By Ezra Tozian

In Avant Bard’s production of Illyria, or What You Will—freely adapted from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night by Jonelle Walker and Mitchell Hébert—the character of Cesario  (who falls in love with Orsino and is loved by Olivia), was reimagined as nonbinary. Here Ezra Tozian, the nonbinary actor who plays Cesario, shares their very personal feelings about the experience.

This has been an intense ride, y’all. What started off as one (still terrifying, but considered within my wheelhouse) role in Illyria has turned into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.

I didn’t get the role of Cesario the traditional way. Our original cast member needed to leave the production before rehearsals started, and I found myself facing two options: option one, the option I usually take, was to remain silent but supportive. I would offer to do my best to help find another nonbinary actor for the director and producer and stay in my already-cast lane. Option two, the really scary one, involved me asking for the role since I, too, was nonbinary. A role that I knew I wouldn’t normally be cast in since it was such a stretch for me as an actor and could very well end in failure. But I asked. And, to my surprise, everyone said yes.

See, here’s the thing, growing up in theatre, I learned to never expect to see a Shakespearean Lover of my size. I certainly never thought I’d get the chance to see a Shakespearean Lover of my gender. And I never thought I’d get the chance to play one—let alone one as youthful, carefree, and hopeful as Cesario.

And here I am. Fat body and all. Genderqueer, nonbinary, trans body, and all. Up on that stage, being loved for who I am with no conditions attached. I’m not fetishized. I’m not promised love once I lose 20 pounds. 30 pounds. 50 pounds. Nothing’s found wrong with my loves for finding me attractive and wanting to be with me, as is. There are no sidelong glances of pity for anyone involved.

It’s revolutionary for me to be in a space like that. It’s vital that audiences see bodies like mine in a space like that. That is how you start to change minds. By casting like this. By showing audiences how normal, how automatic, how understandable, how joyous it is to find someone like Cesario lovable—and, by association, how bodies like mine can be lovable. A body that has been deemed unlovable for as far back as my memory goes. And yet…here we are.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to acknowledge my privilege and its large contribution to this moment: I have an incredibly supportive mother and a long-term partner who have been there for me physically, emotionally, and financially. They, as well as a small but mighty community of friends, all stayed with me through my gender reveal, pronoun change, and name change because they love me and were smart enough to realize nothing about me had changed, but rather had been found. I’m white. I’m also the type of fat and trans body you can put onstage and have people accept fairly easily. My pronouns may confuse your brain, but my appearance does not. I may be fat, but I’m also the statistical average of the United States. Bodies like mine are seen everywhere except in entertainment, and while I’m thrilled that my body is now being showcased and accepted in this show, I know that could very well change with the next one.

I know that there are more bodies out there that need love and acceptance just as much as mine does. I hope we can acknowledge the joy of this moment and use it as fuel to keep moving in the right direction for future productions. And I hope any theater folks reading this consider the radical act of full diversity for their future productions. The amount of joy it brings is truly immeasurable.

I’ve put everything I have into this character, into this show. I’ve learned so much from this experience. I can finally say that I fucking earned the shit out of this and I’m so fucking proud.

For those that have come to the show, thank you for sharing this with me, with us.

Adapted from DC Metro Theater Arts, where this essay first appeared.

Ezra Tozian is a genderqueer, multidisciplinary artist rocking it out in Washington, DC. Some of their previous credits include Use All Available Doors (Pinky Swear Productions), The Trojan Women Project (Brave Spirits Theatre), Crave (Avalanche Theatre Company), and the first iteration of The Tarot Reading.

Remember the 1980s when Shakespeare dropped in on a dive bar in downtown Manhattan? You don’t?! Well then, listen to this playlist to hear what inspired the original music you’ll hear when the DJ spins and the divas sing in Club ILLYRIA.

Click link to listen: ILLYRIA Inspirations playlist by Composer/Sound Designer Aaron Bliden

Illyria, or What You Will, freely adapted from Twelfth Night by Jonelle Walker and Mitchell Hébert, directed by Mitchell Hébert. October 18 to November 18, 2018 at Gunston Arts Center.

Meet the cast and creative team who are
getting it on in a downtown dive bar—in Jonelle Walker and Mitchell Hébert’s freewheeling queering of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

ILLYRIA, or What You Will reimagines Shakespeare’s comedy of mixed-signal love in a downtown Manhattan dive bar in the early 1980s, where identity, sex, and gender are what you will. But who will fall in love with whom? And what music of love will the divas and DJ play? This fresh slant on a classic shakes up Shakespeare with the driving beats and dingy glamor of the post-disco era.

