Justin is very happy to be working with Seattle Shakespeare Company again, having appeared in Measure for Measure earlier this season. Justin studied drama at the University of Washington where he appeared in several productions including Toad of Toad Hall, Our Country’s Good, and Coriolanus. Other experience has included two national tours with Poetry Alive!, as well as Radio Gals, Dracula, Othello, and Making the Call at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Kurt Beattie - King Lear

SSC: Debut

Kurt Beattie is the artistic director of ACT Theatre. He has appeared in a wide variety of roles in an acting career that has spanned three decades, in Seattle and across the country. Some of his favorite roles have been Jack Tanner in Man and Superman and Vladimir in Waiting for Godot (Intiman); Lermontov in Maydays, Givola in Arturo Ui, and Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (ACT); and Kaspar in Kaspar (Empty Space). Among his Shakespeare credits are Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis) and Lucio in Measure for Measure (Empty Space). Also a director and playwright, he most recently directed Things Being What They Are for the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and A Moon for the Misbegotten and A Christmas Carol for ACT. He is delighted to be making his Seattle Shakespeare Company debut.

Darrick Clayton - Old Man, Captain, ensemble

SSC: Debut

Darrick is completing his final year in the U.W. Professional Training Program where he was last seen as Othello. His other U.W. favorites were Crumbs from the Table of Joy, As You Like It, and Nora. He played in Sankofa Theater: A Maafa Experience at the Moore Theater and in The Misanthrope and Edward II at A.C.T. in San Francisco. Darrick received his BS in Electrical Engineering from U.C. Santa Barbara. He wishes to thank his lovely wife and family for their infinite support.

David Drummond - Kent

SSC: Julius Caesar (Antony)

In the past year, David has appeared in The BFG and The Shakespeare Stealer at Seattle Children’s Theatre, and Omnium Gatherum and A Christmas Carol at ACT Theatre. He has also been seen locally at Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Empty Space, Intiman, and as Daddy in The Long Happy Life of Jack Henry Drummond, now in its fifth fabulous year.

Benjamin Huber - Oswald, ensemble

SSC: The Tempest (Ferdinand)

Ben is pleased to be making his second appearance at Seattle Shakespeare Company. His first was as Ferdinand in last season’s The Tempest. Since then, you may have seen him at Tacoma Actor’s Guild as Barnette in Crimes of the Heart, and as Ross in Macbeth. Last summer, Ben attended the Society of American Fight Directors National Stage Combat Workshop where he became a recognized Actor/Combatant. Love to Sarah and his family back in Wisconsin.

A. Bryan Humphrey - Gloucester

SSC: Debut

This is Mr. Humphrey’s first appearance with Seattle Shakespeare Company. Previous appearances in the Seattle area include Sleuth (Taproot Theatre), Cider House Rules (Seattle Repertory Theatre), An Owen Meany Christmas (Book-It), The Odyssey (Seattle Children’s Theatre), and Educating Rita, The Baltimore Waltz, Macbeth, Gaslight, Much Ado About Nothing, Merry Wives of Windsor, Tera Nova, The Tempest, Dial M for Murder, and Duet for One (Tacoma Actors Guild).

His regional acting credits include Later Life (Missouri Rep), The Dresser (Denver Center Theatre), Time of Your Life, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merry Wives of Windsor, The Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Richard III, Pericles, and an award-nominated Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), and ten seasons with the Utah Shakespearean Festival in such shows as Born Yesterday, Servant of Two Masters, Noises Off, Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, Pericles, You Never Can Tell, Henry VIII, The Winter’s Tale, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Mikado.

Mr. Humphrey taught theatre for sixteen years at Southwestern Seminary, Baylor University, the University of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado, and Ohio University. He is a director and adapter of plays having directed over twenty-five productions, many of them his own adaptations. In 1994, his solo performance of an adaption of King Lear, called Lear’s Shadow, was nominated for Best New Play by the Denver Theatre Critics Circle. Mr. Humphrey currently lives in Seattle along with his sons Jacob and Micah.

Reginald André Jackson - Edmund

SSC: Macbeth ‘02 (Ross), Merchant of Venice (Gratiano), Hamlet (Horatio), Romeo and Juliet (Prince, Paris), Julius Caesar (Casca), Much Ado About Nothing (Balthazar), Richard III (Hastings), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius), Macbeth ’96 (Lennox), Othello (Ensemble).

Reggie is very glad to return to the Seattle Shakespeare Company. He was last seen in the Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. Last year Mr. Jackson also played both Uncle Willie and Mr. Freeman in Book-It’s production of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. He has also worked at the Seattle Children’s Theatre, Intiman, Wooden O Theatre, and Theatre Schmeater. Reggie will be in the upcoming Book-It production of Cry, the Beloved Country.

