A Body of Water

Lee Blessing is the author of A Walk in the Woods, Two Rooms, Eleemosynary, Going to St. Ives and other plays which have been performed throughout the U.S. and worldwide. His work has earned numerous awards—Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association, L.A. Critics Association to name a few—and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and nominated for Tony and Olivier Awards. Blessing is married to playwright and TV writer-producer Melanie Marnich and lives in Los Angeles.

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James Warwick has been a resident US theatre director since 2000. He trained as an actor in his native England at the Royal Central School in London and played leading roles in London’s West End and on national tours. The Rocky Horror Show, On the Spot, Pride and Prejudice at The Old Vic, The Family Dance, The Rivals, the title role in Dr. Faustus, Secret Life of Cartoons, A Winter’s Tale, On the Spot, The Real Thing and many others. James first came to the US to play Sir Robert Chiltern in An Ideal Husband on Broadway. He then played King Arthur in Camelot on the national tour. He has featured in many UK TV series including Lillie, Dr. Who, Iris Murdoch’s The Bell and Tommy Beresford in Partners in Crime for BBC/PBS Masterpiece Theatre. In the US, Murder She Wrote, Babylon 5, Civil Wars, Home Improvement and the voice of Qui Jon Jinn in Star Wars video games. In 2018, he directed Mothers and Sons by Terrence McNally for Shakespeare & Company, (Berkshire Theater Critics outstanding director award) followed by The Children by Lucy Kirkwood, Ionesco’s The Chairs and Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods which received Top Production of the Year in The Berkshire Eagle. Earlier this year James directed Native Gardens for The Majestic Theatre in West Springfield and Off Peak for the Great Barrington Public Theater. Next year, he will direct the world premiere of Danny Eaton’s play, The Ladyslipper, at the Majestic Theater and Big Big Sky by Tom Wells for Chester Theater Co. James has received awards from Spotlight, BAFTA, Ovation, Helen Hayes, Showcase, The Berkshire Eagle and the Berkshire Theatre Critics Assn.

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S&Co: Much Ado About Nothing, Time Stands Still, Love’s Labor’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Emperor of the Moon, Henry V, and others. Caroline has taught for many years in S&Co’s Education Program, including directing in the Fall Festival of Shakespeare (2011-2023) and performing in the Northeast Regional Tours of Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Macbeth. Caroline has performed with Boston Playwright's Theatre, the Theater at Woodshill, WAM, and elsewhere. She has collaborated with CATA (Community Access to the Arts) and the rig, a local arts collective. BA: Brown University; MA: Emerson College. Other training: National Theatre Institute.

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S&Co: Eleanor/Richard/et al (The Contention); Ursula/George Seacoal (Much Ado About Nothing), Tilly (Tilly No-Body), Maria (Twelfth Night), Sir Hugh Evans (Merry Wives of Windsor), Queen/Arviragus (Cymbeline), Trinculo (The Tempest), Nerissa (The Merchant of Venice), Margaret (Worse Than Wolves), Outlaw (Two Gentlemen of Verona). Regional: Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Margaret (Richard III), LA Phil: Nights and Dreams Shubert and Beckett. UK: Royal National Theatre: A Laughing Matter; The Permanent Way; She Stoops to Conquer. UK Regional includes: The Wild Tenant; The Seagull; As You Like It; Brighton Beach Memoirs; Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!; Anna Karenina. Film includes: Mente Revolver (Best Feature at Granada Cines del Sur, 2018). Daejeon International Play Festival, South Korea (2024): Tilly No-Body. Numerous BBC TV and Radio. Publications include: Acting: The Basics (2023); Shakespeare & Company: When Action is Eloquence with Tina Packer (2020); With the Rogue’s Company: Henry IV at the National Theatre (2005), The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit (2014). Training: Russian University of Cinematography, Moscow; PhD from University of Birmingham, UK. Distinguished Professor of Acting & Directing, University of California, Riverside. 2016 S&Co. Winter Intensive. Lives in Los Angeles with actor-husband Miles Anderson and Dempsey Dog.