CAST

Frank Britton (DJ Feste), a nine-year Acting Company member, marks his 16th Avant Bard production with Illyria or What You Will following The Tempest last spring. He recently appeared in Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (2018 Helen Hayes Award winner of the Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play – Helen, and the 2017 Broadway World Regional Award winner for Best Actor in a Play – Small Professional Theatre) and The Farnsworth Invention (both at 1st Stage) and Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt (Adventure Theatre, directed by Mitchell Hébert). A native Washingtonian, he has appeared with many area theatres over the past sixteen years. His credits include Wig Out! (Studio Theatre), King Lear (Avant Bard), Back to Methuselah: As Far As Thought Can Reach (Washington Stage Guild), The Freshest Snow Whyte (Imagination Stage), and Black Nativity (Theater Alliance). Other area credits include Two Trains Running and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Round House Theatre), Passion Play: a cycle, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Forum Theatre), Kafka’s Metamorphosis (Synetic Theater), The Balcony and Mother Courage and Her Children (SCENA Theatre), and Orpheus Descending (Arena Stage). Upcoming: Two Trains Running (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park/Milwaukee Repertory Theater). Many, many thanks to Mitchell, Jonelle, Tom, and the Cast and Crew.

Katie Gallagher (Toby) is incredibly excited to be joining Avant Bard for this production. She holds a BA in Theatre and Arabic Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she performed in The Amish Project, Antigone, and Clove, and assistant-directed Love and Information. She is looking forward to exploring DC theatre!

Emma Loughran Hébert (Maria) is stoked to be a part of her first production at Avant Bard! Previously, she choreographed Beauty and the Beast at The Woods Academy and was the Assistant Choreographer for Eurydice at The University of Maryland.  Recent performance credits include Hooded: Or, Being Black for Dummies at Mosaic Theater Company, The Last Burlesque with Pinky Swear Productions, 100 Days with KG Dance, The Pillowman at Forum Theatre, Dante’s Inferno with Synetic Theatre, She Kills Monsters at Rorschach Theatre, and A Happenstance Circus  with Happenstance Theatre. She holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland.

Christopher Henley (Malvolio) is a founding Ensemble Member of (as we were then known) Washington Shakespeare Company and was Artistic Director from 1996 until 2013. He has been working in DC theatre since 1979, when cast as Michael Williams in Henry V at Source Theatre Company. In our inaugural production of Hamlet, he played Horatio; he directed our second Hamlet. In our first Tempest, he played Antonio; he directed our second and played Prospero in our third, last season. He directed our first Lear and played The Fool and The King of France in our second. In our first Macbeth, he played Donalbain; in our second, Duncan, MacDuff, and son of MacDuff. He directed our production of The Merchant of Venice and co-directed (with Jay Hardee) our second Richard III. Favorite non-Shakes directing includes our Caligula and Camille: a tearjerker. Other Shakespearean parts for us: Richard II, Falstaff, Henry IV, Lysander, Jacques, Caska, Don John, Don Pedro, and Cardinal Pandulph. He also played Don John at the Folger and Antonio in The Two Gentlemen of Verona for Bard on Wheels. Many non-Shakespearean roles for us include, most recently, Truman Capote in Holiday Memories. Since retiring into the role of Artistic Director Emeritus at Avant Bard, he has been committing journalism as a Contributing Writer for DCTheatreScene.com (https://dctheatrescene.com/author/christopher-henley/) and parenting as the father of Aksel and Ivona.

Miss Kitty LeLynx (Fabian) was last seen with Avant Bard in its 2017 Scripts in Play Festival. Other shows include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck), Kabarett & Cabaret (Petronella), Rent (Angel), Vanilla Latte (Valerie), and Jilly Manilly (LaQuanda Rae). Catholic University of America, BM, Musical Theatre. Otherwise known as Jase Parker. “Live in FIERCE…not in fear.”

Adam Lemos (Antonio) is thrilled to be making his debut with Avant Bard. He recently graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in Performance. Credits include Constellation Theatre Company, Melancholy Play (Frank u/s). GMU: An Experiment With an Air Pump; Dido, Queen of Carthage; and Six Characters in Search of an Author. Adam is also a senior teaching artist for Acting for Young People.

Montana Monardes (Sebastian) is thrilled to be making his Avant Bard and DC debut in this production. He is a 2018 graduate of the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre Dance and Performance Studies, where he received a BA in Theatrical Performance. While at Maryland he performed in productions such as Eurydice, Love and Information, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Montana is extremely grateful for this opportunity to be welcomed into the DC theatre community and hopes to be back for future Avant Bard productions. www.montanamonardes.com   

Jenna Rossman (Andrew) is STOKED to be working with this incredible team of artists on this production. Jenna is an actor and teaching artist who is passionate about new play development, Shakespeare, and immersive performance. Most recently, she was seen as Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks). Other select regional credits include As You Like It (Baltimore Center Stage), Girls in Cars Underwater (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center NPC), The Whale (Rep Stage), Pullman, WA (Edge of the Universe Players 2), Disgraced (NextStop Theatre), and A Fool’s Paradise: 30 Shakespeare Scenes in 60 Min. (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). She is a proud graduate of Towson University’s Acting program and studied improvisation at The Second City and iO Improv Theater (Chicago).

