Aura Gallanar (Officer, Busker, Connie/Lillie, Billie Holiday) She has appeared in Shakespeare Beyond’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2023, 2024), and in CSC's mainstage productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014, 2018) and A Christmas Carol (2016, 2017, 2018). She recently performed with the national honors chorus at Carnegie Hall.

Nathan Garcia (Aegeon, Pinch) returns after previously appearing in last year’s Shakespeare Beyond production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is a student at Anne Arundel Community College where he appeared in Clue (Mr. Boddy/Police Chief), Antigone (Kreon), Rosecrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Claudius) and in 12 Angry Jurors (Juror Number Three). Nathan made his professional debut at East Lynne Theater Company in Cape May, New Jersey in Sherlock Holmes and the Blue Carbuncle (Watson), Who am I This Time? (Verne/Roy) and Sherlock Holmes and the Norwood Builder (John Hector McFarlane). He previously performed with the Veteran’s Ensemble with the Olive Branch & Laurel Crown’s production of The Two Noble Kinsmen (various) in Baltimore. Nathan is also an on-air broadcaster at WCZT 98.7 and WJSE 106.3 FM in Wildwood, NJ.

Zach Brewster Geisz (Governor, Busker, Earl Weaver) returns to CSC after performing in A Raisin in the Sun (Karl Lindner), Much Ado About Nothing (Verges), and the Romeo and Juliet educational matinees (Friar Laurence and Montague). Other local credits include: If I Forget and The Scenarios (Studio Theatre); The Outsider (Keegan Theatre); The Chosen (1st Stage); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Avant Bard); Richard III and East of Eden (NextStop Theatre Company); The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, King John, King Lear, and Midsummer (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Television work includes Lady in the Lake (Apple TV+) and We Own This City (HBO).

Matt Harris (Dromio) Previous CSC credits include: It’s The Comedy of Errors, Hon! (Angelo), Romeo & Juliet student matinees (Friar Lawrence, Peter), As You Like It (Touchstone understudy). Matt is the Production Manager and Ensemble Member with the Maryland Ensemble Theatre. MET: Sense & Sensibility (Edward Ferrars), The Squirrels (Scientist, Sciuridae), Peter and the Starcatcher (Alf). Oh CRIT! The D&D Improv Show (Dungeon Master and Player). Regional: The 39 Steps (Clown), Timon of Athens (Ventidius), Tuna Christmas (Bertha and others), Coriolanus (Brutus), Shakespeare’s R&J (Mercutio. Friar Laurence), Merry Wives of Windsor (Orlando Shakes and Hedgepig Ensemble), King Lear (Orlando Shakes). MattHarrisActor.com

Oz Heiligman (Angelo) is a nonbinary DMV-based actor and teaching artist. They hold a BFA in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. Since 2022, they have performed with several local theaters including Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (Henry V, Twelfth Night), Baltimore Shakespeare Factory (Henry VIII), Fells Point Corner Theatre (Lipstick! A Queer Farce) and Flying V (Astro Boy & the God of Comics).

Rachel Johns (Adriana, Walter Johnson) is making her CSC debut. Select acting credits include …Muffed… (Prologue Theatre); The Margriad (Avant Bard Theatre); Jojo’s Backyard Safari and Once Upon A Moon (the Smithsonian’s Discovery Theater); The Monsters of Seahorse Island (InterAct Story Theatre); The Tempest (Grassroots Shakespeare DC). Rachel holds a BFA in Drama from New York University where she studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. @racheljohns99 www.racheljohns.com

Lloyd Marcus (Antipholus) is a member of CSC’S Black Classical Acting Ensemble and returns after previously performing in The Oresteia (2024), the summer production of Macbeth (2023), the student matinee of Macbeth (2022), and A Raisin in the Sun (2022). His previous credits include: A Civil War Christmas at the Strand Theatre, Girls on a Dirt Pile as a part of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He was nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Award and won 'Outstanding Performance in a Play Reading'.

