Perez, Ly, & More Set For Shakespeare On The Sound's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Shakespeare on the Sound, Connecticut's premier outdoor summer theatre company presenting free Shakespeare in the park, has announced the complete 17-member cast for Artistic Director Joanna Settle's inaugural production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with music by 2008 Tony Award-winning singer-songwriter Stew.

The complete cast includes Jesse J. Perez (Puck/Philostrate), Doan Ly (Titania/Hippolyta), Mickey Solis (Oberon/Theseus), John Campion (Egeus), Gregory Wooddell (Demetrius), Marjan Neshat (Hermia), Albert Jones (Lysander), Gretchen Hall (Helena), Ty Jones (Bottom), Lindsay Smiling (Starveling/Oberon Goblin), Chivas Michael (Flute/Titania Fairy), Mike Caban (Snout/Titania Fairy), Benjamin Huber (Peter Quince/Titania Fairy), Daniel O'Neill (Snug/Oberon Goblin), Lili De'Rossi (Titania Fairy), Alexa Salamé (Titania Fairy), and Alessandro Chillé (Oberon Goblin).

Settle's site-specific production will be presented at two beautiful locations on the Long Island Sound as follows: June 16-28 in Pinkney Park, Rowayton; and July 4-12 in Baldwin Park, Greenwich. Audiences are invited to arrive early and picnic in the park before the performance. There is no admission fee, but a donation of $20 ($10 for students and seniors) is suggested. In Rowayton, parking is limited and early arrival is suggested. In Greenwich, the production is less than a five minute walk from the Greenwich Metro-North stop. Ample parking is available.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is choreographed by David Neumann and features set design by Andrew Lieberman, sound design by Obadiah Eaves, lighting design by Adam Silverman and costume design by Ilona Somogyi.

A Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed Tuesdays - Sundays at 7:30 p.m. For rail and road directions, visit www.shakespeareonthesound.org. This production is being presented with the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

Jesse J. Perez (Puck/Philostrate) Off-Broadway: Classic Stage Company: In The Penal Colony; Playwrights Horizons: Recent Tragic Events; Second Stage: The Triple Happiness; New York Theatre Workshop: Up Against The Wind. REGIONAL: The Humana Festival: The Hard Weather Boating Party, Berkeley Rep: The Arabian Nights, Lookingglass Theatre: Argonautika, Lookinglass Alice; American Repertory Theatre: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Court Theatre: Mary Stuart; Goodman Theatre: Pericles; Great Lakes Theatre: Hamlet; Portland Center Stage: Celebrity Row; Yale Repertory: Lulu, The Cherry Orchard and The Taming of the Shrew. TELEVISION: The Job, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Third Watch. FILM: American Splendor, Kazaam, Playing God. Jesse made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2007-2008 season in the production of Lucia di Lammermoor as the silent photographer and the silent doctor under the direction of Mary Zimmerman. He has also choreographed the four major plays of Chekov at the Lake Lucille Chekov Retreat as well as a production of The Greeks: Part I: The Wars, Part II: The Murders and Part III: The Gods; at the Juilliard School all under the direction of Brian Mertes.

Doan Ly (Titania/Hippolyta) New York: An Oresteia, (Classic Stage), Richard II (Classic Stage), Two Noble Kinsmen (Public Theater), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park). Regional: M. Butterfly (Philadelphia Theater Company), A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theater), Skin of Our Teeth (Williamstown Theater Festival), A Servant of Two Masters (Freeplay, Williamstown Theater Festival), The Joy Luck Club (TheaterWorks), and as Kattrin in Mother Courage (Guthrie Lab). Film and Television: David Fincher's Zodiac, Law and Order:SVU, CSI (recurring), Big Love (recurring), Conviction, As the World Turns, Cold Case, NYPD Blue, Strong Medicine, and Firefly. She will appear in the upcoming film, After Life. BA: Stanford University, MFA: NYU.

