The Winter’s Tale

Nael Nacer – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Macbeth, The Tempest. Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Manhattan Theatre Club). Off-Broadway: The Orchard (Arlekin Players/B.A.C). Regional: Prayer for the French Republic, A Doll’s House, Bedroom Farce, Awake and Sing!, David Cromer’s Our Town (The Huntington); Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Bedlam/CST); People, Places & Things, Small Mouth Sounds, Tribes (SpeakEasy Stage); The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Equivocation (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); The Return (Israeli Stage); The Seagull (Arlekin Players Theatre); The Ding Dongs, Tiny Beautiful Things, True West, The Flick (Gloucester Stage); Intimate Apparel (Lyric Stage); The Kite Runner, A Number, Lungs (New Rep); Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse). Nael is the recipient of Elliot Norton and IRNE awards and is a resident acting company member of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project.

Marianna Bassham* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company:  Macbeth, Othello, Twelfth Night. The Huntington: Sweat, Yerma, Our Town, Luck of the Irish, and Becoming Cuba and others.  Speakeasy Stage Company: The Band’s Visit (co-produced with The Huntington), People Places and Things, Blackbird, Admissions, Hand to God and many others. She has also performed with Central Square Theater, Greater Boston Stage Company, Lyric Stage, The Gamm Theater, and Boston Playwrights’ Theater. Off Broadway: I Was Most Alive With You. Directing Credits: Every Brilliant Thing and Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Speakeasy), The Mad Ones (Boston Conservatory) and Romeo and Juliet (Actor’s Shakespeare Project, where she has also appeared in many productions.) Marianna teaches acting at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and coaches privately, and has received Elliot Norton Awards for People Places and Things, Blackbird (Outstanding Actor) and Sweat and The Hotel Nepenthe (Ensemble). mariannabassham.com

Omar Robinson* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Macbeth. Huntington Theatre Company: Toni Stone, Common Ground Revisited, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Romeo and Juliet, Tartuffe. Actors’ Shakespeare Project: King Hedley II, Seven Guitars, Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, The School for Scandal, The Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Pericles, Twelfth Night. Other credits include Hartford Stage, Trinity Repertory Company, Dorset Theatre Festival, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage, Central Square Theater, and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. Education: BA, Emerson College.

Paula Plum* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Shakespeare On the Common: Encores. Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Touchstone and Phedre. Lyric Stage: Miss Witherspoon, The Heiress and Death of a Salesman; SpeakEasy Stage: The Children, Body Awareness, History Boys and New Century; American Repertory Theatre: Lysistrata, Ivanov, Mother Courage, and The Marriage of Bette and Boo. Ms. Plum starred in two world premieres by John Kuntz: Sing Me To Sleep (Boston Center for the Arts) and Miss Price, which she co-produced (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre). Movie credits include “Irrational Man”, “Next Stop Wonderland”, “Mermaids”, “Malice”, and “The March Sisters at Christmas”. Television credits include voicing characters on “Squigglevision” (ABC), “The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special” (FX), “Hey Money” (Oxygen) and “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist” (Comedy Central). Her original plays include: Memorial, Wigged OUT!, and What Lips My Lips Have Kissed. Her solo show, Plum Pudding, garnered her critical praise and the 2003 IRNE award for Best Solo Performance. Her article “Handling the Hot Moments, How Actors Negotiate Intimacy On Stage,” was published in American Theatre Magazine. Paula was honored by the Boston Theatre Critics Association with the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence (past recipients include Sir Ian McKellen and Julie Harris) and for Best Actress twice (Lost in Yonkers and Miss Witherspoon). Ms. Plum was trained at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic arts and is a Cum Laude graduate of Boston University’s School for the Arts, where she was also honored as Distinguished Alumna in 2003.

Tony Estrella* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Cymbeline. Gamm Theatre: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Faith Healer, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Night of the Iguana, Hamlet, Macbeth, Winter’s Tale and many more. Huntington Theatre Company: A Prayer for the French Republic. Other theaters include Boston Playwright’s Theatre and The Trinity Repertory Company.  Tony has been the Artistic Director of The Gamm Theatre since 2002 and teaches Shakespeare at his alma mater, The University of Rhode Island. His film appearances include Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, Little Women, Company Men and The Good House.