Matthew Sparacino (Orsino) is very excited to be making his Avant Bard debut with Illyria! A native of the DC area, Matt has performed with many local theatres over the past decade. He most recently appeared in Don Cristóbal with Pointless Theatre (with whom he is an artistic associate). Other select credits include Hugo Ball, Doctor Caligari, and A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular (also with Pointless); The Farnsworth Invention and Lobby Hero (1st Stage); Six Degrees of Separation (Keegan Theatre); The Winter’s Tale and Antony and Cleopatra (Folger Theatre); Richard II, Dracula and The Merchant of Venice (Chesapeake Shakespeare); and Fever/Dream (Woolly Mammoth). Matt holds a BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland. He’d like to thank Mitch and Tom for this opportunity, and for all they’ve taught him over the years. www.matthewsparacino.com

Dani Stoller (Olivia) is so excited to be making her Avant Bard debut in Illyria! Dani is an actress and playwright originally from Brooklyn, New York. Previous DC credits include Olney Theatre Center: The Crucible (Abigail Williams), Annie (Lily St. Regis), The Diary of Anne Frank (Margot Frank); Folger Theatre: Midsummer (Flute), District Merchants (Jessica), As You Like It (Phoebe); Studio Theater: Carrie the Musical; 1st Stage: The Good Counselor, Blithe Spirit, The Italian American Reconciliation, Bat Boy (Helen Hayes Nomination: Best Supporting Actress in a Musical). BFA, Ithaca College. www.danistoller.com

Ezra Tozian (Viola/Cesario) is a genderqueer, multidisciplinary artist rocking it out in Washington, DC. This is their first time performing with Avant Bard and they couldn’t be more excited for the challenge! Some of their previous credits include Use All Available Doors (Pinky Swear Productions), The Trojan Women Project (Brave Spirits Theatre), Crave (Avalanche Theatre Company), and the first iteration of The Tarot Reading.

CREATIVE TEAM AND PRODUCTION CREW

Jonelle Walker (Co-Adapter, Dramaturg) is a Helen Hayes Award–nominated playwright, theatre-maker, and scholar who lives and works in Washington, DC, but will always call Texas home. Her work as a playwright includes TAME. (2016 Helen Hayes Award nomination, Best Adaptation of a Play or Musical), Prophets of Doom (2016), The Theatre of Self-Loathing (2015), and numerous short plays. She is a Company Member and Associate Producer with Rorschach Theatre. Jonelle holds an MA and is pursuing a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Maryland.

Mitchell Hébert (Director, Co-Adapter) has worked as a director at Round House Theatre (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Glengarry Glen Ross), Forum Theatre (The Illusion), Olney Theatre Center (Rabbit Hole), and Adventure Theatre (Judy Moody and Stink). As an actor his recent roles include Richard Burbage and Ben Jonson in The Book of Will  (Round House Theatre), Roy Cohn in Angels in America parts 1 and 2 (a co-production of Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center), and Arnold in Hir (Woolly Mammoth Theatre). At the University of Maryland, where he is on the faculty, he has directed Eurydice, The Amish Project, and The Distance from Here and co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was performed at UMD and The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in Beijing, China. Mitch has received Helen Hayes Awards for both acting (After the Fall at Theatre J) and directing (Glengarry Glen Ross at Round House Theatre), in addition to several nominations as an actor and director.

Jos. B. Musumeci, Jr. (Set Designer), who has designed the scenery for Othello, Nero/Pseudo, and King John for Avant Bard and the lighting for last season’s The Tempest, is excited to return as Set Designer for Illyria. Other recent work includes scenery for Flying V’s Fights 3: The Secret History of the Unknown World and You, or Whatever I Can Get, and the lighting for Twelfth Night, Spring Awakening, and Beyond the Sunset at St. Mary’s College, where he has just completed his first year as Technical Director and Lighting Designer, after a decade and a half as the Director of Theatre and Events at the Bender JCC of Greater Washington.