Mickey Solis (Oberon/Theseus) Most Recently played Orestes in Classic Stage Company's premier of An Orestea and Konstantin Treplov in The American Repertory Theater's The Seagull. Other A.R.T. credits include Cardenio (Anselmo), Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), Desire Under the Elms, (Eben), Olly's Prison (Oliver, directed by RoBert Woodruff), The Provok'd Wife (Tailor). New York Theater: Baal (Title role, Associate Director) at The Theater of Riverside Church for Columbia University; Night Over Taos (Felipe Montoya, directed by Estelle Parsons) at Theater for the New City; The Error of their Ways (Flint) at HERE Arts Center; Hanjo (all roles) for The Japan Society; and Psyche (L. Buchan) at The Ohio Theatre, both directed by Leon Ingulrude of SITI Co. Other: Beckett at 100 (Voice and Words, dir Robert Scanlan) for The 92nd St Y and Hasty Pudding; A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius) at Kentucky Shakespeare Festival; and House (solo performance) for The Actor and Playwright's Initiative Theatre. Film and Shorts: Affliction at Tinseltown, Bridal Party; Television: Law & Order. Mickey Studied comparative religion and theatre history at Western Michigan University, and received his MFA from The Institute For Advanced Theatre Training At Harvard University. He is also an educator in the arts and Artistic Director of The International Underground: A New Series of Audio and Visually Enhanced Dramatic Readings, in New York City.

John Campion (Egeus) New York: Fire Throws, Antigone Creon (Ripe Time), In the Jungle of Cities, George Garga, Hamlet (with Kevin Kline), The Golem (with F. Murray Abraham, Aunt Dan and Lemon (with Linda Hunt) Public Theater, Aunt Dan and Lemon, Royal Court, Measure for Measure, Lincoln Center, Measure for Measure, AngelO. Henry IV, Pt. 1 & 2 York, Theatre for a New Audience. Regional: Galileo, Galileo, Wilma 2007 Barrymore Award, Oedipus, Oedipus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon/Theseus, Romeo and Juliet Lawrence, Island of Slaves Iphicrate, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Azdak, When We Dead Awaken, Ulfheim, King Lear, Cornwall (with F. Murray Abraham), A.R.T. Baal, Baal, Trinity Repertory, Duchess of Malfi, Bosola, A.C.T., Julius Caesar, Brutus, Seattle Repertory, Skin of Our Teeth, Mr. Antrobus, Guthrie. Slavs, Popi, Mark Taper Forum, Slavs, Popi, Hairy Ape, Yank Tartuffe, Pernelle, La Jolla Playhouse, Hedda Gabler Lovborg, Trojan Women, Menelaus, Old Globe. Arsenic and Old Lace, Jonathan, Triumph of Love, Hermocrate, Galileo, Inquisitor, Center Stage, Hamlet, Claudius, Geva. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Performed for the Queen of England and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Gregory Wooddell (Demetrius) Broadway: Cymbeline (Lincoln Center Theatre). Off Broadway: Splitting Infinity (Summer Play Festival - Clurman Theatre). Regional: world premiere of Terrence McNally's Some Men (Philadelphia Theatre Company); world premiere of David Grimm's Miracle at Naples (Huntington Theatre Company); School of Night (American Premiere, Mark Taper Forum); Gross Indecency (Alley Theatre); Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Country Wife, The Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, Don Carlos, Othello, Comedy of Errors, Richard II, Lady Windermere's Fan, Cyrano (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Richard III and Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Festival of St Louis, Kevin Kline Award nominee for Best Actor). FILM/TV: "30 Rock", Exposed, "Third Watch", Paradise Virus, "Guiding Light" (recurring), "Days of Our Lives", "One Life to Live". Training: The Juilliard School.

