Kaleidoscope Talks

A Kaleidoscope of Pre-show Talks curated by Phillipa Kelley

45 minutes before 2023 Marin Shakespeare Company performances, we offer a free pre-show talk, which we’re calling our “Kaleidoscopes” because each holds up the speaker’s unique lens to the play and production. The Kaleidoscopes are led by a variety of speakers, including actors, directors, scholars, activists and community members. Our talks provide unique opportunities to learn more about the production through multiple perspectives, and audience members are welcome to visit these pre-shows as often as they like. Each talk will be its own entity – Shakespeare is “owned” by everyone, and everyone should have a chance to embrace, examine, critique, and perceive the plays on their own terms, through as many different gateways as we can offer. MSC’s Kaleidoscope Talks aim to inspire conversation, debate and reflection for all who walk through our gates.

Speakers may be subject to change.

TWELFTH NIGHT

Friday, August 4 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Saturday, August 5  – Melissa Hillman

Melissa Hillman was born in the East Bay, and has been part of the Bay Area theatre community for most of her life. She was the Artistic Director of Impact Theatre and has worked as a director and dramaturg all over the Bay Area on both new plays and classics. She’s directed Twelfth Night twice, and it remains one of her favorites. In 2016, she was awarded the Gene Price Award for Professionalism and Passion in Bay Area Theatre by the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a PhD in Dramatic Art from UC Berkeley, where she was a Pearl Hickman Fellow and twice awarded the Mark Goodson Prize for Distinguished Theatrical Talent. She’s taught at numerous universities and education programs in the Bay Area, primarily UC Berkeley, CSU East Bay, and the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre.  She wrote the blog Bitter Gertrude, and has been published by Methuen, HuffPo, TCG, Theatre Bay Area Magazine, Southern Theatre Magazine, and many others. Currently, she divides her time between heading grantmaking, conferences, and professional development as Programs Officer at Theatre Bay Area, and consulting. As a consultant, she’s provided support for nonprofits in both EDI work and in nonprofit administration (most recently for Rancho Obi-Wan in Petaluma), as well as dramaturgy for companies, playwrights, and screenwriters, working with Lauren Gunderson, Denmo Ibrahim, Netflix, Play Cafe, and many more.

 

Sunday, August 6 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Friday August 11 – Sean Fenton

Sean Fenton serves as Executive Director of Theatre Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area’s theatre service organization that supports, promotes, and advocates for nearly 200 theatre companies and thousands of individual theatre practitioners across the region. An award-winning actor, Sean has performed at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, San Francisco Playhouse, 42nd Street Moon, Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company, Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra, and more. He has been a guest speaker and panelist for TYA/USA; a production supervisor and communications manager for Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre; and a director, music supervisor, and performer for Bay Area Children’s Theatre. As a director and manager for the Intrinsic Impact program at WolfBrown, Sean provided audience research services to arts organizations around the globe. Sean holds a BA from Stanford University, is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, and serves on the board of directors of Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates.

 

Saturday, August 12 – Umut Yalcinkay

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

Sunday, August 13 – Susannah Martin

A director, teacher, performer, and theatre-maker of Tunisian heritage, and a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish feminist-activist-artist, Susannah has taught, directed, and performed for organizations throughout the Bay Area including: Shotgun Players (Company Member), A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin (Company Member), Oakland Theater Project, the Playwright’s Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreFirst, and West Edge Opera. Some recent credits include: performing in Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love for Shotgun Players; Lisa Ramirez’ Book of Sand (a fairy tale) for Oakland Theater Project; Elaine Magree’s AC/DC for 3Girls Theatre Company; Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring for the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival; Betty Shamieh’s Make No Mistake for both All New People and Golden Thread; Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad and Christopher Chen’s Caught for Shotgun Players; and the world-premiere of Dipika Guha’s In Braunau for the San Francisco Playhouse.  Susannah believes strongly in fostering new voices and developing young storytellers to build and transform our communities.

 

Thursday August 17 – Joey Pagaduan

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company.  While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside.

