by William Shakespeare • Directed by John Langs

 

---

CAST BIOGRAPHIES

THE HOUSE OF CAPULET

Lord Capulet • Mark Chamberlin*
Lady Capulet • Susanna Burney
Juliet • Dana Powers Acheson*
Tybalt, Ensemble • Garlyn Punao
Nurse • Erica Bradshaw*

THE HOUSE OF MONTAGUE

lord Montague, Ensemble • Gordon Carpenter
Lady Montague, Ensemble • Carolyn Michelle Smith
Romeo • Lathrop Walker
Benvolio • Ian Merrigan

THE HOUSE OF THE PRINCE

Prince, Ensemble • Allan Armstrong
Mercutio Hans • Altwies*
Paris Mathew • Ahrens

 

Chorus • Nick Rempel
Friar Laurence • Allan Michael Barlow*
Peter • Jon Beavers
Ensemble • Shawn Law
Ensemble • Brian Claudio Smith
Ensemble • Bill Williams

 

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

---

Dana Powers Acheson (Juliet)

SSC: Debut

Dana is a newcomer to Seattle and is thrilled to be working at Seattle Shakespeare Company. Recent New York credits include The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World (New York Musical Festival - directed by John Langs), Courting Vampires (Summer Play Festival/ The Kirk), New Boy (American Premiere, The Samuel Beckett Theatre.) Her regional credits include The Member of the Wedding (Westport Country Playhouse, directed by Joanne Woodward), An Enemy of The People (Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Gerald Freedman), Enchanted April, Treasure (Fulton Opera House), The Radiant Abyss (Woolly Mammoth), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Geva Theatre Center, Fulton Opera House) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Roanoke Theatre), Arcadia, Over the Tavern (Meadow Brook Theatre), Kindertransport (Jewish Ensemble Theatre), Thurdays’ Child (The Attic Theatre), and Les Miserables (First National Company). Dana is a graduate of The North Carolina School of the Arts and lives in New York City.

 

Mathew Ahrens (Paris)

SSC: Debut

Mathew has just returned from his home town of Spokane, Washington where he performed in Actor’s Repertory Theatre’s second season opener, The Golden Age by A.R. Gurney. You may have spied him this summer in Theater Schmeater’s thirteenth annual park show The Three Musketeers. Mathew was also recently seen as Orsino in Twelfth Night for Centerstage Theatre in Federal Way. His other productions include Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, George Dandin, Neil Simon’s Rumors, the world premieres of Arthur: the Begetting and the new musical Red Ink. He has appeared at Seattle’s Taproot Theatre, Annex Theatre, and Wooden O Theatre, as well as Pennsylvania’s Pavilion Theatre. Mathew holds a BA in Drama from the University of Washington.

 

Hans Altwies (Mercutio)

SSC: Othello (Iago), Comedy of Errors (Antipholus), Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Peter Quince)

Hans is returning to the Shakespeare Company after performing in Othello last season. Other Shakespeare credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Comedy of Errors at Seattle Shakespeare Company, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline, and Love’s Labour’s Lost at Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Wooden O Theatre, As You Like It at the Bathhouse Theatre, Romeo and Juliet at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Geva Theatre. Hans would like to thank Dan Tierny and Charlotte for their drumming support and Amy for being his brilliant wife.

 

Allan Armstrong (Prince, ensemble)

SSC: Love’s Labour’s Lost (Holofernes)

Since moving to Seattle from the San Francisco Bay Area three years ago, Allan has had the good fortune to play roles with many companies, including Seattle Repertory Theatre, Wooden O Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Theater Schmeater and Capitol Hill Arts Center. In California, he worked with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and California Shakespeare Festival. Allan is a technical communications consultant and enjoys black and white film photography. He is honored to be cast in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production a second time.

 

Allan Michael Barlow (Friar Laurence)

SSC: Debut

Romeo and Juliet marks Allan’s Seattle Shakespeare Company debut. He has appeared as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, the Chairman in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Teddy Roosevelt in Eleanor, and King John in the premier production of Robin Hood: The Legend Continues - all at the Village Theatre in Issaquah. At The 5th Avenue Theatre he has played Samuel Chase in 1776 and Doc in The Most Happy Fella, as well as roles at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Civic Light Opera, and the old Bathhouse Theatre. Allan has been married for 18 years to the lovely and vivacious Debra Fox, with whom he has two beautiful daughters, Genevieve and Lilliana.

 

Jon Beavers (Peter, ensemble)

SSC: Debut

This is Jon’s first project with Seattle Shakespeare Company and he is thrilled. Beginning his career in Maui where he first had the unparalleled honor of working for John Langs, Beavers left the island for Los Angeles where he worked for a year before Bill Shakespeare made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Jon is flattered and humbled to be a part of such an unbelievably talented ensemble as well as a play that has become very dear to him.

 

Erica Bradshaw (Nurse)

SSC: Debut

Erica is thrilled to be making her first appearance at Seattle Shakespeare Company. A graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts, she made her professional acting debut in the world premiere of Arthur Miller’s Mr. Peter’s Connections at Signature Theatre (NYC) starring Peter Falk. From there she headed west to Los Angeles where she was a founding member of the controversial sketch comedy group Bitches Funny. Also, while in L.A. she co-starred in the finale episode (2002) of CBS’s The District. Erica also worked with such distinguished L.A. theatre companies as Actors Gang (The Exonerated), Zoo District, Oasis Theatre Company and A.S.K. Theatre Projects. Most recently she played Phebe in As You Like It at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

 

Susanna Burney (Lady Capulet)

SSC: As You Like It (Phebe), King Lear (Properties)

Susanna is utterly thrilled to be acting once again at the beautiful Seattle Shakespeare Company. Other Seattle acting credits: The Chris Shussler Incident (Printers Devil), The Laramie Project (Empty Space Theatre), O, Say a Sunset (House of Dames national tour), Why?Why?Why?Why?, 14/48, Gone Are the Days at ConWorks, and a bunch of stuff at Annex Theatre, Theater Schmeater, Book-It (and Book-It All Over), among others. Susanna also directs (Caucasian Chalk Circle, 14/48, Twilight Zones, The Glass of Water). This fall Susanna is embarking on the creation of Our American Theater Company, devoted to producing solely American plays.