Alan Lason - Ensemble

SSC: Debut

Alan is making his Seattle Shakespeare Company debut. He graduates this May from Cornish College of the Arts with an Original Works emphasis in writing, directing and acting. His favorite roles include Frank Lippencott in Wonderful Town, Dennis Shepard/Ensemble in The Laramie Project and Otto von Bruno in Bullshot Crummond. He wishes to thank Emily Chisholm, Timothy McCuen Piggee, and his mom.

Charles Leggett - Fool

SSC: Taming of the Shrew (Gremio), As You Like It (Charles the Wrestler, Martext)

Charles is pleased to return to Seattle Shakespeare Company where he played Gremio in last season’s The Taming of the Shrew and Charles the wrestler and Martext in As You Like It. He just finished as Spirit 2 in ACT’s A Christmas Carol, and has recently worked at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Empty Space, Book-It Repertory, and as Dogberry in Portland Center Stage’s Much Ado About Nothing. He holds a BFA from Carnegie-Mellon and is happily married to Sheila Daniels.

Sarah Malkin - Cordelia

SSC: Debut

Sarah is thrilled to make her Seattle Shakespeare Company debut. She was last seen at Theater Schmeater in John Lennon’s Gargoyle. Other Puget Sound area credits include Romeo and Juliet, Wounds to the Face, Little Women, The Lady’s Not for Burning, and It’s Not You, It’s Me. She has performed regionally at A.C.T. in San Francisco, at the Milwaukee Rep, and at American Players Theatre, also in Wisconsin. Sarah gives thanks to Ben, and love and gratitude to her own kingly father.

Kevin McKeon - Albany

SSC: Macbeth (Macduff)

Kevin has performed and taught acting at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Cal Poly Pomona, California Institute of the Arts and U.C. Davis. His writing and directing credits include the award-winning 1993 film A Formula for Mayhem, screened in eleven international and domestic film festivals. Stage directing credits include Book-It’s recent production of Breathing Lessons. Locally, he has appeared at Tacoma Actors Guild, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and Book-It, where he has performed as Ethan Frome, Doc in Sweet Thursday, and most recently as Saunder Clos in Red Ranger Came Calling.

George Mount - King of France, doctor, ensemble

SSC: Taming of the Shrew (Kate), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Slender), Romeo & Juliet tour (Paris), Richard III (Richmond), The Taming of the Shrew, tour (Tranio, etc.) Macbeth (Witch)

George was last seen working for Seattle Shakespeare Company in The Taming of the Shrew. Other credits include Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing for Wooden O Theatre, Tom in Glass Menagerie at Second Storey Repertory, Dan Needham in Book-It’s Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant, and Angelo in Taproot’s production of Comedy of Errors. George is Artistic Director of Wooden O Theatre and also works as a director, educator, and graphic designer.

Nick O’Donnell - Edgar

SSC: Taming of the Shrew (Widow, Pedant, Curtis), Wild Oats (Sim)

Recently, Nick has spoken in verse with Seattle Shakespeare Company, Wooden O (Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It), Seattle Fringe Festival (As You Like It), and Montana Shakespeare in the Parks (Henry IV pt. I, Comedy of Errors). Mostly prose with Seattle Children’s Theater (Our Only May Ameila), Book-It All Over (Huck Finn, Danger: Books!, Phantom Tollbooth), theater simple (Caucasian Chalk Circle), Seattle Public Theater (Bandido!, Little Murders), FringeACT, and Theater Schmeater (Twilight Zones). A 1998 Graduate of Carleton College, Nick worked in Minneapolis with the Children’s Theater Company, Kevin Kling, Theater de la Juene Lune, Frank Theater, and the Jungle Theater. Thanks, Sydney.

Garlyn Punao - Cornwall, ensemble

SSC: Debut

King Lear marks Garlyn’s debut with Seattle Shakespeare Company. Garlyn is a graduate of The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California. Professional credits include Geofrey in The Lion in Winter, Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, Edward in Skylight, and Tybalt in a touring production of Romeo and Juliet. This is Garlyn’s first show in Washington, having recently moved from northern California with his wife Julie.

Stephanie Shine - Regan

SSC: Artistic Director; Measure for Measure, Taming of the Shrew, Richard II, Wild Oats, Hamlet, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV, pt.1 (Director); Twelfth Night (Feste), Lovers and Madmen (Woman), Richard II (Queen Isabel), Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), Richard III (Lady Anne), As You Like It (Rosalind), The Taming of the Shrew (Kate)

This marks Stephanie’s sixth season as the Artistic Director for Seattle Shakespeare Company. Her association with the Company began in 1993 when she developed a summer program for kids now known as Camp Bill. A lover of Shakespeare since the age of 8, she has acted in, directed, or produced over 37 productions of 24 of Shakespeare’s plays. She is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program and has worked at most of the theatres in Seattle as well as several regional theatres including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, The Alley in Houston, New Jersey Shakespeare, Idaho Rep, New Mexico Rep, and Arizona Theatre Company.

