AmArA (Scene Designer) is joyful to be back in the 10 square miles after traveling around in Reality for the last 2 1/2 years. Born in the Binghamton Twilight Zone, she spent 3 years residing in Ithaca while working as a professor of production design at Wells College. During her time away, she & her fiance, JK, & their trusty car Moxie went from the monuments of D.C to nothin's of Georgia, through the Ozarks and the Rockies, up the winding coast highway to the Emerald City Seattle. While there, AmArA designed for Stone Soup Theatre, was featured in the movie Fat Kid Rules the World, and launched her career as an independent artist.
Judith Andrew (Maria) has acted annually with ISC since 2005 and is also a member of the company's leadership staff. Last summer she played Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Eva in As You Like It. She also acts with Readers' Theatre of Ithaca, Theatre Incognita, and Wolf's Mouth Theatre Collective.
Danielle Bates (Viola/Cesario) is a graduate of Binghamton University's Theatre Department and has been an avid member of the local Know Theatre Company. Since moving to Ithaca, she has performed with the Black Umbrella Theatre Company, the New Mercury Theatre, and in various locally produced films. This is her second time working with the Ithaca Shakespeare Company and is grateful for this wonderful opportunity. Endless thanks to Steve and the cast for all the good times and especially to her dearest Gavin for his unyielding support.
Ali Bernstein (Valentine) is a Freshman Theatre Studies Major at Ithaca College. Ali is excited and honored to be in her first show with Ithaca Shakespeare. Her previous acting credits include Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, Servant in A Winter's Tale, Philostrate in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Senator Fipp in Urinetown with McCarter Theatre. She would like to thank her family and friends for their unyielding support.
Eliot Cohen (Sebastian) is proud to be making his Ithaca Shakespeare Co. debut! Previous shows include Cymbeline at the Powerhouse Theatre in Poughkeepsie, Coram Boy at Ithaca College Theatre Arts, and Diary With Trisome 21 at the Kitchen Theatre. Mr. Cohen is a Theatre student at Ithaca College. Thanks to AHC, SC, CC, and SS.
Bill Cowdery (Musical Adaptor) does much musical free-lancing in Ithaca as keyboardist, commentator, conductor, and composer, in addition to holding jobs at Cornell's Cox Music Library and the First Congregational Church. For this production of Twelfth Night, he adapted and arranged the tunes for Feste's three songs: "O Mistress Mine," "Come Away Death," and "The Wind and the Rain."
Lauren Cowdery (Costume Designer) came to costuming as a second career after being an English professor and editor for over two decades, and now does dressmaking and alterations in her home. She began costuming for the Red Bull Players'/Ithaca Shakespeare Company's first out-of-doors production, Antony and Cleopatra in 2003, and has done every one since. Since 1997 she has designed productions for the Ithaca City School District including Titanic and Beauty and the Beast. She has costumed two short films and many plays and operas with such groups as NYS Baroque, Women's Works, Music's Recreation, the Cornell Savoyards, and Theatre Incognita. She is most proud of her work with Artists in the Schools, bringing Baroque costumes into regional high school classrooms, and with Family Reading Partnership, bringing book characters like Rainbow Fish to life for small children.
Dave Dietrich (Captain, Priest, Officer 1) is a founding member of the Ithaca Shakespeare Company and has appeared in all of our productions. He has also done costume work, set building and prop gathering. His roles have been as diverse as the doomed King Duncan (after whom he named his dog!) in Macbeth and the irrepressibly joyous Master Merrythought in The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Grateful always to his "theater widow" Joan, whose infectious laugh can be heard at many of our performances.
Michael Donato (Sir Toby Belch) is honored to make his first appearance with our company. Most recently he has appeared on stage with the Actors Workshop of Ithaca, and on screen in local films. He enjoys playing a conniving, drunken rogue perhaps a bit too much.
Jason Fok (Lighting Designer) is a junior theatre arts major at Ithaca College. This production marks his debut with Ithaca Shakespeare Company and is very excited to have had the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people. Thank you to everyone involved for making this production possible.
Kristen Park (Music Coordinator) is a member and performer with a number of musical groups in Ithaca, including Women's Works, Cornell Savoyards and Music's Recreation.
Stephen Ponton (Director) is the Artistic Director of the Ithaca Shakespeare Company and has directed all but one of their shows so far.
George Sapio (Malvolio) is an award-winning playwright, director, dramaturg and actor. His latest play is Fault Lines; his play Oatmeal and a Cigarette was awarded the Critics' Pick at the 2008 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. He is thrilled to finally be working with the ISC, having been a mere groundling till now. Thanks to mi reina for all her support once again!
Kyle Schantz-Hilton (Orsino) was so excited to be playing Duke Orsino in this production that he forgot to submit a bio. So this is what he gets instead.
Colleen Skemp (Antonia) grew up in the bluffs along the northern Mississippi. Her family lived in a renovated one-room school house from the 1850s, and had a cow named Berta who lived on the front lawn. It wasn't long before Colleen ran away to the Windy City to pursue acting. There, she worked in improv, theater and film. Colleen came to Ithaca to laugh, learn and, as in most comedies, to fall in love.
Ivy Stevens (Stage Manager) Ivy is a Freshman Theater Studies Major at Ithaca College, and this is her first show with Ithaca Shakespeare. Her prior experience in the Ithaca area includes: With Running to Places Theater Company - Assistant Stage Management for Anything Goes, "Prince/Apothecary" in Romeo And Juliet, and "Fox" in Wind in the Willows. With Shakespeare in the Basement - "Alonso" in The Tempest and "Duke Vincentio" in Measure for Measure. It has been a pleasure to work with this company for the first time, and she hopes you enjoy the show!
John Sullivan (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) is an ichthyologist (fish biologist) more accustomed to fishing on the Amazon and Congo rivers than acting. Love for the Bard and for previous ISC productions prompted him to audition for a role in Twelfth Night; he appears on stage for the first time since fifth grade.
Dan Tubman (Sailor, Officer 2) is a 26 year old Ithaca local working part-time as a delivery driver. His aspirations are to change the American education system from the ground up and inspire a generation to be better people working to make the world a better place, then to retire to his own personally built homestead in the middle of the woods and be a hermit secure in the knowledge that the world and its people are making progress toward not destroying themselves.
Adam Turck (Fabian) is a recent graduate of the Drama program at Ithaca College. Previous acting credits include Claymore in Coram Boy with the IC mainstage and Bottom, Orlando, and Angus in Macbeth with the ISC. "Thank you Uncle Frank- I'll miss you. It's all for you now. More than ever."
Melanie Uhlir (Olivia) has been performing with Red Bull Players/ISC and assisting in its administration since their indoor production of The Tempest in 2002. It was her idea to start an outdoor Shakespeare program at Cornell Plantations. In addition to acting, Melanie has also been responsible for most of the company's graphic design work over the years. Favorite stage roles include Caliban in The Tempest, Queen Margaret in Richard III, and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which finally gave her the long-awaited opportunity to release her inner hobgoblin!
Matt Winberg (Feste): Recent favorite roles include Touchtone in As You Like It and Rafe in Knight of the Burning Pestle (Ithaca Shakespeare Company), Abner Brownell in a concert reading of The Resurrection of the Publick Universal Friend, and the Ghost of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol (New Mercury Theatre on the Air). Matt has also performed locally with Icarus Theatre Ensemble, Black Umbrella, Wolf's Mouth Theatre Collective, Theatre Incognita, Bad Dog! Productions, and at the Cornell Schwartz Center. When not playing the fool, he works as an editor/videographer at PhotoSynthesis Productions here in Ithaca.
