Romeo and Juliet - Fall 2022

Dear Friends,

On

behalf of our artists, staff and Board of Trustees, welcome to Great Lakes Theater’s 61st season!

Our mission, “to bring the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possi ble audience,” guides our mainstage produc tions and our educational programming. We believe theater holds the capacity to illuminate truth and enduring values, celebrate and challenge human nature and actions, and provide our student audiences a glimpse of a broader world and the wellspring of learning made possible through the arts.

The second production in our 2022-23 season is the incomparable Romeo and Juliet, directed by Great Lakes Theater’s Associate Artistic Director, Sara Bruner. Ms. Bruner’s deft direction immerses audiences in the romance, passion and heartbreak of this endur ing classic. The intimate Hanna Theatre is the perfect space to revel in this tragic love story as the actors expertly draw you into the action and emotion as they perform mere feet from the audience.

We are proud to announce that Romeo and Juliet is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. This program provides a generous grant in support of our work to make Shakespeare accessible to area school students through our Student Matinee Series and School Residency Program.

As we continue our 61st season, we offer our deepest gratitude to Arthur L. Thomas for his generous support of this production. TRG Multimedia also receives special thanks for their production media sponsorship of Romeo and Juliet. As you read your program and look around the theater tonight, you will see the names of many friends, partners, corporations and foundations whose support makes all of this possible. We encourage you to join these donors by becoming a member of the Great Lakes Theater family with your gift. We extend our sincere gratitude to all of our sponsors and Annual Fund donors/members, with contin ued appreciation to our partners of more than 40 years at Playhouse Square, and the tireless efforts of our Board of Trustees, dedicated administrative staff, gifted artists and the tremen dous generosity of this community.

We hope to see you in our audience again soon.

Charles Fee Producing Artistic Director

Bob Taylor Executive Director

ABOUT GREAT LAKES THEATER

The mission of Great Lakes Theater (GLT), through its mainstage productions and its education programs, is to bring the plea sure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience.

Since the company’s inception in 1962, programming has been rooted in Shakespeare, but GLT’s commitment to great plays spans the breadth of all cultures, forms of theater and time periods –– including the 20th cen tury –– and provides for the occasional mounting of new works that complement the classical repertoire.

Classic theater holds the capacity to illumi nate truth and enduring values, celebrate and challenge human nature and actions, revel in eloquent language, preserve the traditions of diverse cultures and generate communal spirit. On its mainstage and through its educa tion programs, GLT seeks to create visceral, immediate experiences for participants, asserting theater’s historic role as a vehicle for advancing the common good and helping peo ple make joyful and meaningful connections between classic plays and their own lives.

The company’s commitment to classic theater is magnified in the educational pro gramming surrounding its productions. Since its inception, GLT has had a strong presence in area schools, bringing students to the the ater for matinee performances and sending specially trained actor-teachers to the schools for weeklong residencies developed to explore classic drama from a theatrical point of view. GLT is equally dedicated to enhancing the theater experience for adult audiences. To this end, GLT regularly serves as the catalyst for community events and programs in the arts and humanities that illuminate the plays on its stage.

Great Lakes Theater is one of only a hand ful of American theaters that have stayed the course as a classic theater. As GLT celebrates more than a decade in its permanent home at the Hanna Theatre, the company reaffirms its belief in the power of partnership, its deter mination to make this community a better place in which to live, and its commitment to ensure the legacy of classic theater in Cleveland.

By William Shakespeare

By Charles

Freedman

By Kate

William

With generous support from:

Charles Fee Producing Artistic Director

Presents

Arthur L. Thomas

DIRECTED BY SARA BRUNER BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Lynn Robert Berg* Danny Bó Benjamin Bonenfant* Michael Burns

Aamar Malik Culbreth Aled Davies*

Scenic Designer

Efren Delgadillo Jr.

Sound Designer

Company

Maggie Kettering* Jeffrey King* Jessie Cope Miller* Kate Mulligan* Jaime Nebeker

Avery LaMar Pope J.T. Snow

Costume Designer

Mieka van der Ploeg

André Pluess Movement Director

Wig and Hair Designer

Iran Micheal Leon

Jaclyn Miller

Production Stage Manager

Nicki Cathro*

Stephen Michael Spencer* Nick Steen* Alex Syiek* M.A. Taylor*

Ángela Utrera* Joe Wegner*

Lighting Designer

Rick Martin

Fight Director Chris DuVal

Assistant Stage Manager

Sarah Kelso*

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

This project is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Great Lakes Theater Youth Savings subscriptions are subsidized by a generous gift from Eaton.

There will be one fifteen-minute intermission.

The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.

CAST OF

Alex Syiek*

Stephen Michael Spencer*

Nick Steen*‡

J.T. Snow

Aled Davies*

Jessie Cope Miller*†

Benjamin Bonenfant*

Aamar Malik Culbreth

Jaime Nebeker

Michael Burns

Maggie Kettering*

Ángela Utrera*

Joe Wegner*

Kate Mulligan*

M.A. Taylor*

Danny Bó

Avery LaMar Pope

Jeffrey King*

Lynn Robert Berg*

Stephen Michael Spencer*

Culbreth, Jaime Nebeker, Danny Bó, Avery LaMar Pope, Jessie Cope Miller*, J.T. Snow

Stage

spotlight an insider’s guide to

by: Stacy Mallardi-StajcaR, Casual Images Graphic Design

Generous support for Spotlight was provided by Donald F. and Anne T. Palmer

and written by: Margaret Lynch

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

From the Director

Sara Bruner

Shakespeare’s version of Romeo and Juliet has the distinction of being one of the single most recognizable stories in our collective culture. The title alone is likely to summon some type of memory for almost everyone sitting in this audience —which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s really useful to have a hold on a Shakespeare piece before we see it because it allows us to sit back a bit more and watch how this particular version unfolds. Since we are not experiencing a new story, we don’t have to track characters and plot points the same way that we would if we were coming to see a story that had never been told. On the flip side, our curiosity can be dulled if we come in with a rigid set of assumptions, preferences and opinions.

I invite you to hear and watch this play as if it were a new piece of work. Even those of us who have a long and deep history with Romeo and Juliet are still making discoveries — lines that we’ve never heard, moments that are landing in a new way. One of the most striking elements of this show for me this time around is the way that the plague is featured in the story — though as theatergoers we often take this plot point for granted. Let me remind you how it all falls out — you may have forgotten or never noticed: When Mercutio is killed, he curses both the Capulets and Montagues, feeling that their feud is responsible for his untimely end. In his final moments, he repeats the phrase “a plague o’ both your houses” and is essentially using his last moments to curse, or jinx, these families.

Now, let’s fast-forward a bit. Friar Laurence devises a plan with Juliet in which she will drink a “distilled liquor” that will make her appear dead, causing Juliet’s family to mourn her death and inter her in the family tomb. Meanwhile, the Friar will write a letter to Romeo letting him know that Juliet is feigning death. The letter further asks that Romeo meet the Friar in Capulet’s tomb to witness Juliet’s waking — the final step being, of course, that Romeo and Juliet will secretly be reunited and live out their days in Mantua together.

Most of you remember that the letter the Friar writes never makes it into Romeo’s hands. But do you remember why?

Mercutio’s “plague” moves from figurative to literal and seals the fate of the star-crossed lovers. The messenger that Friar Laurence employs to carry the letter from Verona to Mantua is not allowed to leave the city walls because he has recently visited the sick and was exposed to the plague. They fear he is infectious, and so, he is quarantined. Mercutio’s “a plague o’ both your houses” is made manifest, and Romeo and Juliet both die in the tomb that very night.

All of this is to say, we both do and do not know these plays. In some cases, our memories are not serving us. In other instances, we just miss things because the language is so dense that it’s impossible to hear everything that is packed into the text, or our lives happen to us and our ears get tuned in new ways. Suddenly, something pops in a way that it never has before — like the plague plot did for me.