Friday August 18 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Saturday, August 19 – Awele Makeba

Awele (ah-WAY-lay) Makeba is an internationally renowned storyteller, an acclaimed recording artist for film and CDs, an award-winning drama teacher, a literacy specialist, a racial justice activist, and the producer of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Festival (Oakland Unified School District) featured in the Emmy-winning documentary We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical (2020).  She is recognized as a “truth- teller, someone who sparks “aha!” moments. She researches, writes, and performs African American history, folklore, and personal tales. Providing opportunities for audiences to grapple with the meaning of their own lives as they make meaning of past lives. She has made it her life’s work to tell history through the words of its silenced and oft-forgotten witnesses. Awele uses art to catalyze deep conversations about race, our common humanity, and our vision of a just humane, and multiracial society.  Visit Awele.com

 

Sunday August 20 – John Neblett

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

 

Thursday, August 24 – William Hodgson

William Thomas Hodgson is Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project. He is a Bay area artist – an actor, director, choreographer and educator based out of Oakland, CA. He received his MFA from UCSD. In recent years William has split his time between the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he’s worked as an actor, and his many creative roles in the Bay.

 

Friday, August 25 – Joey Pagaduan

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company.  While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside.

 

Saturday, August 26 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Sunday, August 27 5:00 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Thursday, August 31 – Ari Powell

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Friday, September 1 – Melina Cohen Bramwell

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

 

Saturday, September 2 – AeJay Mitchell

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and  served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

 

Sunday, September 3 – Craig Moody

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

HAMLET

Friday, June 16, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Saturday, June 17, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm OPENING PERFORMANCE

Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Sunday, June 18, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
John Neblett (he/his)

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

Friday, June 23, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Melina Cohen Bramwell (he/his)

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

Saturday, June 24, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Susannah Martin

A director, teacher, performer, and theatre-maker of Tunisian heritage, and a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish feminist-activist-artist, Susannah has taught, directed, and performed for organizations throughout the Bay Area including: Shotgun Players (Company Member), A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin (Company Member), Oakland Theater Project, the Playwright’s Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreFirst, and West Edge Opera. Some recent credits include: performing in Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love for Shotgun Players; Lisa Ramirez’ Book of Sand (a fairy tale) for Oakland Theater Project; Elaine Magree’s AC/DC for 3Girls Theatre Company; Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring for the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival; Betty Shamieh’s Make No Mistake for both All New People and Golden Thread; Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad and Christopher Chen’s Caught for Shotgun Players; and the world-premiere of Dipika Guha’s In Braunau for the San Francisco Playhouse.

Susannah believes strongly in fostering new voices and developing young storytellers to build and transform our communities.

Sunday, June 25, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Umut Yalcinkaya (she/hers)

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

Friday, June 30, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Craig Moody (he/his)

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

Saturday, July 1, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Myles Brown (he/his)

Myles Brown recently starred at Shotgun Theater (Passing Strange) and with the Oakland Symphony at the Paramount Theater (Romeo and Juliet.) He is skilled at improvisation and regularly performs in stand-up theater. Myles is a bilingual English/Spanish speaker. He is thrilled to be speaking at Marin Shakes for the first time.

Sunday, July 2, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Champagne Hughes (she/hers)

Champagne Hughes, M.A., AMFT (she/her) is a graduate of San Jose State, and the Bay Area’s Director of Taboo Communications and Experience. For most, she is known for her contributions to the Arts as an administrator, actor and producer. She has worked as creative/actor with most of Bay Area’s prestigious theater houses that include the American Conservatory Theater, Beach Blanket Babylon, African American Shakes, and The Berkeley Repertory Theater. Champagne has produced several dinner theater shows under her company, Dionysus Presents, and partnered with The Los Angeles NAACP Theater Awards Festival as recurring Operations Manager.  Now, Hughes has completed her Counseling Psychology Masters degree at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) as a double major with an emphasis in Drama and Sex therapy. Her current mission is to (1) transform toxic societal attitudes toward human sexuality, (2) establish best practices for role closure and repair, (3) name oppressive systems that prevent healing to occur, and (4) provide emotional support and general wellness through a pleasure-centered intersectional lens. With this work Champagne anticipates partnering with theater companies to provide emotional support programs for local artists and live performances.  Champagne is currently developing an original group performance piece that highlights existing life issues of black men from a therapeutic lens. Champagne is informed in the following modalities: IFS, Gottman, Imago, Gestalt, Art Therapy, Sand-Tray, Solutions-Based, CBT/ACT Narrative, Client Centered, Jungian, Drama Therapy, Sex Therapy (AASECT Education Credits), Multicultural, Psychodrama, and Strength Based therapy. For inquiries and more information, please contact: champagnehughes@icloud.com 

