), Little Women (Assistant Stage Manager); Portland Stage The Last Five Years, The Half-Light (world premiere), A Christmas Carol, Ben Butler (Production Assistant). @terysamalootian
Take a Backstage Tour!
To take a virtual tour of
our beautiful set!
Why Elm Does Shakespeare
“To be, or not to be. That is the question.”
”If you prick us, do we not bleed?”
”What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
”With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.”
So much of Shakespeare’s poetry speaks to what it means to be human. And though written within a specific historical context, the language also holds an ambiguity that allows larger truths to be spoken. These larger expressions of humanity speak to our most basic humanity on a deep level, beyond time period, beyond gender, beyond cultural identity. It is one reason why these plays have lasted and are so beloved. We believe in the power of these words in our world today and that they empower both those who hear and speak them.
However… There is another side of Shakespeare…
A woman’s need to be tamed…and a man’s right to do so,
Religious conversion as appropriate punishment,
Caricatured representations of those considered ‘outsiders’
Images of Blackness as evil
Shakespeare’s plays can also contain characterizations, plots and imagery that are troubling and even unacceptable in today’s theater. They were created within a particular world view that no longer exists, and while their historical context should be understood, their place on the American stage in 2023 and beyond is rightly questioned as are other unfair practices within the theatre world.
Yet, Elm Shakespeare still believes in the transcendent power of these plays. We believe in the tradition of coming together and experiencing what we share as humans illuminated by these plays. When we come together, there is an incredible multiplicity of identities: young and old, rich and poor, red and blue, devout and atheist, gay and straight, Black, White, Latinx, Asian, Middle Eastern, and so many more. We are a complex community – with contradicting perspectives and attributes, just like the plays. And, we believe that if authentically and specifically represented, all of these people – all of these humans – can see themselves and their stories within the plays.
And more importantly, they can see and hear each other. These plays, with all their complexity – their beauty, ugliness, love, and evil – can, if brought to life with intentionality, deep collaboration and respect, show us our own complexity in ways that reveal we have more in common than we think. An audience and cast share an embodied emotional experience which fosters and magnifies empathy, which in turn has the power to heal. Only by sharing all of it, the good and the bad, can healing occur.
Elm Shakespeare believes in that power, the power of sharing our complex humanity through passionate, inclusive, artistically excellent, and intelligent productions of equally complex plays.
Special Thanks…
The Elm Shakespeare Company thanks the following organizations
and individuals for their generosity and support.
The City of New Haven’s Departments of Parks and Recreation, Traffic & Parking and the Board of Alders.
The City of New Haven’sDepartment of Arts
with special thanks to Adriane Jefferson, Kim Futrell & Thabisa Rich
Edgerton Park Conservancy
with special thanks to Sean Duffy
Southern Connecticut State University
especially Dr. Joe Bertolino, Barbara Kagan, Dean Kalk, Dean Hlavac
SCSU Theatre Department
especially Mike Skinnerand Richard Harding
David McCoart, for his year round support and to GraceHurley and Amarante’s!
Our Educational Partners at:
Common Ground High School
Joel Tolman
Hamden Hall
Charlie Alexander
Hopkins School
Michael Calderone
Mauro Sheridan Middle School
Jodi Schneider
New Haven Public Library
Luis Chavez Brumell
Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School
Scott Miekle, Charlie McAfee & Janie Alexander
Educational Centerfor the Arts
Ingrid Schaeffer
Ice the Beef
Darrell Allick, Chaz Carmon & Manny Camacho
New Haven Parks & Recreation
Felisha Shahinka
New Haven Reads
Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel
And thanks to...
Int’l Festival of Arts & Ideas
especially Melissa Huber
Upstate Scenic
especially Andy Smith
Our graphic design wizards
Laura Tedeschi of Thread Communications & Michele Holcomb
“The Ladies of the Gate”
Maria Freda, Anne Tubis, Karen Kessler & Lauren Smith
Actors’ Equity Association
Nate Stolldorf
Shakespeare & Company
Allyn Burrows - Artistic Director
Govanne Lobhaur - Costume Department
Tina Packer
Rafael Ramos & Bregamos Community Theater
Gateway Community College
The Arts Council of GreaterNew Haven
Lynn Ladder and Scaffolding
Luminous Environments, LLC
Aaron Supreme Storage
Scott Hickman and G.R.O.W.E.R.S. Inc.
Elm City Sanitation
Our many neighbors in East Rock
All volunteers and supporters!
Home Haven
Patricia & Konrad Kalba
Nancy Ruddle
All of our Parents!
Special Thanks to Alexander Clark, 2023 Gala Auctioneer!
We are thrilled to return to Edgerton Park on the Alexander Clark Playhouse Stage!
Your Gift Makes
Us Merry!
Your voluntary donations support our professional Free Shakespeare performances and the merriment of live theatre!
Adult: $25.00 • Student: $10.00 • Child (12 and under): $5.00
At the park without cash, credit card or check?
Donate Online! or
Text: ‘ElmShakes2023’ to 99192
Venmo: @Elm-Shakespeare