If you allow yourself to, you can always hear these plays anew. So with that, I challenge you to lean in and see what Romeo and Juliet has in store for you this time.

Playnotes: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakepeare

The first printing of Romeo and Juliet in 1597 was probably “pirated” without the involvement of the playwright. Mistakes and gaps in the text abound. One or more actors may have helped to reconstruct the script. The title page features the name of the theater company rather than the writer’s.

In early 1595, Shakespeare was hitting his stride as a playwright. His credits at that time included a slew of history plays, a handful of romantic comedies — The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona — and a gory revenge drama, Titus Andronicus. He was in the public eye. In 1592, he’d been attacked in print by a more established, and jealous, writer named Robert Greene. He had a long narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, published in 1593, followed soon after by several plays.

By 1595, Shakespeare was a principal mem ber of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company. Along

The second printing, issued in 1599 by a reputable bookseller, was proclaimed to be “Newly corrected, augmented, and amended.” Romeo and Juliet had three printings during the playwright’s lifetime and was one of only 18 of Shakespeare’s verified 38 plays to be published during that timeframe.

with leading actor Richard Burbage and come dian Will Kempe, he was mentioned in a court document as handling logistics for the theater company’s performances at court that year. Two years later, he had earned enough money to pur chase the second-largest house in his native town of Stratford.

The plays that Shakespeare wrote circa 1595

— Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Rich ard II and A Midsummer Night’s Dream — only enhanced his reputation. Even during that pro ductive stretch, Romeo and Juliet was a standout. A pirated edition was rushed into print in 1597, with an assist from actors who reconstructed the script. A “corrected” edition, possibly based on Shakespeare’s rough draft, came out two years

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

Playnotes (continued)

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

In the second “quarto” edition of Romeo and Juliet, based on a manuscript more directly associated with Shakespeare, the character of Peter, a messenger, was identified as “Will Kempe.” A celebrated comedian, Kempe was a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. He left the company in 1599, publishing an account, with frontispiece, of his traveling solo act, “Kempe’s Nine Days Wonder,” in 1600.

later under the auspices of a prominent book seller, Cuthbert Burby, who shopped some of the most fashionable writers of the day. The title pages of both editions claimed that Romeo and Juliet had been presented “publiquely” — “often (with great applause)” insisted the 1597 edition, “sundry times” boasted the 1599 quarto. Romeo and Juliet was noticed. It was men tioned in two widely shared reviews of English writers of the day — one published by Cam bridge student John Weever in 1598, and the other by schoolteacher Francis Meres in 1599. So-called “commonplace” books were popular at the time, consisting of excerpts from admired plays, poems or works of prose. Of all Shake speare’s plays, Romeo and Juliet was one of the most quoted in commonplace books during the writer’s lifetime.

The play made such an impression that one of the leading satirists of the day, John Marston, mocked the character of Romeo in his 1598 an thology, “The Scourge of Villainy.” Marston was famously engaged in the so-called “Poetoma chia,” or “war of the poets,” with Ben Johnson and others at the time. Shakespeare’s balcony scene was parodied by Thomas Dekker, another of the poet-warriors, in his 1607 comedy, Blurt, Master Constable.

Although Romeo and Juliet represented an

The London theaters in Shakespeare’s day ran through content quickly. It was common practice to update and recycle older stories. Shakespeare based his play on a 1562 poem by Arthur Brooke, which itself recycled a French translation of an Italian “novelle.”

early foray into tragedy, it shares literary DNA with the comedies written at about the same time — The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love’s Labour’s Lost (both from 1594-1595), as well as A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595-1596) — and later romantic comedies such as Much Ado About Nothing. The comedies and this early trag edy share young lovers vying with out-of-touch parents or other authority figures over who con trols matchmaking.

Romeo and Juliet balances on a razor’s edge be tween the conceits of comedy — such as disguis es and secret assignations — and the missteps of tragedy. A pair of bumbling adults — Friar Law rence and the Nurse — do try to help the young lovers. Despite and because of their bungling efforts, up until the last moment it seems pos sible that a comic reversal could overturn all the misunderstandings and cross-purposes. Commentators have often drawn a distinc tion between Shakespeare’ s early tragedy and his “mature” tragedies of the next decade. The

Shakespeare’s growing stature during his lifetime can be tracked in part by the ways in which contemporary writers took notice of him. John Marston (left) and Thomas Dekker (right), who, along with Ben Johnson, were prominent participants in the witty “war of the theaters” that took place in London between 1599 and 1602. Marston and Dekker mocked and parodied elements of Romeo and Juliet.

heartbreaking events of Romeo and Juliet do not stem from a tragic character flaw — unless the impulsive naivete of youth could itself be considered a flaw. Shakespearean critic Ber trand Evans would term the play a “tragedy of unawareness” in which the juxtaposition of un foreseen and unfortunate events plays a greater role than character.

While Romeo and Juliet may not match the later tragedies for depth of character explo ration, the earlier play already demonstrates Shakespeare’s considerable skills. The basic sto ry of Romeo and Juliet can be found in a variety of sources — first in several Italian “novelles” of the 15th century and then in French and English adaptations made a century later. While Shake speare may have had access to several of the ver sions, he relied most heavily on a narrative poem translated from the French by English writer Ar thur Brooke in 1562 under the title “The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet.”

Shakespeare compressed Brooke’s timeline significantly. Action that takes place over the course of nine months in Brooke’s poem now takes place during a few feverish days. While Brooke’s Juliet wondered aloud to herself about how suddenly she fell for Romeo at the ball, Shakespeare invents a way for his Romeo to overhear Juliet’s confession of love. The play wright’s device allows the lovers to skip several stages of conventional courtship, contributing to the sense of haste in the play — and its inten sity. Shakespeare reinforces this compression with vivid language about time and love that “too swift arrives.”

Any supposed “deficiencies” in tragic struc ture have never diminished the appeal of Romeo and Juliet. Its elemental conflict between par ents and children, breathless pace, suspension between comedy and tragedy, and its stunning imagery and lyrical language have always struck a chord.

Throughout Shakespeare’s career as a writer, outbreaks of the plague intermittently forced the London theaters to close. A plague epidemic forms the backdrop for the action in Romeo and Juliet. The plague also figures in pamphlets and plays written by Thomas Dekker. This striking woodcut illustrated his God’s Tokens: A Rod for Run-awayes (1625).

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

Romeo and Juliet Through the Ages

Romeo and Juliet has always been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays — in his lifetime and beyond:

After Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660 and permitted theaters to reopen, theater manager William Davenant presented a produc tion of Romeo and Juliet starring Mary Saunderson, one of the first women to play the role of Juliet pro fessionally. A granddaughter of Shakespeare’s lead actor, Richard Burbage, Saunderson was married to Davenant’s lead actor, Thomas Betterton, who took the role of Mercutio rather than Romeo.

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

Mary Saunderson — granddaughter to one famous actor (Richard Burbage), wife of another (Thomas Betterton) — was one of the first women to act professionally on the English stage. She played Juliet in a production presented by William Davenant after the theaters reopened in England in 1663.

Some 18th-century theater managers, such as Da vid Garrick, catered to the tastes of the day by soft ening the stark endings of Shakespeare’s tragedies. For nearly a century, theatergoers saw versions of Romeo and Juliet that allowed the lovers to live.

The emotional and changeable character of Romeo opened the door for women to play the role in the 18th century. The best known was Charlotte Cush man, an American who restored Shakespeare’s original tragic ending and developed a production that served as a vehicle for herself and her sister Su san in the roles of Romeo and Juliet.

This miniature painting of David Garrick as Romeo and George Anne Bellamy as Juliet recreates the moment in Garrick’s influential 18th century adaptation of the play when Juliet wakes up in the “nick of time” to prevent Romeo’s suicide.