Thursday, July 6, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
William Hodgson (he/his)

William Thomas Hodgson is Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project. He is a Bay area artist – an actor, director, choreographer and educator based out of Oakland, CA. He received his MFA from UCSD. In recent years William has split his time between the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he’s worked as an actor, and his many creative roles in the Bay.

Friday, July 7, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joey Pagaduan (he/his)

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company. While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside. He is thrilled to be speaking with you about the 2023 production of Hamlet.

Saturday, July 8, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joanie McBrien

Joanie is looking forward to Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 Season. Her work as a dramaturg began with Calshakes where she provided research for productions of Medea and Richard III. She also worked as a resident lecturer at Calshakes for several seasons. With Shotgun Players, where she is also the development director, she has worked as the dramaturg for many productions including The Skriker, Iphigenia in Aulis, There Will Be No Trojan War, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy. As an arts advocate, she asks everyone to contact their local, state, and federal representatives to encourage greater government support for the arts.

Sunday, July 9, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Thursday, July 13, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
AeJay Mitchell (They/Them)

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

Friday, July 14, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Arielle Powell (she/her)

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Saturday, July 15, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Sunday, July 16, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Cathleen Sheehan (she/her)

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

Friday August 18 – Umut Yalcinkaya

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

 

Saturday, August 19 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Sunday August 20 – John Neblett

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

 

Thursday, August 24 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Friday, August 25 – Joey Pagaduan

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company.  While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside.

 

Saturday, August 26 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Sunday, August 27 5:00 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Thursday, August 31 – Ari Powell

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Friday, September 1 – Melina Cohen Bramwell

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

 

Saturday, September 2 – AeJay Mitchell

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and  served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

 

Sunday, September 3 – Craig Moody

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

HAMLET

Friday, June 16, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Saturday, June 17, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm OPENING PERFORMANCE

Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Sunday, June 18, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
John Neblett (he/his)

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

Friday, June 23, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Melina Cohen Bramwell (he/his)

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

Saturday, June 24, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Susannah Martin

A director, teacher, performer, and theatre-maker of Tunisian heritage, and a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish feminist-activist-artist, Susannah has taught, directed, and performed for organizations throughout the Bay Area including: Shotgun Players (Company Member), A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin (Company Member), Oakland Theater Project, the Playwright’s Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreFirst, and West Edge Opera. Some recent credits include: performing in Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love for Shotgun Players; Lisa Ramirez’ Book of Sand (a fairy tale) for Oakland Theater Project; Elaine Magree’s AC/DC for 3Girls Theatre Company; Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring for the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival; Betty Shamieh’s Make No Mistake for both All New People and Golden Thread; Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad and Christopher Chen’s Caught for Shotgun Players; and the world-premiere of Dipika Guha’s In Braunau for the San Francisco Playhouse.

Susannah believes strongly in fostering new voices and developing young storytellers to build and transform our communities.

Sunday, June 25, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Umut Yalcinkaya (she/hers)

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

Friday, June 30, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Craig Moody (he/his)

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

Saturday, July 1, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Myles Brown (he/his)

Myles Brown recently starred at Shotgun Theater (Passing Strange) and with the Oakland Symphony at the Paramount Theater (Romeo and Juliet.) He is skilled at improvisation and regularly performs in stand-up theater. Myles is a bilingual English/Spanish speaker. He is thrilled to be speaking at Marin Shakes for the first time.

