Amani Abdullah (Madam K) (she/her) is a third-year BFA Acting and Psychology BA major with a minor in Entrepreneurship. This is her second UMBC production, and she is very excited. Her last role was in UMBC’s John Proctor is the Villain as an ensemble member. Her most notable role was in Owings Mills High School’s production of Blood at the Root by Dominique Morisseau in the role of Raylynn. She would love to thank her family and friends for supporting her love of art and her craft. She hopes this show inspires and moves everyone as much as it did her.

Ambar Auth (Cousin Minnie) (she/her) is a sophomore Linehan Artist Scholar (LAS) BFA actor in the Pre-Physical Therapy program. Ambar, ever since childhood, has had a talent for the performative art, but in a single-parent household, has struggled with a lack of opportunity due to a lack of funds. Despite that, she has proven her resilience by finding ways to hone her skills without depleting her mother's bank account through learning what she could in high school theater. Her most memorable role in high school theater was Ms. Pennywise in Urinetown where she was quoted by her mother saying, “Mom, I get to step on people”. Ambar would love to thank her mother for always supporting her in her arts and making all the sacrifices that she made to put her through college. “I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate this when I was younger. Thank you for all you did and still do, I love you, Mom”. She is excited for what is to come in her next performative and academic career.

Lauren Davis (Griot) is an Actor/Director from Maryland and is excited to be working on this special play. Acting credits include: Sister Act , Christmas Carol (Ford's Theatre, DC); Joe Turner's Come and Gone , As You Like It (Chesapeake Shakespeare, MD); Frontieres Sans Frontieres (Spooky Action, DC); Acoustic Rooster , Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Kennedy Center, DC); Corduroy , Shrek the Musical , Scarecrow and Servant (Children’s Theatre Company, MN); Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Guthrie, Pillsbury House, MN). Directing Credits Include: Inaugural Directing Fellow (Shakespeare and Co., MA). Macbeth , Romeo and Juliet (CSC); Variations on Night , Book of Grace (Rapid Lemon, MD). MFA: Catholic University. She would like to thank God and her family for their love and support!

LaTrelle Jamez (Bruce) (He/Him) is a Senior BFA Acting Major from Owings Mills, Maryland. After Shakespeare in Harlem’s first run at UMBC, La’Trelle has graduated from UMBC with a BFA in Acting. Other theatre credits include Once on This Island, Once Upon a Mattress, Murder by Midnight, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, shOUT, and Down With Love. He gives special thanks to Gerrad Taylor for constantly pushing him to reach his full potential and taking the time to shape his skills as an actor; to Nigel Semaj for inspiring him to be a better mover; and to Tessa Farley and Grace Shepperd for helping him find his love for stage management. And thanks to all of the UMBC faculty, staff, and students that will make this chapter of his life memorable. Instagram: @LT_Jamez

Dario Prioleau (Leonard) (He/Him) is a senior in the BFA Acting program from Howard County, Maryland. You may have seen this fella in the past shows of Green Theatre Revolution and Down with Love in 2024; Shakespeare in Harlem will be his third show here at UMBC. He is thankful for his parents, brother, and grandma for supporting him on the glorious path he has taken. Instagram: @dario_prioleau

Manny Rimmer (Alex) (He/him) is a junior BFA student at UMBC who transferred from Temple University. His past roles include Daniel in Once on This Island , Justin in Blood at the Root , Otto Lamermeier in Spring Awakening , Arnold in Exit Strategy , and Lucas Harper-Barnes in Iron John at Temple. He enjoys teaching youth about the wonders of acting at the Walnut Street Theatre. Manny is honored to be a part of Shakespeare in Harlem as his first show at UMBC, and he hopes that the audience gains profound insight from the carefully crafted performance of each cast member. Instagram: @_manzo_02_

Gerrad Alex Taylor (Simple) See Creative Team Bios

Tatiyana “Tati” J. Terrelonge (Lulu) (she/her) is a junior BFA Acting major and Media & Communications major from Pikesville, Maryland. This is her first show with UMBC and her first time being an understudy. Some previous shows include: CCBC, including We Are Proud to Present… as Actor 6 and The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong as Thomas Colleymore/Robert. She wants to thank her family and friends who have continued to support her as she takes this wonderful journey through the acting world. She especially wants to send love and thanks to her mother, who is no longer here but continues to push her with her spirit and guidance. Follow her on Instagram @tatiyanaj.terrelonge ! ♡♡