In the mid-1840s, American actress Charlotte Cushman and her sister Susan toured a production of Romeo and Juliet across the US and Great Britain. Charlotte, who engaged in liaisons with women artists and writers along the way, played Romeo while her younger sister played Juliet.

In 1869, Edwin Booth launched his own theater in New York with an inaugural production of Romeo and Juliet. A lithographic advertisement in the elaborate playbill commemorated Booth and his wife-to-be, Mary McVicker, in the play’s starring roles.

Images of Fanny Kemble playing Juliet were often featured in the 1830s in contemporary newspapers and periodicals.

Even with its poignancy restored, the play’s popularity was such that it was often chosen as the ideal production for launching a new theater. The American tragedian Ed win Booth opened his theater in New York in 1869 with a production starring himself and his soon-to-be wife Mary McVicker.

Leading actors and actresses of the 18th- and 19th-centu ries looked for plays that would showcase their particular talents, and some became identified with specific roles. Fanny Kemble — the daughter of actor Charles Kemble and niece of John Philip Kemble and Sarah Siddons — de buted in the role of Juliet on October 26, 1829, at the age of 20, and immediately became a fan favorite in the role. It was remarked at the time that her popular performances as Juliet helped to keep her father’s theater afloat despite his poor management skills.

By the late 19th-century, theatergoers expected stars — and elaborate scenery. Theater manager Henry Irving teamed up with leading lady Ellen Terry at London’s well-appointed Lyceum Theater to deliver a sumptuous production of Romeo and Juliet in 1882.

In 1935, John Gielgud began assembling a cast for a production of Ro meo and Juliet at the New Theatre in London. Conflicted about whether to play Romeo or Mercutio, he approached the younger and up-andcoming Laurence Olivier about rotating with him in both roles. Their approaches to the roles were at odds. Gielgud was known for his lyrical speaking voice, while Olivier embraced what he would later term “earth, blood, humanity ... I was trying to sell realism in Shakespeare.”

Laurence Olivier (pictured here) and John Gielgud traded the roles of Romeo and Mercutio in a high profile 1935 production.

George Cukor’s 1936 film, starring Nor ma Shearer and Leslie Howard at ages 34 and 43, represented the culmination of a centuries-long tradition of actors playing these parts at the heights of their careers. Two later 20th-century film adaptations overturned that tradition, and each in turn became the best-selling Shakespeare film of the day. In 1968, Franco Zefferel li tapped two unknown teenagers, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, to play Shakespeare’s young lovers, while Baz Luhrmann chose the better-known Leon ardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Zefferelli’s lush and sensuous production didn’t shy away from the story’s sexual heat, while Luhrmann’s tapped into its vein of violence.

Franco Zefferelli rejected the long tradition of casting experienced (and older) actors in the roles by casting two unknown teenagers in his sensuous film production in 1968. Still fairly young, but better known when they were cast, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes were tapped by Baz Lurhmann for his violent and intense screen production in 1996.

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

Romeo and Juliet from page to stage

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

One of scenic designer Efren Delgadillo Jr.’s renderings shows how the same space, lit in a different way, can be transformed into a garden at night.

As an actor and director with Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Sara Bruner says she has “been on a journey with Romeo and Juliet throughout most of my profes sional career.” She’s performed in the play, directed it and adapted it for an outreach touring program. Romeo and Juliet has also threaded through the history of Great Lakes Theater. It’s been per formed during each artistic director’s tenure, six times in all. The current production marks the seventh.

Each new artistic team that engages with the play sees it through a different lens. Thinking about the play this time around, in the waning days of a global pandemic, Sara Bruner was struck by the fact that the play’s action takes place against

The work of Spanish architect Xavier Corberó provided scenic designer Efren Delgadillo Jr. with an exemplar for combining modern materials and ancient shapes and for juxtaposing open with more intimate spaces.

the backdrop of a plague outbreak that prevents a crucial message from reaching Romeo. She began to reflect on how “the plague” becomes a meta phor in the play for the strife infecting the world the lovers struggle against.

Mid-process, Bruner shared these observa tions: “We live in a polarized world right now, and Romeo and Juliet is a story about polarization — between the Capulets and the Montagues, be tween life and death, between comedy and trag edy. What happens to a young person who is ‘in between,’ who strays from a society’s hardened, polarized belief systems?”

While the play has often been presented and discussed as a great, though tragic, love story,

Pre-set lighting for this production of Romeo and Juliet — captured here on stage this summer at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival — conveys the intensity of the theatrical experience to come.

A decision was made to dress the Capulets in more business-like attire. For Lady Capulet, who combines the roles of both father and mother in this production, costume designer Mieka van der Ploeg provided an interpretation of navy pinstriped trousers that balances contemporary and period influences.

Layering a skirt-like “over-robe” with pants accommodates the gender-bending casting of a woman playing one of Romeo’s retainers.

A rustic color palette of greens and russets—and less business-like silhouettes—distinguish the Montague family and their retainers in this production.

it can also be viewed, Bruner insists, “as a story about how communities fail their young people.” Romeo and Juliet are teenagers caught up in im pulse and naïve hope, trapped by the pressures of societal expectations. Unable to communicate with their parents, they rely on secret and desper ate schemes that lead them to take their own lives.

“In a world where ‘violent delights have violent ends,’ Bruner adds, “these two young people pay the ultimate price.”

Finding resonances between Shakespeare’s play and today’s world is always one of Bruner’s priori ties. Casting choices are one tool. Bruner decided to make Lady Capulet a “single parent,” collapsing the roles of Juliet’s father and mother into one role. This choice allowed director and cast to explore how Lord Capulet’s controlling rage — a shocking element of Shakespeare’s script — translates when grounded in the pressures of single motherhood.

Clothing is another tool. When Bruner asked costume designer Mieka van der Ploeg to meld period and contemporary influences, the design er came up with a look that she laughingly calls “Gothic Medieval.” Modern takes on Tudor sil houettes — such as “over-robes” — also enabled the designer to create a layering effect that accom modated several gender-bending casting choices.

Bruner also immediately thinks of a play in

physical terms. As scenic designer Efren Delga dillo observes, “There’s a lot of action in the way she describes a play.” Romeo and Juliet offers the particular challenge of embodying the dynamics of youth vs age. Sword fighting, climbing, and hid ing are among the physical expressions of youth in the play. The fabrics chosen for clothing had to be light and breathable enough to support sudden movement comfortably.

The scenic world of the play also had to provide open spaces for the many public confrontations that erupt throughout the course of the play while also providing spaces for intimate encounters. Sce nic designer Delgadillo quips, “Solve the balcony, the bed, and the tomb, and you’ve solved the play.”

Delgadillo found in the work of Spanish archi tect Xavier Corberó an exemplar and inspiration for using a contemporary material — stark, white concrete — to render intriguing juxtapositions of such traditional spaces as open plazas, arched colonnades, and flying buttresses. In TYVEK, a lightweight, breathable synthetic fabric, Delga dillo found an appropriate material for creating such spaces on stage. He and lighting designer Rick Martin worked closely together to illumi nate the fabric from within. Together they creat ed a visual translation of the passion that pulses through the play.

Spotlight on romeo and juliet

ARTISTIC COMPANY

Acting Company

Lynn Robert Berg*

Friar John/Ensemble

Twenty-one seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Credits include Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), Brutus (Julius Caesar), the title roles of Macbeth and Richard III, Don Pedro (Much Ado About Nothing), Charlie Cowell (The Music Man), The Ghost and Player King (Hamlet), Zoltan Karpathy (My Fair Lady), Gremio (The Taming of the Shrew), Malvolio (Twelfth Night) and Frank Ford (Merry Wives of Windsor). Other credits: Bill Austin (Mamma Mia), Don Armado (Love’s Labour’s Lost), Watson (The Hound of the Baskervilles), and Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged at Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival; Hucklebee (The Fantasticks), Mayhew (Witness for the Prosecution), Friar Laurence (Romeo and Juliet), Jonas Fogg (Sweeney Todd) and Polixenes (The Winter’s Tale) at Idaho Shakespeare Festival; Short Shakespeare MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Danny Bó Sampson/Ensemble Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Danny Bó is a junior musi cal theater major at Baldwin Wallace University. He was recently seen as Friedrich in The Sound of Music at Blossom Music Center. Other cred its include Into the Woods (Jack), B.A.R.S. (Bobo) and The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical (Percy). He would like to thank his family and mentors for their ongo ing love and support.

