Our 2023-2024 Company
Marquis Dijon Archuleta (Company Teaching-Artist/Acting Apprentice) TSC: most recently in Cyrano de Bergerac; also Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. Regional: Of Mice and Men (Crooks), The Shawshank Redemption (Red), Pentecost (Antonio), Romeo and Juliet (Lord Capulet), and Jesus Christ Superstar (Simon Peter). Marquis is a graduate of the University of Montana’s School of Theatre & Dance program with a B.F.A. and a minor in Psychology.
Erin Amlicke (Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest) Recent credits: Greenbrier Valley Theatre: Frankenstein; Burning Coal Theatre Company: The Cherry; Theatre at Monmouth: The Comedy of Errors, Amphitryon, Antony and Cleopatra, Lysistrata; University of Houston: The Oresteia, Henry V, Picnic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Cherry Orchard, Silence, Boston Marriage. Erin received her M.F.A. in Acting from the University of Houston, and she writes and performs with the theatre collective, The Paper Architects.
@erinamlyes / erinamlicke.com
Frank Bluestein (Executive Director/Senior Advisor) 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.
Carleigh Boyle (Apprentice) is an actor from Hillsdale, NJ, making her TSC debut. Her favorite roles include Fun Home (Medium Alison), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Siobhan), The Rocky Horror Show (Riff Raff), Silent Sky (Henrietta Leavitt), Twelfth Night (Olivia), and The Wolves (#46). She is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a B.F.A. in Acting and a minor in Animal Science.
Jeremy Bukauskas (Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet Project) Theatre Memphis: Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, A Christmas Carol. Germantown Community Theatre: Four Weddings and an Elvis. University of Southern Mississippi: Peter and the Star Catcher, Trojan Barbie, Tartuffe, Peer Gynt, Moby-Dick Rehearsed, As You Like It. Education: University of Southern Mississippi, M.F.A. in Theatre Performance.
Parker Chase (Administrative and Box Office/Sales Manager) graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2019 with a B.S. in Theatre. Theatre Memphis: The Crucible (Mary Warren). New Moon Theatre: Small Mouth Sounds (Alicia), The Moors (The Moor Hen). MTSU: Peter Pan (Peter Pan), The Adding Machine (Daisy), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Kayleen), The Earthling (Polly). Scenic painting: TSC: Macbeth (2022), MTSU: Kafka’s Metamorphosis. She interned with the Orpheum Theatre, Starfish Circus, and coached circus at French Woods Performing Arts, including trapeze, lyra, partner acrobatics. This will be her second full season with TSC.
Austin Blake Conlee (Costume Designer for Hamlet) Select design credits:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, Hamlet Replayed, Urinetown!, Twelfth Night,
Cunning Little Vixen, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and A Streetcar
Named Desire. He previously served as Associate Designer at Oregon Shakespeare
Festival and as Wig Designer at Utah Shakespeare Festival. Austin is Professor of Costume Design at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Education: University of Maryland, M.F.A. in Costume Design; and the University of Memphis, B.F.A.
Lorraine Cotten (Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest) is thrilled to be back at TSC, where she has acted in The Taming of the Shrew and It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, and co-directed Romeo and Juliet (2015). Playhouse on the Square: The Prom, Gentleman’s Guide, Left Hand Singing, Memphis the Musical, Shakespeare in Love, and Tuck Everlasting, among others. Theatre Memphis: Addams Family. Germantown Community Theatre: Next to Normal and Smoke on the Mountain. Regional credits: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Rep, Barter Theatre, Tiffany Theatre (LA), Perry Street Theatre (NY Theatre Workshop), and New Dramatists (NY). M.F.A. in Directing: University of Memphis. Love to Chris, James, and Katy.
Victoria Coulter (Production Stage Manager) recently received her B.F.A. in Design and Production with a concentration in Stage Management from University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Some previous credits include Assistant Stage Manager for Measure for Measure at Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Production Stage Manager for Weston Theater Company’s TYA Shrek, and Production Assistant for American Ballet Theater’s Summer MET season.
Dean Coutris (Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest) TSC: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Mr. Darcy). Other credits: As You Like It (Jaques), Clue! (Wadsworth), The Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio), Twelfth Night (Orsino), Bus Stop (Bo Decker), Of Mice and Men (Slim), and Man and Superman (Mendoza). Dean earned his M.F.A. in Theatre at the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program.