Sunday, July 2, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Champagne Hughes (she/hers)

Champagne Hughes, M.A., AMFT (she/her) is a graduate of San Jose State, and the Bay Area’s Director of Taboo Communications and Experience. For most, she is known for her contributions to the Arts as an administrator, actor and producer. She has worked as creative/actor with most of Bay Area’s prestigious theater houses that include the American Conservatory Theater, Beach Blanket Babylon, African American Shakes, and The Berkeley Repertory Theater. Champagne has produced several dinner theater shows under her company, Dionysus Presents, and partnered with The Los Angeles NAACP Theater Awards Festival as recurring Operations Manager.  Now, Hughes has completed her Counseling Psychology Masters degree at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) as a double major with an emphasis in Drama and Sex therapy. Her current mission is to (1) transform toxic societal attitudes toward human sexuality, (2) establish best practices for role closure and repair, (3) name oppressive systems that prevent healing to occur, and (4) provide emotional support and general wellness through a pleasure-centered intersectional lens. With this work Champagne anticipates partnering with theater companies to provide emotional support programs for local artists and live performances.  Champagne is currently developing an original group performance piece that highlights existing life issues of black men from a therapeutic lens. Champagne is informed in the following modalities: IFS, Gottman, Imago, Gestalt, Art Therapy, Sand-Tray, Solutions-Based, CBT/ACT Narrative, Client Centered, Jungian, Drama Therapy, Sex Therapy (AASECT Education Credits), Multicultural, Psychodrama, and Strength Based therapy. For inquiries and more information, please contact: champagnehughes@icloud.com 

Thursday, July 6, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
William Hodgson (he/his)

William Thomas Hodgson is Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project. He is a Bay area artist – an actor, director, choreographer and educator based out of Oakland, CA. He received his MFA from UCSD. In recent years William has split his time between the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he’s worked as an actor, and his many creative roles in the Bay.

Friday, July 7, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joey Pagaduan (he/his)

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company. While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside. He is thrilled to be speaking with you about the 2023 production of Hamlet.

Saturday, July 8, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joanie McBrien

Joanie is looking forward to Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 Season. Her work as a dramaturg began with Calshakes where she provided research for productions of Medea and Richard III. She also worked as a resident lecturer at Calshakes for several seasons. With Shotgun Players, where she is also the development director, she has worked as the dramaturg for many productions including The Skriker, Iphigenia in Aulis, There Will Be No Trojan War, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy. As an arts advocate, she asks everyone to contact their local, state, and federal representatives to encourage greater government support for the arts.

Sunday, July 9, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Thursday, July 13, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
AeJay Mitchell (They/Them)

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

Friday, July 14, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Arielle Powell (she/her)

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Saturday, July 15, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Sunday, July 16, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Cathleen Sheehan (she/her)

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

Awele Makeba

Awele (ah-WAY-lay) Makeba is an internationally renowned storyteller, an acclaimed recording artist for film and CDs, an award-winning drama teacher, a literacy specialist, a racial justice activist, and the producer of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Festival (Oakland Unified School District) featured in the Emmy-winning documentary We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical (2020).  She is recognized as a “truth- teller, someone who sparks “aha!” moments. She researches, writes, and performs African American history, folklore, and personal tales. Providing opportunities for audiences to grapple with the meaning of their own lives as they make meaning of past lives. She has made it her life’s work to tell history through the words of its silenced and oft-forgotten witnesses. Awele uses art to catalyze deep conversations about race, our common humanity, and our vision of a just humane, and multiracial society.  Visit Awele.com

Sunday, August 13 – Susannah Martin

A director, teacher, performer, and theatre-maker of Tunisian heritage, and a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish feminist-activist-artist, Susannah has taught, directed, and performed for organizations throughout the Bay Area including: Shotgun Players (Company Member), A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin (Company Member), Oakland Theater Project, the Playwright’s Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreFirst, and West Edge Opera. Some recent credits include: performing in Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love for Shotgun Players; Lisa Ramirez’ Book of Sand (a fairy tale) for Oakland Theater Project; Elaine Magree’s AC/DC for 3Girls Theatre Company; Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring for the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival; Betty Shamieh’s Make No Mistake for both All New People and Golden Thread; Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad and Christopher Chen’s Caught for Shotgun Players; and the world-premiere of Dipika Guha’s In Braunau for the San Francisco Playhouse.  Susannah believes strongly in fostering new voices and developing young storytellers to build and transform our communities.

