Shakespeare Lab Faculty Bios 2009
MAY ADRALES (Ensemble) has directed and developed work at The Public Theater, Second Stage Theatre, New York Theater Workshop, The Hangar Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, New Jersey Repertory, Ensemble Studio Theater, and The New York International Fringe Festival. Recent productions and awards: Lisa Ramirez's Exit Cuckoo (Midtown International Theater Festival, Best Solo Performance); Jose Rivera's Cloud Tectonics (Pure Theater), Odon Von Horvath's Faith, Hope and Charity (awarded SSDC Denham Fellowship); Anton Dudley’s Cold Hard Cash (Williamstown Theater Festival); DOME (Prospect Theater Company). May received a Van Lier Directing Fellowship, a SDCF Observership, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship. She was a member of SoHo Rep Writers/Director's Lab, Women's Project Directors Lab and New York Theatre Workshop Directing Fellowship for 2006-07. May worked as an Artistic Associate at The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival from 2006-08, where she played a leading role in the development of the Public's classical acting program, The Shakespeare Lab, as well as the education and community outreach efforts.. Currently, May will work The Lark Play Development Center as the recipient of the TCG New Generations Grant. MFA, Yale School of Drama, directing.
CHRISTOPHER BAYES (Clown) began his theater career with the internationally acclaimed Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he worked for five years as an actor, director, composer, designer and artistic associate. In 1989 he joined the acting company of the Guthrie Theater where he appeared in over twenty productions. His roles included Caliban in The Tempest, Edgar in King Lear, The Herald in Marat/Sade and Harlequin in Triumph of Love. In 1993, commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, he produced his one-man show This Ridiculous Dreaming based on Heinrich Boll’s novel The Clown. In New York, he has directed Red Noses by Peter Barnes, Four by Feydeau, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Moliere One Acts, and The Love of Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi at the Juilliard School; The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, The New Place by Carlo Goldoni, We Won’t Pay... by Dario Fo, and his new adaptation of Moliere’s The Reluctant Doctor of Love for New York University’s Graduate Acting Program; The Raven by Carlo Gozzi at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing; Ubu Roi at both NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and Fordham University; and Timeslips at HERE. Additionally, he has staged several original works including Wreckage at P.S. 122, The Big Day (a clown show) and The Fiasco Bro. Circus at the Juilliard School, Zibaldoné at HERE and the Present Company Theatorium, The Fools/Los Locos Del Pueblo at Touchstone Theater, and Necromance, A Night of Conjuration at Dixon Place. Outside of New York, his directing credits include Scapin at the Intiman Theater in Seattle, the Court Theater in Chicago and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Len Jenkin’s new adaptation of The Birds at Yale Repertory Theater. He has received numerous awards and grants including a Jerome Foundation Travel/Study Grant, a General Mills Foundation Artist Assistance Grant, and both a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship Grant and a Career Opportunity Grant. He is a 1999/2000 Fox Fellow. (christopherbayes.com)
LISA BENAVIDES (Scene Study) Graduate of The Juilliard School and The Teacher Development Program. Teaching credits include: SUNY-Puchase, The Actors Center New York, New York University, The Stella Adler Studio, and The Shakespeare Lab (Public Theater). Theater credits include: Lincoln Center, The Huntington Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Acting Company, The Alliance Theater and Portland Stage. Film credits include: The Upheaval, Eye of God, O, and The Grey Zone. She proudly serves on the board of The 52nd Street Project.