Kristen P Ahern (Costume Designer) is excited for her first show with Avant Bard and third with Mitch! Recent designs include Seven Deadly Sins (Wolf Trap Opera), Judy Moody and Stink… (Adventure Theatre MTC), The Princess and the Pauper (Imagination Stage), and Love and Information (University of Maryland). Kristen is from Chicago, where where she worked with Silk Road Rising, Collaboraction, Boho Theatre Ensemble, and others. She spent summers at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, where her designs included The Fantasticks, Hairspray and Les Miserables. www.kristenp.com/

John D. Alexander (Lighting Designer) is excited to return to Avant Bard. His recent designs include the national tour of The Migration: Reflections of Jacob Lawrence presented by Step Afrika!, the national tour of Anne and Emmett by Janet Langhart Cohen, Marie and Rosetta by George Brant (Mosaic Theater Company), and Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau (TheatreSquared). Upcoming design includes A Civil War Christmas by Paula Vogel (1st Stage).

Aaron Bliden (Composer/Sound Designer) is a performance artist based in Washington, DC. He has composed, arranged, and directed music for Pointless Theatre’s productions of Imagination Meltdown Adventure, Minnie the Moocher, A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular, Hugo Ball, d0t, and Solar System Show. At the University of Maryland in College Park, he worked on Eurydice, The Amish Project, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He worked on Rorschach Theatre’s Glassheart and for numerous short films for Chicago Sketch outfit Claymore Productions.  He co-wrote the musicals Go to Hell, Eugene!! and Please Listen: A Musical Chaos for the Capital Fringe Festival. Aaron is grateful to Avant Bard for the opportunity to work on Illyria.

Emma Loughran Hébert (Choreographer). See bio above under Cast.

Claudia Rosales Waters (Intimacy Coordinator/Assistant Director/Assistant Choreographer) is a local DC playwright, performer, and intimacy director. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Performance from the University of Maryland. As an intimacy director, she has worked with Mosaic Theater Company on Hooded, Or Being Black for Dummies. Recent productions include Women of Troy: Voices from Afghanistan (Alliance for New-Music Theatre) and Trojan Women (Brave Spirits).  Claudia is the Program Associate with Young Playwrights’ Theater.

Liz Long (Properties Designer) is excited for her first show with Avant Bard, especially with it’s ’80s setting. Just how many Duran Duran references did she manage to sneak in? Recent designs include Coraline and 1776 (Landless Theatre Company), The Man Who, The River, and Happy Hour (Spooky Action Theater), and Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche (Monumental Theater).  Liz is the Production Manager for Encore Decor Design and Event Production.

Bryan Boyd (Stage Manager) is an up-and-coming Stage Manager in the DMV. Previous credits include Adventure Theater MTC: SM/Les Miserables; Creative Cauldron: ASM/Witch, SM/The Mistress Cycle; Constellation Theatre Company: ASM/The Skin of Our Teeth; ArtsCentric: SM/Sincerely Holidays, ASM/Sister Act; Mosaic Theater Company: ASM/Hooded or Being Black for Dummies, ASM/Charm; Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theater: SM/West Side Story, SM/Into the Woods. He holds a BA in Communication from Arizona State University and an AA in Theater Performance from Montgomery College.

Jenna Rossman (Special Effects). See bio above under Cast.

Ralph Derbyshire (Technical Director) is an Arlington native.  He has worked throughout the DC region for the last 15 years, most notably with The Smithsonian Folklife Festival (2002–08 2010–15), George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium (2007–12), as well as freelancing with many local crewing companies setting up special events and concerts.  He has held the titles of master carpenter, master flyman, assistant stage manager, and shop foreman. He also works and volunteers with the National Folk Festival as well as several other festivals locally and around the country. This is his third show with Avant Bard, after building the sets for The Gospel at Colonus and The Tempest last season.    

Jonelle Walker (Dramaturg). See bio above.

ILLYRIA, or What You Will plays October 18 to November 18, 2018, at Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA. Tickets are available online or by calling 703-418-4804.

For its 29th season of making theatre on the edge, Avant Bard proudly announces three mainstage productions featuring classic comedies by Shakespeare and Molière newly adapted for now, plus a contemporary classic by Suzan-Lori Parks. In keeping with the company’s core commitment to affordability and access to timeless classics, Avant Bard also announces a new policy making Pay What You Will tickets available for every performance. 

Opening the season in October will be Illyria, or What You Will, freely adapted from Twelfth Night by Jonelle Walker and Mitchell Hébert, directed by Mitchell Hébert. Illyria reimagines Shakespeare’s crossed-signal love story in a downtown Manhattan ’80s dive bar, where the habitués are club kids of assorted genders and orientations who have come to the one place where they can be who they are. Walker’s play TAME., a feminist take on The Taming of the Shrew, was produced by Avant Bard in 2016 and received a Helen Hayes Award nomination. Hebért has received Helen Hayes Awards for both acting (After the Fall) and directing (Glengarry Glen Ross), in addition to other nominations as an actor and director.
* Illyria, or What You Will runs October 18 to November 19, 2018. Opening night is Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 7:30 pm.