 

Thursday August 17 – Joey Pagaduan

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company.  While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside.

Friday August 18 – Umut Yalcinkaya

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

 

Saturday, August 19 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Sunday August 20 – John Neblett

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

 

Thursday, August 24 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Friday, August 25 – Joey Pagaduan

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company.  While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside.

 

Saturday, August 26 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Sunday, August 27 5:00 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Thursday, August 31 – Ari Powell

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Friday, September 1 – Melina Cohen Bramwell

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

 

Saturday, September 2 – AeJay Mitchell

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and  served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

 

Sunday, September 3 – Craig Moody

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

HAMLET

Friday, June 16, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Saturday, June 17, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm OPENING PERFORMANCE

Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Sunday, June 18, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
John Neblett (he/his)

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

Friday, June 23, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Melina Cohen Bramwell (he/his)

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

Saturday, June 24, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Susannah Martin

A director, teacher, performer, and theatre-maker of Tunisian heritage, and a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish feminist-activist-artist, Susannah has taught, directed, and performed for organizations throughout the Bay Area including: Shotgun Players (Company Member), A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin (Company Member), Oakland Theater Project, the Playwright’s Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreFirst, and West Edge Opera. Some recent credits include: performing in Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love for Shotgun Players; Lisa Ramirez’ Book of Sand (a fairy tale) for Oakland Theater Project; Elaine Magree’s AC/DC for 3Girls Theatre Company; Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring for the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival; Betty Shamieh’s Make No Mistake for both All New People and Golden Thread; Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad and Christopher Chen’s Caught for Shotgun Players; and the world-premiere of Dipika Guha’s In Braunau for the San Francisco Playhouse.

Susannah believes strongly in fostering new voices and developing young storytellers to build and transform our communities.

Sunday, June 25, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Umut Yalcinkaya (she/hers)

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

Friday, June 30, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Craig Moody (he/his)

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

Saturday, July 1, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Myles Brown (he/his)

Myles Brown recently starred at Shotgun Theater (Passing Strange) and with the Oakland Symphony at the Paramount Theater (Romeo and Juliet.) He is skilled at improvisation and regularly performs in stand-up theater. Myles is a bilingual English/Spanish speaker. He is thrilled to be speaking at Marin Shakes for the first time.

Sunday, July 2, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Champagne Hughes (she/hers)

Champagne Hughes, M.A., AMFT (she/her) is a graduate of San Jose State, and the Bay Area’s Director of Taboo Communications and Experience. For most, she is known for her contributions to the Arts as an administrator, actor and producer. She has worked as creative/actor with most of Bay Area’s prestigious theater houses that include the American Conservatory Theater, Beach Blanket Babylon, African American Shakes, and The Berkeley Repertory Theater. Champagne has produced several dinner theater shows under her company, Dionysus Presents, and partnered with The Los Angeles NAACP Theater Awards Festival as recurring Operations Manager.  Now, Hughes has completed her Counseling Psychology Masters degree at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) as a double major with an emphasis in Drama and Sex therapy. Her current mission is to (1) transform toxic societal attitudes toward human sexuality, (2) establish best practices for role closure and repair, (3) name oppressive systems that prevent healing to occur, and (4) provide emotional support and general wellness through a pleasure-centered intersectional lens. With this work Champagne anticipates partnering with theater companies to provide emotional support programs for local artists and live performances.  Champagne is currently developing an original group performance piece that highlights existing life issues of black men from a therapeutic lens. Champagne is informed in the following modalities: IFS, Gottman, Imago, Gestalt, Art Therapy, Sand-Tray, Solutions-Based, CBT/ACT Narrative, Client Centered, Jungian, Drama Therapy, Sex Therapy (AASECT Education Credits), Multicultural, Psychodrama, and Strength Based therapy. For inquiries and more information, please contact: champagnehughes@icloud.com 

Thursday, July 6, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
William Hodgson (he/his)

William Thomas Hodgson is Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project. He is a Bay area artist – an actor, director, choreographer and educator based out of Oakland, CA. He received his MFA from UCSD. In recent years William has split his time between the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he’s worked as an actor, and his many creative roles in the Bay.