Francia DiMase (Gertrude in Hamlet) Regional credits include King Lear, Cymbeline, Phaedra, The Winter’s Tale, Three Days of Rain, Scenes From an Execution, The Importance of Being Earnest, She Stoops to Conquer, Taking Steps, A View From the Bridge, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Directing Credits: Troilus and Cressida, The Sonnet Project. Education: The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Jason Eschhofen (Sound Designer/Music Director for The Importance of Being Earnest) is the Resident Sound Designer of Theatre Memphis. TSC: Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Theatre Memphis: Urinetown, Guys and Dolls, Mary Poppins, Sister Act, Arsenic and Old Lace, Immediate Family, The Play that Goes Wrong, Mrs. Mannerly, The Crucible, Blithe Spirit, and Silent Sky. Playhouse on the Square: The Last Five Years, Murder for Two, Songs for a New World, Little Shop of Horrors, May We All, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline, I Am My Own Wife, Nat Turner in Jerusalem, Ivanka vs. Reality, Days of Rage, and Torch Song.
Jeremy Allen Fisher (Production Manager; Technical Director; Resident Lighting Designer; Apprentice Faculty) TSC Resident Lighting Designer 2014-present; and Opera Memphis Resident Lighting Designer 2013-present. Jeremy is a member of United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 and a graduate of Oklahoma City University. He has worked with Theatre Memphis, Youngblood Studios, Ballet Memphis, University of Memphis, Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre, Seattle Opera, Desoto Family Theatre, New Day Children’s Theatre, and New Ballet Ensemble. Some of his other credits include lighting Memphis’ Broad Avenue Water Tower, Wiseacre’s downtown Taproom, and several works at Saint Jude’s Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. Awards: 2017 TAC Individual Artist Award, and 11 Ostrander Award nominations with four wins for Lighting Design.
Kristen Fisher (Props Coordinator for The Tempest) TSC: Props Manager: The Tempest, The Glass Menagerie, Complete Works abridged, It’s A Wonderful Life, Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, To Kill A Mockingbird; Stage Manager: Pericles, Showplace Memphis. Kristen is the Director of Production for Ballet Memphis, now in her eleventh season with the company. She is a graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Ali Flip (Costume Designer for A Streetcar Named Desire) Design: Playhouse on the Square: Junie B.’s Essential Guide to School; University of Memphis: A Bright Room Called Day, Lest We Forget, Hamlet: Fall of the Sparrow; Luther College: The Giver, The Last Cyclist, Mnemonic Preposition(ing)s, Indeterminate; Ashland Productions: The Addams Family Musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She holds an M.F.A. in Theater Costume Design from the University of Memphis and a B.A. in Theatre Technical Design from the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse.
Blake Galtelli-Meek (Wig, Makeup, Hair Designer for The Importance of Being Earnest) has over 15 years of experience in the beauty industry, including theatre, film, print, editorial, and artist training and development. Recent credits include: TSC’s Cyrano de Bergerac; Opera Memphis’ The Falling and The Rising, Bon Appétit!; Germantown Community Theatre’s Wit; and University of Memphis Scheidt Family Performing Arts Center’s La Bohème.
Lauren Gunn (Senior Resident Actor; Apprentice Faculty) TSC: Cyrano de Bergerac, Macbeth, Henry VI, Ada and the Engine, 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 delighted and honored to continue serving military veterans at the Memphis V.A. Medical Center with the Feast of Crispian-South program. Lauren is a member and associate instructor with Dueling Arts International. Education: University of Southern Mississippi, M.F.A.
Sarah Hankins (Manager of Education and Outreach Programs) is a director, AEA actor, teacher, and theatre administrator with a strong focus on collaboration, physical theatre, and heightened language. Sarah was most recently Artistic Director at Triad Stage, a professional regional theater in North Carolina, prior to which she was a freelance theater artist in NYC. Sarah is also the former Artistic Director of the NYC eco-theatre Green Theatre Collective, as well as a former Associate Artist at Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. Sarah has taught theatre education programs from Maine to Florida for students ranging from kindergarten to college, including teaching and directing at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Greensboro College, Guilford Technical Community College, University of North Carolina Greensboro, and Guilford College. Sarah is a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s M.F.A. Directing program, and of Davidson College.
