The Taming of the Shrew - Production Staff

Stephanie Shine (Director)

SSC: Director - Kate and Isabel, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, Richard II, Wild Oats, Hamlet, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV Part One; Actor - Love’s Labour’s Lost (Princess of France), King Lear (Regan), 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 seventh season as 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. She is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program under Bob Hobbs 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 Repertory Theatre, New Mexico Repertory Theatre, and Arizona Theatre Company. Stephanie directed The Comedy of Errors for Colorado Shakespeare Festival this past summer. She is the proud mother of Conor and Cally, and is PTSA Board Co-President Elect at Washington Middle School.

Rod Pilloud * (Stage Manager)

SSC: As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Rod has been a professional actor and stage manager for theatres around the nation over the past 30 years. He has worked with Seattle Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, The Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Empty Space Theatre, The Portland Repertory Theatre and A Contemporary Theatre.

John Kirshenbaum (Scenic Designer, Technical Director)

SSC: Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Tempest

John is honored to be in his third season at Seattle Shakespeare Company building playgrounds for talented actors.

Deborah Skorstad (Costume Designer)

SSC: Othello, King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Richard II, Wild Oats, The Merchant of Venice

Deborah designs for many Seattle theaters as well as working as a costumer for the University of Washington. Favorite design projects include Candida, The Spitfire Grill, The Man Who Was Thursday and Much Ado About Nothing for Taproot Theatre, The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale for Wooden O Theatre, 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: Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet

Tim loves to play with light and is delighted to return to Seattle Shakespeare Company to light The Taming of the Shrew. 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 over 40 shows, including designs for Empty Space Theatre, New City Theatre, Seattle University, and the Alliance Theatre Atlanta.

Marleigh Driscoll (Properties)

SSC: Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Kate and Isabel, Macbeth, Two Gentlemen of Verona

Marleigh is delighted to be working with Seattle Shakespeare on her third show this season. She has been a stage manager and assistant director at Book-It Repertory Theatre for I Am of Ireland, Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant, and In a Shallow Grave, as well as the Flying Karamazov Brothers’ Fun House at ACT She also designed props for Wooden O Theatre’s productions of Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, The Tempest, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Julius Caesar. Marleigh has a Master’s Degree in Architecture and worked for seven years as the Production Manager for the Drama Department at North Seattle Community College.

Sean Patrick Taylor (Music Director)

SSC: As You Like It (Corin, Amiens), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Francis Flute and Band member), Twelfth Night (Curio and Music Director), Lovers and Madmen (Musician/Music Director)

Sean is very pleased to be making music again with Seattle Shakespeare Company, where he recently appeared onstage with a harp in As You Like It. Summertime generally finds Sean with Wooden O Theatre, performing Shakespeare in a park near you. He also teaches medieval and renaissance literature whenever he is able to chisel his way into an academic department and plays multiple instruments in the local thrash-folk band, the Prayer Warriors.

Kimberly White (Voice and Text Director)

SSC: Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, King Lear

Kimberly has worked with Shakespeare’s text over the past 16 years as coach, teacher, director, and producer. She has taught and coached for the Professional Actor Training Program at the University of Washington, Freehold, University of British Columbia, Otterbein College, and the Korean University of the Arts. Kimberly spent the past five summer seasons in Idaho where she directed and coached for Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, a company she co-founded in 2000 and served as its Artistic Director for several years. She was Associate Director on Richard III for Harvard/Radcliff University at the Loeb Theatre. She has been a faculty member with Shakespeare and Company (Lenox, Mass.) for eleven years and worked as “Lamentation Coach” for their ground-breaking production of Richard III. Kimberly has also worked with Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Children’s Theatre and served as Co-Director of the local innovative youth program, Young Shakespeare Workshop. Kimberly is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher. She is the proud mother of Hannah.

Lenore Bensinger (Dramaturg)

SSC: Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, King Lear, Measure for Measure

Lenore is a playwright and dramaturg. This is her sixth show with Seattle Shakespeare Company. Other recent dramaturgy includes Pride and Prejudice and Travels with Charley, both directed by Jane Jones, for Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Rhinoceros at the Capitol Hill Arts Center (John Farrage directing). She is currently writing As Your Doctor, a play about the pharmaceutical industry, and revising her 2004 Fringe/ACT play SEED about the Greek earth goddess, Demeter, and her daughter, Persephone.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.