Friday, July 7, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joey Pagaduan (he/his)

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company. While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside. He is thrilled to be speaking with you about the 2023 production of Hamlet.

Saturday, July 8, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joanie McBrien

Joanie is looking forward to Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 Season. Her work as a dramaturg began with Calshakes where she provided research for productions of Medea and Richard III. She also worked as a resident lecturer at Calshakes for several seasons. With Shotgun Players, where she is also the development director, she has worked as the dramaturg for many productions including The Skriker, Iphigenia in Aulis, There Will Be No Trojan War, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy. As an arts advocate, she asks everyone to contact their local, state, and federal representatives to encourage greater government support for the arts.

Sunday, July 9, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Thursday, July 13, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
AeJay Mitchell (They/Them)

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

Friday, July 14, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Arielle Powell (she/her)

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Saturday, July 15, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Sunday, July 16, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Cathleen Sheehan (she/her)

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

Friday August 18 – Umut Yalcinkaya

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

 

Saturday, August 19 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Sunday August 20 – John Neblett

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

 

Thursday, August 24 – Philippa Kelly

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

 

Friday, August 25 – Joey Pagaduan

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company.  While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside.

 

Saturday, August 26 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Sunday, August 27 5:00 – Cathleen Sheehan

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.

 

Thursday, August 31 – Ari Powell

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Friday, September 1 – Melina Cohen Bramwell

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

 

Saturday, September 2 – AeJay Mitchell

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and  served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

 

Sunday, September 3 – Craig Moody

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

HAMLET

Friday, June 16, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Saturday, June 17, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm OPENING PERFORMANCE

Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Sunday, June 18, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
John Neblett (he/his)

John Neblett caught the Shakespeare bug reading Henry V between the aisles of the San Quentin library in 2004. Shakespeare became his master poet and he copied his style in writing sonnets. In 2006 John started working on his acting skills with Marin Shakespeare while at San Quentin. He performed in many productions and as Claudius in the June 2012 production of Hamlet directed by acclaimed director Lesley Currier. In 2015 he was paroled after serving almost 30 years. He then attended San Francisco State University and graduated in 2018, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts with a Performance Emphasis. His most recent work was as Toothless Rufus in Tails of Big Ben in May of 2023, directed by Suraya Keating in Marin Shakespeare’s new theater in downtown San Rafael.

Friday, June 23, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Melina Cohen Bramwell (he/his)

Melina Cohen-Bramwell is a writer and lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident who also happens to be a mixed-race, gender-queer spoonie. Never a fan of the education system, at age 16 Melina dropped out of school and began a career in theater. After years of working as a technician at regional theater companies such as The Aurora, Cal Shakes, and Berkeley Rep, Melina “retired” to focus on healing from chronic illness and to pursue writing as a career. Look out for his book, Bar Fights with Sad Kids, to be released by Finishing Line Press.

Saturday, June 24, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Susannah Martin

A director, teacher, performer, and theatre-maker of Tunisian heritage, and a Sephardic/Mizrahi Jewish feminist-activist-artist, Susannah has taught, directed, and performed for organizations throughout the Bay Area including: Shotgun Players (Company Member), A.C.T., California Shakespeare Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Magic Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Mugwumpin (Company Member), Oakland Theater Project, the Playwright’s Foundation, San Francisco Playhouse, TheatreFirst, and West Edge Opera. Some recent credits include: performing in Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love for Shotgun Players; Lisa Ramirez’ Book of Sand (a fairy tale) for Oakland Theater Project; Elaine Magree’s AC/DC for 3Girls Theatre Company; Denmo Ibrahim’s Arab Spring for the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival; Betty Shamieh’s Make No Mistake for both All New People and Golden Thread; Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad and Christopher Chen’s Caught for Shotgun Players; and the world-premiere of Dipika Guha’s In Braunau for the San Francisco Playhouse.

Susannah believes strongly in fostering new voices and developing young storytellers to build and transform our communities.