Gerrad Alex Taylor (Director & Adapter; Simple) (he/him/his) is an award-winning director and multidisciplinary theatre artist based out of the Greater Baltimore region and an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His current creative work and research centers around creating space that preserves history and celebrates culture of the Global Majority. In 2021 he was named one of Baltimore’s “40 Under 40” by the Washington Business Journal. In 2020, he founded Chesapeake Shakespeare’s Black Classical Acting Ensemble (BCAE), an affinity space for black actors interested in training and exposure of the “classics” and what an expansion of the classical canon may look like today. In 2024, Gerrad joined colleague Lizzi Albert to take on the roles of Co-Artistic Directors of Perisphere Theater in Montgomery County, MD. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has worked with theatres and educational institutions across the country including the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Perisphere Theater, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Pacific Conservatory Theatre-PCPA, Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Mosaic Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, and Washington Stage Guild. He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association and an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Mercer Langston Hughes (Playwright) was born on February 1, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents, James Nathaniel Hughes and Carrie Langston Hughes, divorced when he was a young child, and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his maternal grandmother, Mary Sampson Patterson Leary Langston, who was nearly seventy when Hughes was born, until he was thirteen. He then moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland. It was in Lincoln that Hughes began writing poetry.

After graduating from high school, he spent a year in Mexico followed by a year at Columbia University. During this time, he worked as an assistant cook, a launderer, and a busboy. He also traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926 with an introduction by Harlem Renaissance arts patron Carl Van Vechten. Criticism of the book from the time varied, with some praising the arrival of a significant new voice in poetry, while others dismissed Hughes’s debut collection. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter (Alfred A. Knopf, 1930), won the Harmon Foundation’s gold medal for literature.

Hughes, who cited Paul Laurence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the 1920s to the 1960s. He wrote novels, short stories, plays, and poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable Black poets of the period, such as Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen, Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of Black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including their love of music, laughter, and language, alongside their suffering.

In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote eleven plays and countless works of prose, including the well-known “Simple” books: Simple’s Uncle Sam (Hill and Wang, 1965); Simple Stakes a Claim (Rinehart, 1957); Simple Takes a Wife (Simon & Schuster, 1953); Simple Speaks His Mind (Simon & Schuster, 1950). He coedited the The Poetry of the Negro, 1746–1949 (Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1949) with Arna Bontemps, edited The Book of Negro Folklore (Dodd, Mead & Company, 1958), and wrote an acclaimed autobiography, The Big Sea (Alfred A. Knopf, 1940). Hughes also cowrote the play Mule Bone (HarperCollins, 1991) with Zora Neale Hurston.

Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer on May 22, 1967, in New York City. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and East 127th Street has been renamed “Langston Hughes Place.”

Eric Abele (Costume Designer) (he/they) Eric Abele is a Teaching Professor in Costume Design, Undergraduate Program Director, and the Associate Chair for the UMBC Theatre Department. You may read his bio on the UMBC website

Sumedha Bhat (Assistant Stage Manager) (she/her) is a third-year Cinematic Arts BFA and Theatre: Design & Production BA with a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship from Frederick, Maryland. This is Sumedha’s second show at UMBC, her first being Stupid F*cking Bird where she served as a run crew member. She would love to thank her family, and friends for supporting her through her journey of becoming an artist. Sumedha would also like to thank Grace and all the faculty at UMBC Theatre for their support and mentorship!!

Kaydin Hamby (Sound Designer) holds a BA in Theatre Design and Production from UMBC ('19). UMBC sound design credits include Stupid F*cking Bird , Stories Told Small , She Kills Monsters , Small Mouth Sounds , Everybody , Gwyneth , Anon(ymous) , and Far Away . Kaydin is an ensemble member at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick MD, where sound design credits include: Sense and Sensibility , Three Swingin' Little Pigs , Head Over Heels , Angels in America Parts 1 & 2 , Revolutionists , Meteor Shower , The Tempest , Admissions , Christmas Carol , and Circle Mirror Transformation . Kaydin is the musical director of MET Comedy Night's Off Key: An Improvised Musical and is a Frederick-based singer/songwriter/musician. Listen and learn more at KaydinHamby.com

