The Boys From Syracuse

Remo Airaldi* – CSC: Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Cymbeline, Richard III, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona, All’s Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew. Over sixty productions at the American Repertory Theater, including Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), and Island of Slaves (IRNE Award for Outstanding Actor). Lyric Stage: ART, Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors, Gypsy, The Little Foxes. SpeakEasy Stage: Shakespeare in Love. Boston Playwrights’ Theatre: Exposed. Central Square Theater: Frankenstein, The Hound of the Baskervilles. New Rep: The King of Second Avenue. Productions at Hartford Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Cirque du Soleil, American Conservatory Theater, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. He teaches acting at Harvard University.

Ramona Lisa Alexander returns to CSC after performing at the Hatch Shell in The Boys From Syracuse, a collaboration with the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. She recently received an Elliot Norton Award nomination for her role as Myrna in Milk Like Sugar at the Huntington Theatre. Other local credits include Moon for the Misbegotten, Days of Atonement, Saturday Night Sunday Morning and The Barbecue at the Lyric Stage. Film credits include “Knock Around Kids.”

Jenna Augen UK credits include: Ada Kahn in Chicken Soup With Barley at The Royal Court, Foible in The Way of the World at The Chichester Festival Theatre, and Goody in Rufus Norris’ Sleeping Beauty at The Birmingham Rep. Film and Television: Josephine in Josephine and the Roach” (short) and Iris Knight in “The Night Watch” (BBC).  Jenna is a graduate of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).”

Justin Blanchard is thrilled to making is CSC debut.  He first appeared on Broadway in Journey’s End (2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play).  Other New York credits include The Changeling and The Witch of Edmonton with Red Bull Theater; Into the Woods with Fiasco Theater at the Roundabout; Macbeth at Theatre for a New Audience; and the title roles in Hamlet, and Henry V at New York Classical Theatre.  Regional: Fiasco Theater (Iachimo, Cymbeline tour), Long Wharf (world premiere, A Civil War Christmas), Shakespeare Festival St. Louis (Iago, Othello), Shakespeare Theatre of D.C.; McCarter Theatre. Berkeley Rep, New London Barn, and ten shows at Trinity Rep.  Television and Film include roles in “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC) and “Marie Curie” (PBS). Justin is a graduate of the Brown University-Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program.

Larry Coen‘s CSC credits include The Boys from Syracuse (with Landmarks Orchestra), Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Two Gentleman of Verona, All’s Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Taming of the Shrew.  Many productions with Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans, Beau Jest, Lyric Stage Company, Speakeasy Stage, and Huntington Theatre. Performed three World Premieres of Tennessee Williams’ plays,  Larry is the recipient of four Elliot Norton Awards from Boston Theater Critics Association.  Coen is Artistic Director of City Stage Co. of Boston.

Jennifer Ellis was most recently seen in Shear Madness (Off-Broadway, Carousel (Reagle Music Theater), and the Lyric Stage Company’s award-winning My Fair Lady (Elliot Norton & IRNE Award).  NYC: New World Stages, Sibiline Shakespeare, Project Rushmore.  National Tour: A Christmas Carol. Regional: SpeakEasy Stage Company, Gloucester Stage, Central Square Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, New Repertory Theater, Peterborough Players, Stoneham Theatre, Huntington Theatre.  Elliot Norton Award: My Fair Lady, Wonderful Town.  IRNE Award: My Fair Lady, The Most Happy Fella. ArtsImpulse Award: Far From Heaven. @jen_ellis, JenEllis.net

Jerry Goodwin CSC: Twelfth Night (Captian/Priest), The Boys from Syracuse (Duke) and Kiss Me Kate (Harrison Howell) with the Landmarks Orchestra.  Other credits include The Brother/Sister Plays (The Man from State), Hamlet (Polonius), The View From the Bridge (Eddie Carbone), and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mr, Utterson).