Richard Snee* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: The Taming of the Shrew. Richard has been working in Boston area theatres for nearly forty years including Speakeasy Stage, Lyric Stage, American Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Gloucester Stage Company, The Umbrella Stage Company, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre. He is a founding member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project. Films include: “Godmothered”; “Gone, Baby, Gone”; “Don’t Look Up”, “The Company Men”. He has voiced animated characters for several series including “Dr.Katz”, “Home Movies”, “Science Court”, and “The Dick and Paula Celebrity Special” on FX in which he and his wife, Paula Plum, played the title roles. She was “Paula”. He was “The Dick”.

Robert Walsh (Fight Director) is delighted to be a part of the production team for Macbeth.
One of the earliest members of the Society of American Fight Directors, he has previously acted
in and staged fights for past CSC productions of: Coriolanus (Cominius), Macbeth (Macduff),
Henry V (Exeter) and Julius Caesar. Other fight direction credits include: the American
Repertory Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Hartford Stage Company, Long Wharf
Theatre, Portland Stage Company and most of the theater companies in and around Boston. A
founding member of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Robert has enjoyed acting in, directing or
staging the fights for many of the Bard’s plays over the last eighteen years. From 2014 – 21, he
served as the Artistic Director of Gloucester Stage Company and prior to that, was the Producing
Artistic Director of the American Stage Festival in Milford, N.H. Recent films include: “Fourth of
July”, “Black Mass” and “Dead Reckoning” (as a stunt performer). Most recently, he appeared in The
Gaaga, produced by Arlekin Players, written and directed by Sasha Denisova. He is a member of
the theater faculty at Brandeis University, as well as AEA, SDC, SAG-AFTRA, & the SAFD.

Ryan Winkles* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle and Here We Go. Huntington Theatre: Joy and Pandemic. Gloucester Stage: Mr Fullerton, Between the Sheets. Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse: Visitors. Shakespeare & Company: Antony & Cleopatra, As You Like It, Henry V, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Richard III, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Joshua Olumide* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company debut. Olumide’s film highlights include the Academy Award-winning screenplay, “American Fiction,” starring, Jeffrey Wright and “Detroit,” where he worked with Oscar-winning director, Kathryn Bigelow. Theatre credits include: A Raisin in the Sun (New Repertory Theatre), Macbeth (Hanover Theatre Rep), Romeo and Juliet (Classic Theatre of Maryland), Our Town (People’s Light), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). We are multidimensional beings. Joshua hopes to be a reflection of the Eternal Love, radiating through each one of us. In this, we are all the same. @josholumide_

Nettie Chickering* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2), CSC Apprentice 2020. Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival: Romeo & Juliet. 60 Hour Shakespeare: Othello, As You Like It, Twelfth Night. Hub Theatre Boston: Love, Loss, & What I Wore, Into the Breeches! Nettie has also been seen at La Mama ETC and The Rubin Museum of Art. Nettie is a vocalist for the free jazz/poetry ensemble Heroes Are Gang Leaders. @nettiechickering

Clara Hevia – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2), Suffolk in Henry VI Part 2 (Apprentice Repertory Company 2018). National Tour: Cats. Saratoga Shakespeare Company: King Lear. NYU Steinhardt ’21. Love and thanks to Mom, Dad, and my partner Cameron. clarahevia.com @clara.hevia

Cleveland Nicoll– Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Lennox in Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet (Stage2). Hub Theatre Company of Boston: The Book of Will. Sundance: Wizard of Oz. Hale Centre Theatre: Baz Lurman’s Strictly Ballroom (U.S. Premiere), Phantom. An Other Theatre Co.: Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Renaissance Now Theatre & Film: Twelfth Night, The Tempest. Mac is also a member of the SDC and has directed for Hale Center Theatre Orem, The Noorda Center for Performing Arts, Renaissance Now Theatre & Film, Utah Valley University, and Bentley University. He is the founding artistic director of Klouns Theatre Co. @klounstheatreco @cleveland_nicoll

John Blair – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Second Witch in Macbeth, A Midsummer Nights Dream and Romeo and Juliet (Stage2). Hub Theater Company: The Book Of Will. The Tank (NYC): On How To Be A Monster. He studied theater at New York University.

Bella Grace Harris – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Macbeth (Gentlewoman), Romeo & Juliet (Stage 2), Much Ado About Nothing (u/s), Romeo & Juliet (Apprentice Repertory Company 2022). Wheelock Family Theater: A Wrinkle in Time (u/s Mrs. Whatsit). Training: BFA (Honors) from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. bellagraceharris.com

Ednilson Tavares – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2). Trinity Rep: La Mancha; 2022-2023 Gamm Fellow at The Gamm Theatre, RI. Will be attending The Juilliard School this upcoming fall for Drama.