Roger Hanna (Scenic Designer for TheImportance of Being Earnest, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Hamlet) has designed sets for theater, opera, and dance in Japan, Israel, and across the U.S., including over 150 productions in NYC. Regional productions include The Glass Menagerie and The Tempest for TSC. Collaborators include Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz, MacArthur “Genius” Susan Marshall, and 10-time Tony-winner Tommy Tune. Awards include a Lortel Award, two Drama Desk nominations, and a True West Award from the DCPA. As an educator, Roger taught and designed at major schools including Manhattan and Mannes Schools of Music, NYU, and Yale. He is currently the Head of Set Design at Colorado State University.
Elijah Eliakim Hernandez (Apprentice) Acting credits: Coriolanus, Dracula, All My Sons, She Stoops to Conquer, The Impostor, Camino Real, Sense & Sensibility, and Treasure Island. Elijah is a graduate from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with a B.F.A. in Theater Performance.
Stuart Heyman (Gonzalo in The Tempest) TSC: Cyrano de Bergerac (Ragueneau), As You Like It (Old Adam), The Comedy of Errors (Duke Solinus), All’s Well That Ends Well (Lefeu), The Taming of the Shrew (Baptista), Othello (Brabantio), As You Like It (Corin). Theatre Memphis: Dracula (Van Helsing). Circuit Playhouse: Peter and the Starcatcher (Alf) and Tom Sawyer (Doc Robinson). Desoto Family Theatre: My Fair Lady (Henry Higgins) and Oliver! (Fagin). Germantown Community Theatre: Man of La Mancha (Cervantes/Quixote). New Moon Theatre: The Homecoming (Teddy).
Kristina Hinako (Apprentice) Acting credits include: Treasure Island, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Blue Stockings, Men on Boats. She previously served as an Artist Educator at Kentucky Shakespeare, and received her B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
Roberta Inscho (Stage Director of Romeo and Juliet; Apprentice Faculty) earned her M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Memphis, where she recently directed The Rocky Horror Show. Other credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Twelfth Night (Associate Director/Choreographer); Center REP: Beehive (Associate Choreographer); College Prep: Mama Mia (Choreographer); University of Massachusetts Amherst: Dance Nation (Intimacy Choreographer); Playhouse on the Square: Stupid F*****g Bird (Intimacy Choreographer); University of Memphis: The Spitfire Grill (Director), I and You (Director).
Joe Johnson (Sound Designer/Composer for The Tempest) TSC: Cyrano de Bergerac, Macbeth. Joe is a singer-songwriter, composer, sound designer, and educator. Since the pandemic, Joe has shifted his focus from live performance to composition and education but is looking forward to returning to the performance world. He recently attended Folk Alliance International with Music Exports Memphis. He performs regularly in and around Memphis, and writes and records with several other Memphis musicians. Joe is looking forward to releasing new music in the coming year. He has received numerous awards for composition and sound design, including the Ostrander award for theatrical sound design for Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice. He has composed music for films, plays, and commercial presentations. He composed music featured in New York and Memphis Fashion Weeks. He taught music in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas public schools, integrating language arts and mathematics into the music classroom, and he is currently teaching in Memphis. He received his Master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and did more post-Graduate work at the University of Georgia. He approaches his work as a working musician with the mind of an educator and continues to seek out opportunities to enrich the lives of other musicians as he shares in numerous collaborative projects.
Irene Keeney (Apprentice) TSC: Salon: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Other credits: Constellations, The White Plague, Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play, Whose Wives are They Anyway, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Seagull, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Irene is a graduate of Muhlenberg College with a B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in acting, and a minor in English. She spent a semester at Academia Dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy, where she studied physical theatre.
Michael Khanlarian (Prospero in The Tempest) As a founding member of TSC, Michael is honored to have contributed to the ongoing success of the company. He extends gratitude to Dan McCleary for his unwavering support and guidance, which has been instrumental in their growth as a performer. TSC roles include Macbeth in Macbeth, Lucky in Waiting for Godot, and Roderigo in Othello. Michael actively serves as an ensemble member of Playback Memphis and shares their expertise as a teaching-artist with various organizations in the city, including the Orpheum and TSC.