BARRY EDELSTEIN (Director of the Shakespeare Lab, teacher of Text) has directed Shakespeare at The Public Theater and at venues around New York City and the country. He staged Julius Caesar starring Jeffrey Wright at the Delacorte in Cental Park and The Merchant of Venice, featuring Ron Leibman’s OBIE award-winning portrayal of Shylock at the Public. From 1998-2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company, where he directed Richard III starring John Turturro and Julianna Margulies and The Winter’s Tale starring David Strathairn. At the Williamstown Theater Festival, he directed As You Like It starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Other New York credits include the world premiere of Steve Martin’s The Underpants, which he commissioned; Jonson’s The Alchemist; and Moliere’s The Misanthrope, starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut (all at Classic Stage Company); Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (Williamstown, then Roundabout; won Lucille Lortel Award for Best Revival); and Steve Martin’s Wasp and Other Plays (The Public). He has directed many contemporary and classic plays at leading regional theaters. His first film, My Lunch with Larry, starring Lisa Edelstein and Greg Germann, played the festival circuit in 2006 and 2007. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at the Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and USC. He has lectured on theater around the USA and the world, and has written on the subject for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and American Theater Magazine. His book Thinking Shakespeare (called by New York Magazine “a must-read for actors”) was published in 2007, and his book Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions is forthcoming. He is a graduate of Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
IAN HERSEY (Administrator of the Shakespeare Lab, teacher of Ensemble) An alumnus of the NYSF Shakespeare Lab and The Actors Center, he served on the faculty at the New World School of the Arts and The Actors Center. He has taught various workshops in Shakespeare for actors of all ages in and around New York. A recipient of the Fox Foundation Fellowship, he studied Shakespeare with Ron Van Lieu, Barry Edelstein, Michael Langham, Mario Siletti, Peter Francis James, Brian Murray and Catherine Fitzmaurice. Other acting teachers include Lloyd Richards, Olympia Dukakis and Earle Gister. As an actor he has performed on stage and television, in film and commercials. Ian has Master’s in Education from Harvard University.
NANCY LEMENAGER (Movement) Starred on Broadway as Brenda in Movin’ Out. She also starred in the Jerome Kern musical Never Gonna Dance and has appeared on Broadway in Kiss Me Kate, Dream, How to succeed… and Guys and Dolls. She played Ilona in She Loves Me at Arena Stage (Helen Hayes Nomination) and starred as Lisa in the world premier of The Studio at South Coast Repertory. Nancy made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2004 with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops. She has appeared regionally in John Patrick Shanley’s Italian American Reconciliation (Janis), Sweet Charity (Charity), Company (Amy) and The Curious Distance: Ensemle Studio Theater. She was a member of the 2007 Shakespeare Lab. Nancy choreographed The Porch (Altered Stages) and choreographed for Bette Midler. She was also associate choreographer for Camelot at Lincoln Center (dir. Lonny Price) She is currently in Chicago on Broadway playing the role of Velma.
JULIO MONGE (Movement) Broadway credits include JEROME ROBBIN'S BROADWAY, CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, directed by Graciela Daniele, Lincoln Center's TWELFTH NIGHT, directed by Nicholas Hytner, MAN OF LA MANCHA, FOSSE, VICTOR/VICTORIA, and Paul Simon's THE CAPEMAN. Other New Yor credits include ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA directed and starring Vanessa Redgrave, HENRY VIII, PERICLES, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, and HAMLET, all at the Public Theater. Regional theaters include The Pittsburg Public, Williamstown Theater Festival, Trinity Rep, Long Wharf, Minneapolis' Children's Theater, Spoletto USA, and Arts and Ideas Festival (New Haven). Television credits include LAW AND ORDER, MAD ABOUT YOU, and 100 CENTER STREET. Most recently, Julio has been touring across the globe as co-protagonist in Victoria Chaplin Thieree's production: L'ORATORIO D'AURELIA. Choreographic credtis include MOTHER COURAGE, starring Meryl Streep, and RADIANT BABY, both directed by George C. Wolf, THE THREE PENNY OPERA(Williamstown Theater Festival), and LA VERDADERA HISTORIA DE PEDRO NAVAJA starring international salsa star Gilbertito Santa Rosa. Julio was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in Harlem, USA.
ROBERT PERILLO (Voice) is a Master Voice Teacher and has trained actors for over a quarter of a century. He has worked at Binghamton University, Marymount College, the National Shakespeare Conservatory, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting where he was head of the Voice Department. Mr. Perillo trains and coaches actors privately both for performance and auditions. In addition he has worked extensively with businessmen and women, writers, politicians and singers. He has given seminars and workshops to choral groups, readers of scripture and to other teachers of voice and speech. Mr. Perillo is a stage director and has directed playwrights as varied as William Shakespeare, Noel Coward, John Patrick Shanley, Tom Stoppard, and most recently Oscar Wilde's biting comedy An Ideal Husband.
