Our 2021-2022 Company
James R. Baker (Assistant Technical Director) Previous credits include Cendrillon, Fantastiks, La Boheme, Old and the Thief, Small Mouth Sounds, Inherit the Wind, Be More Chill, and FALLING UP. He graduated from the University of Memphis with an M.F.A. in Lighting and Sound Design. James is excited to be working with Tennessee Shakespeare Company for the first time.
Frank Bluestein (Executive Director) is the 1996–1997 Disney National Performing Arts Teacher of the Year and the 1994 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. USA Today named Mr. Bluestein as one of the top forty teachers in the United States in 1998. Until his retirement in 2013, he served as chair of the Germantown High School Fine Arts Department; as artistic director of the school’s theatre, the Poplar Pike Playhouse; and as executive producer for Germantown Community Television, the school’s nationally acclaimed television production center. Graduates from his program include Saturday Night Live star Chris Parnell; film, television, and stage actress Missi Pyle; Emmy-winning casting director Scott Genkinger (Desperate Housewives & NYPD Blue); NPR reporter Debbie Elliott; TSC’s Dan McCleary; and Blue Man Group actor Wes Day. Mr. Bluestein is a past winner of the American Theatre Association’s John C. Barner Award, and has served as an arts advisory panelist for numerous organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to his work at TSC, he currently serves as executive director of the Tennessee Arts Academy, a leading professional development institute for arts teachers located in Nashville on the Belmont University campus. Mr. Bluestein spent several years as director of shows at Opryland, USA, and he most recently wrote and directed the national touring production of Beale Street Saturday Night starring blues legend Joyce Cobb. In 2013, he was inducted into the Educational Theatre Association’s Hall of Fame in Minneapolis.
Rachel Cendrick (Juliet/Teaching Artist in Romeo and Juliet; Ada in Ada and the Engine) Montana Shakespeare in the Parks: Cymbeline (Queen/Cadwal), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania/Hippolyta). Houston Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It (Phebe), Julius Caesar (Decius). Studio 208: Titus Andronicus (Tamora), As You Like It (Celia). Rachel holds a B.F.A. from Baylor University and an M.F.A. from The University of Houston Professional Actor Training Program.
Kashief Alan Crain (Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth) Previous credits: A Streetcar Named Desire, A Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, A Few Good Men, A Christmas Carol, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Charlotte’s Web. Kashief studied British Literature at the University of Memphis, and minored in Theatre.
Jeremy Allen Fisher (Production Manager; Technical Director; Resident Lighting Designer) TSC: Macbeth, As You Like It, Waiting for Godot, Much Ado About Nothing, To Kill a Mockingbird, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Richard III, The Taming of the Shrew, Unto the Breach, It’s a Wonderful Life, Hamlet. A graduate of Oklahoma City University, Jeremy has worked with Theatre Memphis, Opera Memphis, Ballet Memphis, Broad Avenue Arts, Seattle Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Some of his other credits include lighting Memphis’ Broad Avenue Water Tower, Wiseacre’s new Taproom, and several works at Saint Jude’s Research Hospital. In 2017, he received the TAC Individual Artist Award; and between 2012-2017 he earned 11 Ostrander Award nominations with four wins for his lighting designs.
Cara McHugh Geissler (Manager of The Romeo and Juliet Project and Macbeth Initiative; Education Associate) has served as both TSC’s Education Manager and a Journeyman Artist-Manager. Cara played Biondello in TSC’s Taming of the Shrew and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet. While in Louisville, Cara taught children’s theatre at Encore Youth Theatre and at Adelante Hispanic Achievers. She also taught for both the University of Louisville and Spalding University. Cara served on the Board for The Bard’s Town Theatre in Louisville, where she performed in Misses Strata, Reasons to Be Pretty, and Just Like Life. Education: Murray State University (B.A. in Theatre and Political Science); University of Louisville (M.F.A. in Theatre Performance).
