PROGRAM
The Story
On the eve of a royal wedding in Athens, four young lovers fly to the woods in pursuit of their hearts’ desires, and a troupe of amateur actors meet to rehearse a play. As night falls, the spirits of the woods meddle in their plans and all are transformed by a dream... or was it a dream? Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a hymn to the power of human imagination – in art, in life, and in love.
The Tour
Produced by Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble in collaboration with Red Bull Theater, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been touring New York City Middle and High Schools, providing students with a live theatrical experience. Employing minimal design and vibrant music, and supported by in-school workshops, a company of actors have transformed familiar school spaces – classrooms, cafeterias, auditoriums - into Athens, and the magical woods beyond.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Written by William Shakespeare, Directed by Kea Trevett
*This production has been adapted for young audiences.
CAST
(In order of appearance)
*Please check houseboards for any program changes.
*Taking pictures and/or making visual or sound recordings is expressly forbidden.
Damian Thompson (Theseus/ Oberon)
DAMIAN THOMPSON (he/him) is a classically trained stage, film, and television actor. Born in Kingston, Jamaica and partly raised in Miami, FL, he now resides in New York City. Mr. Thompson is a 2022 Connecticut Critics Choice award winner for outstanding lead actor in a play, a 2018 NAACP award winner for his performance in Fly (the story of the Tuskegee Airmen), and a 2012 leading actor Drammy Award winner for his performance in the Brother/Sister Plays at Portland Playhouse in Oregon. He has had the pleasure of performing for both the Obama’s and the Clinton’s at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC and Off-Broadway in New York City. His short film BLACK? (for which he wrote, produced, and co-starred in) won best film at the New York Premiere film festival, and was an official selection at numerous festivals including the International Black Film festival, the Orlando Film Festival, and the Albuquerque Film Festival. His work can currently be seen in the National Geographic special Clotilda: The Last Slave Ship and the Netflix feature Wedding Season. Facebook/Instagram: damianthompsonactor
Alice Renier (Hippolyta/ Titania)
ALICE RENIER (she/her) is an actor, teacher, and acting coach specializing in Shakespeare and heightened text. Performance credits include Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, She Kills Monsters (Apocalyptic Artists), Richard III (Columbia Stages), Caught Dreaming (New York Theaterfest), Othello (Classic Stage Company). She has served as a teacher and coach for The Public Theater, Red Bull Theater, Columbia University, The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Work Light Productions, and Mills Entertainment. She is a Co-Founder of the Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. MFA Acting, Columbia University. Instagram: alicerenier / www.alicerenier.com
Zo Tipp (Philostrate/ Puck)
ZO TIPP (they/them) is a Jewish Japanese American actor. TV: Only Murders in the Building, American Horror Story, Dickinson. Theater: INTAR, Playwrights Horizons, Pan Asian Rep, Cherry Lane, CSC/OSF Play On!, Red Bull, Rattlestick, Breaking the Binary. Workshops: Roundabout, NYTW, Playwrights Realm, Pride Plays... Indie film appearances screened at Newfest, Outfest. Narration: Apple News - New Yorker, New York Mag, Bloomberg Businessweek. Zo has sung with a few opera companies in NY, and at Birdland, and Spectrum. www.zotipp.com
Sean Runnette (Egeus/ Bottom)
SEAN RUNNETTE (he/him) Theater: ART, Mabou Mines, The Alley Theater, Dallas Theater Center, The Public Theater, HERE, San Jose Rep, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, PS122, Naked Angels, Paper Mill Playhouse and The Actors Studio. TV and film: Sex and the City, Third Watch, Law and Order, Copland, Two if by Sea, Easter, My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend and Angel in New York.
Saby Ramirez (Hermia/ Snout/ Fairy)
SABY RAMIREZ (she/her) is super excited to run through the forest once again! She is originally from Long Beach, California and ventured to the east coast in pursuit of her MFA at Columbia University. Credits include A Retrieved Reformation (Stages on the Sound), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Classical Theater of Harlem), Dance Nation (Lenfest Center for the Arts). Represented by Principal Entertainment LA. Special thanks to Brigitte Thieme-Burdette, James Calleri, and family & friends! I’m doing the thing! :’)
Colleen Litchfield (Helena/ Snug/ Fairy)
COLLEEN LITCHFIELD (she/they) made their Broadway debut originating the role of Hanna in Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt (Tony Award for Best Play). Off-Broadway: The Ask (wild project), 2024 Breaking the Binary Festival. Regional: Richard II, Robin Hood, Taming of the Shrew, The Sea-Maid’s Music (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival). TV: “The Crowded Room” (Apple TV+). Training: BFA NYU Tisch, RADA.