Benjamin Bonenfant* Romeo Debut season with Great Lakes Theater Benjamin is grateful to

make his Great Lakes Theater debut. Based in New York, credits include Theatre For A New Audience (Julius Caesar) and the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Heart of Robin Hood, Richard II). He has per formed at Shakespeare festivals nationwide, including Alabama (Macbeth), Orlando (Henry IV, Three Musketeers), two seasons at Oregon (Great Expectations, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, The Odyssey), and five seasons at Colorado (Henry V, Prince Hal, Romeo). Other CO credits: Denver Center, Arvada Center, TheatreWorks, FAC, Curious, BETC, and local theater. Film/TV: The Good Fight and Bull (CBS). He received his BA from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Michael Burns

Balthazaar/Ensemble

Two seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Michael Burns is absolutely thrilled to be returning to GLT, and making his debut with the acting company! Regional: ISF Credits: Ensemble in Witness for the Prosecution, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Shakesperience Educational Tour). Other credits include Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra (Boise Bard Players), Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jaxton in The Thanksgiving Play, Ensemble in Sweeny Todd, Film Student in Heddatron and Broughton in Journey’s End (Boise State University). Michael received his BA in the ater arts from Boise State University. He is thankful for every opportunity that has led him to this moment, and the support he has received along the way! For Coachie!

Aamar Malik Culbreth

Benvolio

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Favorite roles include Tiny in Kill Move Paradise, Everybody in Everybody, Walter Lee Younger in Raisin in the Sun, Will Rogers in Will Rogers Follies, Roger in Rent

and Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd. Aamar is a rising sophomore in musical theater at Baldwin Wallace University. Thank you to everyone in the cast, crew and creative team for making this season happen, and thank you to everyone for coming out and support ing! Hey Mom! Thanks for everything! Love you! Instagram - @aamarmc

Aled Davies*

Montague/Ensemble

Twenty-two seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Roles include Mr. Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors, Father Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing, Mr. Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol, Prospero in The Tempest, Sir Wilfrid Robarts QC in Witness for the Prosecution, Seyton the Porter in Macbeth, The Gravedigger in Hamlet, Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady, The Old Actor in The Fantasticks, Scrooge/Samuels in A Christmas Carol, King Lear in King Lear, John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Oberon/ Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Your Chairman in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dorn in The Seagull, Deputy Governor Danforth in The Crucible and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. A proud and appreciative member of Actors’ Equity since 1984. GO BROWNS!

Maggie Kettering*

Lady Capulet

Five seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Previous shows include The 39 Steps, The Taming of the Shrew, A Christmas Carol, Love’s Labour’s Lost, And Then There Were None, Blithe Spirit and Much Ado about Nothing. Additionally, she has worked with Peninsula Players (Miss Holmes, Outside Mullingar, Lend Me a Tenor), Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (Holmes and Watson), House Theatre (Season on the Line - Joseph Jefferson Nomination), Shakespeare Theatre Company (Henry IV, parts 1 and 2), TimeLine Theatre (My Kind of Town) and Northlight Theatre (Season’s Greetings - Jack Springer Award). Maggie is a proud member of

Actors’ Equity, a resident of Chicago and an Ironman finisher.

Jeffrey King*

Friar Laurence

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Jeffrey is appearing for the first time at GLT. He was a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company for 20 seasons, where he appeared in more than 50 productions. Other theaters include Yale Rep, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Berkeley Repertory Theater, California Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theater, The Empty Space in Seattle, Hippodrome Theatre and Asolo Theatre in Florida. He originated the role of Joe Pitt in Angels in America, first per formed at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco and the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Jeffrey has also appeared in televi sion, film and radio. He is a graduate of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory MFA program.

Jessie Cope Miller* Lady Montague/Ensemble Nine seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Recent shows include Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Romeo and Juliet at ISF, A Christmas Carol, Chaining Zero, The Tempest, The Music Man and Julius Caesar. She also played the Witch in Into the Woods during Great Lakes Theater’s inaugural season at the Hanna Theatre, and has been at The Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival for four seasons. Other credits include The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, In The Heights, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Hello Dolly! and Pippin. She is a proud alum of the Baldwin Wallace musical theater pro gram and now an even prouder member of the acting faculty of the Baldwin Wallace University School of Theatre and Dance. She’s been an Actors’ Equity member since 2005. Much love and thanks to the entire company! For family and friends and for Dougfred, Always.

Kate Mulligan* Nurse

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival 12 seasons, Actors’ Gang mem ber 17 years, The Kennedy Center, The Public Theatre, New York Stage and Film, Yale Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory and Artists Repertory Theater. Partial List of TV/ Film credits: Embedded (Dir. Tim Robbins), Olga Dies Dreaming (Pilot HULU), Chicago Med, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Seinfeld, The Practice, Crossing Jordan, ER, NYPD Blue. Kate is a member of SAG/ AFTRA AEA.

Jaime Nebeker

Abram/Ensemble

Two seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Happily returning to the GLT stage as Abram in Romeo and Juliet, Jaime is an actor, puppeteer, puppet maker, fight chore ographer and movement director. As a woman, Jaime is fortunate to be working in a time where gender is fluid and the future is female. Directors like Sara Bruner, who choose to create these models of possibility in the world, have given Jaime the opportu nity to speak the speech of both Hamlet and Julius Caesar. Other standout roles have included Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Gibbons in Rabbit/Moon, William Dunn in Men on Boats and Quincy/Lisa in Mr. Burns, a post-electric play.

Avery LaMar Pope Gregory/Ensemble

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Avery LaMar Pope is a story teller from Cleveland. His roles include Gregory in Romeo and Juliet, Jimmy in 12,000 Steps, Malcolm in The Tragedy of Macbeth and Shederick in Objects in the Mirror. As a playwright, his play A World Apart was a 2021 New South Young Playwrights Festival

selection at Horizon Theater, and his play Stand Trial was a 2022-2023 Catapult final ist at Cleveland Public Theatre. He gradu ated cum laude with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from Ohio University. His work can be read on New Play Exchange or seen on YouTube.

J.T. Snow Paris’ Page/Ensemble Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

JT Snow is happy to be making his debut with Great Lakes Theater. He will be a junior this fall, majoring in musical theater at Baldwin Wallace University. JT has been in Baldwin Wallace’s Into the Woods, as well as worked with the Beck Center in a 15-min ute musical, White Man’s Burden. JT would like to thank Vicky Bussert and his family for constantly supporting him in making this dream a reality. Go Dawgs!!

