Meet The Creative Team
Jeff Adelberg (Lighting Designer)
For ASP: King Lear, Edward II, God’s Ear, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Middletown, Medea, The Hotel Nepenthe, Anthony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, The Duchess of Malfi, The Tempest, Macbeth (2007), Titus Andronicus. Previous collaborations with director Igor Golyak: The Seagull and The Stone with his company, Arlekin Players’ Theatre. Other recent work: Vanity Fair and Frankenstein (Underground Railway Theatre); The Children, Curious Incident…, Hand to God (SpeakEasy Stage); I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams (Whitesnake Projects); La Cenerentola (Boston Midsummer Opera); Trouble in Tahiti (Boston Lyric Opera); A Doll’s House Part 2, True West, Gloria, Night of the Iguana (The Gamm Theatre); Beckett Women: Ceremonies of Departure (Poets’ Theatre at the MAC Belfast, Northern Ireland); Birdy, Macbeth, Death and the Maiden (Commonwealth Shakespeare); Man of La Mancha (New Repertory Theatre); Last Night at Bowl-Mor Lanes, Million Dollar Quartet, Onegin (Greater Boston Stage Co.); and Boston’s Christmas Revels since 2010. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Jeff teaches at Boston College, Brandeis University, and Boston University. Member of United Scenic Artists 829. www.jeffadelberg.com
Anna Bortnick (Jessica)
is excited to return to Actors’ Shakespeare Project after appearing as Lydia/Lady Catherine in Pride & Prejudice last spring. She was most recently seen as Mary Phagan in Moonbox Productions’ Parade. She also performs at ImprovBoston with the Musical Improv cast and her team, NIGEL. She received her B.F.A. from Boston University and has trained at the National Theater Institute, Bard Berlin Theater, and the Chicago iO Improv Theater. When Anna isn’t performing she is the Program Director for Medical Education and the Arts at Boston University School of Medicine. www.annabortnick.com.
Nastya Bugaeva (Costume and Scenic Designer)
graduated from the famous Moscow Art Theatre in 2009 with a degree in Set Design. In 2018, she became a professor leading a class at the Moscow Art Theater. She has collaborated on over 40 productions at the Moscow Art Theatre, Sovremennik Theatre, Mayakovsky Theatre, Masterskaya Fomenko Theatre, Vakhtangov Theatre, Theatre of Nations, Moscow Satire Theatre, Krasnoyarsk Theatre of Opera and Ballet, among others. She has worked with world-renowned directors like M. Brusnikina, V. Ryzhakov, A. Sigalova, V.Petrov, and V.Mirzoyev. She is a regular participant in national exhibitions of theatre designers such as the Russian Shakespeare, Northern Stage, Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK), Season Results, Baltic Seasons, and others. Nastya is a “Your Chance 2009” exhibition laureate (Grand Prize for Best Set Design for “Don Juan” by Moliere).
Caley Chase (Dramaturg)
is a director and dramaturg based in the Boston area. Previously at Actors’ Shakespeare Project, she was the dramaturg for Equivocation and Pride & Prejudice. Her recent directing credits include: Love and Information (Brandeis University), The Trouble with Maisie (BTM XXI / Huntington Theatre Co), Eliza’s Artist (Trinity Rep’s WHWN Festival), Rivkala’s Ring (Brandeis Theater Co), and staged readings with Fresh Ink Theatre, Harvard Playwrights’ Festival, and Fort Point Theatre Channel. Assistant directing credits include: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Romeo and Juliet, and Sherlock’s Last Case (Huntington Theatre Co), Faithful Cheaters (Trinity Rep), Familiar and Macbeth (A.R.T. Institute), Old Money (Comm Shakes), Macbeth (Shakespeare & Co, also dramaturg), among others. Up next, she will workshop & direct a staged reading of J. Sebastián Alberdi’s Viejitxs as part of Speakeasy’s Boston Project. Caley is a graduate of Brandeis University and is currently Assistant to the Artistic Director at the Huntington Theatre Company. www.caleychase.com
Dewey Dellay (Composer/Sound Designer)
Some of the past shows Dewey has designed for are Cardboard Piano, The Bakelite Masterpiece (New Rep); The Little Foxes, The Thanksgiving Play (Lyric Stage Company); Nat Turner in Jerusalem (Actor’s Shakespeare Company); Constellations (Underground Railway Theater) winning an Elliot Norton award; and Admissions (SpeakEasy Stage). In past years he has received an Elliot Norton award for Outstanding Design and an IRNE for Best Sound Design. His television credits include original music for Emmy nominated National Geographic’s China’s Mystery Mummies, Discovery Channel’s Miami Jail, and he was the composer for five seasons of the show Our America with Lisa Ling for the OWN Channel, and is contributing music to This is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN. He is presently composing music for digital children’s books produced by Live Oak Media.