Fiona Maguire (Lysander/ Quince/ Fairy)
FIONA MAGUIRE (she/they) New York: Dick Dudgeon, The Devil’s Disciple (Theater Row); Charlotte, Pride and Prejudice (Chautauqua); Luke, Hanukkah Palace (Ars Nova Ant Fest). Regional: Margaret 1, By the Queen; u/s Shelia/Wendy, Prince of Providence (Trinity Rep); Beatrice/Dogberry, Much Ado About Nothing; Electra, Electra; Betty 2, Collective Rage; Coleen/Lisa 2, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play; Player 2, On the Y-Axis (Brown/Trinity); Arkadina, The Seagull; Rosaura, Life is a Dream; and Trinculo, The Tempest (Stanford TAPS); Henry IV, Henry IV Part I (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art); Cod, Slaughter City (Stanford Repertory Company). Readings/Workshops: Liberation, Archduke, Data (Roundabout); Give Me Your Answer Do! (Irish Rep); Cannabis Passover (Chautauqua); Singularity (Leviathan Lab); The Creature (Writing is Live); and the Red Bull Short New Play Festival. Other: BA Stanford University, Theater&Performance Studies and Human Biology concentrating in Narrative Neuroscience; MFA Brown/Trinity Acting. Website: www.fiona-maguire.com IG: @fiona._.maguire
Fernando Barbosa (Demetrius/ Flute/ Fairy)
FERNANDO BARBOSA (he/him) is an NYC and Boston based actor, singer, and musician. Previous Credits: Romeo and Juliet (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), As You Like It (Catskill Mountain Shakespeare), Clue: On Stage! (Greater Boston Stage Company), The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing (Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare), Peter and The Starcatcher (Penobscot Theatre Company), The Play That Goes Wrong (Rochester Opera House), Think of Me Tuesday, Native Gardens (Gloucester Stage Co.), Love’s Labor’s Lost (Hub Theatre Co.), Alls Well that Ends Well, Cymbeline, (Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.). Education: BFA in Theatre Performance from Salem State University. fernandobarbosaofficial.com
Creative Team
Kea Trevett (Director)
KEA TREVETT (she/her) is an artist and educator. NY acting credits include Roundabout, Classic Stage Company, Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Sheen Center, New Georges, The Lark, Page 73, and Cherry Lane. Regional credits include Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and Hamptons Shakespeare Festival. Kea is an Outfest Screenwriting Fellow, a NYSCA Support for Artists grantee, and a NYFA NYC Women’s Fund recipient. Kea teaches playwriting and Shakespeare for TFANA and Lincoln Center, and acting & screenwriting for Sarah Lawrence. She is a founding member of Apocalyptic, and director of their upcoming filmed adaptation of As You Like It.
Olivia Tymon (Production Stage Manager)
OLIVIA TYMON (she/her) is thrilled to join the Apocalyptic Artist Ensemble. Based in NYC, she is a dedicated Stage Manager and Production Assistant with experience spanning Off-Broadway, regional theatre, digital productions, and live events. She has worked with esteemed companies such as Primary Stages, Ogunquit Playhouse, Perseverance Theatre, and Island Shakespeare Festival. Her Off-Broadway credits include being Assistant Stage Manager for New Golden Age and God Said This at Primary Stages. Regionally, she has collaborated as Production Assistant on world premieres like Mystic Pizza, The Da Vinci Code, and My Best Friend’s Wedding at Ogunquit Playhouse, as well as Stage Managing Charlotte’s Web at Birmingham Children’s Theatre and The Winter’s Tale at Island Shakespeare Festival. In addition to live theatre, Olivia has Stage Managed digital projects, including Murder, We Spoke – A Podcast Play and See You in a Minute with Tantrum East. She has also supported major industry events such as the Wall Street Journal Innovator Awards, Bulgari’s Unapologetic – B.zero1 Launch, and productions with Hermès.
