SF Shakespeare Festival

Nathaniel, Bay Area born and raised, is thrilled to make his Free Shakespeare in the Park debut. He is a graduate of PCPA (Pacific Conservatory Theatre). This is his 4th time working on his favorite play, Hamlet. He was seen at Illinois Shakespeare Festival as Guildenstern, understudied Ghost / Player King / Priest at PCPA and was part of the SF Shakes tour of Hamlet as either Hamlet or Ophelia as decided by drawing from a hat. Recent credits include: Death of a Salesman (Ubuntu Theatre Project), Laughing Stock (Role Players Ensemble), Macbeth (Arabian Shakespeare Festival), Peter and the Starcatcher and Twelfth Night (Illinois Shakespeare Festival), A View from the Bridge (Northside Theatre Company) and Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Douglas Morrison Theatre). Achievement progress: 6 of 37 of Shakespeare's canon.

Jesse Caldwell is very pleased to be returning to the SF Shakespeare Festival where he appeared as Baptista Minola in The Taming of the Shrew. Jesse has worked with many Bay Area theatres including A.C.T., TheatreWorks, 42nd Street Moon, Shotgun Players, TheatreFirst, Woodminster, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Playground, and Crowded Fire. This fall he will play Danforth in Luck Penny Productions staging of The Crucible. He holds a B.A. from Tufts University, an M.F.A. from Stanford, and a J.D. from the University of Georgia. Jesse is proud member of Actors Equity Association.

Mary Ann Rodgers is an actor, director, and educator. She appeared earlier this summer as Titania/Hippolyta with Livermore Shakespeare Festival and is thrilled to now work for the first time with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Other Shakespeare credits include Teatro Lunatico’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Peter Quince) Curtain Theater’s Love’s Labor’s Lost (Jaquenetta), Staged Hereafter’s Romeo and Juliet (Nurse), Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival’s Much Ado (Beatrice) and Merry Wives (Mistress Ford), Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s Measure for Measure (Mariana) and Latin American Theatre Artists’ Midsummer (Titania). As always, Mary Ann thanks her lucky stars for her husband’s, actor/designer Malcolm Rodgers, support.

Sharon has been acting, directing and teaching in the Bay Area since 1987, working all over town for companies such as Ragged Wing, Those Women, Cutting Ball Theater, San Jose Stage Company and Marin Shakespeare Company. She trained in the physical ensemble program at the Dell'Arte School and also has a B.A. in drama from University of Washington, and an M.A. in Drama from San Francisco State University. As one of SF Shakes' Resident Artists, she has performed in the touring productions of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar, as well as the Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Cymbeline.

Julian is pleased to return this summer to San Francisco Shakespeare, where in past seasons he has played roles including Prospero, Friar Laurence, King Lear, Sir Toby Belch and Belarius. His career has spanned over forty years in the Bay Area, including appearances with ACT, Berkeley Rep, Theatreworks, San Jose Rep, San Jose Stage and many seasons with the Berkeley (now California) Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared professionally in all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays and has been a two-day winner on Jeopardy!

A recent graduate of the M.A. program in performance studies at U.C. Santa Cruz, Kieran is thrilled to be returning to SF Shakes in Hamlet after appearing as Sir Andrew/Feste in the 2017 tour of Twelfth Night. Favorite past roles include Guiliano in Big Love (Porter College Arts), Oliver in As You Like It (Shakespeare-To-Go), and Lois Capps in The Congressladies (U.C. Santa Cruz).

Sydney is thrilled to be spending the summer swinging steel with such a wonderful cast! She is an actor, fight director, visual artist, and teaching artist located in the Bay Area. She has worked with SF Shakes on various levels including in the Shakespeare On Tour productions of Hamlet and As You Like It. Sydney serves as Education Director and Producer for Davis Shakespeare Ensemble. Favorite acting credits include Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Sue in Bells Are Ringing, (DSE), Cassandra in Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes (Arabian Shakespeare), and u/sWitch 2, Lady Macduff in Macbeth (Berkeley Rep). Fight Directing Credits include DSE, UCDavis, SF Shakes, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, and Those Women Productions. Sydney has acted all over the country as well as internationally with such companies as Hartford Stage, Hampton Theatre Company, The Historic Jones Theatre, and Mirage Entertainment. She earned her BFA in Acting from The Hartt School and has also trained with the San Francisco Clown Conservatory, Academia dell’Arte (Arezzo, Italy), and the Society of American Fight Directors. Love to her amazingly supportive family and puppies! www.sydney-schwindt.com