Next up, in March 2019, is Topdog/Underdog, the Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary classic by Suzan-Lori Parks. Parks, one of the most acclaimed playwrights in American theatre, is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient and in 2015 was awarded the prestigious Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts. Topdog/Underdog is about two African American brothers, named Lincoln and Booth, whose names foreshadow their destiny as they engage in a deadly game of one-upmanship. Parks encapsulates 400 years of African American history in a Cain-and-Abel fable for our time. In June The New York Times named this tensely funny and dead serious tragicomedy the best American play of the last 25 years.
* Topdog/Underdog runs March 14 to April 14, 2019. Opening night is Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 7:30 pm.

Rounding out Season 29 in May 2019 is A Misanthrope, a new distillation of Molière’s classic comedy by Matt Minnicino. A Manhattan-based playwright, Minnicino has adapted more than a dozen classics from the Greeks to Genet. A Misanthrope is a brisk, biting comedy about a cynic who thinks insincerity is a sin–but the joke’s on him when he falls for an ingenue who’s more than his intellectual equal. Minnicino’s A Misanthrope is written in slang-filled rhyming couplets, one howler after another; hypocrisy has never been more hilarious.
* A Misanthrope runs May 30 to June 30, 2019. Opening/press night is Tuesday, June 4, 2019, 7:30 pm.

“Each of these plays fits squarely and adventurously in our wheelhouse: bold and provocative productions of time-tested and contemporary classics, up close and personal,” said Tom Prewitt, Artistic and Executive Director of Avant Bard. “We’ve got an amazing lineup this season, and we hope audiences will share our excitement about it.”

A limited number of Pay What You Will tickets will go on sale online beginning the Monday before. Patrons can make advance ticket purchases online for any mainstage production, with a flat top price of only $40. Advance Pay What You Will tickets for all previews are also available now online.

On top of three mainstage shows, Avant Bard’s Season 29 will feature two special events: a month-long series of free play readings and a benefit performance by celebrity couple Sheila Johnson and William T. Newman Jr.

Avant Bard’s signature play-reading series, the Scripts in Play Festival (“artistic hopefuls for future productions”) kicks off in February 2019 with a slate of scripts and projects now being curated. Among the works that started out as Scripts in Play readings and then went on to stagings by Avant Bard are the Helen Hayes Award-nominated TAME., Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends
Her Life Tonight, and two-thirds of Season 29: Illyria, or What You Will and A Misanthrope. The free Scripts in Play Festival runs February 4 to 24, 2019, at Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two (dates and plays TBA).

And coming up in fall 2018 is a one-night-only benefit reading of Love Letters by A. R. Gurney (date, time, and venue TBA). This gently funny and deeply moving two-hander consists of letters exchanged over a lifetime between a couple who grew up together, went their separate ways, but continued to share confidences. Love Letters will star real-life married couple Sheila Johnson and William T. Newman Jr., who first met as actors in the Negro Ensemble Company. Johnson, co-founder of BET Network, is CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts and part owner of the Washington Mystics, Wizards, and Capitals. Avant Bard audiences will remember Newman as Preacher Oedipus in The Gospel at Colonus. In his day job, he is Arlington County Circuit Court Chief Judge.

“Avant Bard is all about discovery and connectivity,” said Prewitt. “We take what might be from then and make it mean now. We take what might be from not long ago and look at it anew. And we keep on the lookout for works that should have a life in seasons to come. In this way, we keep our hands on the pulse of the past, present, and future-all in hopes of reaching audiences who enjoy theatre on the edge.”

VENUE
All mainstage productions will be at Gunston Arts Center, Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206.

PASSPORTS AND TICKETS
Subscriptions for Avant Bard’s 2018-2019 season (“Passports”) may be purchased online, through the box office at 703-418-4808, or by email at boxoffice@avantbard.org.

TICKET INFORMATION
Avant Bard tickets are $40 and available online or by calling 703-418-4808. For every Avant Bard performance, a limited number of tickets are Pay What You Will, which means you can name your price. You can reserve PWYW tickets online the Monday before each performance for a small service minimum, or at the door with no minimum. All Avant Bard tickets including PWYW are General Admission; seating is first-come-first-served.

Meet the cast and creative team who are conjuring this magical love fest.

Shakespeare’s classic comedy—the only play he set in the New World—is filled with young love, dazzling magic, cross-cultural strife, and ultimately forgiveness. In Avant Bard’s offbeat update, The Tempest tells a story of refugees and exiles that asks, “How can we all get along on this island Earth?”