Marjan Neshat (Hermia) Aisha Gazali in The Near East (O'Neill), Masha in The Seagull with Dianne Wiest (CSC), Girl Blog From Iraq (Best Ensemble Nomination Edinburgh Fringe Festival), 365 Days (Barrow Street/Public Theater), Sexual Perversity In Chicago (ACT), The Tempest (Shakespeare on the Sound), The Golden Ladder (The Player's Theater), Snowdome (Ohio), Leatherstocking (Currican), No Exit (Nadia) among others. Film: First Person Singular, A Season of Madness (Woodstock), 508 Nelson, Cry Funny Happy (Sundance), A Jersey Tale (Tribeca), Alfie, Coney Island Baby, and the upcoming First Person Singular. Television: Multiple appearances on Law & Order and L&O: SVU, Rescue Me, Six Degrees, New Amsterdam and Fringe. BFA: SUNY Purchase.

Albert Jones (Lysander) Broadway: Henry IV (Lincoln Center Theater). Off-Broadway: Oroonoko (TFANA, Audelco Nom.),Pericles (TFANA at BAM), Iphigeneia at Aulis, Richard III (Pearl Theater). Regional credits include The Brothers Size (City Theatre) A Raisin in the Sun (Hartford Stage Co.),Intimate Apparel (The Intiman Theatre), The Piano Lesson (Cleveland Play House), Flag Day (CATF),Much Ado About Nothing (Portland Center Stage), Arms and the Man (Barrington Stage), Edward II, The Threepenny Opera ( ACT), As You Like It, Scapin (California Shakespeare Festival). Film & TV: Cadillac Records, The Magnificent Cooly-T, American Gangster, The Bourne Ultimatum, Proud (Tribeca Film Festival, 2005), Law & Order, SVU, Criminal Intent,Rescue Me, Kidnapped, Love Monkey. Jones received his MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.

Gretchen Hall (Helena) Shakespeare on the Sound: Comedy of Errors. Off-Broadway: Saturn Returns (Lincoln Center). Theater: Playboy of the Western World (Hangar Theater), The Maid's Door (Manhattan Theater Source), Much Ado about Nothing, The Lucky Chance (The Queens Company). NYU Graduate Theater: The Winter's Tale, Plough and the Stars, Our Lady of 121st St., Smash, A Month in the Country, Moonchild, I am a Camera, An Irish Brew, Richard II. Television: "Law and Order", "Gossip Girl" Webisode Series,"Lipstick Jungle." Training. BA: Fordham University; MFA: NYU Graduate Acting.

Ty Jones (Bottom) Broadway/ Off-Broadway: The Blacks (OBIE Award); Julius Caesar (w. Denzel Washington); Henry IV (w. Kevin Kline); Judgment at Nuremberg.
Classical Theater of Harlem: Macbeth (Audelco Nom: Best Actor), Trojan Women (Drama Desk )(Audelco Nom: Best Supporting Actor), King Lear, Emancipation: Chronicles of the Nat Turner Rebellion (Best Actor: Audelco). Regional: American Shakespeare Theatre Company: Hamlet; Baltimore Center Stage/MSC: Six Degrees of Separation; Guthrie: Fences; Film / TV: REDACTED dir. Brian DePalma, Kiss it up to God, (Winner-Cannes Film Festival, URBANWORLD); The Taking of Pelham 123, Law & Order (All!)
Writing Credits: Screenplay Emancipation (Sundance Finalist), Capital Crimes, Crisis Coming; Graduate of the PTTP, University of Delaware. All my love to Jill, Kaden and Roen! www.ty-jones.com

Lindsay Smiling (Starveling/Oberon Goblin) Defiance (Bristol Riverside Theatre) The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey) Twelfth Night (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival) The Sunset Limited (Human Race Theater) The Mojo and the Sayso (ACT/The Hansberry Project), Take Me Out (Mixed Blood Theater & Human Race Theater), Lobby Hero (Walnut Street Theater), Trick the Devil (New Freedom Theater), Resurrection Blues (Wilma Theater). Lindsay also starred in Jesus Hopped the A Train (Wilma Theater), Richard III (Lantern Theater), and Of Mice and Men (Walnut Street Theater) all of which won Barrymore awards for Outstanding Overall Production in 2004, 2006 and 2007 respectively. Film/TV credits include Hack, As the World Turns, The Daily Grind and Brother. Lindsay received an MFA from Temple University.