Sunday, June 25, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Umut Yalcinkaya (she/hers)

Umut Yalcinkaya came from Turkey to America nine years ago, and entered the Oakland School District without speaking a word of English. At the same time, with absolutely no English vocabulary she began working to support her family (people can be rather mean when ordering coffee from a non-English speaker! Things improve when they’re caffeinated! ) Umut has since become a wordsmith and creator, and is excited and honored to be a part of Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 season. She is currently studying performing arts at Mills College at Northeastern University, where she has participated in productions such as Sisterhood of Survivors, Womyn, and her own original show, Smash The Patriarchy. When Umut is not writing, acting and directing in film and theater, she is working with flowers and plants to explore the reaches of her art and creativity. Umut has also completed a list of gender-relevant attributions that is regularly used by theaters.

Friday, June 30, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Craig Moody (he/his)

Theatre was mother’s milk to Craig, seeing plays from the age of two. Raised by a father who chaired a large university’s theatre department and a television-producing mother; plays were what the family did. Accordingly, he acted through the age of twenty-eight, including Shakespeare performances, when he realized that he did not have the “risk gene” required of actors who live by that work. After a lengthy legal career focusing on anti-trust trials, he retired in 2015 in order to focus on the study of Shakespeare. That study has occurred in Orinda, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Dallas, Washington, D. C., Ashland, Oregon, London and Prague: literally wherever he could find it. He has served on the boards of CalShakes, SF Shakespeare Festival and Marin Shakespeare. Craig has been an admirer of Lesley and Bob Currier and what they’ve done with Marin Shakespeare Company for many years; he owes much to them for enlarging his enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

Saturday, July 1, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Myles Brown (he/his)

Myles Brown recently starred at Shotgun Theater (Passing Strange) and with the Oakland Symphony at the Paramount Theater (Romeo and Juliet.) He is skilled at improvisation and regularly performs in stand-up theater. Myles is a bilingual English/Spanish speaker. He is thrilled to be speaking at Marin Shakes for the first time.

Sunday, July 2, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Champagne Hughes (she/hers)

Champagne Hughes, M.A., AMFT (she/her) is a graduate of San Jose State, and the Bay Area’s Director of Taboo Communications and Experience. For most, she is known for her contributions to the Arts as an administrator, actor and producer. She has worked as creative/actor with most of Bay Area’s prestigious theater houses that include the American Conservatory Theater, Beach Blanket Babylon, African American Shakes, and The Berkeley Repertory Theater. Champagne has produced several dinner theater shows under her company, Dionysus Presents, and partnered with The Los Angeles NAACP Theater Awards Festival as recurring Operations Manager.  Now, Hughes has completed her Counseling Psychology Masters degree at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) as a double major with an emphasis in Drama and Sex therapy. Her current mission is to (1) transform toxic societal attitudes toward human sexuality, (2) establish best practices for role closure and repair, (3) name oppressive systems that prevent healing to occur, and (4) provide emotional support and general wellness through a pleasure-centered intersectional lens. With this work Champagne anticipates partnering with theater companies to provide emotional support programs for local artists and live performances.  Champagne is currently developing an original group performance piece that highlights existing life issues of black men from a therapeutic lens. Champagne is informed in the following modalities: IFS, Gottman, Imago, Gestalt, Art Therapy, Sand-Tray, Solutions-Based, CBT/ACT Narrative, Client Centered, Jungian, Drama Therapy, Sex Therapy (AASECT Education Credits), Multicultural, Psychodrama, and Strength Based therapy. For inquiries and more information, please contact: champagnehughes@icloud.com 

Thursday, July 6, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
William Hodgson (he/his)

William Thomas Hodgson is Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project. He is a Bay area artist – an actor, director, choreographer and educator based out of Oakland, CA. He received his MFA from UCSD. In recent years William has split his time between the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he’s worked as an actor, and his many creative roles in the Bay.