CAST

Justin J. Bell (Caliban) is thrilled to be joining Avant Bard for this production.  Justin is a teaching artist, director/movement director, playwright, and storyteller who focuses on comedy and physical theatre. He has taught with Gala Hispanic Theatre’s award-winning youth program, Paso Nuevo; in the Richmond Public School System through Art 180; and with Synetic Theater, where he has been a company member since 2015. Past and upcoming credits include Synetic Theater: Hansel and Gretel, The Taming of the Shrew, Dante’s Inferno, Alice in Wonderland, As You Like It, A Tale of Two Cities, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Island of Dr. Moreau (Helen Hayes nominated); Arts on the Horizon: To the Clouds, Nutt and Bolt (Helen Hayes nominated); Iron Crow Theatre: BootyCandy (Movement Director); Atramental Arts: The Root of All Knowledge (Director); Constellation Theatre Company: Journey to the West; relEASE Physical Theatre: straight on til moUrning; The Conciliation Project:  Genocide Trail, Uncle Tom: de-constructed.  He would like to thank his support system, especially his mom, who has been his biggest champion.

Allyson Boate  (Miranda) is ecstatic to work with such lovely people in her first production with Avant Bard. She recently moved to the DMV area after touring with the National Players in Hamlet, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Giver.   Previous credits include Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet  (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), Meg in Crimes of the Heart (Fable Theatre), Varya in The Cherry Orchard, and Ophelia in Hamlet (Treasure House Theater). www.allysonboate.com

Frank Britton (Alonso), a nine-year Acting Company member, marks his 15th Avant Bard production with The Tempest. He most recently appeared in Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (2018 Helen Hayes Award winner of the Robert Prosky Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play – Helen, and the 2017 Broadway World Regional Award winner for Best Actor in a Play – Small Professional Theatre) and The Farnsworth Invention (both at 1st Stage). A native Washingtonian, he has appeared with many area theatres over the past sixteen years: Wig Out! (Studio Theatre); King Lear (Avant Bard); Back to Methuselah: As Far As Thought Can Reach (Washington Stage Guild); The Freshest Snow Whyte (Imagination Stage); and Black Nativity (Theater Alliance). Other area credits include Two Trains Running and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Round House Theatre); Passion Play: a cycle,  The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Forum Theatre); Kafka’s Metamorphosis (Synetic Theater), The Balcony and Mother Courage and Her Children (SCENA Theatre); and Orpheus Descending (Arena Stage). Many, many thanks to Tom, Laura, and the Cast and Crew.

Brian Crane (Gonzalo) last appeared with Avant Bard as Bernard in There Is a Happiness That Morning Is. Other Avant Bard credits include Foka in Les Justes, Edward IV in Richard III, Sigmund in Secret Obscenities (Capital Fringe Festival), Steve in Small Craft Warnings, War in Peace, LeGrue in Red Noses, Lepidus in Caligula, Lodowick in Edward III, and DeNizza and Manco in The Royal Hunt of the Sun. Roles with The American Century Theater include Juror 11 in Twelve Angry Men, Frank Elgin in Country Girl, Leslie in Seascape, Woodley in Happy Birthday, Wanda June, the Producer in Hellzapoppin’, the Egg of Head in MacBird!, Harris in Tea and Sympathy, and Felix/Williams in Paradise Lost. He has also appeared as Clotaldo in Life’s a Dream with Journeymen Theatre.

Miles Folley (Ferdinand), hailing from Washington, D.C., has been interested in acting since watching the cast of Homicide: Life on the Street eat crabs in a Baltimore seafood spot and make it look realistic. After his mentors from UDC told him to audition at AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy) to learn more about the craft, his love for the artform has grown deeper. He is thankful to have attained more lessons about acting in plays such as In the Cut (DC Black Theatre Festival), Antony and Cleopatra (Virginia Shakespeare Festival), and The Very Last Days of the First Colored Circus (Restoration Stage). He is thankful and humbled to continue his growth in his debut performance at Avant Bard.

Emily H. Gilson (Ariel) is thrilled to make her Avant Bard debut! Local credits include Sister James in Doubt at SeeNoSun Onstage; workshop readings in Avant Bard’s Scripts in Play Festival, Page-to-Stage at Kennedy Center, Ari Roth’s 2011 staging of his Born Guilty Cycle (Theatre Lab/Theatre J), and Source Festival. Emily is also an accomplished devised performer and founding collaborator with DC’s TBD Immersive, originating roles in In Cabaret We Trust and the celebrated Cabaret Rising at Dupont Undergound. Her debut short film, Silent Sentinel, is currently playing at festivals. She holds a BA in Drama and Medieval Studies from SUNY Purchase and also trained with Studio Theatre, Signature (Arlington, VA), and Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA). Love forever to JRHR. www.emilygilsonactor.com.