J. STEVEN WHITE (Stage Combat) has taught for the Shakespeare Lab every summer since its inauguration. His Broadway credits include The Pillowman, The Color Purple, Bombay Dreams, Uncle Vanya, Pirate Queen, A View From the Bridge, Golden Child, The Lion in Winter, All My Sons, as well as Shogun: The Musical (Assistant Director). His other New York credits include Don Juan, Fifth of July, Cyrano de Bergerac Monster, The Credeaux Canvas, A Skull in Connemara, Hotel Suite, and Burn This with Edward Norton. For the New York Shakespeare Festival, his fight work has been seen in 22 shows including Julius Caesar, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, King Lear, A Language of Their Own, The Triumph of Love, The Playboy of the Western World, and Cymbeline with Liev Schriber and Michael C. Hall, whom Mr. White trained at NYU Graduate Acting. His fights have been on the stages of every major New York theater, including the Manhattan Theater Club, Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theater Company, and the Irish Repertory Theatre. He has worked at many of the nation’s regional theaters, including eleven seasons at American Conservatory Theatre, where he began his teaching career 33 years ago. Mr. White is on the faculties of the Stella Adler Studio, Graduate Acting Program at NYU-Tisch, and Columbia University MFA. For the Lab, his combat workshop involves learning the simulation of punches, kicks, and other physical verbs. Then the class works on fight scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. The emphasis is on blending the psychological into the physical and basing all action from character.
JANET ZARISH (Acting) is Head of Acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Acting Program where she teaches and directs. She has also taught at The Actors Center, UCLA, USC, and North Carolina School of the Arts. As an actress, she has performed On and Off-Broadway, starring in such productions as Other People’s Money at the Minetta Lane Theatre, Romola & Nijinski at Primary Stages and Miss Julie at The Roundabout Theatre. She has originated roles, working with such writers as David Mamet, Shel Silverstein, Wendy Wasserstein and Terrance McNally. Regional credits include leading roles at Longwharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Sundance, Hartford Stage, Seattle Rep, ACT, The Old Globe and The Shakespeare Theater working with such directors as Nycholas Hytner, Daniel Sullivan, Emily Mann, Mark Lamos and Michael Kahn. Film credits include The Next Big Thing, Object of My Affection, Malcolm X, Danny, Mystic Pizza, The Zoo and Without a Trace. She has guest starred on over twenty television shows and is currently directing Frank Gilroy’s “Piscary” for Ensemble Studio.
CHRISTOPHER BAYES (Clown) began his theater career with the internationally acclaimed Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he worked for five years as an actor, director, composer, designer and artistic associate. In 1989 he joined the acting company of the Guthrie Theater where he appeared in over twenty productions. His roles included Caliban in The Tempest, Edgar in King Lear, The Herald in Marat/Sade and Harlequin in Triumph of Love. In 1993, commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, he produced his one-man show This Ridiculous Dreaming based on Heinrich Boll’s novel The Clown. In New York, he has directed Red Noses by Peter Barnes, Four by Feydeau, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Moliere One Acts, and The Love of Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi at the Juilliard School; The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, The New Place by Carlo Goldoni, We Won’t Pay... by Dario Fo, and his new adaptation of Moliere’s The Reluctant Doctor of Love for New York University’s Graduate Acting Program; The Raven by Carlo Gozzi at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing; Ubu Roi at both NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and Fordham University; and Timeslips at HERE. Additionally, he has staged several original works including Wreckage at P.S. 122, The Big Day (a clown show) and The Fiasco Bro. Circus at the Juilliard School, Zibaldoné at HERE and the Present Company Theatorium, The Fools/Los Locos Del Pueblo at Touchstone Theater, and Necromance, A Night of Conjuration at Dixon Place. Outside of New York, his directing credits include Scapin at the Intiman Theater in Seattle, the Court Theater in Chicago and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Len Jenkin’s new adaptation of The Birds at Yale Repertory Theater. He has received numerous awards and grants including a Jerome Foundation Travel/Study Grant, a General Mills Foundation Artist Assistance Grant, and both a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship Grant and a Career Opportunity Grant. He is a 1999/2000 Fox Fellow. (christopherbayes.com)
LISA BENAVIDES (Scene Study) Graduate of The Juilliard School and The Teacher Development Program. Teaching credits include: SUNY-Puchase, The Actors Center New York, New York University, The Stella Adler Studio, and The Shakespeare Lab (Public Theater). Theater credits include: Lincoln Center, The Huntington Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Acting Company, The Alliance Theater and Portland Stage. Film credits include: The Upheaval, Eye of God, O, and The Grey Zone. She proudly serves on the board of The 52nd Street Project.