Igor Golyak (Director)
is an Associate Professor at the Boston Conservatory, and has spent over a decade teaching the art of theatre. He is the founder of the Igor Golyak Acting Studio and Artistic Director of Arlekin Players Theatre which has won numerous awards in the United States and internationally and most recently an Elliot Norton award for his production of Dead Man’s Diary at Arts Emerson. His productions of The Stone and The Seagull were included among the 2019 Top 10 lists of The Boston Globe, WBUR, Arts Fuse, Dig Boston, and the Jewish Journal. Arlekin Players Theatre is a multicultural, multi-national collaborative that is growing year to year in the number of audience members, company actors, and volunteers. His theatre has been invited to perform on famous stages and at world-renowned festivals all over the world, including Moscow Art Theatre, and festivals in Yerevan, Armenia, New York City, Chicago, Lviv, Ukraine, Monaco, and many others. Golyak received a master’s degree in directing from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in 2004, as well as an acting degree from Moscow’s Schukin Theatre Institute (Vakhtangov Theater). He is the recipient of the Yaroslavl Theatre Festival’s Best Student Performance award and the Vienna Theatre Festival’s Best Actor award. He went on to perform with Teatr u Niktiskih Vorot in Moscow with leading roles.
L. Arkansas Light* (Production Stage Manager)
returns to Actors’ Shakespeare Project having previously stage managed Edward II, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Medea, & The Hotel Nepenthe. Other stage management credits include: Murder on the Orient Express (ASM), Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Assassins, Never the Sinner, The Judas Kiss, No Way to Treat a Lady, And the World Goes ‘Round, Sideman, Inspecting Carol and The Curse of the Bambino (Lyric Stage Co); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, Once, Allegiance, The Bridges of Madison County, Significant Other, Bootycandy and Necessary Monsters (SpeakEasy Stage Co); Back the Night, Absence, Windowmen, Legally Dead, Mortal Terror, The River Was Whiskey (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse); and The Christmas Revels (Revels, Inc, Sanders Theatre). She has also worked locally with The Nora Theatre Co, Underground Railway, Bridge Rep, The Greater Boston Stage Co, Brandeis Theatre Co, and The Publick Theatre. She holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and an M.A. from Purdue University.
Nael Nacer* (Shylock)
Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Macbeth; Equivocation. Area Credits include: The Seagull (Arlekin Players Theatre), Romeo and Juliet; A Doll’s House; Bedroom Farce; Come Back, Little Sheba; Awake and Sing!; The Seagull; Our Town (Huntington Theatre), The Return (Israeli Stage), Tiny Beautiful Things; 45 Plays for 45 Presidents; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Merrimack Rep), Small Mouth Sounds; A Future Perfect; Tribes (SpeakEasy Stage), True West; Bank Job; The Flick (Gloucester Stage), Calendar Girls (Greater Boston Stage Company), Constellations; Sila; Distracted (Central Square Theatre), Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play; Intimate Apparel; Animal Crackers (Lyric Stage), A Number; Lungs; The Kite Runner; Pattern of Life (New Repertory Theatre), Rhinoceros; Windowmen (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), and Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse). Nael is the recipient of Elliot Norton and IRNE awards for his work, and is a resident acting company member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, as well as a monologue coach with My College Audition.
Jordan Palmer (Launcelot Gobbo)
is thrilled to be making her ASP debut, and she is humbled to be among such a thoughtful and compassionate company. She has trained at Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA) and the Kristin Linklater Voice Centre in Scotland. Graduate of The Boston Conservatory @ Berklee (BFA Contemporary Theater ‘19). Past projects include her solo performance A Silly Poem in Three Poems (Boston Conservatory @ Berklee); the first reading of her new play Columbia: Rediviva (Shakespeare & Company); and sharings of Untalked of And Unseen, a duet that explores the valences of gender and violence in romance through Shakespeare’s words. Love to Mom, Dad, and Emily from afar; Love to Karen from another afar; and love to our audiences and playmates. Mwah!
