ART

"ranney" has five decades in the performing arts as a multi-disciplinarian. Acting credits include Marc (Art, Shakespeare & Company) Polonius/Gravedigger, Toledo, Troy Maxson (Hamlet; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Fences. Cincinnati Shakespeare Company); Sterling, Hambone (Two Trains Running; Radio Golf. American Stage Company.); King Hedley, Chutes & Ladders (Seven Guitars; Water By the Spoonful. Nevada Conservatory Theatre); Boy Willie (The Piano Lesson. Center Theatre Co.); Adriana/Antipholis/others (The Bomb-itty of Errors. American Stage, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Helix in Dublin, Ireland, and Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End). As a comedian, he has headlined internationally and shared billing with Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, and Paul Mooney. Nine one man shows include And the Horse You Rode In On (Projects Arts Centre, Dublin), Whatever (People’s Improv Theater, NY), Incendiary (The Straz Center, Tampa), and Cufflinks and Jolly Ranchers for Dummies (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland). itsranney.com

Chris is excited to be returning to Shakespeare and Company. He is a director, actor, fight choreographer and educator. He is currently the Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston. Prior to ASP he was the Artistic Director of Nevada Conservatory Theatre in Las Vegas and the Associate Artistic Director, Director of Education and the Apprentice Training Program with The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in New York. As a director some of his favorite shows include: Fences, Hamlet, Equivocation, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, Pride and Prejudice, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Winters Tale, The Three Musketeers, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Winter’s Tale, Water by the Spoonful, The Bomb-itty of Errors, How to Break, and Venus in Fur to name a few.

Chris has worked in London’s West End, Off-Broadway, The National Theatre of Oslo in Norway, John Houseman’s The Acting Company in NYC, HERE Arts Center, Dorset Theatre Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, The Helix in Ireland, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Ubu Rep., The Flea Theater, Cleveland Playhouse, The Hip-Hop Theatre Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, SOHO Rep, Penumbra Theater, the Guthrie Theatre and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to name a few.

He is a distinguished artist and consultant with The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and a consultant with the Madison Park Development Corporation in Boston. He lives in Jamaica plain with his wife and daughter, Jennifer Rohn and Anya Edwards.

Shakespeare & Company: Art. TV Credits include: FBI. Theater Credits: Sender, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Intimate Apparel, Hamlet, Sweat, The MotherF@cker with the Hat, ThreePenny Opera, Ideation, and Angels in America

Michael is a Brooklyn based actor and creator. He has been a member of S&Co since 1998. Numerous roles at S&Co include Serg (ART), Puck (Midsummer), Poet (An Iliad), Bassinet (Ladies Man), Scapan (title role), Walter (Split Knuckle’s Endurance). Various Roles in NYC: Francis (Francis Goes To War), Francis (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle), Macbeth (title role). He is the Artistic Director of The Humanist Project and a founding member of Split Knuckle Theatre. Michael directs at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where he teaches Shakespeare and Fight. He has directed or devised many shows including Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar and Alice In Wonderland. He teaches clowning for professional performers throughout the country. Michael has studied with clown master Philippe Gaulier and LISPA (London International School of Performing Arts). He holds an MFA in Lecoq-based actor created theatre from Naropa University. Michael lives in Brooklyn with his wife Sarah and son August. michaelftoomey.com

Diana Evans is a writer, stage manager, and theatre education artist. She holds a BA in Communication, Journalism, Creative Writing, & English from New England College, Henniker N.H. Recent credits include: Advice To The Players (Sandwich N.H.): Stage Manager (As You Like It, 2020), Director (Noir Hamlet, 2020). Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, Mass.): Stage Manager (Becoming Othello, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, 2021) Asst. Stage Manager (ART, Measure for Measure, 2021), Production Assistant (Breath of Life, 2021), Director (Fall Festival of Shakespeare, 2019 & 2021). Diana and her pup Huckleberry Finn hail from central New Hampshire, where her family has lived since King James I granted her ancestors land there in the 17th century.

(she/her/hers) is a dramaturg, producer and arts administrator. She has served in the artistic departments of Seattle Repertory and Woolly Mammoth, among other organizations. She has freelanced with the O’Neill Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Play On Shakespeare!, Arizona Theatre Company, Ammo Theatre Company, Primary Stages, Classical Stage Company, Playwrights’ Center, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, The Lark, The Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, New Dramatists, Galway Arts Festival, and Teatro Vista (artistic associate), and Steep Theatre (ensemble member), among others. She is an Assistant Professor at Boston University. Leahey is a Producer with the WP 2020-22 Lab and is a 2021 recipient of a Fulbright.

Off Broadway—Keen Company: Adventurephile, All We Need Is Us, Digging in the Dark; WP Theater: Where We Stand; Atlantic Theater Company: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven; The Public Theater: A Night of Wild Beauty (Ntozake Shange Tribute). New York Theater—Harlem Shakespeare Festival: Othello: The Moor of Venice; New Heritage Theatre Group: The Sable Series: The History of Black Shakespearean Actors; Take Wing and Soar Productions: King Lear. Tour—Apollo Theater/Baltimore Center Stage: Twisted Melodies; National Public Radio (NPR): Water +. Regional—Baltimore Center Stage: A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, Where We Stand; Berkshire Playwrights Lab: Some Old Black Man; Passage Theatre Company: Illuminating Spirits. Education—MBA: Metropolitan College of New York (Media Management); BM: University of Miami (Music Engineering Technology). Award—Charlie Blackwell Symposium Scholarship for Stage Managers of Color. Member of AEA. Instagram: @normananthonysmall