Christopher Henley (Prospero) is a founding Ensemble Member of (as we were known then) Washington Shakespeare Company and was Artistic Director from 1996 until 2013. In our first Tempest (1993), he played Antonio; he directed our second Tempest (2004). He directed our first Lear (1994) and played The Fool and The King of France in last year’s King Lear. He also directed our productions of Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and the 2010 Richard III in addition to much else (including Caligula and Camille: a tearjerker). Other Shakespearean parts for us include Richard II, Falstaff, Henry IV, Lysander, Jacques, Horatio, Caska, Don John, Don Pedro, MacDuff, Son of MacDuff, Duncan, Donalbain, Cardinal Pandulph, and Antonio in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Bard on Wheels version), in addition to many non-Shakespearean roles (most recently Truman Capote in Holiday Memories). Since retiring into the role of Artistic Director Emeritus at Avant Bard, he has been committing journalism as a Contributing Writer for DCTheatreScene.com: https://dctheatrescene.com/author/christopher-henley/.

Cam Magee (Antonia/Stephano) has appeared in and/or dramaturged 20 of Avant Bard’s Shakespeare productions. Her past credits include Gloucester in King Lear, Aurélie in The Madwoman of Chaillot, Eleanor/Pembroke in King John, Juno in Juno and the Paycock, and Hannah Jelkes in The Night of the Iguana.  She has appeared at Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Theater J, Source Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Washington Stage Guild (for which she received a Helen Hayes nomination playing Mrs. Cheveley in An Ideal Husband).  She is a company member of Avant Bard, Rorschach Theatre, and Shakespeare for the Young (www.shakespearefortheyoung.com).

Camille Pivetta (Ariel) is ecstatic to be working with an amazing team on Avant Bard’s production of The Tempest as her first professional show. She is currently a junior at Yorktown High School, and a part of their unique Theatre Arts Program, where she has obtained most of her training and has been exposed to experiences with companies such as Avant Bard, Synetic Theater, and Signature Theatre. She is grateful to have been raised in the Washington area, where there is such a passion towards the arts, and to be surrounded by mentors and friends who continuously help her grow.

Reginald Richard (Ariel) is honored to be making his debut with Avant Bard. Just recently he was deemed runner-up in the winner-take-all actor competition, Monologue Madness. And weeks before he made his debut at Arena Stage in the political thrill ride, The Great Society. Aside from establishing himself as a fellow thespian, Reginald also teaches at the accredited National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, where he received his training. His local stage credits include Exit, Pursued by a Bear (Barabbas Theatre); The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Ally Theatre Company); Ballast (Source Festival); and The Last Burlesque (Pinky Swear Productions). He would like to personally acknowledge his mother, Pamela Richard, Alan Sharpe, Doug Wilder, and Nan Ficca for their continuous support throughout his theatrical journey over the years.

Alyssa Sanders (Sebastia/Trinculo) as always is thrilled to be working with Avant Bard, where she was most recently seen as Goneril to Rick Foucheux’s Lear in King Lear. Other roles include Emilia in Avant Bard’s Othello and Beth in Peter’s Alley Theatre’s Dinner with Friends. Other local theaters she has worked for include Quotidian Theatre Company (Company Member), Lean & Hungry Theater (Company Member), Venus Theatre, Studio Theatre, Adventure Theatre. Training: American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Brandeis University, Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory. www.alyssasanders.com

CREATIVE TEAM AND PRODUCTION CREW

Tom Prewitt (Director), now in his sixth season as Artistic and Executive Director of Avant Bard, most recently staged King Lear, Holiday Memories, Othello, and the Helen Hayes Award-winning production of Visible Language. Other Avant Bard credits include celebrated productions of William Shakespeare’s King John, Six Characters in Search of an Author, and No Man’s Land. He has directed Off Broadway at The Public Theater, Drama Department, Jean Cocteau Rep, Castillo Theatre, and Blue Heron Theatre, as well as locally for Woolly Mammoth (eleven shows, including Cooking with Elvis, starring Rick Foucheux), Signature Theatre, Round House, Theater of the First Amendment, South Coast Rep, Portland Stage Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Delaware Theatre Company, and New Mexico Rep. Prewitt’s production of Sins of Sor Juana by Karen Zacarias won the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play (Theater of the First Amendment), and his staging of Ian Cohen’s Lenny and Lou received Helen Hayes Award nominations for Outstanding Resident Production and Outstanding New Play (Woolly Mammoth). His production of Nathan the Wise (also nominated for the MacArthur Award) was taped and broadcast by PBS affiliate WETA. He has taught acting, directing, playwriting, and theatre history at NYU, Manhattanville College, University of Maryland, and George Mason University. Prewitt’s abiding interest in education and theatre for social change continues this year through partnerships he helped to develop with HB Woodlawn Secondary School as well as Arlington-based 296 Project, which works with veterans and their families, using the arts to overcome effects of PTSD and traumatic brain injury. He currently serves on the Board of Governors for theatreWashington/Helen Hayes Awards, the Artistic Advisory Panel for the Mead Theatre Lab Program (CulturalDC), and Arlington County’s Four Mile Run Valley Working Group. Prewitt studied with Jerzy Grotowski at Columbia University, was awarded fellowships from Theatre Communications Group and the Drama League of New York, and received his undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard University, where he majored in English and Comparative Religions.