Peter Romano (Music Director)
PETER ROMANO (he/him) is a Syrian-American Actor, Director and Teaching-Artist. Peter has taught workshops for many Off-Broadway theatre companies and is a Professor of Theatre Arts at Marymount Manhattan College. He has worked internationally and regionally in Theatre, Television and Film. Off-Broadway peter has worked at The Signature, Target Margin, The Atlantic Theatre Company, Classic Stage Company, Gingold, 59E59, and Noor Theatre. Film/TV: Wu-Tang An American Saga (FX) New Amsterdam (NBC) The Blacklist (NBC) The Week Of with Adam Sandler (Netflix). He holds a BFA from NYU: Tisch, and MFA Columbia University.
Dina El Aziz (Costume and Prop Design)
DINA EL AZIZ": Regional: Forgiveness, (Barrington Stage); Selling Kabul (Northern Stage); English (Barrington Stage); Layalina (The Goodman); Selling Kabul (Seattle Rep); Unseen (OSF); When Monica Met Hillary (Miami New Drama); 9 Parts of Desire (Portland Center Stage); King Lear (Northern Stage); Noura (The Guthrie); Noura (The Old Globe); Selling Kabul (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Off-Broadway: Show/Boat: A River (Target Margin Theater); We Live In Cairo (NYTW); The Mulberry Tree (La Ma Ma); Munich Medea, Weightless (WP theater), The Vagrant Trilogy (The Public Theater); Heartland (Geva Theater/59E59); First Down (Noor Theater/59E59); Hindsight (Fault Line Theater); One Night (Target Margin Theater); Dina is a Target Margin Associate Artist.
Leana Gardella (Fight and Intimacy Director)
LEANA GARDELLA (she/her) is a Fight Director, Intimacy Director, and Performer based in NYC. Select Credits: The Devil Wears Prada the Musical at the Nederlander in Chicago (ID), Our Class at BAM and CSC (ID/FD), Belfast Girls at Irish Repertory Theatre (FD/ID), Marie It’s Time at HERE Arts Center (ID/FD), Richard III with Soho Shakespeare Company (FD), Sway at The Flea Theater (FD), macbitches at the Chain Theatre (FD), as well as Assisting Fight Director Drew Leary on Romeo + Juliet at Circle in the Square. www.leanagardella.com
K. Ann McDonald (Dramaturgy)
K. ANN MCDONALD: Although Ann’s day job for 40 years was as a litigator, her avocation since middle school has been Shakespeare. Ann was a member of the Board of The Shakespeare Society for 20 years (President from 2007 through 2017). In 2007 she co-founded the Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble, now a partnership between the Hunts Point Alliance for Children and The Public Theater. She has acted as the dramaturg for that program for 19 years (productions include The Tempest; As You Like It; Twelfth Night; Romeo & Juliet; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Hamlet; and Much Ado About Nothing). Ann served as the dramaturg for Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble’s film adaptations of As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Julius Caesar, and for AAE’s 2024 production of Romeo and Juliet. Other dramaturgy credits include Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet (Shakesperience Productions, Waterbury, CT).
Emilie Renier (Choreographer)
EMILIE RENIER (Choreographer) Tours: COMPANY, The Addams Family, The Cher Show, Cinderella, and both the Nat'l and Internat'l Beauty and the Beast (u/s Belle, DC). Regional: Chess, Mary Poppins, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Singin' in the Rain, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and many others. New York: Dear World (Encore's at City Center).
Nathan Winkelstein (Casting Director)
NATHAN WINKELSTEIN (he/him) has been with Red Bull Theater for nine years, and Associate Artistic Director for four. He is the In-house Casting Director, Director of Education and Producing Director of the Revelation Reading Series as well as the host of Red Bull Podcasts. Nathan has acted or directed for numerous companies around the country, including The Alley, NYU Grad, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Shakespeare Theater Company, LCT, The Folger, American Shakespeare Center, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and others. Dubbed 'The Pied Piper of Shakespeare' Nathan provides private acting coaching to select clients and has taught for Red Bull, STC, LCT, TGS and Maggie Flanagan Studio. Nathan received his BA in Theater from the University at Buffalo and his MFA in Classical Acting from the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK. Nathan is a proud member of Actors' Equity and SDC.
Michèle Carter Cram (Assistant Director)
MICHÈLE CARTER CRAM (she/her) is a NYC based director committed to making and amplifying art that uplifts joy as radical. She brings tradition to contemporary works through her expertise with language and innovation to classic works through deliberate recontextualization. Past collaborators include the Juilliard School, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Boise Contemporary Theater, Next Stop Creatives, and Migration Theory. Michèle holds a BA in Liberal Arts with a concentration in theater from Sarah Lawrence College (proud alum, Half Naked Shakespeare ensemble) and is originally from Boise, Idaho. Thanks to AAE and Red Bull, and to Kea for her mentorship.