She has adapted literature for the stage as a longtime company member of Book-It, where her work was most recently seen as adapter and director of A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote. In 2001, she was a guest artist and teacher at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Stephanie will be directing The Comedy of Errors for Colorado Shakespeare Festival this coming summer. She is the proud mother of Conor and Cally.

Amy Thone - Goneril

SSC: Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), Comedy of Errors (Adriana), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena)

Amy is happy to finally be on stage with artistic director Stephanie Shine after a ten-year association with Seattle Shakespare Company as a teacher, Education Director, and Artistic Associate. Recent credits include Romeo and Juliet at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Our Only Mae Amelia at Seattle Children’s Theatre, and the Chorus in Henry V for Wooden O Theatre. Amy has dramaturged, directed or acted in twenty-four of the plays in Shakespeare’s canon at theatres across the country such as The Denver Center; Geva Theatre; The Intiman; and at the Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festivals. Amy is also a teacher, massage therapist, and delirious mom to fierce four-year old Charlotte.

Crew Biographies

John Langs - Director

SSC: Debut

John is a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts and holds a BFA in directing from the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has been directing professionally around the country for the past six years. In Los Angeles he is best known for his work on Twelfth Night, Up the Week Without a Paddle (Backstage West awards for ‘best musical score’ and ‘best ensemble cast’), The Myth of More, Once Upon a Primetime, and Private Eyes, all with the Neurotic Young Urbanites. At present he is the Artistic Director of Maui Onstage at the Iao Theater in the state of Hawaii, where he has thrilled audiences with productions of Chicago, The Fantastiks, Phantom, and most recently, Sweet Charity. John has served as the Artistic Director for the Full Contact Shakespeare Company in Sacramento, Dimensions Theater Project in Stockton and the Golden Mean Theater in Los Angeles. Later this year he will helm the next stage of development of Philosophy of the World at Lookingglass Theatre of Chicago. As always...his love to Klea.

Nat Whitten - Stage Manager

SSC: Debut

Nat is thrilled to be with Seattle Shakes for King Lear. He last worked on The Wizard of Oz with the 5th Avenue Theatre. Nat has been a Sound Designer with Theatre Schmeater and Annex among others, and is a general all around theatre technician here in Seattle. Thanks and all my love to Sann, Mom. Thanks also to Makaela, Stephanie, John and Amy for their patience, support, and smiles during this short process.

Deborah Skorstad - Costume Designer

SSC: The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Richard II, Wild Oats, Merchant of Venice (Costume Designer)

Deborah is honored to be working with the cast, director and crew of King Lear. Most recently her work was seen for Book-It’s production of Red Ranger Came Calling. Her other design credits include Candida, The Spitfire Grill and The Man Who Was Thursday for Taproot Theatre, The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale for Wooden O Theater, Object Based Theater and Owl, Fish, Gull, Wish for Tacoma’s Museum of Glass, The Prov’ked Wife for Theater Under the Influence, When I Grow Up I’m Gonna Get Some Big Words, The Wrestling Season and Into The West for Seattle Children’s Theatre.

Tim Wratten - Lighting Designer

SSC: Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet (Lighting Designer)

Tim loves to play with light, and is delighted to return to Seattle Shakespeare Company to light King Lear. Here he previously lit Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth. Having worked in British Rep Theatres (Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Library, Coventry Belgrade) for many years, in 1996, Tim and family decided to come and play in Seattle (the weather is the same). Since then he has completed 38 shows, including designs for the Empty Space Theatre, New City Theatre, Seattle University, and the Alliance Theatre Atlanta.

John Kirschenbaum - Set Design, Technical Director

SSC: The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure

John is honored to work with the talented and dedicated cast and crew of King Lear. He also greatly appreciates the many hands that helped to build the set. Thanks to my father for teaching me compassion and thanks to Nancy for support and sanity.

Susanna Burney - Props Designer

SSC: Debut

Susanna is thrilled to finally work with Seattle Shakespeare Company, particularly on this fabulous production. Full disclosure: she hasn’t done props since she was about 18, when she was props mistress at the long gone Cirque Dinner Theatre, for The Sound of Music, starring Miss Anne Jeffries, and Same Time Next Year with Caroline Jones. Other props credits include working under the tutelage of Michael Brill at the Bathhouse Theatre, also at a tender age. Since then, Susanna has gone on to act and direct and has been active in the Seattle theatre scene for nearly 15 years since returning from the east coast, where she received her BFA in acting from Boston University.

Dan Dennis - Music Director

SSC: Taming of the Shrew (Grumio and Music Composition/Direction).