Stephen Michael Spencer* Mercutio/Apothecary Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Credits include four seasons at Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Loves Labour’s Lost, Othello, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale and Timon of Athens. Stephen originated the role of Jason in Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat. In NYC, Stephen performed as understudy in Clydes at Second Stage on Broadway and Julius Caesar at TFANA. International credits include The Heart of Robin Hood with Mirvish Productions. Regional credits include The A.R.T., Cleveland Play House, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Arena Stage, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Triad Stage and Chautauqua Theatre Company. Film/TV: FBI: Most Wanted, This Wild Abyss Stephen holds a BFA from UNC Greensboro and an MFA from Case Western/Cleveland Play House. Stream his original music under stephenspencer on all platforms! www.stephenmichaelspencer.com

at Playhouse Square

Nick Steen*

Paris

Ten seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Previous roles include Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice, Macduff in Macbeth, Caliban in The Tempest, Laertes in Hamlet, Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, Lombard in And Then There Were None, Orestes in Elektra and Clifford in Deathtrap. Nick holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Evansville, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Conservatory Theater. He’s also a voice actor whose work can be heard on Hulu and Spotify. He has endless gratitude for his family and for his love, Nicki. www.NickSteen.com

Alex Syiek*

Prince

Eight seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Previous GLT credits include Harold Hill in The Music Man , Casca/Messala in Julius Caesar, Inspector Hearne in Witness for the Prosecution, Bill in Mamma Mia! and Clopin in The Hunchback of Notre Dame Other recent credits include Phil Connors in Groundhog Day at the Paramount Theatre and Jimmy Sales in The Show on the Roof at Boise Contemporary Theater. Alex has a Bachelor of Music from Baldwin Wallace University, and an MFA in musical theater writing from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Thanks to the theater spirits for allowing art to happen again! www.alexsyiek.com

M.A. Taylor*

Peter

Eighteen seasons with Great Lakes Theater Loving the Autumn in Northeast Ohio. He was pre viously seen in Much Ado About Nothing (Verges), A Christmas Carol (Charity Man, Old Joe), Julius Caesar (Calphurnius), Macbeth (Murderer) and The Fantasticks (Old Actor). His favorite roles

include My Fair Lady (Doolittle), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck), Witness for the Prosecution (Carter/Dr. Wyatt), Complete Works (3rd Actor) and Dracula (Count Dracula). Other Companies include Resident Ensemble Theater, Boise Contemporary Theater and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. He holds an MFA in theater from the University of Delaware/ Professional Theater Training Program. Special thanks to his Families (Genetic & Professional). Forever Dougfred and Kathryn.

Ángela Utrera* Juliet

Two seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Originally from Asturias, Spain, Ángela was last seen on GLT’s stage as Miranda in The Tempest and is so excited to come back this fall. She has assistant-directed City of Altar and Teen Dad at the Sin Muros play festival at Stages Theatre in Houston, and earned her acting/directing BFA from Sam Houston State University.

Joe Wegner* Tybalt Three seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Off-Broadway credits include Judgement Day (world premiere, Park Avenue Armory). Regional theater: Much Ado about Nothing, The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew (Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival), Archduke world pre miere, Center Theater Group), Guys and Dolls, A Wrinkle in Time (world premiere), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Very Merry Wives of Winsor Iowa, Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land and Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Guys and Dolls (Wallis Annenberg Center), The School for Lies (Arkansas Repertory Theatre) and In the Blood (Mixed Blood Theatre). TV/Film: Tales of the City (Netflix). Education: BFA, Southern Oregon University www.joewegner.net

Understudies

Lynn Robert Berg*, Mike Binderman, Danny Bo, Michael Burns, Avery Elledge, Jessie Cope Miller*, Richard Morgan, Jaime Nebeker, Avery LaMar Pope, Dan Rice, J.T. Snow, Hanako Walrath

Directors

Sara Bruner Director

Seventeen seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Directing credits include Oregon Shakespeare Festival Alice in Wonderland; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis The Cake; Arizona Theatre Company Cabaret; Great Lakes Theater/Idaho Shakespeare Festival The Tempest, Julius Caesar, The Taming of the Shrew and A Christmas Carol (4 years); Idaho Shakespeare Festival directed/adapted educational tours of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew. Other theaters: Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Baltimore Center Stage, Drop Dance Collective, Baldwin Wallace University. Acting: Norma McCorvey in Roe (world premiere) at Arena Stage and Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Viola and Sebastian in Twelfth Night, Sue Trinder in Fingersmith (world premiere), LeFou in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Charles Wallace in A Wrinkle in Time (world premiere) at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; company member at Great Lakes Theater for 10 years, Idaho Shakespeare Festival for 19 years, Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 5 years. Education: Executive MBA, Boise State University. Awards: 2018 Princess Grace Award for directing.

Charles Fee

Producing Artistic Director

Twenty-one seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Directing credits at GLT: Much Ado About Nothing, Sleuth, Witness for the Prosecution, A Christmas Carol, Misery, Macbeth, Hamlet, And Then There Were None, Dial “M” for Murder, Deathtrap, Blithe Spirit, Romeo and

Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, All’s Well That Ends Well, Hay Fever, The Importance of Being Earnest, Arms and the Man and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged). Charles holds a unique position in the American theater as producing artistic director of three independently operated, professional theater companies: Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, Ohio (since 2002); Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise, Idaho (since 1991) and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in Incline Village, Nevada (since 2010). His appointments have resulted in a dynamic and groundbreaking producing model for the companies, in which more than 60 plays have been shared since 2002. In 2009, Charles was honored to receive recognition for his leadership by the Cleveland Arts Prize as a recipient of the Martha Joseph Award. Other awards include The Mayor’s and Governor’s awards for Excellence in the Arts, Idaho. From 1988 to 1992, he held the position of artistic direc tor at the Sierra Repertory Theatre in California. He has also worked with The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, the Milwaukee and Missouri repertory theaters, Actor’s Theatre of Phoenix and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival. In addition to his work with the companies in Ohio, Idaho and Nevada, Charles is active within the commu nity. He has served as a member of the strategic planning committee for the Morrison Center, as producer of the FUNDSY Award Gala (’96, ’98 and 2000), and as producer of the 1996 Idaho Governor’s Awards in the Arts. Charles has served on the board of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Downtown Rotary Club. He received his BA from the University of the Pacific and Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, San Diego. Along with his wife, Lidia and daughter, Alexa, Charles resides in Boise, Cleveland and Lake Tahoe — a feat that is only possible because of the incredible love and support of his family, and the generous communities he serves!

Artistic Staff and Designers

Efren Delgadillo Jr.

Scenic Designer

Two seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Credits include New York: The Three Musketeers (The Acting Company); Mycenaean (BAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music). Notable regional theater productions include American Mariachi (South Coast Rep.), (Arizona Theatre Company) Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Company); BLKS (Woolly Mammoth); Bordertown Now (Pasadena Playhouse); Smart People and Indecent (Denver Center for the Performing Arts); Othello (Hartford Stage); Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles (The Getty Villa/ Boston Court); and Prometheus Bound (The Getty Villa/Center for New Performance).

MFA: California Institute of the Arts. BFA in studio arts from University of California, Irvine. Efren is an assistant professor of scenic design at UC Irvine. www.efrendelgadillojr.com

Chris DuVal

Fight Choreographer

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Chris has worked extensively in regional theaters across the country at venues that include Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center Theatre Company, Syracuse Stage, South Coast Repertory, Sacramento Theatre Company, Pioneer Theatre Company, Utah Opera, and at Shakespeare Festivals in Utah, Montana, Colorado and Orange County. Additionally, Chris was an actor, fight director or teacher at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for 18 years. He is the author of Stage Combat Arts, published by Bloomsbury Methuen, and is recognized as a certified teacher/fight director/theatrical firearms instructor with the SAFD, a master teacher with Dueling Arts International, holds a second-degree blackbelt in Aikido and is an associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework. In the Spring of 2023, he will be appearing at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in a production of The Three Musketeers.

Rick Martin

Lighting Designer

Twenty seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Many productions with GLT include Julius Caesar, The Tempest and Hamlet. Opera: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte (La Monnaie, Brussels – scenery), Mitridate, Re di Ponto (La Monnaie, Brussels – scenery and lighting), Le Diable dans le beffroi, La Chute de la Maison Usher (Opéra national de Paris – scenery and lighting) and

BUTTERFLY - d’après Madama Butterfly de Puccini (Opera de Limoges and Opera de Rouen, France - lighting). Concerts: Harawi (Opèra Comique, Paris – scenery and light ing), Le martyre de Saint Sèbastien (Citè de la Musique, Paris). Coming up: Serse (Rouen, France – lighting) Member: United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE.

