TOMS RIVER
Shakespeare Festival
MEASURE FOR MEASURE - SUMMER 2019
CAST of MEASURE for MEASURE
Mike Marcou (VINCENTIO, THE DUKE): “Originally from Wisconsin, Mike can now be found in Astoria. When he’s not acting, he enjoys woodworking, gardening, and cooking. Past projects include Zusman (NJPAC), Come Over the River and Through the Woods (Hunterdon Hills Playhouse), Macbeth (Columbia Stages), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Toms River Shakespeare Festival) and The Tempest (Toms River Shakespeare Festival). ‘Special thanks to Lori for letting me be apart of a third season with TRSF!’"
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Brigitte Thieme-Burdette (ISABELLA): TRSF: The Tempest. NEW YORK: Macbeth (Dir. Rory McGregor), VR 837 (Punchdrunk), And Then Came Tango (FringeNYC). REGIONAL: Pride and Prejudice (Virginia Stage Company), Vicuna and The American Epilogue (Mosaic Theatre Company), The School For Lies (Shakespeare Theatre Company), The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, et al (Adirondack Shakespeare Company), Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Shakespeare Theater of NJ). TV: “A Crime To Remember” (Investigation Discovery), “Team UmiZoomi” (Nick Jr.). Currently entering her 2nd year in Columbia University’s MFA Acting program. www.brigittetb.com
Julian Abelskamp (ANGELO) is a Dutch-American actor based in New York. He spent the past two summers at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, working on several productions including Faded: A Calypso, Coromandel, In Search Of, and Taiga in the Berkshires, a world premiere play by Lucy Thurber. Other credits include The Clooney Loss, Kochana Kochana or Warsaw 1943 (Columbia Stages), Living Altar (Kaimera Productions), Women (Atlantic/Psychopomp), and The Love of the Nightingale (Atlantic Theatre School). Julian is a rising second year in the Columbia University MFA Acting Program and an alumnus of the Atlantic Theatre School and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. www.julianabelskamp.com
Sue-Ellen Mandell (ESCALUS): Sue-Ellen has acted in many Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway and regional theatre productions. Favorite roles include: Martha: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Ouisa: Six Degrees of Separation and Blanche: A Streetcar Named Desire. She appeared in the Estrogenius, New York International, Capital, Syracuse, Thespis and Fresh Fruit festivals. New York city appearances include the Gene Frankel Theatre and Theatre Row. She just finished successful runs of Macbeth with Hudson Theatre Works and, at the Players Theatre, The Unexpected Guest, Sleepy Hollow, the Musical and Murder on the Nile. Television work includes; Golden Corral commercial for TBS, a Minimock for Comedy Central, two episodes of Celebrity Ghost Stories, and Investigation Discovery, Deadly Devotion and Poisoned Passions episodes. Thanks go to her “boat captain” for all of his whoot woos! sueellenmandell@aol.com
Anne Guadagnino (LUCIO): Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Anne is thrilled to join this talented cohort of Elizabethan jesters. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Theatre & Drama and a Certificate in Education. She has worked as a teaching artist with the Children’s Theater of Madison and with Whoopensocker, an arts education residency that brings playwriting workshops into elementary school classrooms. In the fall, she will enter her second year at Columbia University's MFA Acting Program. Thank you to Lori for her casual brilliance and for providing a platform on which to speak poetic prattle.
Patrick O’Konis (CLAUDIO) is jolted to be making his debut as Claudio in Measure for Measure. Patrick recently inched his way through an MFA in Acting at Brooklyn College. Some of his recent acting feats include the Hobo in Whippany’s Polar Express Train Ride and performing Chekhov throughout bars in Brooklyn. You can see the density of Patrick’s work on his website at www.patrickokonis.com. He would like to share volumes of love for his friends and family.