Liliane Klein is thrilled to be making her CSC debut! Regional: CT Free Shakespeare, Aurora (CA), SpeakEasy, Majestic, Stoneham, Fiddlehead, NextDoor, Foothills, LongWharf (CT), Ivoryton (CT). NYC: Lincoln Center, New York City Opera, Urban Stages, NYMF, Musicals Tonight!, La Mama E.T.C.. Tours: Titanic, Scrooge. Film: “Men in Black 3”. TV: “HOT3” (Israel mini series), “Ananda”, “Kid Fitness” on PBS. Training: Boston University SOT. Proud member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. lilianeklein.com

Andy McLeavey is thrilled to be debuting with CSC and Boston Landmarks Orchestra. Some favorite credits include Billy Lawlor/42nd Street (Stoneham Theatre), Jimmy/Thoroughly Modern Millie (Merry-Go-Round Finger Lakes Music Theatre & Reagle Music Theatre-2008), Pat Denning & Dancer/42nd
Street (Atlantic City’s Tropicana Casino), George/Goldilocks (NYC’s Opening Doors Theatre Company), Gaston/Beauty and the Beast (Company Theatre), and On The Twentieth Century w/Alice Ripley. Proud to have sung our national anthem multiple times at Mohegan Sun Arena, McCoy Stadium, and the Ryan Center.

Leo Pierre Roy thanks the Boston Landmarks Orchestra and CSC for this opportunity to return to the boards after a long hiatus. A veteran of many New England summer stock stages, he now regularly appears in Massachusetts state parks and forests as the Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Mark W. Soucy performed in CSC’s The Boys From Syracuse (Aegean), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Sir Nathaniel), Romeo and Juliet (Montague), and King Lear (The Duke of Albany). Other favorite roles include The Royale (Max – IRNE Award Best Supporting Actor) at Merrimack Repertory Theatre and Lobby Hero (Bill) at Capital Repertory Theatre. Mark is a fundraising consultant and has served as Theater Manager for Arlekin Players Theatre and Development Manager at New Repertory Theatre.

Leah Carnow is thrilled to be working with CSC again after performing onstage in The Boys From Syracuse. Leah served as the Assistant Director on Speakeasy Stage’s production of Bad Jews. Directing credits also include The Last Five Years and Elegies, both at Brandeis University. As an actress, regional credits include It’s A Wonderful Life (Wheelock Family Theatre), Ragtime (Fiddlehead Theatre Company), Tales of a Fourth Grade Lesbo (Flat Earth Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Longwood Players), Kiss Me Kate (Longwood Players), God Hates Musicals (Ministry of Theater), Travelogue (Open Theatre Project), and The Bacchae (Tubiforce). Leah also appears as Jenny in the webseries “Staying in Boston.” She received her B.A. in Theater Arts and Creative Writing from Brandeis University. When she is not making theater, Leah teaches yoga and meditation in the greater Boston area.

Serge Clivio Credits include The Light in the Piazza (Next Door Theatre), Sweet Charity, Mame (Stoneham Theatre). Les Miserables, Me and My Girl, and Fiddler on the Roof, (Reagle Music Theatre).

Steven Del Col Credits include  Carousel (Reagle Music Theatre), Mary Poppins (Wheelock Family Theatre), My Fair Lady (New Bedford Festival Theatre), and Billy Elliott (Marblehead Little Theatre).

Brittany Martel Credits include Freckleface Strawberry (Park Playhouse), The Trojan Women, The Philadelphia Story, Eurydice, The Tempest, The Producers, Crimes of the Heart (SUNY New Paltz).

Kate Penner Credits include Paquita, The Nutcracker, Pas de Quatre, and Don Quixote (BalletNova), The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Who Cares? (Harvard University).