BARRY EDELSTEIN (Director of the Shakespeare Lab, teacher of Text) has directed Shakespeare at The Public Theater and at venues around New York City and the country. He staged Julius Caesar starring Jeffrey Wright at the Delacorte in Cental Park and The Merchant of Venice, featuring Ron Leibman’s OBIE award-winning portrayal of Shylock at the Public. From 1998-2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company, where he directed Richard III starring John Turturro and Julianna Margulies and The Winter’s Tale starring David Strathairn. At the Williamstown Theater Festival, he directed As You Like It starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Other New York credits include the world premiere of Steve Martin’s The Underpants, which he commissioned; Jonson’s The Alchemist; and Moliere’s The Misanthrope, starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut (all at Classic Stage Company); Arthur Miller’s All My Sons (Williamstown, then Roundabout; won Lucille Lortel Award for Best Revival); and Steve Martin’s Wasp and Other Plays (The Public). He has directed many contemporary and classic plays at leading regional theaters. His first film, My Lunch with Larry, starring Lisa Edelstein and Greg Germann, played the festival circuit in 2006 and 2007. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at the Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and USC. He has lectured on theater around the USA and the world, and has written on the subject for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and American Theater Magazine. His book Thinking Shakespeare (called by New York Magazine “a must-read for actors”) was published in 2007, and his book Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions is forthcoming. He is a graduate of Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
IAN HERSEY (Administrator of the Shakespeare Lab, teacher of Ensemble) An alumnus of the NYSF Shakespeare Lab and The Actors Center, he served on the faculty at the New World School of the Arts and The Actors Center. He has taught various workshops in Shakespeare for actors of all ages in and around New York. A recipient of the Fox Foundation Fellowship, he studied Shakespeare with Ron Van Lieu, Barry Edelstein, Michael Langham, Mario Siletti, Peter Francis James, Brian Murray and Catherine Fitzmaurice. Other acting teachers include Lloyd Richards, Olympia Dukakis and Earle Gister. As an actor he has performed on stage and television, in film and commercials. Ian has Master’s in Education from Harvard University.
NANCY LEMENAGER (Movement) Starred on Broadway as Brenda in Movin’ Out. She also starred in the Jerome Kern musical Never Gonna Dance and has appeared on Broadway in Kiss Me Kate, Dream, How to succeed… and Guys and Dolls. She played Ilona in She Loves Me at Arena Stage (Helen Hayes Nomination) and starred as Lisa in the world premier of The Studio at South Coast Repertory. Nancy made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2004 with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops. She has appeared regionally in John Patrick Shanley’s Italian American Reconciliation (Janis), Sweet Charity (Charity), Company (Amy) and The Curious Distance: Ensemle Studio Theater. She was a member of the 2007 Shakespeare Lab. Nancy choreographed The Porch (Altered Stages) and choreographed for Bette Midler. She was also associate choreographer for Camelot at Lincoln Center (dir. Lonny Price) She is currently in Chicago on Broadway playing the role of Velma.