Edgar Landa (Fight Director for Romeo and Juliet) TSC: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth. Edgar is an actor/director and creates fights and violence for theatres large and small. Fight credits include Geffen Playhouse, San Diego Rep, South Coast Repertory, The Wallis, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Mark Taper Forum. He has choreographed mayhem for many of Los Angeles’ intimate theatres and currently serves on the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Art. He is a SAG and AEA member and supporter of intimate theatre in Los Angeles. www.edgarlanda.com
Logan McCarty (Apprentice) is an actor from Hattiesburg, MS, where he graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a B.F.A. in Acting. Some of his credits include Macbeth, Peter Pan, Quills, Much Ado About Nothing, Boeing Boeing, and Cabaret.
Dan McCleary (TSC Founder and Nancy R. Copp Producing Artistic Director; Apprentice Director; Stage Director of The Tempest and A Streetcar Named Desire), a native of Memphis, last year directed TheTrouble Begins at Eight: Mark Twain featuring Pete Pranica and played the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. For TSC, he also has directed/acted in As You Like It (playing Jaques), Ada and the Engine,Blue Roses of Tennessee Williams (playing Tennessee with his son, Collins), Julius Caesar, Waiting for Godot, The Glass Menagerie (playing old Tom), The Taming of the Shrew (playing Sly), Richard III (playing Richard), To Kill a Mockingbird, Much Ado About Nothing, Ernest Hemingway inKey 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, Classical Creations in Quarantine, and Shakespeare’s Election of Coriolanus. Other regional theatre directing credits: The Servant of Two Masters, his adaptation of Anaïs Nin’s Henry and June, Vita & Virginia (Sackville-West and Woolf), My Own Stranger (Anne Sexton), and The Fiery Rain (Edith Wharton/Henry James/Morton Fullerton) at Shakespeare & Company, where Dan was Associate Artistic Director. He also has directed at Seattle Shakespeare, Orlando Shakespeare, and Georgia Shakespeare. He has played over 120 roles on stage, including Coriolanus (thrice), Richard III (twice), Macbeth (twice), Falstaff, Marc Antony, Caliban, Brutus, Petruchio, Hotspur, Bottom, Master Ford, Stephano, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus, Cassio, Bertram, Demetrius, Silvius, Herman Melville, Porfiry, Charles Dickens, The Gentleman Caller, Hannah from Hamburg in La Cage, and Bertha Bumiller et. al. in the Greater Tuna series. Dan is a published poet, and the creator/director/actor of the 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 has named him among the “Who’s Who in Memphis” for six years. Dan presented his TEDx Talk “Shakespeare in Kindergarten, or Let Fall Rome” in Memphis in 2020, 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 the dad and coach of all-star 13-year-old twin musicians, Sullivan and Collins.
Micki McCormick (Assistant Technical Director) University of Memphis: Sound Design for A Bright Room Called Day; Pippin; Carnival Vitas, and Associate Sound Design for Romeo Juliet and Zombies. Production Electrician for Opera Memphis’s The Rising and the Falling, and University of Memphis’s Rocky Horror Picture Show. Micki is a recent graduate of the University of Memphis, and a 2022 Ostrander Award Winner for Excellence in Sound Design for A Bright Room Called Day.
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 (Properties Designer for The Importance of Being Earnest, A Streetcar Named Desire, Hamlet) TSC credits: Ada and the Engine; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Additional credits: The Color Purple, Jelly’s Last Jam, A Song for Coretta, Ruined, In the Heights, and Once on this Island at Hattiloo Theatre. Melanie has served as Props Designer on productions for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival (TN), Seaside Music Theatre (FL), Vineyard Theatre, Pearl Theatre, the New School for Drama and The Signature Theatre (all NYC), Williamstown Theatre Festival (MA), Lake George Opera (NY), and Northern Stage (VT). Melanie is a native Memphian and received her B.F.A. in theatre from The University of Memphis.
Hadley Evans Nash (Apprentice) Acting credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and Butts in Seats: Musical Settings of Shakespeare. Directing credits: King Lear, Cymbeline, And Through the Woods, My Dance with Lisa, and The Tempest. Hadley holds a B.A. in Theatre with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from Saint Olaf College, and she is a graduate of Shakespeare & Company’s Acting Intensive and the National Theatre Institute. Hadley is also the Artistic Director and Founder of Brick by Brick Players.