Mara Sidmore* (Nerissa)
Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, Lady Anne/Duchess of York/Catesby in Richard III, Alonso/Trinculo in The Tempest, Hermione in The Winter’s Tale, Celia in As You Like It, Aricia in Phedre, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Charmian in Antony and Cleopatra, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Miranda in The Tempest. Other Boston area credits include: Donnie Darko and Romeo and Juliet at the American Repertory Theatre; Burn This and Butley (u/s) at the Huntington Theatre Company; Macbeth with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company; Antony and Cleopatra at Boston Theatre Works; The Cherry Orchard, Van Gogh in Japan, and Smelling a Rat at The Nora Theatre Company. Mara trained at Shakespeare & Company and has an MFA in Acting from the Moscow Art Theatre School/American Repertory Theatre’s Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. Mara also is the Director of Education Programs, Projects, and Partnerships at ASP, overseeing all of our in-school, out-of-school, training, and community programs.
Alejandro Simoes* (Bassanio)
Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Twelfth Night (co-production with Lyric Stage), Much Ado About Nothing, Titus Andronicus. Recent Boston area credits include Between Riverside and Crazy (IRNE Best Supporting Actor), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Grand Concourse, and The Motherf**ker with the Hat (IRNE Best Supporting Actor, SpeakEasy Stage), Peter and the Starcatcher, Light up the Sky, and One Man Two Guvnors (Lyric Stage), The Gift Horse (New Repertory Theatre), Marjorie Prime (Central Square Theatre), as well as productions with Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., Shakespeare & Co., A.R.T., New Exhibition Room, Whistler in the Dark, and The Publick Theatre. He trained at Shakespeare & Company and Northeastern University.
Dennis Trainor Jr* (Antonio)
is proud to make his ASP debut. Boston area credits: Straight White Men and Picasso at the Lapin Agile (New Rep); In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play (SpeakEasy Stage); The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (Gloucester Stage); The Pain and the Itch (Company One); The Rainmaker (Foothills Theatre); November (Lyric Stage); The Sea Gull (The Publick). Dennis was a founding co-Artistic Director of the New York-based Rude Mechanicals Theater Company. He is the Producer-Director-Writer-Narrator of two documentaries: American Autumn, and Legalize Democracy as well as the former host of the nationally syndicated News and politics TV program Acronym TV. As a writer, his plays Plug and I Coulda Been a Kennedy both enjoyed premiers with the Rude Mechanicals Theater company, and his solo show, Manifest Destiny’s Child, recently enjoyed a developmental staged reading produced by Wheelhouse Theater (NYC) at Dixon Place. Education: The American Conservatory Theater (MFA). Currently on the faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Proud member of Actors’ Equity.
Peter Walsh (Lorenzo)
is delighted to be making his ASP debut with this production of The Merchant of Venice. Regional credits include Ferdinand in The Tempest (Theater In The Open), Giles Traverse in The Grace of Mary Traverse (Collective Hysteria), and Oak in Joy Is Dead (Brunch Theater). Peter received his BFA in acting from Boston University, where he performed in a number of plays, including Much Ado About Nothing, Punk Rock, My Fair Lady, When The Rain Stops Falling, The Watson Intelligence, and Mad Forest. Peter has trained at Double Edge Theater, the Upright Citizens Brigade, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In addition to acting, Peter works with the organization Sunrise Movement, who are an army of young people fighting to stop climate change and make millions of green new jobs in the process. Endless love and thanks to his amazing family and friends. www.peter-walsh.com
Gigi Watson* (Portia)
is gratefully making her Actors’ Shakespeare Project debut! Many thanks to Igor, Chris, and the entire ASP team. Regional credits include Hamlet (Gloucester Stage), Rhinoceros, Lenin’s Embalmers (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), Small Mouth Sounds, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (SpeakEasy Stage), Brawler (Boston Playwrights Theatre), Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth (Brown Box Theatre Project), Billy Elliot (Wheelock Family Theatre), Finish Line (Boston Theater Company), and Café Variations (ArtsEmerson/SITI Company). Gigi is an acting/audition coach and lead consultant with My College Audition. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Emerson College and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. For Dad, who loves this play to an odd degree.
Kelsey Whipple (Assistant Stage Manager)
Kelsey Whipple (Assistant Stage Manager) is happy to be working with ASP again for this production! Other credits include: Marriage of Figaro (SM, Boston Opera Collaborative), Mountain Language (SM, Theatre on Fire), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing (Actors’ Shakespeare Project, ASM), Richard III (Actors’ Shakespeare Project, SM Intern), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Steel Magnolias, The Clearing, Peter and the Starcatcher (Hub Theatre Company, ASM). She is a graduate from Suffolk University with a BA in theater and an arts administration minor.