Brad Foster Reinking Credits include Reagle Music Theatre, Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, Fiddlehead Theatre, Millbrook Playhouse, Ocean State Theatre Company, and 54 Below in New York City. Brad holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory. BradReinking.com

Jacob Rosenbaum returns to CSC after appearing as Paris in CSC2’s Romeo & Juliet.  Jacob graduated from Connecticut College where he earned a BA in Theatre.  He has also studied acting at the British American Drama Academy in London, with the National Theatre Institute, and the Labyrinth Theater Company.

Suzi Weisberg Favorite credits include West Side Story, Seussical (Mayzie), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Princess of France).

Steven Maler is the Founding Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC). At CSC he has been directing Free Shakespeare on the Boston Common productions since 1996, including Richard III, Love’s Labour’s Lost, King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Coriolanus, All’s Well That Ends Well, Othello, The Comedy Of Errors, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Henry V, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, and Romeo & Juliet. Other CSC works include his critically acclaimed production of Naomi Wallace’s adaptation of William Wharton’s novel Birdy, Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden, the world premiere of Jake Broder’s Our American Hamlet, and the world premiere of Robert Brustein’s The Last Will.  In collaboration with Boston Landmarks Orchestra, he directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featuring the Overture and Incidental Music of Felix Mendelssohn, as well as concert stagings of The Boys from Syracuse and Kiss Me Kate at Boston’s iconic Hatch Shell.  For CSC he has also directed one-night-only readings of iconic plays featuring Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Blair Brown, Tony Shalhoub, Brooke Adams, Leslie Uggams, David Morse, and Jeffrey Donovan among others.  He conceived and directed Shakespeare at Fenway, an evening of Shakespeare scenes performed at Boston’s iconic Fenway Park, featuring Mike O’Malley, Neal McDonough, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, Kerry O’Malley, Seth Gilliam, Zuzanna Szadkowski, Max Von Essen, Christian Coulson, Jason Butler Harner, and many others.

In collaboration with Google, he adapted and directed a first of its kind sixty minute virtual reality film of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, entitled Hamlet 360: Thy Father’s Spirit, starring Jack Cutmore-Scott, Jay O. Sanders, Brooke Adams, and Faran Tahir.  It is currently available for viewing on Boston public media producer GBH’s YouTube channel; for more information, visit www.wgbh.org/hamlet360.

Outside of CSC, he directed Maria, Regina D’Inghilterra for Odyssey Opera, Péter Eötvös’ operatic treatment of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (U.S. Premiere) and Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face for Opera Boston, The Turn of the Screw at New Repertory Theatre, Santaland Diaries and Chay Yew’s Porcelain at SpeakEasy Stage Company, Top Girls and Weldon Rising at Coyote Theatre, and The L.A. Plays by Han Ong at A.R.T. His New York City credits include the New York Musical Theatre Festival production of Without You, written by and starring Anthony Rapp. The production has been seen in Boston, Edinburgh, Toronto, London, and Seoul.

He received the prestigious Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence, as well as for Best Production for Twelfth Night and All’s Well That Ends Well; Outstanding Director, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Best Production, SubUrbia; Best Solo Performance, John Kuntz’s Starf***ers (which also won Best Solo Performance Award at New York International Fringe Festival). His feature film “The Autumn Heart,” starring Tyne Daly and Ally Sheedy was in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.

Christopher Wilkins was appointed Music Director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra in the spring of 2011. Since then he has reaffirmed founder Charles Ansbacher’s vision of making great music accessible to the whole community.

Mr. Wilkins has led the development of programs with an emphasis on inclusive programming and collaborative work. Collaborations have included regular performances with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Boston Lyric Opera, the New England Spiritual Ensemble, and Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), among many others. He has also helped develop the orchestra’s Breaking Down Barriers initiative, which makes accessibility a priority in all aspects of the organization’s activities.

