As You Like It Show Synopsis

Rosalind flees persecution in her uncle’s court into the bewitching Forest of Arden. Along with her cousin Celia, they discover shepherds, aristocrats, and country folk. The forest is also full of lovers, including Orlando, a youth recently displaced from the court who pines for Rosalind. Disguised as a boy shepherd, she has Orlando woo her under the guise of “curing” him of his love for Rosalind.

Lizzi Albert (Phebe) is a CSC Touchstone Company Member who has worked with CSC since 2012 as an actor, director, and teaching artist. Favorite productions include Twelfth Night (2022), Richard III (2017 and 2012), Anne of the Thousand Days (2016), and directing The Tempest (2017) and the inaugural Blood and Courage production, All's Well That Ends Well (2015). Regionally, Lizzi has appeared with Avant Bard Theatre Company (Julius Caesar), Constellation Theater Company (Absolutely! Perhaps), and the American Century Theater, among others. Lizzi holds an M.A. in Acting from the University of Essex and a B.F.A. in Theater from NYU/Stella Adler. www.lizzialbert.com.

Gabriel Alejandro (Orlando) is a Puerto Rican actor making his CSC debut. He has trained and performed in Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC. Previous credits include Keegan Theater: The Wilting Point; Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy: Macbeth, Measure for Measure, Pericles, Twelfth Night; Odin Teatret: Barter; Worlds Elsewhere Theater Company: The Roaring Girl; Fractal Theater Collective: Untitled Horror Project. Education: (BA) University of Puerto Rico, (MAT) New York University, (MFA Candidate) George Washington University.

Dylan Arredondo (Touchstone) Previously at CSC: Much Ado About Nothing. DC AREA: Olney Theatre Center/National Players: Beauty & the Beast, The Great Gatsby, Alice in Wonderland, Othello; Kennedy Center: Mortification of Fovea Munson; Round House Theatre: Quixote Nuevo; Signature Theatre: Daphne’s Dive; Rep Stage: The Glass Menagerie; Constellation Theatre Company: School for Lies, White Snake. Other Shakespeare credits: Julius Caesar, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, All’s Well That Ends Well, Comedy of Errors, Cymbeline, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet, Richard II, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Macbeth. www.DylanArredondo.com

Jordan Brown (Silvius/Charles) Regional credits include: Much Ado About Nothing (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); My Children! My Africa!, How He Lied to Her Husband (Washington Stage Guild); Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea, She Kills Monsters (Rorschach Theatre); Time Is On Our Side (Perisphere Theatre); As You Like It (Powerhouse Theater); King Henry VI Part I (Brave Spirits Theatre); Bobtail Bong Bong (InterAct Story Theatre); The Wolf You Feed (Theatre Prometheus); Nothing to Lose (Unexpected Stage); The Ties That Bind (Catholic University);The Importance of Being Earnest, Eurydice, The Shape of Things, Red Death (Stevenson University). Website: jordanbrownactor.org Instagram: @Jordan_Le_Great

Gregory Burgess (Duke Frederick/Hymen) is a CSC Company Member, and has performed in CSC’s productions of Macbeth (2023), Hamlet (2023) Twelfth Night (2022), Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2; The Winter’s Tale; The Fantasticks; Richard III (2017 and 2012); Anne of the Thousand Days; Wild Oats; A Christmas Carol (2014-2022); Titus Andronicus (2015); The Importance of Being Earnest; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014 and 2010); As You Like It; The Merry Wives of Windsor; The Taming of the Shrew (2017 and 2013); and The Merchant of Venice, among many others. His training includes The Martin Blank Studio, the Shakespeare Theater, and Howard University.

Surasree Das (Celia) is making her CSC debut. EStP: Twelfth Night (Viola), Merry Wives of Windsor(Mistress Quickly), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Hermia), Olney Theatre (u/s, Arundhathi and Megha), Strand Theatre: Little Women (Jo March); Smithsonian: Seasons of Light; Free Range Humans: Jekyll/Hyde (Nellie); Imagination Stage: Hungry Caterpillar (u/s all, performed) Princess Pauper (Zoya); BAPAC/The Tank NYC: TornKid (TornKid); Center Stage: Animal Farm; Single Carrot: Lear (Goneril); Constellation: Arabian Nights (Dunyazade); Toby's: South Pacific (Liat) Awards: BITrsister Best actor nomination (Jo March), Best Ensemble(Little Women), Best Devised(TornKid) instagram: drag0n_mistress tiktok: Drag0nmistress

