Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”

Will Lyman – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: King Lear, Claudius, Prospero, Brutus. Off Broadway: Man in Snow, The Passion of Dracula, The Novelist, The Grinding Machine. The Huntington: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, All My Sons, Dead End. New Repertory Theatre: Long Day’s Journey into Night, Dollhouse, The Clean House, The Ice-Breaker. The Nora@Central Square Theater: Operation Epsilon, Equus. Boston Playwrights’ Theatre: Windowmen, The Oil Thief, King of the Jews. Gamm Theatre: Celebration. Film: “Little Children,” “Mystic River,” “The Siege,” “A Perfect Murder,” “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” “The Arborist,” and “Mother/Android.” TV: “Commander-in-Chief,” “Threat Matrix,” “Hull High,” “Crossbow,” and long-time narrator of public affairs program “Frontline” (PBS). Awards: multiple Elliot Norton and IRNE awards, Howard Keel Award for service to the Screen Actors Guild.

Stephen Caliskan – CSC: Carol ‘24. Lyric Stage: Hello Dolly!. The Firehouse Theater: Million Dollar Quartet. The Vineyard Theater (NYC): Space Laser, in Space!  Apple TV+: “CODA”. 20th Century Studios: “Ella McCay”. Netflix: Hubie Halloween. Stephen has also been seen at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C and the Vineyard Theater in NYC. He was a National Finalist for KCACTF, and won a SAG award with his CODA castmates for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, as well as an NETC Best Monologue award. His original plays Always and The Stranger debuted at Salem State University. Special thanks to Jesus and Stephen’s family! www.stephencaliskan.com @stephencaliskan047

Neal Ferreira* – CSC: Carol ‘24. Boston Symphony Orchestra: Die Tote Stadt, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Wozzeck, La bohème, Der Rosenkavalier. Boston Lyric Opera: Eurydice, Omar, Champion, Trouble in Tahiti, In the Penal Colony, The Magic Flute. Odyssey Opera: Lysistrata, Of Thee I Sing/Let ‘Em Eat Cake, The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe, L’assedio di Calais, The Importance of Being Earnest. Boston Modern Orchestra Project: Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra: Don Carlo, Norma, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Otello. Emmanuel Music: The Beggar’s Opera. The Shakespeare Concerts: Hamlet, The Tenor’s Suite, The Tempest. Other engagements include the American Repertory Theater, Handel & Haydn Society, and Glimmerglass Festival. Neal is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. www.nealferreira.com @operadad

David Jiles, Jr.* – CSC: Debut. Greater Boston Stage Company: All is Calm, Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, Jonah and The Whale, Sweet Charity, The Full Monty, Sunfish. Wheelock Family Theatre: The Prom, The SpongeBob Musical, A Wrinkle in Time, The Wizard of Oz, Bud Not Buddy, James and The Giant Peach. David has also been seen at The Company Theatre, Speakeasy Stage, North Shore Music Theatre, Porchlight Theatre, and Bailiwick Theatre. David’s band, Flipside, performs over 60 private events each year. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance. David is a designated Linklater voice teacher and an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches voice and musical theatre. He also teaches voice at Emerson College. Read more about David at Davidjilesjr.com

Laura McHugh  – CSC: Carol ‘24. Tulsa Opera: Into the Woods. Odyssey Opera: Of Thee I Sing/Let ‘Em Eat Cake. Opera 51: Sweeney Todd. Operatic roles include the titular roles in Rusalka, Suor Angelica, and Gräfin Mariza, Mimì and Musetta (La bohème), Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Valkyries Gerhilde and Ortlinde (Die Walküre), and multiple World Premieres. Concert credits include Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Mozart Requiem, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Fauré Requiem, Vivaldi Gloria, and Handel Messiah. Awards include 1st Place at the Classical Singer National Competition. Her vocals appear on The Lord of Cries, nominated for the 2024 GRAMMY Award (Best Opera Recording). Lauramchughsoprano.com @lauramchughsoprano

Kathryn McKellar* (Ghost of Christmas Past/Young Mother/Ensemble) – CSC: Carol ‘24. Boston Lyric Opera: Le Nozze di Figaro, The Rake’s Progress, Aida, Carmen, La Traviata, I Puritani, Merry Widow, The Magic Flute. Lyric Stage Company: My Fair Lady, The Mikado. Odyssey Opera: Patience, Giovanna D’arco, Lucio Silla.  Boston Modern Orchestra Project: The Chronicles of Nine, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Reagle Music Theater: My Fair Lady, Les Miserables. MassOpera: Carmen. OperaHub: Divas, L’incoronazione di Poppea. Other credits include The Boston Pops, Opera Providence, Anthem Theater Company, Purcell Society of Boston, Cambridge Chamber Opera, and Boston Opera Collaborative. Kathryn is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory and artistic director/co-founder of Opera on Tap Boston. Love to Russ, Tristan, and Elliott. www.KathrynMcKellar.com

