Who’s Who
Shayne David Cameris (Antonio/Captain) is elated to be back with his friends at Saratoga Shakespeare Company! Some credits include: SSC–Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (Mistress Quickly et. Al), The Winter's Tale (Clown), Love's Labour's Lost (Dull); Capital Repertory Theatre-Midsummer Night's Dream (Fairy/Mechanical Understudy/ASM), Jersey Boys (Bob Crewe/ASM), Fly (Reynolds), Camelot (Guilliam/Percussionist), Blue Sky Boys (CJ Caldwell); Troy Foundry Theatre-City of Myth: Ilium Sings, Where There's Smoke: Ilium Burns, The Prohibition Project: Ilium Was, Catastrophe Carnivale and New World Order; Lake George Dinner Theatre-Buyer and Cellar (Alex More) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sir Henry, et. Al). Much love to JSC.
Kristoph DiMaria (Feste / Curio / Officer) First appearance with Saratoga Shakespeare! Parent, partner, musician, clown, playwright, activist, educator. Director of Development, Musical Director of Will Kempe's Players (WKP). Associate Artist, Troy Foundry Theatre (TFT). Member, Social Justice Artists Collective. Film: The Climb (Creative Action Unlimited). Stage: Touchstone, As You Like It; Iago, Othello (WKP). Directing: Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (WKP); Destination: Nowhere! (Siena College). Writing: Child(ren) (TFT); Sleepy Hollow (WKP). Workshops, commissions, good trouble: ragliacci@gmail.com.
Mandy Evans (Viola) started her career as a dancer, most notably performing with Ben Vereen and Ruthie Henshall on the International Tour of Fosse and was a Radio City Rockette for six years. She most recently performed as Varya in The Cherry Orchard at North Coast Rep. Other credits include Cabaret (Sally Bowles), Machinal (Young Woman), Bunnies, The Woolgatherer, Five Women Wearing The Same Dress, Savage in Limbo and a European Tour of The Who’s Tommy.
Paige Kenneally (Maria) is a rising senior at Syracuse University, pursuing her BFA in Acting. She is both excited and humbled to be making her professional debut with SSC, and so close to her hometown of Burnt Hills. Recent credits include Dance Nation (Maeve u/s) and Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick).
Laura Menzie (Olivia) is thrilled to be returning to Saratoga Shakespeare after performing Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing last summer. Other regional credits include A Doll's House, Part 2 and Doubt with Franklin Stage Company, as well as We Are Proud to Present...with Stages Repertory in Houston. She has worked at the Pendragon Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Boston Actors Theatre, Brown Box Theatre Project, and Icaro Teatro in Mexico. NYC credits include Hamlet and Tartuffe with Titan Theatre Company and Modern Chalk Circle. TV/Film credits include The Food That Built America, Primal Instinct, and 90 Feet From Home. MFA: University of Houston. For more information visit: lauramenzie.com
Brian Ott (Orsino) is delighted to return to Saratoga Shakespeare Company after appearing in the 2017 season as Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Florizel in The Winter’s Tale. Regional credits include Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Franklin Stage Company, Iron Crow Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and Valley Shakespeare Festival. BA: College of the Holy Cross. Love and gratitude to mom and Brooke.
Ryan Palmer (Andrew) is excited to be making his Saratoga Shakespeare debut!! An actor of stage and screen, some favorite past credits include “David Selznick” in Moonlight and Magnolias and Sam in the one man show Fully Committed, both at Theatre Barn, “Shylock” in Something Rotten at The Sharon Playhouse, “Paul Bratter” in Barefoot in the Park at SLCA and “Gomez Addams” in The Addams Family Musical at Galway Players. @rjpalmer93 (Instagram)
Michael Raver (Sebastian) Select New York: The Pearl Theatre Company, National Actor’s Theatre, Sheen Center, Lincoln Center. Select regional: North Coast Rep, Orlando Shakespeare, Bay Street, Ivoryton Playhouse, Bridge Street, Music Theatre of Connecticut (CT Critic’s Circle best actor nom for Cat On A Hot Tin Roof), Playhouse on Park, American Stage, Red House, Telluride Theater, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Bristol Valley Theater. Select Film/TV: TURN, Murder Castle, How We Built The Bomb, Gray Matters, Full Stop Pariah.
Dennis Schebetta (Toby) is excited to return to Saratoga Shakespeare Company after playing Don Pedro in Much Ado last summer and Stephano in The Tempest. He is an actor, director, and writer with credits off-off Broadway and regionally at theatres such as Ensemble Studio Theater, 29th Street Rep, Vital Theater, Capital Rep, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Northeast Theatre Ensemble, and City Theatre. He is Assistant Professor at Skidmore College and co-author of Building a Performance: An Actor’s Guide to Rehearsal (with John Basil). www.dennisschebetta.com
Noah Ilya-Alexis Tuleja (Malvolio) is excited to be working with Saratoga Shakespeare for the first time. Selected Regional: Nicodemus/Lady Enid in The Mystery of Irma Vep (Silverthorne Theater); Claudius in Hamlet (ArtFarm); Clown #1 in The 39 Steps (New Century Theatre); Hamel in Out of Sterno (Gloucester Stage); Scinius in Coriolanus (Actors Shakespeare Project). He is Chair of the Film Media Theater department at Mount Holyoke College, Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Trembling Stage, and Founding Director of The Players Project.
