CREATIVE TEAM
Lise Bruneau (Director) returns to CSC after having directed Measure for Measure in 2020, right before we all went into hiding. Born in Baltimore, she is a DC actor, coach and director, having appeared at Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, Round House, and most recently in The Honey Trap for Solas Nua. In the early aughts, she appeared at Center Stage in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Blithe Spirit, Mary Stuart, and others. She has performed in theaters across the country from Boise to Syracuse and many in between; in such shows as The Threepenny Opera, Heartbreak House, and Othello. She appeared in The Cherry Orchard with Diane Lane on Broadway; and was featured in Junk and The Heiress at ArenaStage. As a director, she has helmed productions of MomBabyGod, Savage in Limbo, Hamlet, and 4,000 Miles among others; but she is often found causing trouble with the wonderful and riotous Taffety Punk Theatre Co, located on the Hill in DC. She has directed All Grrrl Shakespeares (Tempest, Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure, Romeo & Juliet), and The Devil in His Own Words, Owl Moon, Oxygen, and Bloody Poetry among others; and in 2019 joined the Grrrls onstage as the arch villain Iago. Lise trained at RADA in London.
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.
Alexis E. Davis (Stage Manager) recent stage management credits with CSC include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)[Revised][Again], Twelfth Night, A Raisin in the Sun, Dracula, Henry IV: Parts 1 & 2, She Stoops to Conquer, Alice in Wonderland, Romeo and Juliet (student matinees: 2016-2019), Red Velvet, A Christmas Carol (2017 - 2021), Julius Caesar, The Fantasticks, and Othello. Additional PSM credits include A Beginner’s Guide to Deicide (Single Carrot Theater) and Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (Single Carrot Theater). Additional ASM and PA credits include A Christmas Carol 2016 (CSC); LadyDay at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Baltimore CenterStage); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; (Everyman Theater); TopDog/ Underdog (Everyman Theater); God of Carnage (Everyman Theatre). Wild! With Happy! (Baltimore Center Stage). Alexis holds a BA in Theater Production from McDaniel College. She is a member of the Stage Managers’ Association.
Dan O'Brien (Technical Director) 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.
Kathryn Kawecki (Set Design) Previous CSC credits include As You Like It, 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
Katie McCreary (Lighting 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
Sarah O'Halloran (Sound Design) is a sound designer and composer. Sarah previously worked on CSC’s A Christmas Carol; Anne of the Thousand Days and Measure for Measure. Other credits include Sense and Sensibility, Be Here Now, Proof, Dinner with Friends (Everyman Theatre); The Brothers Paranormal; The Humans, Our Town and Labour of Love (Olney Theater Center); The Chameleon; Gloria: A Life; Two Jews Walk into a War; Nathan the Wise, Compulsion, Talley’s Folly (Theater J) ; She the People: The Resistance Continues (Woolly Mammoth/The Second City); The Phlebotomist, The Brothers Size, Swimming with Whales, Trevor, and When the Rain Stops Falling (1st Stage); Cry it Out (Studio Theatre); A Chorus Within Her (Theater Alliance); In His Hands and The Return (Mosaic Theater); The Glass Menagerie, E2, The 39 Steps, The Heidi Chronicles and Things That Are Round (Rep Stage).
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.
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.
Trey Wise (Props Artisan) is a Props Designer from Denver, Colorado. Once again joining The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company for Oriestia. His previous works include The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's production of “Twelfth Night”, Studio Theatres production of “Fat Ham” as assistant props designer. University of Maryland's: “Stick Fly”, “Later That Same Evening”, “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark”, and “As You Like It” as a props artisan.
Lauren Davis (Assistant Director) 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 A Christmas Carol, As You Like It, 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.
Dawn Thomas Reidy (Production Associate) See Cast Bios
Tyrel Brown (Assistant Stage Manager) returns to CSC after previously working as assistant stage manager for Macbeth (2023), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (2023), and as a production assistant for A Christmas Carol (2023, 2022). His other credits include: Twelfth Night (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), Julius Caesar (Fools and Madmen), Young Playwrights Festival (Baltimore Center Stage), Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Strand Theater), Dreamgirls (Baltimore Center Stage), The Comedy of Errors (Endangered Species Project). Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Nominee (Fuente Ovejuna) Education: Towson University, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Acting. IG & Tiktok: @ tyreltyrelbrown
Chester Stacy (Associate 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.
Gerrad Alex Taylor (Fight Choreographer) is an award-winning director and actor based out of the greater Baltimore region. In 2021, he was named one of Baltimore's "40 Under 40" by the Washington Business Journal. Gerrad leads Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's Black Classical Acting Ensemble and serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He holds a BA in Neuroscience from 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 Great River Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theatre, North Carolina A&T, Everyman Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, Mosaic Theater Company, Studio Theatre, Arena Stage, and Washington Stage Guild. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and Society of American Fight Directors. (he/him)
Dance & Bmore (Movement Advisor) is a dynamic Baltimore-based ensemble founded by Broadway veteran CJay Philip. Through their Bmore Broadway Live performance season and community programs, art becomes a powerful tool for connection, expression, and joy, transcending generations and making a lasting impact on the vibrant cultural tapestry of Baltimore.
Theodore Sherron III (Board Operator) Theodore is back again at CSC! Previous performances at CSC include: Macbeth(Malcolm/Witch), A Midsummer Night's Dream(Snug), Complete Works of William Shakespeare(Understudy), Richard III(Buckingham, Duchess of York and others), Macbeth(Fleance), and Love's Labour's Lost(Forester). He has also been involved in several other performances such as: R&J(Strand Theatre), Everybody(UMBC), Gwyneth(UMBC), and She Kills Monsters(UMBC).
Vanessa Strickland (Child Minder) is a visual and performing artist making her CSC debut. Prior to working with CSC, she has performed, directed, and stage-managed shows with Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) in Frederick, MD. She is also an accomplished puppeteer and teaching artist. Past roles with MET include: The Glass Menagerie, Frankenstein, The Elephant Man, Antigone, A Clockwork Orange, Dracula and others. (she/her)
As my father always told me, art teaches us hard and painful lessons so we don’t have to go through them ourselves. 
I began writing my version of The Oresteia in the summer of 2016 in what seems another world, and got a draft of the first two acts together fairly quickly, passing them in by late October. I was puzzling over how I might approach the third act, the one everyone agrees is the hardest because it can become a kind of tedious civics lesson, when the unthinkable happened with the election of that American president. I came to a dead stop and could see no way forward, not only in the play but in my life.