 

Gordon Carpenter (Lord Montague, Fight Choreographer, ensemble)

SSC: Othello (Fight Choreographer), As You Like It (Silvius/Charles)

Gordon is happy to be back with Seattle Shakespeare Company. This past summer he staged fights for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks productions of Cymbeline and The Taming of the Shrew and played Antigonus in The Winter’s Tale at Freehold Conservatory Theatre, here in Seattle. Performing in Seattle and theatres elsewhere, favorite roles include Mat Burke in Anna Christie by Eugene O’Neill, Henry in Shakespeare’s Henry V, and Solomon in The Price by Arthur Miller.

 

Mark Chamberlin (Lord Capulet)

SSC: Richard III (Clarence), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon/Theseus 98)

Mark was seen earlier this year with Book-It in The Awakening. He has appeared at Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT, Intiman, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Empty Space Theatre and Tacoma Actors Guild. He has also appeared on Broadway opposite Ellen Burstyn in 84 Charring Cross Road and in many of the leading regional theatres of America. Mark is president of the board of the ALS Association Evergreen Chapter and a graduate of Whitman College.

 

Shawn Law (ensemble)

SSC: Debut

Shawn recently toured through Alaska as Don Pedro in Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing. Other FST credits include Casca in Julius Caesar and Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice. Favorite Seattle credits include: David Sedaris’ solo show The Santaland Diaries (Seattle Public Theatre), Antony in Antony and Cleopatra (Consolidated Works), Laertes in Hamlet (White Raven Productions at ACT), Conrad in Ming the Rude (Empty Space Theatre), Godfrey Winn in Balmoral (Taproot Theatre Company), Orville and Wilbur Wright in The Center of Gravity and Everett Millais in The Countess, for which Shawn received a Seattle Times Footlight Award for Acting (both with Theatre Babylon). Shawn will next be seen making his Book-It debut in Little Women playing the role of Mr.. Brooke.

 

 Ian Merrigan (Benvolio)

SSC: Debut

This production marks Ian’s Seattle debut. He is a recent graduate of the acting conservatory of the North Carolina School of the Arts. His past roles include Lenny in Of Mice and Men and Henry Hobson in Hobson’s Choice. He is currently living in New York.

 

Garlyn Punao (Tybalt, ensemble)

SSC: King Lear (Cornwall)

Garlyn was last seen as Biff in Capitol Hill Arts Center’s production of Death of a Salesman. Other recent credits include Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (Wooden O Theatre), Citizen in A Eulogy for Citizen, and Philips/Clayton in Waiting for Lefty (Capitol Hill Arts Center). Garlyn is a graduate of Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California.

 

Nick Rempel (Chorus, ensemble)

SSC: Macbeth (Banquo)

Nick is delighted to be returning to Seattle Shakespeare Company. Nick’s credits include seasons at the Baltimore, Nevada, Berkeley, and Oregon Shakespeare Festivals. He has performed Off-Broadway in Notions in Motion, and played Atticus in a national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird. He has also performed at Wooden O Theatre, Seattle Children’s Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, the Virginia Opera, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His TV and film credits include Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and All My Children (where he saved Susan Lucci’s life). He has an MFA in acting from USC and an MA in Shakespeare studies from the University of Essex in England.

 

Brian Claudio Smith (ensemble)

SSC: As You Like It (William)

Brian is excited to be working with Seattle Shakespeare Company again. He performed last fall in their production of As You Like It. A graduate of Seattle University, Brian has also performed at the Northwest Actor’s Studio, Crepe de Paris, and in readings at ACT and Village Theatre. Favorite rolls include Mark in The Taxi Cabaret, Tom in The Glass Menagerie, and Austin in True West.

 

Carolyn Michelle Smith (Lady Montague, ensemble)

SSC: Debut

Carolyn recieved her B.A. in Theatre Performance from Fordham University in New York City. She recently completed Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Acting Apprenticeship. Past credits include The Miser, A Christmas Carol, Your Roaring Blood and Caucasian Chalk Circle at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Comedy of Errors and The Merry Wives of Windsor with Princeton Repertory Shakespeare Festival; and Coriolanus and Henry V with York Shakespeare Company. Film credits include Closure: A Dating Documentary.

 

Lathrop Walker (Romeo)

SSC: Debut

Lathrop is a founding member of Washington Ensemble Theatre, and during the last two seasons has been seen in Laura’s Bush, Finer Noble Gases, Handcuff Girl Saves the World and Crave. Locally he has been seen in Stupid Kids and (L)imitations of Life at Empty Space Theatre, Red Badge of Courage and The Outsiders at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Pride and Prejudice at Book-It, and Candida at Taproot Theatre. Upcoming productions include The Devil and Daniel Webster at Seattle Children’s Theatre, and What is Sexy at WET.

 

William A. Williams (ensemble)

SSC: Debut

Bill is a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts and is making his debut at Seattle Shakespeare Company. Some of his favorite performances include stage adaptations of Where the Wild Things Are and Lord of the Flies, both performed at Cornish. Additionally, he has appeared in Iphiginia at The Poets Theater in Seattle. Bill is also trained as a jazz singer and has recently performed at several local venues.