Mr. Wilkins also serves as Music Director of the Akron Symphony. Recent major projects in Akron have included fully staged performances of Porgy and Bess, The Rite of Spring, Titanic,South Pacific, and A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. The orchestra’s community initiatives have recently been awarded a major grant from the Knight Foundation. That funding will support community-oriented programming and collaborative projects over a 5-year period.

As a guest conductor, Mr. Wilkins has appeared with many of the leading orchestras of the United States, including those of Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. He has also appeared overseas, with regular concerts in New Zealand, Latin America, Spain and the UK.

Previously he served as Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic, the San Antonio Symphony and the Colorado Springs Symphony. He is currently Artistic Advisor to the Opera Theatre of the Rockies in Colorado Springs. During his tenure in San Antonio, he and the orchestra received six programming awards from ASCAP, including the first-ever Morton Gould Award for creative programming. He also served as Resident Conductor of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, assisting in the formation of the orchestra in its inaugural season, and leading it on tours throughout the Americas.

Mr. Wilkins was winner of the Seaver/NEA Award in 1992. He served as associate conductor of the Utah Symphony, assisting Joseph Silverstein; assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnányi; conducting assistant with the Oregon Symphony under James DePreist; and was a conducting fellow at Tanglewood.

Born in Boston, Mr. Wilkins earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1978. He studied with Otto-Werner Mueller at Yale University, receiving his master of music degree in 1981, and in 1979 attended the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin as a recipient of the John Knowles Paine traveling fellowship, awarded by the Harvard music department. As an oboist, he performed with many ensembles in the Boston area, including the Berkshire Music Center Orchestra at Tanglewood, and the Boston Philharmonic under Benjamin Zander.

Adam Sanders is the Associate Artistic Director at CSC. He serves as director of the Apprentice Program, and is the director and originator of CSC2, a cohort of early-career actors. Directing credits for CSC include: Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar (CSC2 Company), Symphonic Shakespeare, (in collaboration with Boston Landmarks Orchestra at the Boston Hatch Shell); co-director: Kiss Me Kate, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Boys From Syracuse (also BLO/Hatch Shell collaborations), co-director/dramaturg: Shakespeare and Leadership (2013 – 2017), and CSCs unprecedented Shakespeare at Fenway performance in 2014; director: Shakespeare and the Law (2017).

Peter DiMuro returns to CSC after last year’s production of The Boys From Syracuse, presented with Boston Landmarks Orchestra. Peter’s work has been commissioned by leading presenters and universities, including The Kennedy Center/DC, Dance Place/DC, Bates Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, AURAS Dance/Lithuania, The Boston Conservatory and Point Park University. In theatre, he has created dance and movement for productions at Theatre J, Open Circle Theatre, and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. His original company, Peter DiMuro Performance Associates and his fifteen-year collaboration, including 5 years as Artistic Director, with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, laid the foundation for his current creative umbrella, Peter DiMuro / Public Displays of Motion. Peter is grateful for previous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Performance Network, and, more recently, from The Boston Foundation’s Next Step, the Boston Dance Alliance; the Mayor’s Office of Boston; and The Dance Complex, for which he serves as Executive Artistic Director. In May, Peter received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Dance from Salem State University.

Steve Colby serves as the principal sound reinforcement engineer for the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestras, and has been the sound designer and mixer for numerous tours of the United States and Japan.

In addition to his work with the BSO, he has provided design, mixing and consulting services for the Atlanta, Baltimore, Utah, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and American Symphony Orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. Other sound reinforcement projects have included sound design and mixing for an outdoor Boston Lyric Opera production of Carmen that drew an audience of 170,000 over 2 performances, and a stadium performance of Aida in Shanghai, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest opera production ever mounted.