Chivas Michael (Flute/Titania Fairy) Off Broadway: Romeo and Juliet, Classic Stage Co. (Continuum Company) Sliding into the Beast, New York Theater Workshop (Continuum Company). Regional: Oklahoma!, A Chorus Line, Porthouse Theater. International: Romeo and Juliet, Villa La Pietra Florence, Italy. MFA Graduate Acting Program at NYU.

Mike Caban (Snout/Titania Fairy) New York: Jackson Heights (Urban Stages - reading, John Gould Rubin dir.), Sa Ka La (Oslo Elsewhere, Sarah Sunde dir.), 28 Days Later (Midtown Int'l Festival, winner ‘Best New Short Play', Erica Jensen dir.), Esteban Martinez (NYTW, 45th St. Theatre - readings, David Muse dir.), DestiNation America (2econd Stage - workshop, Isis Misdary/May Adrales dirs.), Deception (Coyote Rep - radio play, Glenn Kalison/Jeremy Dobrish dirs.), The Roaring Girle (Foundry Theatre, Melanie Joseph dir.), Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot, Liesl Tommy dir.), The Pragmatists (Piper McKenzie, Jeff Lewonczyk dir). Regional: Tio Pepe (Luna Stage - reading), Marat.Sade (Hunger Artists), Measure for Measure (Shakespeare OC), Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Spring Awakening, History of the Devil, True West (Jobsite Theater). TV: Big Shots (ABC). Film: May 11, 2008, Trip Wire. mikecaban.com.

Benjamin Huber (Peter Quince/Titania Fairy) Regional: Absalom (Actor's Theater of Louisville/2009 Humana Festival), Eurydice (The Wilma), The Tempest, King Lear (Seattle Shakespeare), Richard II, As You Like It, Ring Round the Moon (American Players Theater). Crimes of the Heart, Macbeth (Tacoma Actor's Guild). Off-Broadway: A Midsummer Night's Dream (New York Shakespeare Festival/The Public). Yellowface(u/s) (The Public). Perfect Harmony (Theater Row). Film/TV: First Aid For Choking (ETC Films). Lipstick Jungle (NBC) Additional Credits: MFA from the NYU/Tisch School of the Art Graduate Acting Program.

Daniel O'Neill (Snug/Oberon Goblin) The Manchurian Candidate (Raymond Shaw), The Tempest (Ferdinand), Twelfth Night (Sir Toby Belch), Metamorphoses (Phaeton), and A California Seagull (Cameron), among others. Film: Resurrection (Willem) and Camp Hope (Camp Brother). Daniel will be attending Columbia University in the fall, where he plans to study Economics and Theatre.

Lili De'Rossi (Titania Fairy) began acting at the age of nine. Her first screen appearance was as Aiden in the pilot for Kids in the Attic at the Film and Television Workshop of CT. In 2005 she originated the lead role of Yumi in the world premiere of Palace of the Dragon at Norwalk's Crystal Theatre. When not on stage, Lili plays goalie for the field hockey team at Brien McMahon High School, and catcher on the softball team. She participated in Odyssey of the Mind for four years; her team won first in the world for performance in 2007. She is thrilled to be making her debut with Shakespeare on the Sound as an Acting Apprentice.

Alexa Salamé (Titania Fairy) has studied acting, singing and directing in high school and hopes to pursue theatre professionally later on. Acting credits include The Fantasticks (El Gallo), Seussical the Musical (Mayzie LaBird), Dark of the Moon (Edna), Twelfth Night (Viola), Nickel & Dimed (Gail), and A California Seagull (Maddy). Most recently she was the student producer/assistant director of Brunswick School's production of Les Misérables.

Alessandro Chillé (Oberon Goblin)Petruchio from The Taming Of The Shrew, Oberon in a previous rendition of A Midsummer Nights Dream and Oscar in The Odd Couple. He has been studying acting, theater writing and improvisation in various high school theater courses.

 

 

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