Jaclyn Miller Movement Director

Five seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Director credit for GLT: The 39 Steps; Choreography/Movement credits for GLT: Little Shop of Horrors, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, The Music Man, Julius Caesar, Mamma Mia!, The Taming of the Shrew, Pride and Prejudice and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Regional: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (It’s Christmas, Carol!, Hairspray, Alice in Wonderland, Book of Will, Shakespeare in Love, Twelfth Night, Yeoman of Guard, Fingersmith (world pre miere), The Cocoanuts and My Fair Lady); South Coast Rep (She Loves Me); Arizona Theatre Company (Cabaret, The Music Man); Guthrie Theatre (The Cocoanuts); Baltimore Center Stage (Fun Home); and Asolo Repertory Theater (Roe).

André Pluess

Sound Designer

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Projects include the Broadway productions of The Minutes, 33 Variations, I Am My Own Wife and Metamorphoses, as well as the Lincoln Center production of The Clean House. His designs/compositions have been featured at regional theaters throughout the country, including Oregon Shakespeare Festival (10 seasons), McCarter Theatre,

Center Theatre Group, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Denver Center and Playwrights Horizons. He has received numerous awards for composition and sound design, including multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards, an Ovation Award, a Barrymore Award, a Helen Hayes Award and Lucille Lortel and Drama Critics Circle Award nomi nations. Based in Chicago, André is an ensemble member of Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Mieka van der Ploeg

Costume Designer

Debut season with Great Lakes Theater

Credits include designs with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, American Players Theatre, Court Theatre, Writers Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago (Lyric Unlimited), Lookingglass Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, Second City, Redmoon Theater, The Hypocrites, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, About Face Theatre, Steep Theatre, Theater Wit, Albany Park Theater Project, Manual Cinema and the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater. She won a Joseph Jefferson Award in 2020 for First Love is the Revolution, at Steep Theatre. She is proud to be a member of USA829.

Stage Management

Nicki Cathro*

Production Stage Manager

Seven seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Nicki is previously the production stage manager for Little Shop of Horrors, Much Ado About Nothing, A Christmas Carol, The Tempest and Julius Caesar; the assistant stage manager for Sleuth, The Music Man, Witness for the Prosecution, Misery, Macbeth and Pride and Prejudice; produc tion assistant for Hamlet, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other theater work: ASM for Every Brilliant Thing at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. Nicki earned her BFA in radio, television and film from the University of North Texas; and is a proud member of AEA. She is overjoyed to be back in the theater with her husband and friends.

Sarah Kelso*

Assistant Stage Manager

Six seasons with Great Lakes Theater

Previous shows: Much Ado About Nothing, The 39 Steps, Sleuth, Million Dollar Quartet, Beehive the 60’s Musical, A Christmas Carol and Romeo and Juliet. Twelve seasons with Idaho Shakespeare Festival: Ain’t Misbehavin’, The 39 Steps, Sleuth, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Million Dollar Quartet, Beehive the 60’s Musical, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Forever Plaid, The Fantasticks and Steel Magnolias. Ten seasons with Boise Contemporary Theater: The Wolves, With Love and a Major Organ, Good Bitch Goes Down, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and A Skull in Connemara. Sarah is a graduate of Boise State University’s Department of Theatre Arts.

Theater

DONOR APPRECIATION

The trustees, staff, and artistic company of Great Lakes Theater express our deepest gratitude to the hundreds of supporters of Cleveland’s Classic Company. The donors listed below and on the following pages made generous gifts to our Annual Fund between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. “I can no other answer make but thanks.” Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene iii

Help Make a Difference

Great Lakes Theater serves more than 100,000 students, adults, and artists annually through our Hanna and Mimi Ohio Theatre mainstage productions and education programs throughout Northeast Ohio. Please consider joining the Great Lakes Theater family by mak ing a gift today!

To learn more about Donor Membership and other gift-giving opportunities, visit us online at GreatLakesTheater.org/Support, or contact Jeremy Lewis, Development & Donor Relations Manager at (216) 453-4457 or jlewis@greatlakestheater.org.

$100,000 and above

Cuyahoga Arts & Culture

Ohio Arts Council

$50,000 to $99,999

The Cleveland Foundation

The George Gund Foundation

John P. Murphy Foundation

The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation

David and Inez Myers Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

$25,000 to $49,999

The Community Foundation of Lorain County Kulas Foundation

John & Barbara Schubert

The Reinberger Foundation

Arthur L. Thomas

“Intermission” Ticket Donors

Over 800 patrons generously donated the value of their tickets back to support Great Lakes Theater during pandemic-related disruptions during our 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons. This vital “intermission” support has enabled us to raise our curtain once again. We are truly grate ful! Check out the full list of donors online.

THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY

Annual Fund donors of $1,000 and above are members of Great Lakes Theater’s “Shakespeare Society” and are entitled to exclusive benefits, including access to special services, events, and opportunities to connect deeply with Cleveland’s Classic Company. To learn more, contact Jeremy Lewis at (216) 453-4457.

$10,000 to $24,999

The Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation

Gail Cudak

Carol Dolan & Greggory Hill

Eaton

Fifth Third Bank

Martha Holden Jennings Foundation

Robert° & Janet E. Neary

The Nord Family Foundation

Nordson Corporation Foundation

Donald F. & Anne T. Palmer

Georgianna T. Roberts

Ms. Ana G. Rodriguez

The Shubert Foundation

Thomas G. & Ruth M. Stafford

The Stocker Foundation

The Family of Jill Hearey

The Treu-Mart Fund, a supporting organization of the The Cleveland Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

U.S. Bank

The Thomas H. White Foundation, a KeyBank Trust

Robert C. & Emily C. Williams

$5,000 to $9,999

Dalia & Robert Baker

Carol A. Barnak

Fred & Mary Behm

Mr. Todd M. Burger & Ms. Kristie Beck

Bill & Judie Caster

Evelyn Dolejs

Natalie Epstein

Elizabeth Grove & Rich Bedell

The Harry K. and Emma R. Fox Foundation

Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Hartwell

Diane K. Hupp

Paul R. Keen & Denise Horstman Keen

Donna M. Koler

Rita & Charles Maimbourg

Thomas A. Piraino & Barbara C. McWilliams

Tim & Lynn Pistell

Greg Pribulsky & Donna Heinz

A.J. & Nancy Stokes

$2,500 to $4,999

Anonymous

Chuck & Bonnie Abbey

Beth A. Adams

Michelle R. Arendt

Walt & Laura Avdey

Kim & Bart Bixenstine

Mitch & Liz Blair

Glenn R. & Jeanette G. Brown

Homer Chisholm° & Gertrude Kalnow

Chisholm Fund

George A. M. & Heather Currall

Timothy J. Downing & Ken Press Charles, Lidia & Alexa Fee

Dianne V. Foley

Lynn M. Gattozzi & Glenn Myers

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur C. Hall III

Katie Kennedy & Doug White

Faisal Khan & Angela DiCorleto Ms. Catherine M. Kilbane & Mr. Donald H. Bullock

Mr. & Mrs. John J. Lane, Jr.

