The Norwegians

C. Denby Swanson graduated from Smith College, the National Theatre Institute, and the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers, where she was a fellow in playwriting and screenwriting. She has been a Jerome Fellow, a William Inge Playwright in Residence, and a McKnight Advancement Grant recipient. Her work has been commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, 15 Head a Theatre Lab, Macalester College, and The Drilling Company, and featured in the Southern Playwrights Festival, the Women Playwrights Project, the Lark Theater's Playwrights Week, PlayLabs, the WPA Festival at Salvage Vanguard, JAW: A Playwrights Festival at Portland Center Stage, and multiple residencies at New York Stage & Film. Her full length adaptation, Atomic Farmgirl, was developed by the Drilling Company, at the Culture Project's Impact Festival and at the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, and won a prize in the 2009 Earth Matters on Stage Festival at the University of Oregon. She won a 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Special Prize for her short play The Potato Feast, which was also nominated for a 2008 New York Innovative Theater Award. Her blues play Blue Monday was developed at ZACH Theatre Center as part of the NEA/TCG National Theater Residency Program for Playwrights. She is a former Artistic Director of Austin Script Works and on the faculty at Southwestern University. Her work is published by Smith & Kraus, Heinemann, and Playscripts, Inc.

James Warwick has worked on and off Broadway as a leading actor and director and played leading roles in over a dozen television series, both in the US and in his native England. He acted in UK regional theatre for several years after leaving the Royal Central School and subsequently played many leading parts in London’s West End. James became an American citizen 25 years ago and has since lived and worked in Los Angeles and in NYC as an actor and director. He is now based in the Berkshires MA and has directed productions at Shakespeare & Company, Chester Theatre, Great Barrington Public Theatre, Berkshire Theater Group and The Majestic Theatre in West Springfield. He is the recipient of awards from The Spotlight, BAFTA, Showcase Magazine LA, Ovations LA, The Berkshire Eagle, Audiophile Magazine and the Berkshire Critics Association. And still looks weeks younger than he is…

S&Co: Over 40 plays: The Winter’s Tale (Paulina), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), The Approach, The Waverly Gallery, HIR, God of Carnage; Mother of the Maid (pre–Broadway, originated Lady of the Court); Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Parasite Drag; Merry Wives of Windsor; The Winter’s Tale; Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Bad Dates (Elliot Norton Award Best Solo Performance); Rough Crossing; King Lear; Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia, final performance at The Mount). Regional: Silverthorne Theatre: The Cake; Great Barrington Public Theatre; Simon’s Rock: The House of Bernarda Alba; Oldcastle: The Consul, The Tramp & America’s Sweetheart, The Lion in Winter; Barrington Stage: 10X10 Play Fest; Merrimack Rep: Bad Dates; Boston Theatre Works: Angels in America, Othello. Directing: Merchant of Venice (Assistant Dir, Tina Packer Dir.). Indy Films Actor: Trigger Finger; Seriously Twisted. Voice Over actor/producer/audiobooks: Choosing Joy: Alzheimer’s -- a Book of Hope); Peregrine Island. Producer & Casting Dir feature films: Unfinished Song (BIFF, Berlin, Boston film fests ’26); Thickly Settled (BIFF, LA, Boston film fests ‘26), Cold Wallet (Amazon Prime w/ Joshua Brener, Tony Cavalero, SXSW, BIFF); Onyx The Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (Sundance, BIFF Amazon Prime/ Sling); The Secret Art of Human Flight (Amazon Prime/AppleTV w/ Lucy DeVito, Paul Raci); Skelly (Netflix w/ Brian Cox, Torrey DeVitto, John Palladino); I’m Not Him (Amazon Prime w/ John Palladino); Stroke of Luck (Netflix w/ John Popper). Theatre Producer: Rhinoceros (w/ Chris Noth at The Cutting Room NYC), Living the Dream (by Mark Roberts, 52nd Street Project). Lizzy’s performance is dedicated to her mother Faye and sister Cathy whose spirits and light walk with her every day.

Michael F. Toomey is the Artistic Director of The Humanist Project and a founding member of Split Knuckle Theatre, which devises new works and has toured from Bangkok to Buenos Aires. He is the creator of The Onion Cycle, an ongoing trilogy of clown plays set in Danvers, MA that excavate absurdity, identity, and American myth. Toomey has been a company member at Shakespeare & Company for more than 20 years, performing roles including Serg (Art), Puck (Midsummer), Poet (An Iliad), Bassinet (Ladies Man) and Walter (Split Knuckle’s Endurance). His New York credits include Francis (Francis Goes To War) and Francis (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle). His childhood passion for The Muppets and Looney Tunes informs his ongoing obsession with clowning and comic structure. He has studied with Philippe Gaulier and Giovanni Fusetti. Toomey is a graduate of LISPA, where he earned an MFA in Lecoq-based Theatre, and teaches workshops in Fight, Clown, and Shakespeare across the U.S. and internationally. Michael is currently touring his one person comedy No Body Cares: America’s Favorite Healthcare System. www.thehumanistproject.org

Shakes & Co – Leap Year. Barrington Stage Company – Associate Artist, 25 productions including all 15 years of the 10x10 New Play Festival, Forgiveness, Boca, American 2.1, To Kill a Mockingbird, His Girl Friday, Guys and Dolls, the Crucible. Great Barrington Public Theatre – Off Peak, Dad, Public Speaking 101. Co-author of the cult hit Six Women with Brain Death, performing it in NYC, Dallas, Kansas City and Chicago. Creede Repertory Theatre – over 50 performances including Shirley Valentine, Sweeney Todd (Ovation Award for best actress), Urinetown, 3 Viewings, Moon for the Misbegotten. Dallas Theatre Center, Kansas City Rep, Theatre 3, and many more.