Mae Phillipe-Auguste (Fish Monger, Luce, Courtezan, Abbess) is a Baltimore-based actor, singer, and educator making her CSC debut. Previously, Mae has acted in Pipeline at Vagabond Players and Machinal at Fells Point Corner Theatre. She has also sung in local cabarets and been featured as a vocal soloist at various events for the Greater Baltimore Section of the National Council of Negro Women. In addition to her work on stage, Mae has also produced several audiobooks.

Jake Stibbe (Barry) Previous CSC credits include A Christmas Carol and As You Like It. Other previous professional credits include How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Mankind, Rocky Horror, and Everyone’s Talking About Jamie Matilda (Iron Crow Theatre), Newsies, Matilda (Constellation Stage and Screen), Bob: A Life in Five Acts, Fly By Night, Alice in Wonderland, Ripcord (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati), Annie (Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati), and The Buddy Holly Story (Hackmatack Playhouse). Jake graduated this spring with his master’s in social work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Tia Thomas (Luciana) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist, educator, and playwright. Acting credits include A Christmas Carol and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at ArtsCentric, and As You Like It and How to Catch Creation at Towson University. As a teaching artist, she has worked with organizations such as Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, and Signature Theatre. Tia is also the playwright of Eyeballs, which was featured in Rapid Lemon Productions’ 2024 Play Festival.

Ian Gallanar (Founding Artistic Director, Shakespeare Beyond Executive Producer, and It's the Comedy of Errors, Hon! Director) is in his 24^th year as Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. He founded the organization in 2002. Ian has worked as a professional actor, director, producer, and writer for roughly 200 professional productions. He has directed over 40 productions for CSC and developed its student matinee series and Shakespeare Beyond, a statewide mobile unit that gives free performances and offers free educational residencies.  Previously, Ian has served as Artistic Director for the National Theatre for Children, Minnesota Shakespeare in the Park, and the Repertory Theater of America. Ian is a proud member of the distinguished National Theatre Conference and the Dramatists Guild of America; a Helen Hayes Tribute Award, Telly Award, Howie Award (Howard County Arts Council) winner. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He was the 2023 recipient of the Sidney Berger Award, a lifetime achievement award given to an Artistic Director of note from a professional Shakespeare company given by the international Shakespeare Theatre Association, an organization for professional Shakespeare companies around the globe.

Kathryn Daniels (Assistant Director) is a CSC company member and was last seen in CSC's 2022 production of Twelfth Night as Maria and the student matinee of Romeo and Juliet as the Nurse (2022). Other CSC credits include: A Christmas Carol (2021), Dracula (2019), Measure for Measure (2020), Henry IV Parts 1&2 (2019) and Julius Caeser (2017). She has also worked with Baltimore Shakespeare Factory, Stillpoint Theater, Iron Crow and Fells Point Theater.

Ryan Anthony (Stage Manager) N/A

Seamus Miller (Music Director/Associate Artistic Director) is the Associate Artistic Director of Shakespeare Beyond. He also serves as Chesapeake's Major Gifts Officer. CSC directing credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V (AD), and the student matinee productions of Macbeth and Romeo & Juliet. He has created numerous Shakespeare adaptations, including Coriolanus (Helen Hayes Award Winner, Avant Bard Theatre). Séamus is a member of Actors' Equity Association and has appeared in over forty productions around the DMV area. CSC acting credits include Measure for Measure, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Romeo & Juliet, Wild Oats, Twelfth Night, Red Velvet, and many others. Séamus is also the Artistic Director of Devil's Isle Shakespeare Company in Bermuda and the Co-Founder & CEO of Ardan Community Living, the premiere sober living facility for women in early recovery from Substance Use Disorder in Washington, DC. BA: Cornell University. MFA: STC Academy (GWU). www.seamusactor.com/directing @almostseamus

Hannah Brill (Costume Design) is a costume and lighting designer from Baltimore. She is the Assistant Costume Shop manager for Towson University’s Department of Theatre Arts. Hannah is returning to CSC as wardrobe manager (Romeo and Juliet, The Oresteia, As You Like It, Macbeth, Hamlet, A Christmas Carol 2022 & 2023, Twelfth Night). Other recent work includes costume design for A Year with Frog and Toad (Towson University), TU Dance Company shows Multiplicity, Echoing Visions, Legacy, and Surging (Towson University), Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negroes (Single Carrot Theatre), The First Thing That Happens (Acme Corporation), and lighting design for Rachel (Rapid Lemon Productions.)