Eliza Pagelle (Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamlet in Hamlet) is an actor/musician from Greenville, South Carolina, with a passion for heightened language and risk-taking art. Select New York/regional credits include Distance Theater: The Seagull (Nina); The Warehouse Theatre: Picnic (Millie); Fordham University: Indecent (Vera/
Hallie Phillips (Asst. Stage Manager for Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet Project) University of Memphis: Chroma, Carnival Vitas: Dance of the Animals. Shreveport Little Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors, Miracle on 34th Street. Union University Players: The Count of Monte Cristo, Decision Height. Hallie is an undergraduate student at the University of Memphis working toward a B.S. in Exercise and Movement Science with a Minor in Nutrition.
Nicolas Dureaux Picou (Senior Resident Actor), a native Memphian, has called TSC home since 2016. Recently with TSC: Cyrano de Bergerac (Christian), Macbeth (Banquo/Porter/Seyton), Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), and Ada and the Engine (Lords Lovelace and Byron). Nic also recently appeared in New Moon Theatre’s production of Small Mouth Sounds (Ned). Offstage, Nic is proud to serve area high school students as a teaching-artist for the Romeo and Juliet Project and the Macbeth Initiative. Nearest to his heart is Nic’s work with justice-involved youth, for whom he facilitates poetry and Shakespeare classes as part of TSC’s Juvenile Justice program. He holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from the University of Memphis. In his spare time, Nic may be found exercising, cooking, or playing The Legend of Zelda. “For Fred and Gramps.”
Gwendolyn Schwinke (Stage Director of Macbeth; Voice Coach/Apprentice faculty for The Tempest) is Resident Vocal Coach at PlayMakers Repertory Company and teaches in the M.F.A. program at PlayMakers/University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. As a director, she has worked with PlayMakers Rep, The Walker Art Center, The Playwrights’ Center, Cheap Theatre, and several universities. Coaching credits include Prague Shakespeare (Czech Republic), Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble (Australia), seven seasons with Shakespeare & Company (MA), and many more. As an actor, she has performed with numerous regional theatres, including PlayMakers, Carlyle Brown & Company, Oxford Shakespeare Festival, and Atlantic Stage. Her work as a playwright has been developed or produced by Seattle Repertory Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center, Red Eye Collaboration, and more.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) (Playwright of The Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet) was honored by his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell seven years after his death with the creation of what is arguably the most influential work of written art. This year (2023), we commemorate the 400th anniversary of the printing of the First Folio – the collection of 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, which includes 18 plays not printed before 1623. It starts with his final solo effort: The Tempest. Not included in the Ff are plays that Shakespeare collaborated on with other writers: Pericles, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Edward III, and his lost plays Cardenio and Love’s Labor’s Won. Between 750-1,000 copies were printed in this first edition, and today perhaps 235 of those remain. There would be three more Folios published in the 17th Century. The Ff, however, for actors, is the closest we get to what the writer wanted on stage, how the words should be spoken, and what was thematic for him. The Folio was expensive and large, a purchase perhaps of prestige. But if it were not for this practical collection, one-half of Shakespeare’s plays would have been lost (as they had not been printed in quarto form – a smaller, less-expensive production). This year marks, then, the 400th celebration of humanity’s discovery of Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well, The Winter’s Tale, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, and many others. Our ever-lasting appreciation to Messrs. Heminges and Condell, who helped ensure the Man would indeed be “for all time.”
Kaitlyn Shamley (Development and Communications 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+ (Director of Outreach/General Manager/Gala Coordinator/Apprentice Manager and Faculty) TSC directorial credits include Emily Dickinson: I Dwell in Possibility, which she co-created with Denice Hicks, Henry VI: Wars of the Roses, Macbeth, Miss Bennet: Christmas atPemberley, 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, 12 productions of Romeo andJuliet, and 14 Literary Salons. On stage at TSC, she played the Abbess in TheComedy of Errors, Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well, the female roles in Unto theBreach, 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 King Lear and As You Like It for Houston Shakespeare Festival, TheTaming 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 Shakespearean 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 people: 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.
Jasmine Simmers (Stage Manager) is a graduate of the University of Memphis (B.F.A. in Theatre Design and Technology). Stage Management credits: Hamlet: Fall of the Sparrow, La Bohème, The Rocky Horror Show, Back When Mike Was Kate, Le Nozze di Figaro, Inherit the Wind, Shaming Jane Doe, and Spitfire Grill. Jasmine has worked with Playhouse on the Square, the University of Memphis, B Street Theatre in Sacramento, and as a counselor and stage manager with Stagedoor Manor in Loch Sheldrake, NY.