John Pagliarulo – CSC: Debut. Hartford Stage Company: A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas. Greater Boston Stage Company: Guys & Dolls, A Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol. Moonbox Productions: Meet Me in The Bathroom. Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Education: BFA, The Hartt School. johnpagliarulo.com @john.pagliarulo

Peter DiMaggio –– CSC Debut. Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Romeo and Juliet. Wheelock Family Theatre: The Spongebob Musical. Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. LAMDA: Troilus and Cressida. Boston University: Once, Shakespeare in Love, Mercury. Peter received his BFA in Acting from Boston University and a Certificate in Classical Acting from LAMDA. He’d like to thank his mentors, friends, and family for their constant love and support. 

Website: www.peterdimaggio.com Instagram: @peterdimaggio TikTok: @peterdimaggiomusic

Tamara Ryan – CSC: Debut. Beth Morrison Projects: Sensorium Ex. Boston Opera Collaborative: All I Was Doing Was Being (solo recital), The Dangerous Liaisons, and To Hell and Back. Catalyst New Music: Shadows Shortening (world premiere). Crested Butte Music Festival: Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Huntington Theatre Company: The Light in the Piazza. MassOpera: The Magic Flute, La Traviata, and Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night. Opera Brittenica: The Turn of the Screw. Opera Fayetteville: Glory Denied, Dark Sisters, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Little Prince, Dead Man Walking, and Little Women. Opera Steamboat: Die Fledermaus and Le Nozze di Figaro. OperaHub: Der Vampyr, The Long Christmas Dinner, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  White Snake Projects: Permadeath. Orchestra 2001: Rossetti Songs (world premiere).  www.tamararyan.com.

Carolyn Saxon* – CSC: Carol ‘24. Bway/Bway National Tours/NY Theatre: Bring In Da Noise/Funk, The Civil War. Encores/City Center: Purlie, Hair, Can-Can. Carolyn has also been seen at Carnegie Hall, Papermill Playhouse (NJ), Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Connecticut Repertory, North Shore Music Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Forestburgh Playhouse and Emerson Paramount. She has performed with the BSO, Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony as well as many theatres in the Boston area. 

Kayla Shimizu* – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Debut. Trinity Rep: La Cage aux Folles. Moonbox Productions: Legally Blonde. Lyric Stage: Assassins, Preludes. Reagle Music Theatre: Little Mermaid, Oklahoma, Pippin. The Wilbury Theatre Group: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. Umbrella Stage Company: The Old Man and the Old Moon, The Wide Open. Rogers Center of the Arts: The Old Man and the Old Moon. Kayla is a graduate of Emerson College. She is endlessly thankful for the support from her friends and family! IG: kaylashimizu

Damon Singletary – CSC: Carol ‘24, Birdy. New Repertory Theatre: A Raisin in the Sun. The Huntington Theatre Company: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Lyric Stage Company: The Drowsy Chaperone, Sister Act, Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, The Wiz, Peter and the Starcatcher, City of Angels. Umbrella Stage Company: Network, The Minutes, The Colored Museum, Head Over Heels, Fences. The Gold Dust Orphans: A Grinchley Christmas Carol, The Ebonic Woman. Greater Boston Stage Company: Miss Holmes. SpeakEasy Stage Company: Shakespeare in Love, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Damon is a proud member of Actors Equity Association. Damon grew up in Boston and lives in Topsfield with his wife Laurie whose love and support is invaluable.

Kathy St. George* – CSC: Carol ‘24. Broadway: Two productions of Fiddler On The Roof including the 1991 Tony-Award winning revival directed by Jerome Robbins. Off-Broadway: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Five National Tours. Boston area credits include Lyric Stage: Urinetown, The Drowsy Chaperone, Gypsy, Sister Act, Follies, Light Up The Sky. SpeakEasy Stage: Once, Violet, Ruthless!, The Divine Sister, Significant Other. Reagle Music Theatre: Pippin. Shubert Theater: Show Boat. Greater Boston Stage Company: Dear Miss Garland, Mame, Pete ‘N Keely, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Menopause The Musical.  North Shore Music Theatre: The Full Monty, Peter Pan, 9 To 5, Fiddler On The Roof. A native of Stoneham, MA, Kathy was recently honored with the 2025 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence.  kathystgeorge.com