Lauren Davis (Rosalind) is a company member and a member of CSC’s Black Classical Acting Ensemble (BCAE). Most recently, she directed CSC’s summer production of Macbeth, featuring the BCAE, and CSC’s Olive Branch and Laurel Crown production of To Be a Solider and assistant directed Macbeth (2022 School Matinee). Acting credits include Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Acoustic Rooster, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Kennedy Center); Corduroy, Shrek the Musical (Childrens Theatre Company); Oliver! (Theater Latté Da); Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Pillsbury House Theatre/Guthrie Theater). She was also the Associate director of FELA at Olney Theatre Center. She holds an M.F.A. from the Catholic University of America and a theater degree from Frostburg State.

Kate Forton (Audrey) is a senior company member with CSC. She played Mrs. Pickersgill in A Christmas Carol (2022), Hero in Much Ado about Nothing (2022), Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (2018), various roles in A Christmas Carol (2014-2019), and has been in several other CSC productions. Kate has also worked with Just Off Broadway in their productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Rumors, New York, Company. (she/her)

Jonas Connors-Grey (Corin) has worked with CSC since 2012, when he appeared in Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet. Other CSC credits include Richard II, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III, and Measure for Measure. He recently appeared in Henry V (2022). Jonas currently teaches at The Odyssey School. He would like to thank his husband, Bob, for his love and support. He also wishes to thank each of you for coming to the show.

Ethan Larsen (Oliver) Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Julius Caesar, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Hamlet (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory)

Elana Michelle (Amiens) is a CSC Company Member. Elana is an attorney who has enjoyed a variety of roles as an actress, musician, and vocalist across the country in film, television, & theatre; in CSC she has previously worked on Hamlet (Ophelia), Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), Twelfth Night (Olivia), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Rosaline), A Winter’s Tale (Time/Mopsa), Mother Courage & Her Children, a staged reading (Mother Courage), She Stoops to Conquer (Constance) A Christmas Carol (Belle/Dorothy), All’s Well That Ends Well (King of France), Henry IV Pt. 1 & 2 (Lady Percy), and Anne of the Thousand Days (Jane Seymour)

Brendan Murray (Duke Senior) performed with CSC in Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and She Stoops to Conquer, and most recently understudied multiple roles in Hamlet. Other productions include The Mollusc (Quotidian Theatre Company), Rabbit Hole (Peter's Alley Theatre Productions), Tangles (New Theater of Medicine), A Walk in the Woods (Reston Community Players), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Frost/Nixon (Silver Spring Stage). He also understudied several roles in Caroline or Change (Round House Theatre) and Water by the Spoonful (Studio Theatre). TV credits include We Own This City, Copycat Killers, and Deadly Affairs.

Scott Alan Small (Adam) has been a CSC Company Member since 2004. He has appeared with CSC in 35 productions. He was most recently seen in, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)[revised][again] (2022); Dracula (2019); The Diary of Anne Frank (2019); Henry IV, Parts I and II (2019); The Winter’s Tale (2018); The Taming of the Shrew (2017); Richard III (2017 and the 2012 movable), Macbeth (2016, 2008 (movable), 2007, 2018 student matinee, and 2019 (movable)); A Christmas Carol (2017, 2015, 2014). His directing credits with CSC include A Christmas Carol (2019, 2017, 2016 and 2015), The Comedy of Errors (2015), the movable productions of Romeo and Juliet (2016), Dracula (2013), and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). 

Michael P. Sullivan (Jaques) has been performing with CSC since 2005 and As You Like It is his 24th show with the company.  Favorite roles include the title character in Dracula, The Tempest (Prospero), Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick), Julius Caesar (Cassius and Julius Caesar), Titus Andronicus (Titus), Wild Oats(Sir George Thunder), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Ford).  He most recently appeared in CSC's Shakespeare Beyond production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Snout/Egeus) and in student matinees of Romeo & Juliet (Friar Laurence).  Last winter he portrayed Poirot in Murder on The Orient Express (Cumberland Theatre) and appeared as Gremio in the theatre’s summer production of Taming of the Shrew. 

