Julian Tushabe (Ludwig van Beethoven) is a Ugandan actor and third-year student at Skidmore College. He has acted in a couple of regional theater productions as part of an apprenticeship with Berkshire Theatre Festival including, The Skin of Our Teeth, directed by Tony Award winner, David Auburn, and as the title role in, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. He has also appeared in Skidmore productions such as Cabaret (Emcee), and The Harvest (Marcus). He thanks Marcus, John, Sara, Emma, his fellow castmates, and all others involved with this project for such a unique collective effort to make art in this difficult time.
Michael Stewart Allen* (Dr. Schmidt) Most recently was seen playing, Juror 7 in 12 Angry Men at Indiana Repertory/Syracuse stage, Iago in Othello for The Acting Company in NYC and King Louis XIII in Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers at The Shakespeare Theater of NJ. Other credits include: Theater: The first Broadway National and International tour of War Horse with The National Theater of Great Britain. Two seasons as a company member at the Old Globe: King Lear, Madness of King George, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Amadeus, and Much Ado About Nothing. He has been a company member at The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey for the last 20 years and performed in theaters in New York and all across the country including The Acting Company, Arkansas Rep, Delaware Rep, The Folger Theater, Playmakers Rep, Florida Studio Theater, Shakerbridge Theater, and the PA and NC Shakespeare Festivals. Film/TV: The Blacklist, Billions, Admiral Rickover, Cold Mountain. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and proud member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA unions.
Liam McKenna (Count Max Lichnowsky) is a recent Juilliard graduate and a Saratoga Springs native. He’s thrilled to be working with Saratoga Shakespeare for the first time and to see that new plays are alive and well in the Covid era. Favorite roles at Juilliard include: Sergei Maxudov in Black Snow, Silvius in As You Like It, and Baz in A Bright Room Called Day. The officers who killed Breonna Taylor have still not been charged. Gofundme for her family – https://gf.me/u/x6ngqj, JusticeForBreonna.org to see a list of more actions you can take. Black Lives Matter.
Chris Naughton (Ferdinand Ries) is pleased to be returning to Saratoga Shakespeare for The Testament. Previous credits with Saratoga Shakespeare include Ferdinand (The Tempest), Moth (Love’s Labor’s Lost), and Amelia (A Comedy of Errors). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Theater from Skidmore college, he knows nothing about music, and even less about being a personal assistant.
John Romeo* (Narrator/Older Ries) performed for 25 years with the resident company of the NYS Theatre Institute (NYSTI). His work in over 200 stage productions includes:the lovable Moo in London’s West End production of The Snow Queen; the lead role of George M. Pullman in the East Coast Premier and Off-Broadway production of Jeffrey Sweet’s American Enterprise, both directed by Emmy award winning Patricia Birch; Willy Loman in NYSTI’s critically acclaimed production of Death of a Salesman; Lenny in Of Mice and Men; Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; the hapless Smee in Peter Pan in Moscow; Il Compari in A Tale of Cinderella (stage, original cast recording and Warner Home video); the title character in The Canterville Ghost (Warner Audio Book). John has also performed in tours of the Mid East, Sweden, Italy and the USSR. John has also directed the acclaimed production of The Miracle Worker, Inalienable Rights:Denied for NYSTI; Molly Sweeney for Theatre Voices Ge is a Creative Associate with Troy Foundry Theatre. John Romeo’s film work includes “Fighting For Freedom” with Bruce Dern and Kristanna Loken, Cult horrow films “Ice Queen”, “Axcellerator”,“Love Conquers Paul” with Peter Reigert and other independent features and shorts. He co-directed the documentary, “The Neighborhood That Disappeared” and directed the short film, “Ready Or Not…”. John is also a voice over actor on nearly 1000 TV and radio commercials and narrations all around the world., AEA, SAG-AFTRA.
Evy Yergan (Countess Giulietta Gucciardi) has been acting for her entire life. She studied theater at Skidmore College, focusing on both acting and costume construction. Some of her notable roles include May from Fool For Love and Odysseus from The Penelopiad. After graduating, she worked in the costume department at The Capital Repertory Theater in Albany. She now works in Advocacy, serving her community, and acting when she is able to.
Damian Lanigan (Playwright) is the author of the novels Stretch, 29, The Chancers, Boy With Piano and Who Lottie Is. His play Dissonance premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and has been performed at Bay Street (NY) and The Falcon (LA). He wrote the TV series Massive for the BBC. He wrote, directed and acted in the comedy pilots Hamsters which won the New York TV Festival and Sharing which was sold to Jimmy Fallon / NBC. He is the founder and principal at Weatherglass Books, which publishes new American and European fiction. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.
Marcus Dean Fuller (Director/Saratoga Shakespeare Company Executive & Artistic Director) is an actor, writer, director and producer with over twenty-five years’ experience working in film, television and stage.
In 2017 Fuller served as Director of Artistic Development with the White Heron Theater on Nantucket where he oversaw the development and production of the world premieres of Dark and Stormy, an original play, written and directed by Fuller and Evanston Salt Costs Climbing written by Will Arbery and directed by Dustin Wills, co-produced with New Neighborhood Media.
In 2008 Fuller founded Compass Entertainment to develop and produce independent film, theater and media. His produced films include Ping Pong Summer with Susan Sarandon, Dial a Prayer with William Macy and Brittany Snow, Darkness Risingand One Fall. Fuller has been a contributing writer for “The Wrap” magazine and his original screenplay for the feature film One Fall was awarded a permanent place in the Margaret Herrick Library, a world-renowned non-circulating reference and research collection devoted to the history and development of the motion picture as an art form and an industry by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Fuller has taught numerous courses on both acting and producing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers, Skidmore College and Union College where he currently, teaches Acting and Shakespeare in Performance. He is a member of the Artistic Advisory Board for the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey and has served on the Board of Directors for ShakespeareNYC, Yale University Alumni Board, Nantucket Theater Institute, White Heron Theater Company, Saratoga Shakespeare Company and the Yale School of Drama Board of Advisors.
Fuller received his MFA from Yale School of Drama.
Sara Friedman* (Stage Manager) is delighted to return to Saratoga Shakespeare Company, having been the Production Stage Manager for 9 seasons. She is currently the General Manager for Mills Entertainment, based in Saratoga Springs, NY. New York credits include: Around the World in 80 Days, White’s Lies, Rutherford and Son, No Time for Comedy, The Charity That Began at Home (Mint Theater); and Last Train to Nibroc (The Barrow Group). Regional credits include Saratoga Shakespeare Company, Lake George Dinner Theater, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Adirondack Theater Festival, Capital Repertory Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare and Company. A Glens Falls native, Sara received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and is a proud member of AEA.
John Wager (Producer and Sound Design) is a seasoned and award-winning director, producer and writer for both film and audio production. Wager, who is the founder of Galileo Media Arts Productions, has won multiple Grammy awards for producing. One of Wager’s recent endeavors film directing is a Showtime Network feature-length film entitled Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor, starring Zach Galifianakis and Lewis Black which won the Television Academy Honors Awards as well as top accolades at several film festivals. Other films include: Brooklyn Baby, My Favorite Stone and Bicycle Lessons. Some of the actors and celebrities Wager has worked with include: Oprah Winfrey, Toni Morrison, Kathleen Turner, Maya Angelou, Katherine Hepburn and Ken Burns.
Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards.
Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production.
AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org.
*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, Saratoga Shakespeare Company, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
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