Maryssa (she/her/they/them) is an SF Shakes Resident Artist and Bay Area based actor, director, and teaching artist. On the SF Shakes stage she has played Lady Macduff in Macbeth, Hermione in Winter's Tale and Horatio in Hamlet. Other regional performance credits include As You Like It (CalShakes), Breaking The Code and Book Club Play (Jewel Theatre Company), As You Like It, Hamlet, Merry Wives of Windsor (Livermore Shakespeare Festival), Betrayal (Pear Avenue Theatre), Persuasion (San Jose Stage), Crime and Punishment (San Jose Repertory Theatre), Enchanted April, Witness for the Prosecution (Center REPertory Company), Much Ado About Nothing, Good Person of Szechuan (Woman's Will), How I Learned to Drive, Gaslight (Hapgood Theatre Company), Picture of Dorian Gray, All About Eve (Theatre Rhinoceros). As Engagement Director for the Festival, Wanlass is helping to carry out SF Shakes' mission of making all our communities understand that their stories are as powerful and vital as Shakespeare's.

Radhika Rao is an actor, improviser, storyteller, director, writer, and arts educator/consultant. She has performed theater in the United States and abroad. A post-graduate from Harvard Graduate School of Education, Radhika specializes in creating curriculum that integrates theater into diverse learning situations for various populations and organizations. Her work is steeped deeply in respect for life and social justice. She teaches in schools (K-12), universities, juvenile detention centers, corporations, theaters, and community centers. On any given day, she could be performing a Chekhov play, Shakespeare’s Sonnet or Improv Comedy!

Melissa Quine is honored to be spending her summer with the cast and crew of Hamlet. As an actor and educator based in San Francisco, she has been lucky enough to play with the likes of San Francisco Playhouse (A Behanding in Spokane; Tigers Be Still; Slasher), Aurora Theatre Company (Trouble in Mind), Pear Theatre (Arcadia; Northanger Abbey), California Conservatory Theatre (Tribute), SF Shakes (U/S Twelfth Night), Symmetry Theatre, and Playwrights Foundation among others. She also works with the Standardized Patient Program at Stanford University School of Medicine. Melissa graduated from the University of Vermont where she was a Division I Athlete and Performing Arts Major. Melissa is the recipient of the 2016 Titan Award and is a proud member of Theatre Bay Area, AEA, and SAG-aftra.

Brian Levi debuts with SF Shakes. Most recently in the acclaimed A View from the Bridge (Alfieri) at the Pear, PCSF’s Playoffs at The Exit, Taken (Robert) with Southern Railroad, SF Fringe Festival’s It Came from Fukushima (Ray), SF Olympians at The Exit, A Streetcar Named Desire (Mitch) at Shelton Theater, Six Degrees of Separation (Larkin) at Custom Made Theatre, and To Kill a Mockingbird (Atticus) at Hillbarn, Brian is a long-time TBA member and has appeared in many Bay Area shows over the years. Other recent productions include PCSF's Sheherezade's Last Tales at The Exit (TBA Winner), Pear Slices 2015 (TBA Finalist), Three Sisters (Vershinin) at DMT, Sylvia (Greg) at CRT, The Birthday Party (McCann) at Dragon Theatre, and staged readings for Golden Thread Productions, Theatre Rhinoceros, Dragon Theatre and the ReproRights! Festival. Other past favorites include Lend Me a Tenor (Tito) at the Altarena, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Player) at DMT, Noises Off (Lloyd) at CRT, Deathtrap (Sidney) at PSP, The Dark Sonnets of the Lady (Freud) at PSP, Crossing Delancey (Sam) at Hillbarn, The Diary of Anne Frank (Otto) at ArtRise, All My Sons (Chris) at ArtRise, The Sound of Music (Captain) at the Altarena, and The Glass Menagerie (Gentleman Caller) and The Fantasticks (El Gallo) in Houston. Brian was also heavily involved with theatre while at Rice University, including productions of King Lear, As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew directed by members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Off stage, Brian is a software engineer living in Half Moon Bay. facebook.com/brian.levi.actor.

Dave has acted and directed throughout the Bay Area, Southern California, and Oregon. Previous roles include Samuel Beckett (Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with Andre the Giant; world premiere, San Francisco & New York), George Kraft (Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night; world premiere, San Francisco & New York), Col. Bouvier/Norman Vincent Peale (Grey Gardens), Howard (The Mystery of Love and Sex), Max Tarasov (Superior Donuts), Narrator (Slaughterhouse Five), Edna Turnblad (Hairspray), Lawrence Jameson (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), the title roles in Uncle Vanya and Bullshot Crummond, Boris Trigorin (The Sea Gull), Hildy Johnson (The Front Page), Charles J. Guiteau (Assassins), and Tom in The Speakeasy, Alexander Andrews in The Walls of Jericho, and Tasman Zandt in The Speed of Light, all world premieres. His translation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya won the 2016 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Production in the South Bay. Love to Pidge.