Saraniya Tharmarajah (Le Beau/Lord) is a theatre artist and public health researcher. She is delighted to be making her CSC debut. Previous works include Is Edward Snowden Single? (Single Carrot Theatre), COVID Monologues (Single Carrot Theatre), How to Make Friends and then Kill Them (Michael Pilch Studio), Confessions of a Coconut (Burton Taylor Studio) and Samsara (Single Carrot Theatre).

Ty Velines (William) is making their CSC debut. Previous credits include: A Wind in the Door (The Kennedy Center), The Snowy Day and Other Stories ( Adventure Theatre), The Jungle Book (Imagination Stage), Mack, Beth (The Keegan Theatre), Theory ( Mosaic Theater Company), Milk Like Sugar (Mosaic Theater Company), A Bid to Save the World (Rorschach Theatre),  Ballast ( Source Theatre), and Stage Kiss (Round House Theatre).

Ian Gallanar (Director/ Founding Artistic Director) See Leadership Bios

Sarah Curnoles (Production Manager) stage managed with CSC for Much Ado About Nothing, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Dracula, A Doll’s House, The Tempest, and Henry V. Before working at CSC, she was self-employed as a life coach. She has also worked at Center Stage as the Executive Assistant to the Artistic and Managing Directors. Sarah created and directed A Fool’s Paradise: 30 Shakespeare Scenes in 60 Minutes which was performed at the Baltimore Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and various stages around Baltimore.

Molly Moores (Assistant Director) is a CSC Senior Acting Company Member and a CSC Teaching Artist. She served as the Children’s Director for CSC’s A Christmas Carol (2014-2019) and Acting Company Manager for CSC’s 2023 Shakespeare Beyond: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Molly has also directed seven musicals for Young Actors Theatre summer program at McDonough School, 2010-2016: Beauty and the Beast, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Once On This Island, Little Mermaid, Shrek, Into The Woods, and In The Heights. Molly also directed Fiddler on the Roof at Loyola University. Molly is currently teaching Acting I at Johns Hopkins University, Undergraduate Program in Theatre Arts & Studies for the Fall 2023 semester. Molly is a graduate of Loyola University in Baltimore with a BA in Theatre/English. Molly also completed the 3 year program at Studio Acting Conservatory in D.C., as well as training at A.C.T. in San Francisco. www.mollymoores.com

Marshall B Garret (Stage Manager) is working at CSC for the first time. 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.

Cat Moreschi (Assistant Stage Manager) is making her CSC debut. Previous ASM credits include: Fela!, The World Goes 'Round, Kinky Boots, Beauty & the Beast, Dance Nation (Olney Theatre Center); All's Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, Henry V (American Shakespeare Center).

Dan O’Brien  (Technical Director/Lighting Design) is a founding member of CSC. Daniel has performed, designed scenery, lights, and served as Technical Director for many productions (among other jobs too numerous to name). He oversaw the construction of CSC’s theatre in Baltimore and designed the sets and lighting for Macbeth (2016); for the inaugural season plays A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard II; Romeo and Juliet (2015-2019); A Christmas Carol (2014-2019), and many others.

Chester Stacy  (Assistant Technical Director) 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 film 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.

Kathryn Kawecki (Set Design) Previous CSC credits include Anne of the Thousand Days and Much Ado. DMV design credits include: How the Light Gets In, The Phlebotomist, Proof, and others (1st Stage), Othello/Desdemona (InSeries), The Late Wedding (The Hub), Enron (4615), The Oregon Trail (Flying V). Other designs include: Broken Fences, Taste of It (Ballybeg Theatre, NYC); Elijah, Faith! (LOCAL, Boulder); Avenue Q (Lyric Stage, Boston); Dollhouse, RENT (New Rep, Boston); Romeo & Juliet, My Fair Lady (Greater Boston Stage). She is an Associate Professor at Bowie State University. Education: MFA, Set Design, UNCSA; BA, Visual Arts, Columbia University. www.kawecki-art.com

Kristina Lambdin  (Costume Design) won the Broadway World Best Costume Design award for her designs for A Christmas Carol (2016). Some of her costuming credits with CSC include Dracula (2013 and 2019); The Diary of Anne Frank; She Stoops to Conquer; Alice in Wonderland; Red Velvet; Anne of the Thousand Days; The Fantasticks; Macbeth (2016); A Christmas Carol (2014-2018); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005, 2011 and 2014); The Importance of Being Earnest; The Taming of the Shrew (2006 and 2013); Romeo and Juliet (2003, 2012, and student matinees 2015-2019); A Doll’s House; As You Like It (Broadway World Best of Baltimore Award); and The Country Wife. Broadway World named her as a top artist of the 2007 Baltimore Theatre, and she won the Greater Baltimore Theater Award for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005). For more than a decade, she served as the Costume Supervisor for the Baltimore Opera Company and then Lyric Opera Baltimore.