Mark Zeisler is returning to Shakespeare and Company for his fourth season; previous credits include The Tempest, Macbeth, As You Like It and Time Stands Still. His Broadway credits include A View from the Bridge (Tony winner for Best Revival), Brooklyn Boy and The Big Knife. Off Broadway he has been seen in Rancho Viejo, the original production of eurydice, The Accomplices, and Piece of My Heart. Regional credits include Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure at The Folger Shakespeare Theatre (Helen Hayes Nomination for Best Actor), the original production of Big Love by Chuck Mee, which played at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, The Goodman Theatre and BAM Next Wave. Other appearances include productions at The Alley, Seattle Rep, City Theatre, the Maltz, Asolo Rep and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He has been involved in two productions at Baltimore Center Stage, five productions at Merrimack Rep, four seasons at Elm Shakespeare, seven productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville and American Repertory Theatre, where he was a company member for three seasons. Mark has appeared in over 20 television series, including recurring roles on Bull and House of Cards; Rescue Me, Castle Rock, The Blacklist, FBI: Most Wanted, The Americans, Bluebloods, six appearances on the Law and Order franchise, and the upcoming Cupertino. He narrated the documentaries GI Jews and Cinema and Sanctuary, and his film appearances include The Cathedral, as well as Afterschool, Random Hearts, Two Week Notice, Shaft, Head of State, The Thomas Crown Affair and Irrational Man. His directing credits include American Buffalo for Elm Shakespeare and Deathtrap for Legacy Theatre in Connecticut. Mark is a native New Yorker and a graduate of SUNY Purchase.

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Costume design: Circus Fire (Theaterworks Hartford), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Playhouse on Park), Elephant & piggy (Playhouse on Park), Mother Play (Shakespeare & Co.), Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Board Members (Yale Rep), Cactus Queen and Uncle Vanya (Geffen School). Set Design: Public Record (The Public Theater), Hole in the Wall (LaChat Farms), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Playhouse on Park). Associate Set Design: Twelfth Night (The Public Theater ’25), Romeo & Juliet (The Public Theater ’26), A Winter’s Tale (The Public Theater ’26). MFA in Costume & Scenic Design (Yale School of Drama). 2025 Burry Fredrik Design Fellow. ARTHURWILSONDESIGN.COM

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Luke Willson is a NYC-based lighting designer, technician, and/or manager with a passion for unlocking the puzzles at the heart of stories. He is thrilled to be back at Shakespeare & Company for the 2026 Summer Season as the staff Lighting Supervisor, as well as the lighting designer for Shake It Up, Circus & the Bard, and The Norwegians. Luke has worked on productions at The Riverside Theatre, The Danspace Project, Theatre for a New Audience, Life World, The Humanist Project, The Tank, The Flea, La MaMa, NYC Fringe, Target Margin Theatre, and many more. He would like to give a special shoutout to Sam Hoffman and Jonah Hane for all their hard work this season. You can check out his website at lukewillsonlighting.com.

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Vinny Pruchnick is a multidisciplinary artist based in NYC. His main focus in theatre is sound design, but his work has been seen in the capital region as a lighting designer and projection designer as well. Previous credits include sound design for Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 at The Great Barrington Public Theatre and 9 to 5: The Musical at Desales University. Projection design credits include Next to Normal at Steamer No. 10 Theatre in Albany. Vinny is also an educational artist, working primarily with students as a director. He would like to thank his friends and family for being supportive of the arts, and his daughter Sylvie for being the best daughter ever!

S&Co: Romeo & Juliet (2025), Taming of the Shrew, The Islanders, The Contention, Golda’s Balcony, Lunar Eclipse, An Iliad, Measure for Measure, The Chairs, King Lear (w/ Christopher Lloyd), Topdog/Underdog, Macbeth (2018), Heisenberg, Cymbeline, God of Carnage, Or, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Comedy of Errors (2015), Richard II, Love's Labour's Lost, Henry IV, Rough Crossing, Blue/Orange, The Ladies Man, Othello, Richard III, The Taster, As You Like It (2011), The Hound of the Baskervilles, The War of the Worlds, Santaland Diaries. Regional: TheatreSquared, Central Square Theatre, WAM Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, Majestic Theater, American Stage Company, Hartford Stage Company, Montana Repertory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The Wilma, Wallis Center, The Public Theatre, McCarter Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Hangar Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Stonington Opera House Arts, CLOC. Based in Pittsfield, MA, Hope Rose is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Managers’ Association where she serves as the International Cohort Chair, and OISTAT. Follow @doctorstgmgr on Instagram.