Lauren Gunderson (Playwright of Ada and the Engine) TSC: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Lauren has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list twice, including in 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her newest play The Catastrophist, about her husband virologist Nathan Wolfe, premiered digitally in January 2021. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and her audioplay The Half-Life of Marie Curie is available on Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You, Exit Pursued by a Bear, The Taming, and Toil and Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists, The Book of Will, Silent Sky, Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams, and Miss Bennet), and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr. Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She currently is developing musicals with Ari Afsar, Dave Stewart and Joss Stone, and Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk. LaurenGunderson.com
Lauren Gunn (Ensemble/Fight Director in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth; Lady Anabella Byron/Mary Sommerville in Ada and the Engine) TSC: Romeo and Juliet, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Southern Arena Theatre: Boeing Boeing, I Hate Hamlet. New Stage Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Crimes of the Heart, A Christmas Carol, Cat in the Hat. Fish Tale Group Theatre: Voice of Freedom Summer. Unframed: Constellations, Gruesome Playground Injuries. Lauren is new to Memphis and is originally from Jackson, MS. Education: University of Southern Mississippi (M.F.A. in Acting).
Riley Fox Hillyer (Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth) Credits: 1776, Animal Farm, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tiny Houses, We Are Pussy Riot. Puppetry: Dead Man Rises, An Allston Christmas Story, Diagonal Life Circus, In the Belly of the Mother, Skeleton Soiree. Solo Performance: NAVIGATING DEATH ANXIETY: a how-to guide!, Eulogy For Jack Cole. Riley is a proud founding member of the band pUbeRtykiDs and The 13 Pratt Theater Co.
Burkett Horrigan (Season Production Stage Manager) Credits: Assistant Stage Manager for Ohio Light Opera’s summer season, including Production Stage Manager for Pirates of Penzance; Production Stage Manager for Bergen Performing Arts Center productions of Les Miserables, West Side Story, and Beauty and the Beast; Production Assistant for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids events. Burkett recently received her B.F.A. in Theatre from Montclair State University, with concentrations in Stage Management and Lighting Design.
Ben Kahre (Fight and Violence Choreographer for Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth) is a fight director, actor, and stage combat teacher recognized by Dueling Arts International. As a fight director, he has choreographed staged violence in numerous productions for both stage and screen, most recently coordinating the stunt work in Holmes and Watson at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He was certified in 2018 as a Dueling Arts International Stage Combat Teacher and teaches workshops throughout the United States. Ben is a proud graduate of the American Conservatory Theater and the University of Evansville. He is so excited to be back telling stories after what we’ve all been through.
Michael Khanlarian (Senior Artist-Manager; Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth) TSC: Julius Caesar, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Macbeth, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, To Kill a Mockingbird, Henry V, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Othello, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet. Education: University of Memphis. Michael is a founding member of TSC.
The Kilbanes (Original Music Composers/Musicians for Ada and the Engine) Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses are a married songwriting and performing duo performing in rock clubs all over the U.S. Their works for theatre include WP Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, Z Space SF, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and Berkeley Rep. They recently received the Next Generation Commission from Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis. kilbanes.com
Carmen-maria Mandley (Education and Outreach Manager; Volunteer Coordinator) TSC directing credits include the Shout-Out production of Romeo and Juliet and touring productions of Twelfth Night and The Tempest. TSC acting credits include Shake(s), Rattle and Roll (ensemble), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Speed/Lucetta), As You Like It (Audrey), and Speak What We Feel: Shakespeare’s Radical Response to a Radical Time (ensemble). Prior to joining TSC, Carmen worked for Orlando Shakespeare (FL), Shakespeare & Company (MA), Advice to the Players (NH), Theatre at Hubbard Hall (NY), WE Players (CA), Portland Stage (ME), Burning Coal Theatre (NC), Theater at Monmouth (ME), and Theatre Ensemble of Color (ME). She is the founding Artistic Director of Bare Theatre and the Nickel Shakespeare Girls in Raleigh, NC, as well as Bare Portland Theatre in Maine. Carmen attended National-Louis University in Chicago and continued her training at Shakespeare & Company and at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Carmen is also a writer and visual artist.
Malachi Marrero (Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth) Credits: Much Ado About Nothing, The Women, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Mary Poppins, The Colored Museum, A Chorus Line, On The Town, Big River. Choreography: Jesus Christ Superstar, Little Shop of Horrors, Bye Bye Birdie. Malachi is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University’s Conservatory of Theatre and Dance, with a B.A. in Dance and Minor in Acting.