Film/TV: How To Be A Man (Fox 20th Century Digital Studios/Supporting), What Would You Do (abc/Guest), One Life To Live (The OnLine Network/Recurring). NYC: Manscape, The Musical! (Algonquin Theatre), Kris Kringle (Manhattan Theatre Club), You & I (MTC workshop starring Boyd Gaines). Regional: The Jungle Book (Marin Theatre Company), Noises Off! (San Francisco Playhouse), Kano + Abe (PlayGround at Potrero Stage). Jasmine has also had the opportunity to do choreography (MTC) and fight direction (PlayGround) since moving to the Bay Area a year ago. She holds a BFA, Acting from the NC School of the Arts. Jasmine is grateful her parents and her 13 year old cat Lulu for their unconditional love and support. She would like to thank San Francisco Shakespeare for welcoming her into their tribe that honors her favorite playwright, Billy Shakes.

Charlie (he/him) is a bi-coastal actor and teaching artist who graduated from UC Davis in fall of 2019 with a double B.A. in Theatre & Dance and English. He has worked professional with Bike City Theatre Company; Davis Shakespeare Festival; and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Favorite recent credit: the NYC Industry Reading of MAXA. Other credits include: Ethan (Fat Kid Rules the World); Skip (Small Steps): Touchstone (As You Like It); Pyp (Westeros Side Story); Pippin (Pippin); and Queen Elizabeth (Richard III). Charlie also completed the 2020 month-long intensive at Shakes and Co. in Lenox Mass., where he trained in Linklater, clown, Alexander, and Shakespeare scene-study with renowned Shakespeare scholar Tina Packer. Charlie is a firm believer that theater can change lives for the better, bridge communities, and heal. His focus is primarily through a queer lens, and one of his main drives is queering the classical canon (especially musical theater and Shakespeare). Charlie Lavaroni

Natalie fell in love with Theater in the 8th grade when she performed in Olympus as Athena. She trained at the A.C.T. and has been featured in shows such as The Mouse Trap (Mollie Ralston); You Can’t Take It With You (Mrs. Kirby), Sweet Charity (Hostess), and Sofa Sin Casa (Corrine). She was featured in San Francisco State University’s Shakespeare Goes To School Cabaret. She was also involved in San Francisco State University's Brown Bag where she was featured in Trifles (Mrs. Peters), Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Trisha), and Immaculate (Gabriel). She was also seen in the 2017 SF Shakes' Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Hamlet and their touring production of Romeo and Juliet. She earned her BA in Theater Arts at SFSU.

Shawna is thrilled to be working with SF Shakes this summer teaching for the summer camps and acting in Hamlet. She is currently a BFA Theater Arts candidate at Boston University with a minor in Arts Leadership. This past semester Shawna received a semester diploma from LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) in Classical Acting and Performance. Shawna’s favorite credits include Zoe in An Octoroon (Company One Theater), Polonious in Hamlet (Boston University), Petra/Apothecary in Romeo and Juliet (Interlochen Shakespeare Festival), IO in Prometheus Bound (Boston University), and Molly in Every Five Minutes (Magic Theater, SF). Bonus fun fact about: this is the third production of Hamlet that Shawna will be in this year alone!

Circle Dai, born and raised in China, is honored and thrilled to spend this summer with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Since immigrating to America last year, she has been pursuing her passion for acting by taking classes at CCSF, A.C.T, and Eth-Noh-Tec. She earned her first local credit in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Wounded Woman/Ensemble) and is involved in the CCSF Theatre Club, where she was recently featured in an original production. Circle also works with The Go Game as a character actor for team building games. Prior to arriving stateside, she has played lead roles in a variety of performances (comedy sketch, musical comedy, choir performance, mime act, etc.) for company events in China.

Erin Lockett is a rising sophomore in Ithaca College’s BFA Acting program. She is happy to have been featured in Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (Ensemble), The Dream of the Burning Boy (Rachel), and IC’s Second Stage’s Cabaret this past year. She is exited to have the opportunity to work with such great people on a show as meaningful and dynamic as Hamlet. She sends her love and thanks to her Mom, Dad, and to Riley for pushing and supporting her.