The Laub Foundation

Victor C. Laughlin, M.D. Memorial Foundation Trust

Susan & John Lebold

David & Denise Maiorana

Mr. & Mrs. Donald J. Mayer

Jack E. McGrath

Karen Nemec

The NRP Group LLC

Mr. & Mrs. Patrick W. O’Connor

Dr. Scott & Mrs. Judy Pendergast

Michael & Barbara Peterman Rick & Paula Reed

Kim Sherwin

Sally J. Staley

Geoff & Catherine Tanner

Kris & George Tesar

Mr. & Mrs. Paul L. Wellener IV

$1,000 to $2,499

Anonymous

The Alvah Stone & Adele Corning

Chisholm Memorial Fund

Gary D. Benz & Betsy A. Karetnick

John & Laura Bertsch

Kip T. & Catherine Bollin

Joanne R. Bratush

Jack & Janice Campbell

Donald & Annamarie Chick

Christopher & Nancy Coburn

Mrs. Anthea Daniels & Mr. Matthew Burke

Mr. Mark Davis

Rebecca Dunn

Dr. Howard Epstein

The Giant Eagle Foundation

James Graham & David Dusek

Rich & Barbara Gray

The Gries Family Foundation

Drs. Thomas & Cynthia Gustaferro

Geoffrey Michael Heller Memorial Fund Mary Elizabeth Huber

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. James & Rosemary Koehler

Jim & Paula Lang

Eva & Rudolf Linnebach

Ken & Mary Loparo

Mr. & Mrs. John S. Lupo

Mr. & Mrs. William E. MacDonald III Katie McVoy & Justin Cernansky

Jennifer & Peter Meckes

Roy & Cindy Moore

Mr. & Mrs. John C. Morley

Deborah L. Neale

Michael Novak

M.B. Perkins Donor Advised Fund

Mr. & Mrs. Wilmer M. Piper John & Norine Prim Linda Schlageter

Katherine Stokes-Shafer

Anita Stoll & Pete Clapham

Diana & Eugene Stromberg

Mr. Frederick & Mrs. Elizabeth G. Stueber

James L. Wagner Nancy-Anne Wargo Mary C. Warren

Mr. & Mrs. Harold L. Williams

$750 to $999

Robyn & David Barrie

Gary & Joanna Graeff

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Lawler

Jeff & Nancy Reinhart

Otmar & Rota Sackerlotzky

Randall & Sara Shaner

Dr. & Mrs. Lynn A. Smith

Christopher & Gail Steward

$500 to $749

Ms. Carol Arbaczewski

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Baehr

Mary S. Baker

Gary & Kay Bluhm

Julia & Ben Brouhard

Eileen Kennedy & Greg Cloyd

Jim & Berni Cockey

Audrey DeClement

Barry & Suzanne Doggett

Jennifer Dowdell Armstrong Michael Dunn

Evans Charitable Foundation

Dr. & Mrs. Robert L. Fairchild

Mr. Joseph Ferritto

Deborah A. Geier

Janet & Patricia Glaeser

Mrs. Edith Hirsch

Gary Nemeth & Gail Jones-Nemeth

Thomas Jorgensen & Jocelyn Ruf

Bernie & Nancy Karr

Dr. & Mrs. Robert L. Katz

Larry & Joy Kent

Ursula Korneitchouk

Stephen & Carolyn Kuerbitz

Chris & Laura Larson

Barbara & Mark Mazzone

Helen & Harry Mercer

David & Leslee Miraldi

Toni & Linda Moore

The Music and Drama Club Barbara B. O’Connor

Mr. John Rampe

Tom & Helen Rathburn

Mrs. Sharon L. Rogers

Jacob Scholl & Charlotte A. Estafen

Dina & Richard Schoonmaker

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Scoggin

Jack & Terry Southworth

Rex & Judy Stanforth

Karl & Carol Theil

Jeanette H. Thomas Mary W. Trevor

Chris & Mary Weaver

Brian Wynne & Patrick Cozzens

Mr. Lee C. Zeiszler John & Jane Zuzek

$250 to $499

Anonymous

The Thomas and Joann Adler Family Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

Judie & Bruce Amsel

Joel & Teresa Andreani

Mr. & Mrs. Benham S. Bates

Mrs. Kathryn Berkshire John & Jeannene Bertosa

Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Beyer

Mike & Carole Brown

V. Elizabeth Brown

Cindy & Tim Carr Rollin & Anne Conway

Dr. & Mrs. Kevin D. Cooper Gilbert & Lisa Corwin

Pete & Margaret Dobbins

Mr. Theodore Elrick

Jon & Mary Fancher Bill & Terri Frey Carla & Jim Gallagher

Elizabeth Hecht & Peter Savoy Doug & Suzanne Hicks

Mr. Herbert J. Hoppe, Jr. Robert & Linda Jenkins Stephen L. Kadish Deb & Gar Kaminski

Charles King & Catherine Keating Bob° & Nanci Kirkpatrick Michael & Lynn Kleinman Ronald G. Kollar

Mr. & Mrs. Mark D. Kozel

Robert & Jennifer Larson

Daniel Leschnik

Kenneth E. & Anne R. Love

The Mersol Family Bill & Marilyn Miller Steve Z. & Mary Gibbs Mitchell Glenn & Susan Morley Ms. Barbara H. Nahra

Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Patalon Ms. Diane L. Pauley Frederick Perry Ms. Lori Riga

Dr. Edward J. Rockwood Sarah Sessions Reid Mr. James Sonday Frank & Vicki Titas Martha C. Tomb Lori Trehan

Ken Vinciquerra & Louise Acheson

Mr. & Mrs. James L. Wamsley III Dr. & Mrs. Gregory A. Watts Jerry & Carolyn Webb Ms. Jean Wingate Juliet Zavesky

Zilber Family Foundation, a sup porting foundation of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

$125 to $249

Anonymous (4)

Cheryl Barnes Pam & Scott Benson

Mr. & Mrs. Thomas W. Berges Roger Bielefeld

Mr. & Mrs. David R. Blackman Susan Bobey John Bolton Larry & Andi Carlini Robert Carlyon Gary Ciolli

Joanne Clifford

John & Donna Clifford David & Gayle Cratty Ronald Cross Daniel Divis

John & Maryann Doucette

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Eikenburg

Mr. & Mrs. L. William Erb Clyde & Janice Evans Gene & Patricia Ewald Mr. & Mrs. Fishwick David V. Foos

Ms. Gay Maire Goden

Ms. Linda Grau

John Greene

Jean E. Gubbins

Richard & Jo Anne Harris Curt & Karen Henkle Thomas Higgason Lynn & Mark Hofflund

Ms. Marie Ivkanec James & Gale Jacobsohn

Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Janson Marilyn & Howard Karfeld Lauren Kawentel

William & Marion Kettering

Mr. & Mrs. David R. Knowles Mike Kupiec & Pat Murphy

Ms. Leslie Lahr

Jeremy Lewis & Daniel Napolitano Gregory & Vickie Leyes Brian & Renee Lowery Antoinette Miller Tim Miller Tom & Mary Neff Ms. Brenda Norton

Mr. Gerald Norton Joan M. Oravec Brian Perry & Ka Pi Hoh Mr. David Porter Bette Prendergast James & Susan Prince John & Betsy Quinn Dr. James E. Racic Frank Rausche Ms. Jacqueline Y. Rhodes Robinson Family Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Rosen Doris A. Schultz

Mr. Richard Shirey William E. Spatz Susan St. John Mr. Glenn S. Steffens Sean & Tabitha Swick Jeffrey Tasse

Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. Tatman

The Edward & Katherine Thomas Family

Dr. & Mrs. Ken Tomecki Dr. Joanne M. Uniatowski Mary Velotta Christine & Daniel Vento Kimberly Vivolo

Mr. & Ms. Michael Wagner Ms. Kathleen Waits Mr. David Wildermuth Thomas M. & Barbara A. Wladyka