Kevin O’Rourke has performed on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Spoils of War, and Alone Together, as well as The City of Conversation at Lincoln Center, Outside Mullingar at The White Heron, The Night Alive at John Drew, and productions at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Arena Stage, Roundabout, Long Wharf, Primary Stages and Baltimore’s Centerstage. Locally, Kevin has both directed and performed with Williamstown Theatre Festival and has appeared at Barrington Stage, Berkshire Playwrights Lab and Great Barrington Public. Television roles include Madam Secretary, Law and Order, The Sopranos, and VEEP. He won a SAG Award for his role as Edward Bader on Boardwalk Empire and was nominated for his role on AMC’s Remember Wenn. Films include The Irishman, The Aviator, American Pickle, Vice Versa, and Freeheld. In 2005 he founded the Williams College Summer Theatre Lab and for 10 years served as its Artistic Director. Kevin and his wife live in Williamstown.

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Lyra Abbott is thrilled to be making their debut at Shakespeare & Company! They studied theater with a focus in Stage Management at Washington College and worked on productions of Antigone (2020) and She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms (2021), as well as directing a production of God of Carnage (2022). They also spent a summer working as a production assistant for Berkshire Busk in Great Barrington. Around their theater involvement, they enjoy writing, both plays and prose, and spending time with their cats.

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S&Co Set Design: Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Golda’s Balcony, Much Ado About Nothing, Morning After Grace, Mothers and Sons, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Roman Fever / Fullness of Life, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, The How and the Why, Henry V, Mother of the Maid, Shakespeare’s Will, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Private Eyes, Master Class, Heroes, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Accomplice, Cassandra Speaks, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Parasite Drag, 39 Steps, Santaland Diaries, Private Lives, The Learned Ladies, Women of Will, The Memory of Water, The Hollow Crown, Red Hot Patriot: The Kick–Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, War of the Worlds (Bernstein Theatre); Mother Courage, Richard III, The Winter’s Tale, The Liar (Tina Packer Playhouse). Designer & Performer: Dibble Dance (Tina Packer Playhouse & Colonial Theatre). Patrick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design from Academy of Art College, San Francisco. Other work includes Laura Ashley, Pierre-Deux, Anthropologie.

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Recent: Coriolanus (Portland Center Stage), Hurricane Diane (People’s Light), Merry Me (New York Theatre Workshop, co-design Kate Marvin), Belfast Girls (Irish Repertory Theatre), Fences (Shakespeare & Company), The Overview Effect (Contemporary American Theater Festival), Little Women (Theatreworks, UCCS), What the Constitution Means to Me (WAM Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group). Connect at carolineengdesign.com.

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Jaysen is a costume designer based out of New Haven, CT. He graduated from SUNY Purchase in 2020 with a BFA in Costume Design. He is delighted to be designing his first show at Shakespeare & Company. He has worked at various theatres in the northeast, including Shakespeare & Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Barrington Stage Company, The Colonial Theatre of Westerly, and Ancram Center for the Arts. Previous design credits include The Tempest (Colonial Theatre of Westerly), The Plein Air Plays (Ancram Center for the Arts), and Waiting for Godot (Colonial Theatre of Westerly). Upcoming design credits include The 39 Steps (Colonial Theatre of Westerly) and Constellations (Ancram Center for the Arts).

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Anthony Feola is thrilled to be returning to Shakespeare & Company for his third summer! Shakespeare & Company credits include: A Walk in the Woods (Asst. Stage Manager), Hymn (Tech & Performance Assistant Stage Manager) and 2023 SSI (Workshop Manager). Other Selected credits: Twelfth Night (Production Stage Manager), The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe (Production Stage Manager Sub) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Asst. Stage Manager) with Northern Stage. Anthony recently spent the past year on an international tour with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo as their Production Associate. Anthony graduated with a BFA in Stage and Production Management from Emerson College and would like to thank his family and friends for their support!

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Costume Design credits include: A Cry of Players, Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi, Carrie the Musical, The Coronation of Poppea, Peter Pan, The Producers, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hairspray the Musical, and 42nd Street. In addition to her design work she has been involved with the management, construction and mounting of over 100 other productions.

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Christine studied at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, where she graduated with a degree in theatre, with a stage management concentration, and a dance minor. Some of her previous credits include The Threepenny Opera (PSM), Mary Poppins Jr. (co-technical director + lighting designer), Adult Child/Dead Child (director), The Saint Plays (DSM + choreographer), The Sound of Music (show caller), Spring Awakening (choreographer), and Into the Woods (ASM). Christine has previously worked with Shakespeare & Company on their production of Golda’s Balcony as a rehearsal ASM, and she is thrilled to be back with the company!