John Bakker (Props Design) is a filmmaker with iatse local 487 lending their skills in props to The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company for the first time. As a local Baltimorean craftsperson and lifetime patron of Baltimore's theatres they are proud to assist in bringing Shakespeare to life with the CSC.

Mark Williams (Projection Design) is a Projections Designer and Creative System Integrator for live performance. As You Like It is his CSC and Baltimore design debut. He is a recent graduate of UMD’s Theatre MFA Design program. Website: markwdesign.com

Grace Srinivasan  (Music Director) has programmed and arranged the music for CSC productions since 2016 as Resident Music Director. A soprano who performs a wide-ranging repertoire throughout the region, she appeared as a soloist in a program of works inspired by Shakespeare’s plays, If Music Be the Food of Love, with CSC artists, the Peabody Baroque Band, and the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble. Grace holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory and sings professionally at St. Stephen Martyr Church and the National Cathedral.

Michael Lonegro (Dramaturg) was the lighting designer for CSC’s Julius Caesar (2017) and has operated lighting for numerous CSC productions. Before joining CSC in 2014, he studied law at the University of Maryland and comparative literature at the University of Chicago and worked for 10 years as a university press editor. He holds a BA from Yale University, where he also designed lighting for undergraduate and graduate theatre productions.

Shalyce Hemby (Dance/Movement Choreographer) is a Maryland native, making her Chesapeake Shakespeare Company debut in the As You Like It; ArtsCentric: Once on this Island, Crowns, The Last 5 Years, Little Shop of Horrors, Aida, Chicago, The Color Purple, The Wiz, For Colored Girls, Dreamgirls, Snapshots DC AREA: NextStop Theatre: Beehive; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: The Wiz, Dreamgirls [Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Choreography in a Musical], The Bodyguard, and Ain’t Misbehavin ArtsCentric/Everyman/Olney Theatre Center: The World Goes ‘Round; Olney Theatre Center: Just Arts: A Celebration of Art & Activism FILM: Step Up. Instagram: @sugasheadance

Jordan Stanford (Intimacy/Fights Director) has choreographed intimacy for the Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet matinees (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), The School for Lies, Once on This Island (Constellation Theatre Company) and Madea (George Washington University). She was also last since in CSC’s Macbeth as a Witch/Seyton

Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang (Composer) is a South Asian-American, Sikh composer, vocalist, sitarist and multimedia artist from Baltimore. Combining ideas from Hindustani classical music with synthesizers, MIDI controllers, lighting design and gestural movement, her work invites the audience to reframe their assumptions about the colonial history of music, the arts, technology, and performance and its place in the contemporary musical landscape.

Jessica Rassp (Puppet Maker) is a puppet maker and puppeteer whose storytelling emphasizes the subtleties of creature expression and connection with our natural world. She has worked with CSC on Henry V, Dracula, The Winter’s Tale, Othello and many other productions. She is a member of CSC’s Resident Technical and Design team. jessrasspdesign.com

LEADERSHIP

Ian Gallanar (Founding Artistic Director, As You Like It Director) In addition to founding the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in 2002, Ian has worked as a professional actor, director, and writer for more than 150 professional productions. He has directed 40 productions for CSC. 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, and Howie Award (Howard County Arts Council) winner. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he is a Member of the College of Fine Arts Advancement Council. He is Immediate Past President of the international Shakespeare Theatre Association, an organization for professional Shakespeare companies around the globe.

Lesley Malin (Producing Executive Director) is a founder of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and served as its Executive Director since 2003. She managed CSC’s building renovation of an 1885 bank into our modern Shakespeare playhouse as well as the associated $6.7 million capital campaign. She has performed in 28 CSC productions and previously in New York. She was, for 20 years, Vice President of the Board of Trustees of The Lark, the landmark new play development center in New York City, where she earlier was Managing Director. She served for five years on the Executive Committee of the international Shakespeare Theatre Association and organized its annual conference that CSC hosted in Baltimore in 2017. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, NYU’s Arts Management program, Leadership Howard County, and LEADERship Baltimore (2018).