Robert St. Laurence* (Bob Cratchit/Ensemble) – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Bard Over Broadway. Regional credits: The Hanover Theatre Repertory: Macbeth, Twelfth Night. Lyric Stage: Assassins, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater: Nat Turner in Jerusalem. American Repertory Theater: Pirate Princess. The Huntington Theatre Company: Sunday in the Park with George. New Repertory Theatre: Rent. Wheelock Family Theatre: SpongeBob Musical, Miracle Worker. Robert is a long-standing company member of the Barnstormers Theatre, and is the Theatre Program Chair at Bunker Hill Community College. Robert received his MFA in acting from Harvard University’s ART/MXAT Institute.  @rstlaurence

Lily Segal Steven* – CSC: Carol ‘24. Greater Boston Stage Company: Miss Holmes Returns (Olive), The Moors (Emilie), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet). Cape Rep: Indecent (Chava). Umbrella Stage Company: The Old Man and the Old Moon. Penobscot Theatre Company: Crimes of the Heart (Babe). Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol: In the Next Room (Catherine Givings). Moonbox: The House of Ramon Iglesia (Caroline). The Hanover Theatre: A Christmas Carol (Belle). Reagle: La Cage Aux Folles (Anne). The Huntington Theatre Company: A Civil War Christmas. University of Miami BFA Musical Theatre. Lily is thrilled to be back at CSC spreading some holiday magic this year! Love to MDAE. lilysteven.com @lilymsteven

Hayley Travers* – CSC: Carol ‘24. Syracuse Stage: Once. Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Secret Garden. Theatre Under The Stars: The Secret Garden. The Kennedy Center: Children of Eden. Studio Theatre: Silence! The Musical. Hayley has sung with orchestras across the country including Indianapolis Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, and the American Pops. Love to T123 & MJR! hayleytravers.com @hayleymtravers.

Jared Troilo*– CSC: Carol ‘24, As You Like It. Regional: The Huntington Theatre Company, Speakeasy Stage, Lyric Stage, Moonbox Productions, Wheelock Family Theatre, Reagle Music Theatre, Palace Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Winter Park Playhouse, Shadowland Stages, Umbrella Stage Company, TigerLion Arts, Company Theatre, and The Barnstormers. TV/Film: “About Fate” (Amazon), “Across The Pacific” (PBS), “Kevin Can F*** Himself” (AMC). Awards: Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award Winner (She Loves Me), Elliot Norton Award Nominee (The Last Five Years, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Oklahoma!, The Band’s Visit). Education: The Boston Conservatory. Proud Member of AEA. JaredTroilo.com. Love to Kira, Levi, and Jonah.

Gillian Weatherford – CSC: The Winter’s Tale (understudy), Richard II (ARC). Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse: Mary Poppins, Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville. Four Corners Musical Theatre: The Addams Family. Ohio Light Opera Company: Hello Dolly!, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Student Prince. Regional Theatre of the Palouse: Beautiful the Carol King Musical. College Light Opera Company: Trouble in Tahiti, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Very Good Eddie, The Danger Year: A New Musical, The Pirates of Penzance. The Krane Theatre: Damnation!: A New Musical.

Maia Ettinger – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Christmas Carol ’24. Wheelock Family Theater: 13: The Musical, The Prom, The Lightning Thief, Make Way for Ducklings, Matilda, and more. Hovey Players: Appropriate. Reagle Music Theatre: The Little Mermaid. Boston Playwrights Marathon: Strawberry Shortcake. Weston Friendly Society: The Sound of Music. Watertown Children’s Theater: Big Fish, Fiddler on the Roof, Newsies, and more. PBS Kids: Pinkalicious and Peterrific. Maia is a freshman at The Cambridge School of Weston and received the 2023-2024 EMACT DASH award for Best Youth Performer in a Play for her performance as Cassidy in Appropriate (Hovey Players). Thanks to the entire cast, crew, and creative team of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and to Desi Oakley and Katie Pohlman, her voice and acting coaches maiaettinger.com @maiaettingerofficial

Cora L. Hertz – has danced in the Boston Ballet Nutcracker for five years. She is thrilled to make her professional acting debut with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. 

Paul Jagger Karger – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Debut. Rhode Island Youth Theater: Cinderella (Knight) and Pinocchio (Pinocchio). Previous model at ModelClub Inc. and studying music at Community Center of Music Boston.