JULIO MONGE (Movement) Broadway credits include JEROME ROBBIN'S BROADWAY, CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD, directed by Graciela Daniele, Lincoln Center's TWELFTH NIGHT, directed by Nicholas Hytner, MAN OF LA MANCHA, FOSSE, VICTOR/VICTORIA, and Paul Simon's THE CAPEMAN. Other New Yor credits include ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA directed and starring Vanessa Redgrave, HENRY VIII, PERICLES, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, and HAMLET, all at the Public Theater. Regional theaters include The Pittsburg Public, Williamstown Theater Festival, Trinity Rep, Long Wharf, Minneapolis' Children's Theater, Spoletto USA, and Arts and Ideas Festival (New Haven). Television credits include LAW AND ORDER, MAD ABOUT YOU, and 100 CENTER STREET. Most recently, Julio has been touring across the globe as co-protagonist in Victoria Chaplin Thieree's production: L'ORATORIO D'AURELIA. Choreographic credtis include MOTHER COURAGE, starring Meryl Streep, and RADIANT BABY, both directed by George C. Wolf, THE THREE PENNY OPERA(Williamstown Theater Festival), and LA VERDADERA HISTORIA DE PEDRO NAVAJA starring international salsa star Gilbertito Santa Rosa. Julio was born in Puerto Rico and now lives in Harlem, USA.
ROBERT PERILLO (Voice) is a Master Voice Teacher and has trained actors for over a quarter of a century. He has worked at Binghamton University, Marymount College, the National Shakespeare Conservatory, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting where he was head of the Voice Department. Mr. Perillo trains and coaches actors privately both for performance and auditions. In addition he has worked extensively with businessmen and women, writers, politicians and singers. He has given seminars and workshops to choral groups, readers of scripture and to other teachers of voice and speech. Mr. Perillo is a stage director and has directed playwrights as varied as William Shakespeare, Noel Coward, John Patrick Shanley, Tom Stoppard, and most recently Oscar Wilde's biting comedy An Ideal Husband.
J. STEVEN WHITE (Stage Combat) has taught for the Shakespeare Lab every summer since its inauguration. His Broadway credits include The Pillowman, The Color Purple, Bombay Dreams, Uncle Vanya, Pirate Queen, A View From the Bridge, Golden Child, The Lion in Winter, All My Sons, as well as Shogun: The Musical (Assistant Director). His other New York credits include Don Juan, Fifth of July, Cyrano de Bergerac Monster, The Credeaux Canvas, A Skull in Connemara, Hotel Suite, and Burn This with Edward Norton. For the New York Shakespeare Festival, his fight work has been seen in 22 shows including Julius Caesar, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, King Lear, A Language of Their Own, The Triumph of Love, The Playboy of the Western World, and Cymbeline with Liev Schriber and Michael C. Hall, whom Mr. White trained at NYU Graduate Acting. His fights have been on the stages of every major New York theater, including the Manhattan Theater Club, Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout Theater Company, and the Irish Repertory Theatre. He has worked at many of the nation’s regional theaters, including eleven seasons at American Conservatory Theatre, where he began his teaching career 33 years ago. Mr. White is on the faculties of the Stella Adler Studio, Graduate Acting Program at NYU-Tisch, and Columbia University MFA. For the Lab, his combat workshop involves learning the simulation of punches, kicks, and other physical verbs. Then the class works on fight scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. The emphasis is on blending the psychological into the physical and basing all action from character.
JANET ZARISH (Acting) is Head of Acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Acting Program where she teaches and directs. She has also taught at The Actors Center, UCLA, USC, and North Carolina School of the Arts. As an actress, she has performed On and Off-Broadway, starring in such productions as Other People’s Money at the Minetta Lane Theatre, Romola & Nijinski at Primary Stages and Miss Julie at The Roundabout Theatre. She has originated roles, working with such writers as David Mamet, Shel Silverstein, Wendy Wasserstein and Terrance McNally. Regional credits include leading roles at Longwharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Sundance, Hartford Stage, Seattle Rep, ACT, The Old Globe and The Shakespeare Theater working with such directors as Nycholas Hytner, Daniel Sullivan, Emily Mann, Mark Lamos and Michael Kahn. Film credits include The Next Big Thing, Object of My Affection, Malcolm X, Danny, Mystic Pizza, The Zoo and Without a Trace. She has guest starred on over twenty television shows and is currently directing Frank Gilroy’s “Piscary” for Ensemble Studio.