Recent composing credits include Howard’s End (Book-It Repertory Theatre), Caucasian Chalk Circle (theater simple), and Starball (with John Kaufmann at the Pacific Science Center’s Willard Smith Planetarium). Music directing credits include, in addition to those listed above, Singin’ in the Rain (Village Theatre), Little Boy: The Epic Rock Fable (Open Circle Theater), and Cat-like Tread (Annex Theatre). Sound design credits include Breathing Lessons and Hard Times (Book-It), and John Lennon’s Gargoyle (Theater Schmeater). Dan has acted and made music on-stage with Seattle Children’s Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Tacoma Actors Guild, UMO Ensemble, New City Theatre, and others.

Leslie Manning - Production Assistant

SSC: Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night (Production Assistant)

Leslie is pleased to be doing her third show at Seattle Shakespeare Company. Some of her recent projects include A History of Strangers and Children, China Dolls, and PR Golem. She is also currently stage managing The Winter’s Tale at Seattle Public Theatre at Greenlake. Thanks go to Ryan Manning, and Linda and Gerald Freerksen for their support.

Lenore Bensinger - Dramaturg

SSC: Measure for Measure (Dramaturg)

Lenore is glad to be working with Seattle Shakespeare again. Most recently, she was dramaturg for Pride and Prejudice and John Lennon’s Gargoyle. Her plays have been performed in Seattle and around the country with awards from the Seattle, King County and Washington State Arts Commissions. Her newest play, SEED will be performed in the 2004 Fringe/ACT Festival. As a producer, Lenore’s projects include creating the first US Fringe Fest at On the Boards (“Seattle on the Fringe”) and the live playwrights radio show, NEW WAVES LIVE. She was literary manager at The Empty Space and, later, The Group Theatre. Back east, she was a D.C.-based reporter, political speechwriter and policy specialist in National Health Care Planning.

Ryan Spickard - Fight Choreographer

SSC: The Tempest (Stephano), Merchant of Venice (Arragon)

Ryan is proud to be part of this outstanding team in developing the fights for King Lear. A native to the northwest, Ryan is a graduate from Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Acting. His choreography has been used with Seattle Shakespeare Company, GreenStage, Cornish College of the Arts, Woodinville Repertory Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, East West Actor’s guild, and Theater Schmeater among others. Ryan is a long-time member of the Society of American Fight Directors and a stunt performer trained by the United Stuntmen’s Association. He also holds black belts in Goju Ryu Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Look for him this summer as a company member of Ignis Devoco Industrial Fire Circus!

Kimberly White - Voice & Text Director

SSC: Debut

Kimberly is delighted to be working with the talented folks at SSC! She has worked with Shakespeare’s text over the past 16 years as coach, teacher, director, and producer. Recently she directed Taming of the Shrew and Romeo & Juliet in Idaho where she is Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Company of Sun Valley. She has taught and coached in the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Washington, Freehold, University of B.C., Otterbein College, and internationally at the Korean University of the Arts. She served as Associate Director on Richard III for Harvard/Radcliff University at the Loeb Theatre. She has been a faculty member of Shakespeare & Company for 10 years, and has taught at a dozen month-long intensives, coached for the mainstage, and has worked as “Lamentation Coach” for their ground-breaking work on Richard III. Kimberly has also worked with Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Seatle Children’s Theatre and served as Co-Director of the local innovative youth program, Young Shakespeare Workshop. She is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher. Kimberly is a proud mom to Hannah Jai, 16!

Makaela Pollock - Assistant Director, Production Manager

SSC: Measure for Measure (Production Manager), The Taming of the Shrew (Asst. Director)

Credits include directing, design, and acting in New York, Santa Cruz, and Seattle. Recently Makaela assisted Gillian Jorgensen on And Also Fierce. Look for her work on John Kaufmann’s Line One in February. Thanks to the loves.

Special thanks to
John Merner • Seattle Center • Karen Lane • Theatre Puget Sound • Cal Winn • Conor and Cally Shine • The Allen Foundation for the Arts • Michelle Glisson • Corbis • Pacific Science Center • Amy Shandell • Kate Harvey • Pat Kastel • Bob MacDougall • Sydney Cheek O’Donnell • Inverness Theater •Seattle Public Theater • Seattle Scenic Studios • Nancy Kirschenbaum • Book-It Repertory Theatre • Seattle Repertory Theatre • Open Circle Theater • Seattle Children’s Theatre • Ken Ewart • GreenStage • Ron Sandahl • John Kaufmann • Peter Tomshany • Meg Savlov • Bliss Kolb • Jake Linde • Gregg Loughridge • Jane Gibson • Salty’s Restaurant • Top Pot Doughnuts • Mark Klebeck • ACT Theatre • Danny Mitchell • Kellini Walters

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King Lear - Director's Notes

by William Shakespeare • Directed by John Langs

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