James & Sandra Wood John & Dianne Young

$75 to $124

Anonymous (2) Lori Adler

Thomas & Joan Baker

Ms. Carol Barasha

Ms. Kimberley Barton

Mr. Thomas D. Basco

Tom & Dorothy Bier

Amelia & Heather Blonsky

Dr. & Mrs. Dieter F. Bloser

Mr. & Mrs. Charles P. Bolton

Richard & Mary Ann Brockett Kathy Caldwell

Ms. Patricia Campbell

Mr. & Mrs. Frank Cercone

Mr. & Mrs. Robert B. Charlick

Mr. Edward A. Chuhna

David & Carol Consolo

Dr. & Mrs. Dale H. Cowan

Ms. Linda Cowie

George & Mary Crehore

Judith Darus

Mr. Brad Dawson

Chris & Mary Ann Deibel

Mr. Alex Derkaschenko

Mrs. Mary Helen Doherty

The Eldridge Family

Dr. J. Robert & Carol A. Fowler Kurt & Barbara Fretthold

Mr. Gregory Fritz

Mr. & Mrs. Timothy Gabb

Jeffrey M. Gamso

Ms. Pamela S. Goetsch

Virginia T. Goetz

Marian Hancy

Iris & Tom Harvie

Debra & Tom Hayes Jean Heller

Mr. Steven M. Izen & Mrs. Susannah Muskovitz Ron & Mary Ann Janke

Dr. Kalish R. Kedia

Ms. Kerry King

Albert & Karen Kirby Bill & Susan Kirchner

Benjamin R. Kirkpatrick

Ms. Amanda Kost

Richard B. Kotila

Ms. Margaret K. Krall Jacob Kronenberg & Barbara Belovich Charles Kruger

James & Tayna Lewan

Timothy Liston

David & Cheryl Lundgren

Susan E. Lust Robert MacDougall

Kenneth & Joan MacGillivray Paul S. Malchesky

Ms. Anne Martin

Ms. Shari Mathisen

Ms. Constance May Lynda & Charlie Mayer

Mr. John A. Mazzella

Cathy J. McCall

Ms. Allison E. McCallum

Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. McDonald

Jeanette McGovern

Jean McQuillan

Elizabeth Meister

Ms. Cheryl A. Moskwa

Mr. John M. Moss &

Mrs. Karen J. Moss

Mr. & Mrs. Oliver° & Mary Emerson

Joseph M. & Meribeth A. Pannitto

Lou M. Papes

Christa Petryszyn

Mr. & Mrs. Harold I. Pittaway III

Chandana A. Reddy

Judy & Clifford Reeves

Kathryn & Heath Reinhardt

Mr. & Mrs. Gerald P. Rencehausen

William Robak

Carolyn Rufo

Stephen Ruscher

Bryan Salisbury

Cindie Carroll-Pankhurst & Mark Salling

Schaum Family

Ms. Meredith M. &

Mr. Oliver E. Seikel

Donna Sheridan

Dr. Dave & Faye Sholiton

Mr. & Mrs. Vernon C. Sponseller

Todd & Patty Standen

Betsy Sullivan

Laura Lee Sutera

Ian & Kara Suzelis

Marcia J. Terstage

Ms. Leslie N. Thomas

Anne Unverzagt & Richard Goddard

Natalie & James Vloedman

Thomas Wagner & Malinda Smyth

Rev. & Mrs. David M. Walker

William Wallis

Mr. Raymond Washio

Lance Whitson & Terry Juhn

Dr. Thomas Zarlingo

Patrick M. Zohn

Endowment Fund

Gifts to the Great Lakes Theater Endowment Fund were received from the following donors between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022.

Edward Godleski

Gifts were received in honor of:

Melanie Bordelois by: Sylvia Bordelois

Jack & Janice Campbell by: Holly & Bruce Tomasch

Carol Dolan by: Mary Dolan & David Haracz

Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival Interns 1977-78 (A Merry Band of Players) by: Mary Beidler Gearen

Natalie G. Epstein by: Marilyn Bedol

Chad & Andrea Deal

Mr. Gene DiVincenzo

Dr. Lauren Goldman

Mr. & Mrs. Henry Goodman Rabbi Eddie & Dr. Roxanne Sukol

Wulf & Moira Utian

Mr. David I. & Mrs. Ann K. Warren

Mr. & Mrs. Philip Wasserstrom Mr. Adam Weinsein Mr. & Mrs. Steven Wiesenberger

Catherine Tanner by: Christie Lucco & Michael Devlin

Gifts were received in memory of:

Charles “Chuck” Dickson by: Georgianna T. Roberts

Elsie Glassford by: Angela Kovacs

Carole Nicolosi by: Ms. Joyce L. Adams

Dr. James Sheridan by: Donna Sheridan

James Weiss by: Holly McTernan

William Jacobs by: Ms. Deborah Glosserman

Samantha Jacobs & Aubrey Wynne

Matching Gift Corporations

Many companies, like the ones listed below, match all or a por tion of their employees’ charita ble giving. Is your employer a matching gift company? Find out by contacting your employer or the Great Lakes Theater Development Office at (216) 453-4457.

The Albert M. Higley Co. Dominion Foundation Eaton GlaxoSmithKline Foundation The Lubrizol Foundation Nordson Corporation Foundation

The Perkins Charitable Foundation

PNC Foundation

Progressive Insurance Foundation

Schneider Electric North America Foundation

The Women’s Committee

Formed in 1961, the committee is Great Lakes Theater’s longest standing volunteer support group. Members act as hosts for our actors, provide support in our administrative office and at events, and cheer us on throughout the season. If you would like to become a member, call Joanne Hulec at (216) 2528717 for more information.

Officers

Janice Campbell, President Barbara Chernus, Recording Secretary Bernice Bolek, Corresponding Secretary Nanci Kirkpatrick, Treasurer

Thank you to our donors! Every effort is made to ensure that our donor records are current and correct. Please contact the Great Lakes Theater Development Office at (216) 453-4457 to share an update or request a revision.

°Deceased: The legacy of these generous donors lives on for future generations.

By Charles Dickens

TRUSTEES

Chair

Samuel Hartwell*

President

Kim Bixenstine*

Secretary

Elizabeth A. Grove*

Treasurer

Kathleen Kennedy*

Trustees

Beth A. Adams

Michelle Arendt

Jennifer Dowdell

Armstrong* Walter Avdey*

Dalia Baker

Gary D. Benz

Kip T. Bollin

Todd M. Burger*

William Caster*

Gail L. Cudak

George A. M. Currall

Anthea Daniels

Carolyn Dickson† Barry Doggett† Carol Dolan*

Timothy J. Downing*

Dr. Howard G. Epstein* Natalie Epstein† Dianne V. Foley*

Lynn M. Gattozzi

Arthur C. Hall III* David M. Hopkins

Mary Elizabeth Huber

Diane Kathleen Hupp

Faisal A. Khan*

John W. Lebold*

Andrea S. Lyons

William MacDonald III† Charles Maimbourg*

David M. Maiorana

Ellen Stirn Mavec†

John E. McGrath† Katie McVoy*

Ingrid A. Minott*

Janet E. Neary† Michael Novak Michael J. Peterman† Timothy K. Pistell† David P. Porter† Gregory Pribulsky*

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

Uma M. Rajeshwar

Georgianna T. Roberts† Ana G. Rodriguez

John D. Schubert† Peter Shimrak† Thomas G. Stafford*† Sally J. Staley

Diana W. Stromberg

Catherine Tanner* Kristine M. Tesar* Arthur L. Thomas Nancy Wellener

* Executive Committee

† Life Trustee

In 2002, Great Lakes Theater (Cleveland, Ohio) and Idaho Shakespeare Festival (Boise, Idaho) conceived a unique, strategic producing alliance designed to maximize return on organizational investments, increase production efficiencies, create long term work opportu nities for artists and share best practices. In 2010, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival (Incline Village, Nevada) joined the collaborative — further contributing to the momentum of the revolutionary producing prototype’s success. The long term results have been remarkable. The alliance’s three independent, 501c3 regional theaters have shared over 60 jointly-created productions — each featuring long term, multi-city employment opportunities for artistic company members. This revolutionary producing model has realized its vision and exceeded expectations while simultaneously resulting in notable audience growth for each company.

SETTING THE STAGE

We believe that all Cleveland youth should have access to high-quality arts education. Through the generosity of our donors, we are investing to scale up neighborhoodbased programs that now serve 3,000 youth year-round in music, dance, theater, photography, literary arts and curatorial mastery. That’s setting the stage for success. Find your passion, and partner with the Cleveland Foundation to make your greatest charitable impact.