Sarah Cheatham (JULIET/MESSENGER) is delighted to be making her TRSF debut! She earned her BFA from NYU Tisch and has studied and performed Shakespeare in NYC and London. Select theater credits include Macbeth, The Unpredictable Times, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, and The Music Man. She would like to thank TRSF, the wonderful cast and crew, her loving and supportive parents, and God "from whom all blessings flow". Coming up next for Sarah is the world premiere play GARY at the Eagle Theatre. sarahgallimorecheatham.com
Tierney Nolen (MARIANA/FRANCISCA) Tierney is a NYC-based actor and theatre maker. She is thrilled to be making her Toms River Shakespeare Festival debut. Theatre credits include: Hamlet (Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre), Kara Sevda (Now What Theatre International Tour & Edinburgh Fringe); Paper Cuts, Hamlet, and 20 Plays in 40 Minutes (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); 10 Seconds and The Poetess (The Plug Festival); Every Five Minutes (Playwrights’ Studio Scotland/Tron Theatre); As You Like It [abridged] (Shakespeare’s Globe/RCS); Romeo and Juliet (The Cutout Theatre). She holds an MA in Acting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. www.tierneynolen.com
Chad Schultze (ELBOW/BARNARDINE) is so excited to be a part of the TRSF production of Measure for Measure! Favorite credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, STRESS: How to Be a Teenager, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, O’Keefe and Benjamin’s Life of the Party, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Education: B.M., NYU Steinhardt.
Thomas Vorsteg (POMPEY) is so excited about his Toms River Shakespeare Festival debut, he could just spit! Recent credits include "Crazy Meshuge, Hurricane Earthquake" (New Yiddish Rep), “White Rabbit, Red Rabbit” (The Theater Project), “Love/Sick” (Women’s Theater Company) and the world premiere of “Detained” (UP Theater Company). Thomas graduated from Fordham University, Bank Street College and has studied acting with Austin Pendleton, Geoffrey Owens and Lee Roy Rogers. Many thanks to Lori for the opportunity to join this marvelous cast and crew in his first Shakespeare production. For more info about Thomas, or to just see pictures of his cat, please visit www.thomasvorsteg.com.
Joe Mucciolo (SECOND GENTLEMAN/ABHORSON/FRIAR PETER) is elated to be coming back to the Toms River Shakespeare Festival where he previously played Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ferdinand in The Tempest. Other regional credits include: Ensemble in Hamlet FFA, Peter/Ensemble in Romeo & Juliet FFA (Shakespeare Theatre Co.); Prep in columbinus (1st Stage); Thomas in Venus in Fur, Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof, Abe in Disgraced, Mayor/Radio Man in Inherit the Wind (Compass Rose Theater, Artistic Associate). Education: BA in Theatre from Loyola University MD. joemucciolo.com
Jacob Garwood (1st Gentleman/Froth/Provost/Boy) is thrilled to be a part of Measure for Measure as his first production with the Toms River Shakespeare Festival. Favorite past roles include: Warren in This Is Our Youth, Gangster 2 in The Drowsy Chaperone, and Cunegonde in A Simple Song.
Jordan Underwood (Mistress Overdone/Justice) New York Theatre: Stone (The Paradise Factory Theatre), Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret (The Deep End), the NYC premier staged reading of Mole Town: An Underground Love Story (Three Act Theatre Company). Regional: Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Toms River Shakespeare Festival), Oberon/Theseus/Hippolita/Snout/Cobweb in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lucetta/Outlaw in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare in the Valley). Social media: @jordallenhall. JordanUnderwood.com
---Music---
DONNA STEARNS (Composer): Composed for NASA, The U.N.'s International Year of Astronomy, received numerous ASCAP PLUS Awards, received an Honorable Mention from the 9th Annual Billboard Song Contest, and her song "First Dance" was on the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards nominating ballot for Best R&B Song of the Year. Her catalogue of Shakespeare sheet music, arranged for voice & piano is available on her website ( www.DonnaStearns.com ) under the Music Tab (click Shakespeare Songs). donna@moonbeam.net Formal training at Florida State University and Eastman School of Music.
CREATIVES OF MEASURE FOR MEASURE
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR .................................... LORI GARRABRANT
STAGE MANAGER........................................................SHANEL SPARR
DRAMATURG.................................................CLARA BARTON GREEN
COSTUME DESIGNER...............................SARAH ELIZABETH HAGA
GRAPHIC DESIGNER........................................ROBERT STEIGELMAN
COMPOSER................................................................DONNA STEARNS
SOUND & LIGHTING TECHNICIANS................NICK SEMANCHIK &
NICK GIAMO
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT.............................................DARCIE KING
PHOTOGRAPHY.......................................................................KRIS KING
CREW/OCVTS PAA INTERNS........................................SYDNEY POST
LUKE BALDUCCI
RYAN KING
WENDY MORERA