Friday, July 7, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joey Pagaduan (he/his)

Joey Pagaduan worked on stage crew in High School, where he helped build sets. He never imagined himself as an actor before the time when – while serving a life sentence in prison (having been sentenced as a child of 18) – he saw a sign-up group for Shakespeare. He thought it was going to be a book club! He showed up and met Lesley Currier and the wonderful Marin Shakes people. The discovery that this was an acting group scared the heck out of him, and he therefore asked for the smallest role (that of the Porter in Macbeth.) To his surprise, he had a fabulous time, and the next year he signed up for the role of Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the following year he auditioned for the role of Hamlet and won the part. Joey is now free and living in Berkeley, studying computer science and working as a drug and alcohol counselor full-time. On the weekends he works as a youth residential counselor. Joey has won an internship from California Lawyers for the Arts, and in this capacity he is producing and directing a play he has written for Marin Shakespeare Company. While incarcerated, Joey began his own theater company and produced shows for incarcerated citizens and guests from the outside. He is thrilled to be speaking with you about the 2023 production of Hamlet.

Saturday, July 8, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Joanie McBrien

Joanie is looking forward to Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2023 Season. Her work as a dramaturg began with Calshakes where she provided research for productions of Medea and Richard III. She also worked as a resident lecturer at Calshakes for several seasons. With Shotgun Players, where she is also the development director, she has worked as the dramaturg for many productions including The Skriker, Iphigenia in Aulis, There Will Be No Trojan War, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy. As an arts advocate, she asks everyone to contact their local, state, and federal representatives to encourage greater government support for the arts.

Sunday, July 9, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Philippa Kelly (she/hers)

Dr. Philippa Kelly (she/her/hers) has served for 13 years as Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, and as Production Dramaturg for many regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, the Magic Theater, the Aurora, and many others. She has been awarded fellowships (to UC Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and Bellagio) from the Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Commonwealth Foundations, and grants from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation, the Walter and Eliza Hall Foundation, and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (National Bly Award for Innovation in Dramaturgy). Philippa has published 11 books and over 100 internationally peer-reviewed articles and professional playbill articles. Her Arden book, The King and I, is closest to her heart, illuminating King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Philippa is Chair and Professor of English at the California Jazz Conservatory and is also on the Theatre faculty at San Jose State University. She is thrilled to be working with Marin Shakes this year, serving dramaturgy and curating the pre-show Kaleidoscope series.

Thursday, July 13, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
AeJay Mitchell (They/Them)

AeJay Mitchell is a multi-hyphenated performance artist, educator, and activist whose work centers the decolonization of the theatrical canon, the black avant-garde, and queer political performance practice. They were most recently witnessed in the critically acclaimed Ni¿¿er Lovers at The Magic Theatre and served as the co-director, choreographer, and vocal arranger for the world premiere of Ryan M. Luevano’s Dance Plague. They are a member of the Black Artists Contemporary Cultural Experience collective, Literary Manager and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Actor’s Equity.

Friday, July 14, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Arielle Powell (she/her)

Ari is the Senior Director of Patron Experience and Development at Oakland Theater Project. Ari’s love for theater definitely started at a young age. Cultivated by her father’s love for live theater and her mom’s artistic influence, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit her. Martha Powell (Mom) was an office manager for a performing arts school, so ARI couldn’t help but get involved in every capacity she could. Ari most recently performed in Exodus to Eden at the Oakland Theater Project.

Saturday, July 15, 6:45 pm TALK / 7:30 pm PERFORMANCE
Sunday, July 16, 4:15 pm TALK / 5:00 pm PERFORMANCE
Cathleen Sheehan (she/her)

Cathleen Sheehan is thrilled to return to the Marin Shakespeare Company this season. Cathleen has been a theater professional for more than twenty years, working as a guest lecturer and writer for Shakespeare Santa Cruz as well as doing seasonal work as a pre-show speaker and dramaturg with the California Shakespeare Theater and, of course, Marin Shakespeare Company. She has coached professional actors on audition monologues and led text workshops with both professional and aspiring actors. The English Department Chair at the Urban School since 2020, Cathleen has been a teacher at the School since 1995 where she has taught and designed a variety of classes, including Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare. (Her party trick is relating any subject to Shakespeare.) Cathleen holds AB and MA degrees in English Literature from Stanford University and completed post-graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University.