Jesse Massari (Assistant Director)
JESSE MASSARI (she/her) is an NYC based Director/Actor/Producer who recently graduated from Marymount Manhattan College with duel degrees in Directing and Acting. She has a deep passion for classical text through contemporary lenses. While at MMC she was founder and artistic director of a student run theatre company, Play On, producing 6 full length published plays in just 2 years. A few previous credits include Uncle Vanya (AD), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Director), Dry Land (Director), and Refugee (AD). Thank you to the entire team at AAE and Red Bull, and of course her incredibly supportive friends and family. @jess.massari
Brynne McManimie (Managing Director, Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble)
BRYNNE McMANIMIE (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based actor, filmmaker and professor, and is one of the co-founders of Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. As an actor, she has worked in a variety of mediums. TV: Succession, Law and Order, Evil, Harlem, Elementary, Bull. NY Theatre: Othello (Classic Stage Company), Romeo & Juliet (Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble). As a filmmaker, she has produced several award-winning web series and films, and is the producer and editor for all of Apocalyptic Artist's filmed adaptations of Shakespeare plays. She currently teaches at Hunter College and Marymount Manhattan College. She holds an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, and is a proud SAG-AFTRA and AEA union member. www.brynne-mcmanimie.com
Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble (Producer)
Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble (AAE) was founded in 2020 by a group of multidisciplinary theatre makers committed to making classical theatre accessible for all. Created in direct response to NYC’s arts education budget cuts during the pandemic, they produce innovative live and filmed adaptations honoring artists with diverse identities and experiences. Alongside their productions, they partner with classroom teachers to offer free in-class residencies, consisting of theater making workshops and a culminating event, all taught by professional artists featured in the productions. By Summer 2025, they will have facilitated 620 workshops for 17 schools across the five boroughs; and their films and live productions will have been seen by over 5,500 students.
Red Bull Theater
Founded in 2003 with a production of Shakespeare’s Pericles, Red Bull Theater has been acclaimed by The New York Times as “a dynamic producer of classic plays” and by Time Out as “the most exciting classical theater in New York.” Red Bull Theater serves adventurous theatergoers with OFF-BROADWAY PRODUCTIONS, REVELATION READINGS, and the annual SHORT NEW PLAY FESTIVAL. The company also offers outreach programs including SHAKESPEARE IN SCHOOLS bringing professional actors and teaching artists into public school classrooms, BULL SESSIONS, free post-play discussions with top scholars, and CLASSICAL ACTING INTENSIVES led by veteran theater professionals. In our 20-year history, Red Bull Theater has produced 25 Off-Broadway Productions and over 200 Revelation Readings of rarely seen classics, serving over 5,000 artists and providing quality artistic programming to an audience of over 200,000. The company’s unique programming has received ongoing critical acclaim, and has been recognized with Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, Calloway, Off-Broadway Alliance, and Obie nominations and Awards.
Actors Equity Association
Actors' Equity Association (“Equity"), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional Actors and Stage Managers. Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors' Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. #EquityWorks
Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble Board of Directors
Kathleen Dorman, President
Kea Trevett, Secretary
Brynne McManimie, Treasurer
Damian Thompson
Michele Palermo
Special Thanks to our Supporters
Coming Soon!
As You Like It
Apocalyptic Artists produces filmed adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays created specifically with young audiences in mind as a first entry point into classical theater. They have been screened publicly and for hundreds of students throughout the five boroughs, viewable in chapters and offered alongside innovative classroom curriculum developed by the company.
The Story
Banished from the society of court, Rosalind starts a new life in the Forest of Arden disguised as a boy. Outside the city limits, she discovers a newfound freedom of identity, expression, and love in a story that flips the script on romantic convention.
The Series
Set in present-day New York City and filmed in two locations, this playful adaptation juxtaposes an old Hollywood drama at the Duke’s Court and a bohemian romantic comedy in the Forest of Arden where characters explore new identities and new ways of living. Through this story of love and possibility, Apocalyptic invites our audience to consider how we might live in harmony with each other and Nature?
Thank you for joining us!
Apocalyptic Artists doesn’t exist without YOU. Thank you for showing us your support by celebrating with us in person.
Stay in touch, and spread the word! There’s room for everyone in the ensemble.
- Alice, Brynne, Kea, and Peter