Cheleen Sugar-Ducksworth(Apprentice) is excited to make her debut with TSC. Acting credits include El Paso Playhouse: It’s A Wonderful Life; Sweet Tea Shakespeare: Man of Mode, Venice Preserv’d, The School for Scandal, The Roaring Girl, Macbeth, Merry Wives of Windsor, Richard III. Also, she was featured in The Container, Phantasmagoria: Let Us Seek Death, and Selene and the Dream Eater with Burning Coal Theatre. Cheleen has a B.A. in Vocal Performance from Tougaloo College and a Master of Music with vocal emphasis from the University of Mississippi.
Allison Teegarden (Apprentice) Ashland New Plays Festival: The Hunt for Benedetto Montone, Last Drive to Dodge; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Greenshow: Today is the Day – Devised Commedia Dell’arte; Southern Oregon University: Dead Man’s Cell Phone, A Vampire Story, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Hay Fever. Other Credits: My Mind is on Fire (Oregon Screams Horror Film Festival Winner). Allison has a B.F.A. in Performance from Southern Oregon University with a minor in Shakespeare Studies, and she is the recipient of the regional Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Irene Ryan and Voice and Speech Trainers Association award, and a national Mark Twain Comedic Acting award.
Allison White (Costume Shop Supervisor/Resident Costume Designer; Designer for The Importance of Being Earnest)has been the resident costume designer and costume shop manager at TSC for the last two seasons. She has an M.F.A. in Costume Design from The University of Florida. Her TSC design credits include Cyrano de Bergerac, Ada and the Engine, Macbeth, Henry VI: The War of the Roses, The Romeo and Juliet Project (2022 and 2023); also I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Germantown Community Theatre); Blithe Spirit, You Can’t Take it With You (Theatre Memphis); Pippin, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Day is Long to End (University of Florida); Caroline, or Change (Cape Fear Regional Theatre); The Secret World of Og (Sarasota Opera Youth Program); Smokey Joe’s Café, All My Sons, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Theatre Raleigh).
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) (Playwright of The Importance of Being Earnest) was an Irishman. Born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie to Jane (a revolutionary poet) and William (a knighted doctor and patron of medical social justice), Oscar lost his beloved sister Emily to a fever when she was ten. He carried a lock of her hair in a sealed envelope for the rest of his life. After graduating with highest honors from Dublin’s Trinity College, he wrote short stories, plays, and poems that were, and remain, wildly popular. Early in his career, he barnstormed America as a lecturer on Aesthetics, wrote children’s stories, revitalized Women’s World Magazine, and penned his novel titled The Picture of Dorian Gray, meeting a storm of Victorian protest for its implied homoerotic theme. His first play, Lady Windermere’s Fan, opened in 1892 to such success that it prompted him to write more: A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and in 1895 our play. Oscar was arrested and convicted of gross indecency (“homosexuality”) and sentenced to two years of hard labor. Upon his release, he wrote the poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” in response to his agony in prison. His had lost his family, children, and intimates; he then wandered Europe for three years until meningitis set in. “The world is a stage,” he wrote, “but the play is badly cast.”
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) (Playwright of A Streetcar Named Desire) was born Thomas Lanier Williams III in Columbus, MS. He studied in Missouri and visited Memphis, but he felt at home in New Orleans, where he sets our play in 1947. Two years earlier, he had written The Glass Menagerie. He rapidly became one of the towering playwrights in America – and remains so. A Streetcar Named Desire was only the second play in history to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. As a sickly boy, Tom spent some early years in Clarksdale, MS, with his mother and his sister Rose. When his traveling salesman father moved the family to St. Louis, the children were ill-prepared for the cultural shock from rural to metropolitan. Rose retreated into her imagination, and Tom, whose father named him a “sissy,” loathed the city. His relationships with his mother and sister remain thematic throughout his career. His plays include Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth, and The Night of the Iguana. Tom’s poetic vision for American theatre was a defense of, as he said, “elegance, a love of the beautiful, a romantic attitude toward life” and “a violent protest against those things that defeat it.”
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