Ryan Richard Doyle – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2). Salem State University: Enter Laughing, Ragtime: The Musical, Bedroom Farce, The Laramie Project. Ryan can also be seen in the Oscar-winning film, “American Fiction”, as the bookstore employee, Ned! He is thrilled to make a return to the stage after receiving his BFA in Theater from Salem State University in 2021. Instagram: @dole_47

Sadiyah Dyce Stephens – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2). The Flea Theatre: StepKids (DLo). Gloucester Stage Company: Tall Tales From Blackburn Tavern (Actor 3), Stew (Lil Mama). Boston Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia). The Boston Conservatory: Bright Half Life (Vicky), Everybody (Usher/God/Understanding), M*cbeth (Witch 1/Seyton). SpeakEasy Stage Company: TJ Loves Sally 4Ever (Annette). The Whitman Theatre: The Wiz (Dorothy). Stephens holds a BFA in Contemporary Theatre at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee as of 2023. Check her out @dycejstephens and DyceStephens.com

Rilyn Gardner – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Nights Dream (Stage2). Marblehead Little Theatre: Gypsy. West Valley Arts: Footloose. Sundance Mountain Resort: Mamma Mia. Renaissance Now: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Noorda Center for the Performing Arts: Cabaret, She Loves Me, Much Ado About Nothing. UVU Black Box Series: The Merchant of Venice, The Yellow Boat. 

Chloe Boyan – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2 and ARC); Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Leader of the Women in Lysistrata at The Green Show; Oregon Cabaret Theatre: Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol, U/S in The Play that Goes Wrong and The Full Monty; Chloe has also appeared in new plays at In Confidence Club, New York Theatre Festival, and Catalyst Theatre Festival at UC Davis. Chloe received a BFA in Acting from Southern Oregon University and was an Apprentice with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in 2023. www.chloeboyan.com

Anne Borzner  – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stage2), Julius Caesar (Apprentice Repertory Company 2023). Chatham Community Players: Nevermore Lenore. College of the Holy Cross: She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms, Once in a Lifetime, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Education: College of the Holy Cross.

Eviva Rose is thrilled to return for a second summer with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, after debuting last summer in the role of Young Macduff in Macbeth. Previous credits include Charles Wallace in A Wrinkle in Time and Duckling in Make Way For Ducklings, both with Wheelock Family Theater.

Bryn Boice is an award-winning director, educator, actor, and producer, as well as CSC’s Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education & Training. Also for CSC, Bryn helmed Universe Rushing Apart: Blue Kettle & Here We Go – two Caryl Churchill one-acts – which garnered her the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, Large Theatre. Other recent Boston-area credits include: The Sound Inside and The Children (both Elliot Norton nominated for Outstanding Production, Speakeasy Stage); The Book of Will, Into the Breeches! (Elliot Norton nom. for Direction and Production, Hub Theatre Company); Tall Tales from Blackburn Tavern, Gloria (Gloucester Stage); The Half-Life of Marie Curie (The Nora Company); Admissions (The Gamm Theatre); Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes (Greater Boston Stage Company); an all-female production of Julius Caesar for Actors’ Shakespeare Project; and a number of Apprentice Repertory Company and Stage2 productions for CSC. New York, regional and other Boston credits as an actor and/or director include work with Asolo Repertory Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Anthem Theatre Company, Okoboji Theatre, InProximity Theatre, Theatre Row, Martha’s Vineyard PAC, Monomoy Theatre, Caroline’s on Broadway, and Manhattan Theatre Club. Before turning full-time to CSC, she taught at Salem State University, where her wide-ranging experience allowed her to teach Voice for Performance, Applied Stage Movement, Public Speaking, Directing, Acting III (Early Realism), Dramatic Theory & Criticism, and Dialects, among others. MFA in Directing, Boston University. MFA in Acting, Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training (FSU). Member AEA. For more information visit www.brynboice.com

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April, which is also believed to be the date on which he died in 1616. Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes referred to as the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not the only things he wrote. Shakespeare’s poetry has also remained popular to this day.

Shakespeare’s work includes 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, a collection of 154 sonnets, and other poems as well. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare’s plays are known to exist today, and about half of Shakespeare’s plays are only available to us because a group of actors in his company collected them for publication after his death. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio (‘Folio’ refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, and none of his poetry. Shakespeare’s legacy is as rich and diverse as his work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations across multiple genres and cultures, and his plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film.

His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by different entities, which usually include all of his plays, his sonnets, and his other poems. From Stratford to London and beyond, William Shakespeare was and is one of the most important literary figures of the English language.