Helena Binder (Director; AGMA, AEA, SDC) had a long career as an actor and director of plays and musicals before focusing her career on opera, allowing her to bring her wit and warmth to many of the finest companies in the United States. Known for her masterful sense of timing and for fostering natural, genuine and moving performances, her innovative and imaginative productions have been seen at Dallas, Minnesota, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Palm Beach, Portland, Anchorage and Shreveport Opera, Wolf Trap, Opera Saratoga, Opera Omaha, Opera Idaho, Opera North, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Syracuse, Roanoke and Toledo Opera among many others. Her productions for New York City Opera have garnered high praise from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune has said, “In an evening of captivating performances, she steals the show.”
A choreographer as well, Ms. Binder has collaborated with such notable directors as Frank Corsaro, Simon Callow and Christopher Alden and has created dances for New York City Opera, Dallas, Pittsburgh and Glimmerglass Opera where she also went on for an ailing countertenor.
For over thirty years she directed the Legislative Correspondents Association Show at the New York State capitol, the oldest political satire revue in the country, and for her distinguished career in the arts, Helena Binder was named a Union Notable by her alma mater Union College, where she earned her B.A. She holds an M.A. from New York University and studied acting at Circle in the Square.
She has performed in regional theatre in the United States and abroad in roles ranging from Peter Pan to Shakespeare’s Juliet, and was a member of the band Blotto, that recorded the hit I Wanna Be A Lifeguard.
A committed acting teacher and coach, Ms. Binder has been on the faculty of Union College, Boston University and the New England Conservatory, as well as a guest teacher at Dartmouth College. www.helenabinder.com
Brittney Belz (Costume Designer) Brittney’s local design credits include 6 seasons with Saratoga Shakespeare Company, The Hobbit and The Last Wide Open with Adirondack Theatre Festival; the world premiere of Lady Randy with WAM Theatre; and Things I know to be True and Mr. Fullerton with Great Barrington Public Theatre. She is the Costume Designer at Union College in Schenectady, NY, where she focuses on both historic clothing research and theatrical design.
Roger Lipson (Production Stage Manager) Public Theatre of Maine: Polka Dots – the cool kids musical (Directed by Adam Blais); Esther in the Spotlight (Directed by Gary Slavin / Produced by Rich Orloff;) Di Froyen (Directed by Rachel Botchan); The End of Hester (Directed by Jerry Heymann). As a musician: sitar soloist for Holiday Music of Eric Whitacre (Carnegie Hall); Lead guitar during Off Broadway run of Hedwig & The Angry Inch Member: AEA; SAG-AFTRA.
Director's Notes
There are a number of themes worth exploring in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; women’s agency, the power and meaning of love, the strata of society, seeing only what we want to see, the pitfalls of arrogance, and of course, karma.
In contemplating these themes, so relevant today, I was reminded of events of the late 60s, which I recall quite vividly. A time of protest, racial injustice and civil unrest, college students engaged in social causes and demonstrations. And while there was no global health crisis from which we were recovering, Watergate and Nixon's impeachment were not that far down the road, leading to much national upheaval. Just to give some context, 1968 saw the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. along with the riots and police brutality of the Democratic Convention in Chicago. The following year brought the withdrawal of 25,000 troops from Vietnam, the moon landing and the Manson murders, not to mention Woodstock. 1970, was significant for the US invasion of Cambodia, the Kent State shootings and the break-up of the Beatles. Plus, the national voting age was lowered to 18, bringing the reality and the gravity of civic responsibility that much more into focus. And this was all without social media.
These are all things I considered in setting our Twelfth Night in the late 60s, specifically around the “Summer of Love” 1968, so aptly named and so relevant to Shakespeare’s play. And all academic considerations aside, the most significant influence was the fact that it is summer, we are outdoors and looking to forget our national discord, have a few laughs and enjoy a good time. What better setting to “let it all hang out”? That is why I have chosen to present this Twelfth Night as my own homage to a time of unrest perhaps, but also of experimentation, artistic expression, the birth of feminism and of free love.
Make love, not war. Peace, baby, and sock it to me!
— Helena Binder
Thank You to Our Sponsors, Partners, and Donors
.png?w=1200&ssl=1)
Saratoga Arts made this program possible with a Community Arts Grant funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
A Special Thank You
- The City of Saratoga Springs for all their help and collaboration.
- Frieda Toth
- The Troy Foundry Theatre for their help, time and support.
- Time’s Fool Company for their support and help.
- Home Made Theater for providing rehearsal space
- Stephanie D’Annibale, Elaine Du, and Samantha Garwood for assistance with costumes
Support Saratoga Shakespeare Company
Help us keep this amazing community program going!
Donations may be made by mail sent to:
Saratoga Shakespeare Company,
P.O. Box 5059,
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
or
Click the link below. Thank you for your support!
Follow Us!