Sandra L. Holloway (Assistant Director and Choreographer) choreographed and directed this year’s revival of The Gospel at Colonus and is now delighted to work with the artistic team and cast of The Tempest!  Some of Sandi’s choreographic credits in musical theater include: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough for Theater Alliance , Eyes at Howard University, I, Too, Sing America for the Howard Players, Alexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, tigertigertiger at Theater of the First Amendment, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Guys and Dolls for the GMU Players, among others.  Some of her concert dance works have been featured at the Lincoln Theater Black Choreographers Showcase, Dance Theater of Harlem’s 40th Anniversary Celebration, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Hi-Arts Hip-Hop Theater Festival, Hollow Dance In Concert at Howard University Cramton Auditorium and Ira Aldridge Stage, The 45 Degrees Project (a partnership between Joy of Motion DC and Deeply Rooted Dance Company in Chicago, IL), New World Dance Company in DC and is currently working with Hill Dance Academy  in Pittsburgh, PA.  Her work has been included in concert dance seasons for Collage Dance Company in Memphis, TN.  Sandihas worked with directors and choreographers including Mike Malone, George Faison, Diane MacIntyre, Kenneth Daugherty, Linda Gravatt, Nick Alcott, Ed Gero, Tom Prewitt, and other really interesting and influential artists. Sandi is the Artistic Director of City at Peace, a youth development organization that uses the arts to effect social change, and is the founder of the holloway arts project (the hap).  She is the recipient of the National Association of Regional Ballet Choreographers Conference Award, Mayor’s Arts Award in Arts and Education for City at Peace, GAEA Foundation Sea Change Artist Award for Arts and Activism, the 2015 Paula Giddings Arts Award and was a 2014 Presenter at Alternate ROOTS Festival Week.  Sandi is a graduate of the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

Greg Stevens (Set, Costume, and Props Designer) is a Helen Hayes Award nominee and has directed, designed, built, or painted sets or costumes for over 150 shows in DC, NYC, San Diego, and elsewhere. Favorite shows include Emilie: La Marquis du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight (set); Suddenly Last Summer (directed); Oldest Profession (set, costumes); The Amish Project (Helen Hayes nomination, set); The Cole Porter Project (co-wrote, directed, designed); Vampire Lesbians of Sodom (set, costumes); The Saint Plays (set, costumes); Boston Marriage (set). Founding company member of Helen Hayes Award–winning Factory 449.

Jos. B. Musumeci, Jr. (Lighting Designer) has designed the scenery for Othello, Nero/Pseudo, and King John with Avant Bard, and is excited to return as Lighting Designer for The Tempest. Other recent work includes scenery for Flying V’s Fights 3: The Secret History of the Unknown World and You, or Whatever I Can Get, and the lighting for Twelfth Night, Spring Awakening, and Beyond the Sunset at St. Mary’s College, where he has just completed his first year as Technical Director and Lighting Designer, after a decade and a half as the Director of Theatre and Events at the Bender JCC of Greater Washington.

Andrew Bellware (Composer)  has designed sound and composed music for hundreds of productions. He was a founding member of the now-defunct off-off Broadway theater company Manhattan Theatresource in Greenwich Village. He has designed for the Wooster Group, worked for the New York Shakespeare Festival, and designed off-Broadway musicals Sidd and La Gioconda. With Avant Bard stage manager Laura Schlachtmeyer producing, he has directed more than a dozen science-fiction feature films, which have been distributed all over the world.

Ralph Derbyshire (Technical Director) is an Arlington native. He has worked throughout the DC region for the last 15 years, though most notably with The Smithsonian Folklife Festival (2002-08, 2010-15), GWU’s Lisner Auditorium (2007-12), as well as many local crewing companies setting up special events. He has held the titles Master Carpenter, Master Flyman, Assistant Stage Manager, and Shop Foreman. He also works and volunteers with the National Folk Festival as well as several other festivals locally and around the country. This is his first show with Avant Bard, and he is excited to bring his skills back to real theatre.

Laura Schlachtmeyer (Production Stage Manager) is delighted to continue working with Avant Bard after Nero/Pseudo (2014) and TAME. (2016). Recent mainstage productions include I Killed My Mother (Spooky Action); Laura Bush Killed a Guy, Adult Entertainment (The Klunch); and This Is All Just Temporary (Convergence). Proud recipient of the NYIT Award for Outstanding Stage Manager.

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The Tempest plays May 31 to July 1, 2018, at Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA. Tickets are available online or by calling 703-418-4804.

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