Xavier Rosario – CSC: Carol ‘24. Central Square Theater: Machine Learning. IG:@xavi_rosario

Quinn Murphy – CSC: Carol ‘24. Regional: The Huntington Theatre Company: Leopoldstadt.  North Shore Music Theatre: A Christmas Carol, The Full Monty.  Boston Symphony Hall:  Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert.  Quinn has performed in youth theater with: North Shore Music Theatre, New England School of Performing Arts, Boston Stage Company, Stage 284, and Five Star Theatre Company.  Training: studies voice with Noel Smith Voice Studio.  @quinncmurphy

Eviva Rose – is excited to return to CSC after performing as Mamillius in The Winter’s Tale, Young Macduff in Macbeth, and last year’s Carol. Previous credits include Charles Wallace in A Wrinkle in Time and a duckling in Make Way For Ducklings, both with Wheelock Family Theater.

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.

Dan Rodriguez (Music Director) – Commonwealth Shakespeare Company: Debut. Lyric Stage: Preludes, The Last Five Years, Little Shop of Horrors, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Gypsy. The Huntington: Sunday in the Park with George, A Little Night Music. North Shore Music Theater: Kinky Boots, Little Shop of Horrors. Reagle Music Theater: Oklahoma!, West Side Story. Moonbox Productions: Caroline or Change, Cabaret. Wheelock Family Theatre: In the Heights. American Repertory Theatre: The Lily’s Revenge, The Blue Flower. Front Porch Arts Collective: Ain’t Misbehavin’. A graduate of Oberlin, Dan now works at the Boston Conservatory and has also worked at Emerson, Brandeis, and Northeastern. Winner of the Elliot Norton award and multiple IRNE awards for Best Music Direction. Member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 9-535.

Steve Wargo (Adaptation) is a director, playwright, and producer and, most recently, Chief Creative Officer of the Denver Immersive Repertory Theater. Prior to moving to the mountains, Steve moved mountains in NYC for over two decades as the Founding Artistic Director of both Personal Space Theatrics and The Queensborough Theatre Project, as well as the Creative Director of Resounding, an immersive audio entertainment company, where they produced multiple live immersive audio plays during the pandemic lockdown, including the first play to open in New York before a live paying audience after the industry shutdown, the unauthorized parody in verse Clu-eth. Favorite credits include (as director): Brigadoon (Colorado Candlelight); the immersive concert experience Kabarett Weimar; seven NYC productions of this adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”; David Ives’ Don Juan in Chicago (first NYC revival); The Duchess, aka Wallis Simpson and Orchidelirium (both U.S. premieres). As writer: Triassic Parq: The Musical (with Marshall Pailet and Bryce Norbitz; multi-award-winning show; published and licensed by Broadway Licensing); Scooby-Doosical with Keith Varney. As producer: the late, great Arthur Kopit’s revised BecauseHeCan (first NYC revival). A Pittsburgh native, Steve earned his BFA in Musical Theater from Syracuse University, and is a proud Member of the Dramatists Guild. Instagram: @thestevewargo

Dianne Adams McDowell (Musical Arranger/Composer)
Dianne Adams McDowell, a native of West Virginia, has served as Vocal
Arranger for Broadway’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, the
recipient of seven Drama Desk Awards, four Tony Awards (including Best
Musical), and a 2015 Grammy Nomination. She was commissioned to
compose for Radio City Music Hall’s Magnificent Christmas

Spectacular and, with longtime husband/collaborator, James McDowell, co-
wrote the music & lyrics for The Wind in the Willows at the New Victory

Theatre, Times Square, Bookends at the New Jersey Repertory Company,
and their original Gospel Mass of St. Thomas’, performed at The Church of
Saint Paul & the Redeemer in Hyde Park, Chicago. Other credits include

Vocal Arranger/Associate Conductor for Broadway’s Tony-
nominated Starmites, Arranger/Consultant for Disney Productions, as well

as Universal Theatrical Division’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical!
(by the late, great Steven Lutvak). Dianne created the score for Tazewell
Thompson’s highly acclaimed JUBILEE at Arena Stage, Washington, DC,
and Seattle Opera. For another Thompson collaboration, Constant
Star, she is the recipient of the Philadelphia Barrymore Award, the Beverly
Hills/Hollywood NAACP Award, and a Helen Hayes Award nomination. Her
vocal arrangements have been performed on stages throughout the
country, including Lincoln Center, Hartford Stage, Actors’ Theatre of
Louisville, Syracuse Stage, Avery Fisher Hall, The Old Globe Theatre (in
San Diego), and abroad in Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Melbourne, and
Stockholm.