Andrew Hann (Vocal Director) (he/him) is a voice coach, singer, pianist, and yoga practitioner based in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to offering singing voice work, he offers gender affirming voice care for trans and non-binary folx to help discover their authentic voice which aligns with their identity. As a performer, Andrew has demonstrated his versatility by appearing on stage as a vocalist, harpsichordist, and music director. Favorite roles include Arnalta in L'incoronazione di Poppea , Orphée in La descente d'Orphée aux enfers , Pane in La Calisto , and Jimmy Smith in the 2014 premiere of Frances Pollock's social justice opera Stinney . Previous UMBC productions include Stupid F*cking Bird , Down with Love , ShOUT and You Can See Me In The Dark.

Isaiah Mason Harvey (Assistant Director) is a Baltimore born-and-bred actor, playwright, teaching artist and burgeoning director. He is a resident company member at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and a member of the Black Classical Actor's Ensemble from which some of the earliest versions of Shakespeare in Harlem were born. Isaiah is beyond honored to have been a part of building this wonderful production for the UMBC community.

Becca Janney (Assistant Costume Designer) (thon/they) Professional design credits include: Barrington Stage ( Next to Normal ), Chesapeake Shakespeare Company ( Merry Wives ), Gala Theatre ( The Return of Eva Peron: Momia en el Closet ), Imagination Stage ( Cinderella, A Salsa Fairytale ), Creede Repertory Theatre ( Cinderella ), WaterTower Theatre ( Everything is Wonderful , Godspell ) and Stage West Theatre ( Ada and the Engine ). Educational design credits include: American University ( Damn Things Will Kill Ya )¸ Maryland Opera Studio ( Don Giovanni ), University of Maryland ( A Bicycle Country ), Baylor Theatre ( Peter and the Starcatcher ). They got their MFA in costume design at the University of Maryland. Website: beccajanney.com Instagram: @beccajanneydesigns

Juan M. Juarez (Lighting Designer) is a queer Mexican Lighting Designer and technician based in the Baltimore-Washington area. Since 2015 he has served as the Lighting Supervisor at Everyman Theatre. Recent Lighting Design work includes: Call Me By Any Other Name… Just as Sweet (The Voxel), The Mystery of Irma Vep: a Penny Dreadful (Everyman Theatre), Teen Hamlet…The Rest is Silence (Synetic Theater), Nobody is Ever Missing (Mind on Fire), The Book Club Play (Everyman Theatre), Ride the Cyclone (Bowie State University), Jane Eyre (Classic Theatre of Maryland), Over/Under (Extreme Lengths Productions), Adelante (Axis Dance Company), and Joteria: Our Untold Stories (Atlas PAC Intersections). He holds B.A. degrees in Theatre Production and Psychology from Hofstra University. juanmjuarez.com

Lucas Sanchez (Assistant Stage Manager) (he/him) is a senior BFA Acting major hailing from Frederick, MD. Primarily finding himself on the stage, this is his second opportunity to assist behind the scenes at the UMBC stage, and first time doing so in such a capacity as stage management. He's very grateful to Grace for mentoring him on this wonderful and educational opportunity, as well as Gerrad and the cast for a wonderful show!

Nigel Semaj (Choreographer) (they/them) is a Baltimore-based director, movement director, and educator originally from Washington, D.C. They are an Assistant Professor of Performance and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. [ www.nigelsemaj.com ] ig: @nigelsemaj

Grace Shepperd (Stage Manager) is a stage manager, designer, and theatre maker whose focus over the past nine years has been on new and devised works. She has served as the stage manager and lighting designer for productions at The Chocolate Factory (NYC), Carolina Performing Arts (UNC), Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts, Mabou Mines (NYC), Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (FSU), and Prague Fringe Festival. Before moving to Baltimore in 2024, she was a resident acting company member at The Mercury Store (NYC), a space for developing new works. In 2020, Grace and the team at Advanced Beginner Group received an Obie Award for the creation of Distances Smaller Than This are not confirmed at Abrons Art Center (NYC). She currently works at UMBC as the Production Stage Manager for the Department of Theatre. Grace holds an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College.

Nate Sinnott (Scenic Designer) (he/him) is an Associate Professor, and the Scenic Designer for the UMBC Theatre Department. You may read his bio on the UMBC website

LEADERSHIP

Ian Gallanar (Founding Artistic 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).