Katherine Offut Ross (Props Artisan) is a DMV theatre technician and producer, who is delighted to join up with CSC again for Midsummer and Shakespeare Beyond. Catch more of her props work on stages this summer at Nu Sass (Bright Room Called Day) and Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre (Big Fish), and then catch her wandering about the Maryland Renaissance Festival this fall, where she's stage managed annually for over a decade.

Chris Niebling (Fight Director) is an Artistic Associate for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC), a graduate of Oberlin College, and a certified Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. He has worked as an actor, director, fight choreographer, intimacy coordinator, or combination thereof at numerous regional theatres including: Ally Theatre Company, Baltimore Opera Company, CSC, Catalyst Theatre Company, The Hatchery Festival, Journeyman Theatre, Live Action Theatre, National Players, Olney Theatre Center, Pallas Theatre Collective, Red Eye Gravy, Rep Stage, Rorschach Theatre, Six Flags America, Solas Nua, Washington National Opera, Washington Shakespeare Company, Alvernia College, Howard Community College, and Carroll Community College. 

Derek Hughes (Technical Director) N/A

Lloyd Marcus (Company Manager) See cast bios

Chester Stacy (Production Architect/Truck Engineer) has designed, built, and painted many CSC productions, including Alice in Wonderland, The Fantasticks, Red Velvet, and Titus Andronicus, and for Baltimore Center Stage’s Thoughts of a Colored Man and Shakespeare in Love. Chester Creates LLC, has provided production design for The Night Watchmen, set decoration for House of Cards and The Wire; and environmental graphics for Crunch Fitness, Royal Caribbean, Bmore Greek Grill, and Healthy Highlandtown

Marshall Garrett (Tour Manager) returns after previously stage managing CSC's 2023 production of As You Like It. Director of over 50 productions, including recently: Next to Normal (Harford Community College), Picnic (Johns Hopkins Barnstormers), Pericles (Sweet Tea Shakespeare), King Lear (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory). Currently on faculty at CCBC, Harford Community College, North East High School. MFA/MLitt: Mary Baldwin University. BA: Illinois Wesleyan University. www.MarshallBGarrett.com

Shelby Kiesel (Assistant Stage Manager) N/A

Mel Gabel (Front of House Manager) N/A

Gabby Grant (Wardrobe Manager) Returns to Chesapeake Shakespeare Company after previously working on A Christmas Carol (2024) Macbeth (2023).  Other credits include Slime, shout (The Queer Theatre Project), The Grown-Up, You Can See Me in the Dark, She Kills Monsters, This Remains, and Heathers: The Musical (UMBC), Much Ado About Nothing and Puffs (Spotlighters Theatre), Alice by Heart (Wildwood Summer Theatre).

Molly Horton Booth* (Shakespeare Beyond Education Coordinator) coordinates the Shakespeare Beyond Arts Residencies, bringing fun performing arts workshops taught by awesome teaching artists to hundreds of students in Maryland. Their CSC experience includes running the Homeschool CORPS classes, as well as directing The Two Noble Kinsmen with an all-veterans ensemble. She is also an author of Young Adult Shakespeare-related novels, including Saving Hamlet, Nothing Happened, Twelfth Grade Night, and King Cheer, all published by Disney Hyperion. They also specialize in magical crafting and made the fairy wands for this production. Molly graduated with an M.A. in English (with a thesis in Shakespeare pedagogy) from the University of Massachusetts Boston. (they/she)