In 2009-2010, Colby toured the US, Canada and Europe as the sound mixer for the Star Wars in Concert tour, a joint venture between Lucasfilm Ltd. and Another Planet Touring. In 2012 he served as the orchestra mixer for Barbra Streisand’s “Back to Brooklyn” Tour. Recent projects include Sound Design for a production of the Bernstein “Mass” with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Recording credits range from Aerosmith to Peter, Paul and Mary, Andy Williams to Phish. His mixing credits for radio and television encompass a wide spectrum of musical styles including the PBS series Evening At Pops, James Taylor, BB King, Bonnie Raitt, and numerous festival projects including the Newport Folk Festival and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Brooke Stanton (she/her) is a costumer who has worked in theatre, film, and television. During her five years with George Lucas’ ILM, she built creatures for the Star Wars Special Edition Trilogy and The Phantom Menace. She has toured internationally and nationally designing for Peter Sellars. Other clients include Disney, Columbia Pictures, CBS, American Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Aspen Music Festival, Boston Symphony Youth Orchestra, Commonwealth Shakespeare, New England Conservatory, and Odyssey Opera. She studied Costume Design at NYU and Textiles at California College of the Arts. www.brookestanton.com

Justin Blackwell is the associate director of music at Marsh Chapel, Boston University, and a freelance keyboardist known especially for his continuo playing and accompanying skills. In addition to being a member of the Handel and Haydn Society, he performs regularly with Seraphic Fire (Miami, FL), the Back Bay Chorale, and from 2005-2015, with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (NC). At Marsh Chapel, he is the operations manager and continuo keyboardist for “Music at Marsh Chapel,” a concert series that includes performances of four Bach cantatas and one large work of Bach or Handel each year. As a pianist, he can be heard on Seraphic Fire’s CD of Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem (4-hand piano version), which was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. He holds a BM in Organ Performance from Furman University (SC) and a MM in Conducting from Boston University.

Brian McCoy Audio engineer focusing in live sound reinforcement with extensive experience mixing Front of House, as a Monitor Engineer, and System Tech. Comfortable with responsibilities of being Crew- chief and system designer. Displaying a strong sense of pride in the craft, constantly learning and keeping up with industry innovations, with the flexibility and knowledge to be able to be able to adapt to any situation.

Amy Witherby Off-Broadway: NYSF/The Public Theater: Wild Goose Dreams, Before Your Very Eyes, Gatz, Kitchen, King Lear, Measure for Measure, All’s Well That Ends Well, Romeo & Juliet; Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre: F*cking Good Plays Festival II. Regional: Utah Shakespeare Festival, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, Renaissance Theaterworks, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, The 24-Hour Plays. Opera: Dayton Opera, Odyssey Opera. Education: BA: The Ohio State University. Certificate: Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Marcie Ann Friedman Credits include Honor, The Blue Flower (Prospect Theater Company), The Great Unknown (The NY Musical Theatre Festival 2010), Savage in Limbo (Rosalind Productions, Inc., The Platform Group), The Germ Project (New Georges), The Kid Who Would Be Pope (The NY Musical Theatre Festival 2011), Nothing is Forever (UnsungMusicalsCo. Inc.), and Island Song ( Le Poisson Rouge).

Marisa Brink has worked with Hanger Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera, Anthem Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera and Guerrilla Opera.

Victoria Townsend is a Boston-based director, teaching-artist and occasional performer who has been working with CSC since 2011. Directing Credits: For CSC: Stage2: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2024), ARC: Richard II (2024), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2023), As You Like It (2022) and several Boston Theater Marathon pieces; Emerging Playwright’s Festival (Wheelock Family Theater), Cosi Fan Tutte (New England Conservatory’s UGOS Program), The Memorandum (Flat Earth Theater). Assistant Directing Credits: Fear and Misery in the Third Reich, Kiss me Kate, Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare and Leadership (CSC) and L’Egisto (NEC/UGOS). She has also served as a teaching-artist for Watertown Children’s Theater and Live Arts Education. Victoria is a graduate of Saint Michael’s College in Vermont with degrees in Theatre and English Literature and holds a certificate in Social Impact Management and Leadership from the Institute for Nonprofit Practice & Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University.