Flight of the Monarch

Jim Frangione’s play Breakwater, set on Cape Cod, premiered at Great Barrington Public Theater in 2019 (Berkshire Theater Critics Association nomination for Best New Play). Flight of the Monarch premiered at Gloucester Stage Company. Jim directed Romance at WHAT; Seriously Funny: An Evening of Short Plays by Mamet, Silverstein and Pinter at Harvard/ART; and Private Life at HERE. For GB Public Theater: Public Speaking 101 and Dad, by Mark St. Germain; the east coast premiere of David Mamet’s The Christopher Boy’s Communion and Will LeBow’s The Bard The Beat The Blues. Jim’s acted with NYC’s Atlantic Theater, in National Tours, on Broadway; at the Alley Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre, the Humana Festival, in American Buffalo at Berkshire Theatre Festival and in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Shakespeare & Company. Jim is Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater and would like to thank his friend Allyn Burrows and everyone at Shakespeare & Company for bringing Flight of the Monarch to life.

Judy Braha has been a director, actor, teacher and arts activist for over four decades. Long-time head of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Boston University’s School of Theater, credits include theaters and universities throughout New England. Recent work: Things I Know To Be True (Great Barrington Public Theater), Shakespeare in Love, The Exonerated (BU), Mr. Fullerton, Between the Sheets (GBPT + Gloucester Stage), Representation and How to Get It, a new solo work about Julia Ward Howe, touring to a historic venue near you. Upcoming: The world premiere of Dog People (GBPT) and Flight of the Monarch (Shakespeare & Company). Judy proudly collaborates with Andre de Quadros in BU’s Race, Prison, Justice, Arts, teaching inside and outside Mass. prisons and jails. Judy is the Associate Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater in the beautiful Berkshires.

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S&Co: Director: The Tempest (2017), As You Like It (2018), Twelfth Night (2019) A Midsummer Night’s Dream(2023). Shakespeare & Company performances: A Walk in the Woods, King Lear, God of Carnage, Or, King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV Part 1, among others. As Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Allyn directed and acted in numerous productions. Other Boston area performances include Can You Forgive Her (Huntington Theatre), Breaking the Code (Underground Railway Theatre), Shipwrecked (The Lyric Stage), The Seafarer and The Homecoming (Merrimack Repertory Theater), Five by Tenn (Speakeasy Stage). Elliot Norton Award for The Homecoming, King Lear, Five by Tenn; IRNE Award for Breaking the Code. Off-Broadway: Bug, Killer Joe, Louis Slotin Sonata, Closetland. Regionally: Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theatre, Long Wharf, Denver Center, Walnut St. Television: “The Broad Squad,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” “Against the Law.” Films include The Company Men, Julie & Julia, Manchester by the Sea, and Don’t Look Up.

S&CO. 30+ productions including Morning After Grace, The Memory of Water, A Winter’s Tale, Enchanted April, Jack and Jill, Betrayal, Fortune and Misfortune, House of Mirth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet. BTF/BTG: Copenhagen, Seascape, Shirley Valentine (“Berkie” Award), The Importance of Being Earnest Benefactors, Same Time Next Year, Homestead Crossing, Two-headed. Great Barrington Public Theatre: Things I Know To Be True (“Berkie” award) Wharton Salon: The Long Run, Autre Temps. National Tour: The Graduate with Linda Gray/Lorraine Bracco/Morgan Fairchild. Regional (selected): Portland Stage Co., Merrimack Rep., Syracuse Stage, Rep. Theater of St. Louis, Capitol Rep. Film: Split Ends (starring); Speck’s Last. TV: "House of Cards", “Unforgettable”, “Law & Order”, “PBS: Evening at the Pops”. Playwright: Dancing with the Czar. Designated Linklater Voice teacher. Feldenkrais practitioner. Proud to be a union member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA, Dramatists Guild.

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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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Christina Beam is a New England based costume designer whose work spans theater, opera, dance and film. Christina holds an MFA in costume design from UMass Amherst, having completed an assistantship that included rigorous work in costume construction. Her designs for The Lily’s Revenge at UMass Amherst were included in the 2019 USITT/USA Prague Quadrennial Emerging Artist Exhibit and the 2022 World Stage Design Emerging Artist Exhibit, and her costumes for the “In the Woods” photography series were recently featured as part of the 2023 USITT/USA Prague Quadrennial Emerging Artist Exhibit. Christina is also currently working as the Costume Shop Supervisor at Western Connecticut State University.

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James W. Bilnoski is currently the Technical Director at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, MA and is a freelance Lighting, Projection and Scenic designer. He holds a Master of Fine Art in Theatrical Design from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA where he concentrated in Lighting, Projection, and Scenic Design. James also holds a Bachelor of Science in Technical Theatre from West Texas A&M, Canyon, TX. Since college his main concentration has been in lighting design, while pursuing other creative endeavors. He has been fascinated with the potential of projections and how it can be incorporated into any kind of performance since his first introduction to it. Shakespeare & Company shows include hang (2021), The Waverly Gallery (2019), Mothers and Sons (2018), God of Carnage (2017). Stay Curious!

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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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Rachel Harrison is a St. Petersburg, FL based Stage Manager and Sound Designer. Fresh off a contract with Virgin Voyages as the Production Stage Manager aboard the Valiant Lady, she is pleased to be back at Shakespeare & Company for a third season. Rachel’s recent body of work includes an impressive 55 productions with Tampa Bay area theaters, American Stage, Tampa Repertory Theatre, StageWorks Theatre, Urbanite Theatre, and Broadway on the Bay. She also serves as "chief problem solver” for Your Real Stories Inc., a not-for-profit storytelling company committed to talking across differences through theatrical journalism Rachel is a Regional Representative of the Stage Managers’ Association and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

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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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Gabriella Walko is a multidisciplinary theatre artist based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She recently completed a BA in Theatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh. Recent theatre credits include: Spring Awakening: Wendla Bergmann (Pitt Stages), A...My Name is Still Alice: Stage Manager (Front Porch Theatricals), Stage Management Production Assistant (Pittsburgh CLO); John Proctor is the Villain: Student, u/s Beth, Bailey (Pitt Stages); Falsettos: Apprentice Stage Manager (Front Porch Theatricals); Abduction: A Musical Comedy: Gleep Glorp, Ensemble (Pitt Stages); Seven Guitars: Asst. Lighting Designer (Pitt Stages); Harriet Tubman...Railroad: Asst. Stage Manager (Primestage Theatre Co.).