Dan McCleary* (TSC Founder and Nancy R. Copp Producing Artistic Director; Director of Ada and the Engine), a native of Memphis, has created, directed, and acted in half of TSC’s productions, including the inaugural production of As You Like It, also Julius Caesar, Waiting for Godot, The Glass Menagerie, The Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, To Kill a Mockingbird, Much Ado About Nothing, Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Flannery O’Connor’s Georgia Gothic, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, The Tempest, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the all-female Julius Caesar, Othello, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Themes from a Midsummer Night with IRIS Orchestra, and last season’s Classical Creations in Quarantine and Shakespeare’s Election of Coriolanus. As Associate Artistic Director/Communications Director at Shakespeare & Company in the Berkshires (1993-2005), Dan acted in and directed over 30 productions, including his acclaimed production of The Servant of Two Masters, his own adaptation of Anaïs Nin’s Henry and June, as well as Vita & Virginia (Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf), My Own Stranger (Anne Sexton), and The Fiery Rain (Edith Wharton/Henry James/Morton Fullerton). Other regional directing credits of Shakespeare and new work: Seattle Shakespeare, Orlando Shakespeare, and Georgia Shakespeare. He has played over 120 roles on stage, including Coriolanus, Richard III, Macbeth, Falstaff, Marc Antony, Caliban, Brutus, Petruchio, Bottom, Master Ford, Stephano, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus, Cassio, Bertram, Demetrius, Silvius, Herman Melville, Porfiry, Charles Dickens, The Gentleman Caller, Tom Wingfield, and Bertha Bumiller in the Greater Tuna series. Dan is a published poet, and the creator/director/actor of plays Speak What We Feel: Shakespeare’s Radical Response to a Radical Time, Unto the Breach, Quintessence: Shakespeare in Performance, and Classical Creations in Quarantine. Memphis Magazine named him among the “Who’s Who in Memphis” for five years (including 2020). Dan presented his TEDx Talk “Shakespeare in Kindergarten, or Let Fall Rome” in Memphis last year, and the Germantown Arts Alliance honored him with its 2009 Distinguished Arts and Humanities Medal for Performing Arts. He holds a B.A. in Advertising and Journalism from Temple University, has served on the Boards of Herman Melville’s Arrowhead and the City of Germantown’s Telecommunications Commission, and he is a Little League baseball and football coach. Dan is the proud dad of 11-year-old twin boys, Sullivan and Collins.
Barbara McFall (Bookkeeper) brings over 35 years of experience in leadership and operations to TSC, with a history of working in the accounting industry. Barbara has held positions across the financial spectrum from accounting and human resources manager to co-owner of an accounting software resale and support company.
Melanie Mulder (Props Designer for Ada and the Engine) is so happy to be back doing theatre and to return to Tennessee Shakespeare Company after most recently designing the props and rabbits TSC’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Melanie is a native Memphian and received her B.F.A. in theatre from the University of Memphis. Other props/scenic design credits include Hattiloo Theatre’s A Song for Coretta, In the Heights, and Once on this Island; Playhouse on the Square’s The Miraculous and the Mundane; St. Mary’s Episcopal School’s White Christmas and Addams Family. Melanie has served as Props Master on productions for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Seaside Music Theatre (FL), Vineyard Theatre, Pearl Theatre, the New School for Drama and the Signature Theatre (NYC), as well as Williamstown Theatre Festival (MA), Lake George Opera (NY), and Northern Stage (VA).
Kellan Oelkers (Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth) Baltimore Shakespeare Factory: Romeo and Juliet. Theater J: The Jewish Queen Lear. Georgetown University: The Rover, An Acorn, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Education: Georgetown University (B.A. in Theater and Performance Studies).
Nicolas Dureaux Picou (Actor/Teaching-Artist Fellow; Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth; Lord Lovelace/Byron in Ada and the Engine) TSC: The Tempest, As You Like It, Macbeth, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Comedy of Errors, Henry V. Other favorite productions include M. Butterfly, The Physicists, Private Eyes. Nic holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of Memphis.
Austin Michael Russell (Ensemble in Henry VI; Ensemble/Teaching-Artist in Romeo and Juliet) Unto These Hills: Unto These Hills, Living Dead in Denmark, Birds Aren’t Real (A Seagull Adaptation). His other credits include Playhouse on the Square’s Matilda: the Musical, and The Rev Theatre Co. as an Actor/Teaching-Artist. Austin is an actor and director trained at the University of Memphis’ Department of Theatre and Dance. He thanks Stephanie and Dan for this opportunity and his family for their unconditional love.
William Shakespeare (Playwright of Henry VI parts one/two/three, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth) survived the Bubonic Plague, which was rampant during his 52 years. Just a few months after William was born in Stratford in 1564, the plague descended on the town and killed 20% of its citizens. Very little could be done to eliminate the plague other than strict quarantining. The London playhouses would be shut down for months at a time when church roles reflected at least 30 people dying in one week. As a playwright, Shakespeare lived through four extended plague quarantines that put London in lockdown. It is estimated that between 1606 and 1610, Shakespeare’s playhouses were only open for nine months, during which time he wrote Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, Coriolanus, and The Tempest. He likely worked on King Lear as well. As always with our namesake, he lends a lesson to us for right now.
Kaitlyn Shamley (Administrative and Box Office Manager) is a lifelong Memphian and has a passionate interest in music history and the ancient Mediterranean. Her time as a Rhodes College student sparked a desire to foster an appreciation and understanding of past cultures and their artistic works. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and visiting museums. Education: Rhodes College (B.A. in History).
Stephanie Shine+ (Resident Artist; General Manager; Education Director; Gala Coordinator; director of Henry VI, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth; curator of the Southern Literary Salon Series) TSC directorial credits include Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Southern Yuletide, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, Shake(s), Rattle, and Roll, Shakespeare Said It, Lend Me Thy Sword, ten productions of Romeo and Juliet, and many Literary Salons. On stage at TSC, she played the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors, Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well, the female roles in Unto the Breach, and Gertrude in Hamlet. Prior to joining TSC, she was Artistic Director of Seattle Shakespeare Company, a position she enjoyed for 13 years. Other directorial credits include As You Like It for Houston Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew and The Comedy of Errors for Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the award-winning one-woman internationally-touring Marilyn Monroe Biopic, Marilyn: Forever Blonde, and several new works for Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre. Her production of I am of Ireland (which she also conceived and adapted) opened Book-It’s 25th Anniversary Season in 2014. As an actor, she has performed with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, NYC’s Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, ACT, The Empty Space, and Seattle Children’s Theatre, among others. Roles include Juliet, Rosalind, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Regan, Feste, Kate, Bianca, Dionyza, the Princess of France, Hero, Perdita, and the Chorus in Henry V. The Germantown Arts Alliance honored her with its 2016 Distinguished Arts and Humanities Medal for Performing Arts. She is the mother of four exceptional young humans: Conor, Cahilan, Sullivan, and Collins. Education: graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts; B.F.A in Acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program; M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Memphis.
P.J. Townsend (Assistant Stage Manager of Henry VI and Ada and the Engine; Stage Manager of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and the Truman Capote Literary Salon) Credits: Stage Manager/Props Master for Sterling Renaissance Festival; Stage Manager for Blues for an Alabama Sky; Assistant Stage Manager for Cabaret, The Seagull, and Next to Normal. P.J. is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, with a B.A. in Theater and an emphasis in technical theatre and management.
Allison White (Costume Designer/Wardrobe for Henry VI, Ada and the Engine, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth) Design credits: University of Florida: Pippin, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Day is Long to End; Cape Fear Regional Theatre: Caroline, Or Change; Sarasota Youth Opera: The Secret World of Og; Theatre Raleigh: Smokey Joe’s Café, The Wolf, All My Sons, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Carousel. Allison also has worked at several regional opera companies as a member of their costume production staffs. Allison is glad to be joining Tennessee Shakespeare Company for this exciting season.
* member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
+ member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., an independent national labor union.