Histories Company

Michael Bannigan Jr.

Michael is incredibly excited to be a part of the Histories with Brave Spirits. Michael just graduated from Towson University with a BA in Theatre Studies. For the past six years he has been in several productions, including Anne Arundel Community College’s Macbeth as Macduff, Vagabond Player’s Shakespeare’s R&J as Romeo, and Towson University’s Merrily We Roll Along as Charley Kringas. He would like to thank his parents and sisters for always being supportive of him and the entire staff of Brave Spirits for helping us put on a fantastic series of shows!

Zach Brewster-Geisz

Zach is thrilled to make his BST debut. Recent roles include: Dr. Jump in Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven (Rorschach Theatre); Frog in Grand Concourse, Sir Humphries in The Explorers Club (Prologue Theatre, founding artist); First Gangster in Kiss Me Kate (Annapolis Shakespeare Company); Prospero in The Tempest, Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Antipholus of Syracuse in Comedy of Errors (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory); Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (WSC Avant Bard). Zach is an Equity Membership Candidate and teaches at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.

Jordan Brown

Jordan is an enthusiastic and innovative artist who wants to leave his mark in the DC artist scene and then the world! Some of his recent credits include: The Discourse Project at Quarry Theatre, Benji/RiffRaff in The Wolf You Feed at Theater Prometheus, Steve in She Kills Monsters at Rorschach Theatre, Gerald in The Ties That Bind at Catholic University, Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods at Tantallon Community Players, and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest at Stevenson University. Jordan believes in LGBTQIA+ rights and the #BLM movement. Shakespeare is gay, and DC is black; please don’t let these worlds be suffocated.

Dean Carlson

Dean is an actor from Cleveland, Ohio. Most recently, Dean has performed as a resident acting company member at the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory. At the Factory, Dean has appeared in King John (King John), The Tempest (Ferdinand, Caliban), The Sea Voyage (Albert), and Romeo and Juliet (Friar Lawrence). Dean studied acting at Illinois Wesleyan University and graduated with a BFA in Theatre Arts. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, taking part in their Summer Shakespeare intensive. He holds certifications in Broadsword and Rapier and Dagger from the SAFD. Dean is incredibly excited to take part in this truly historic project and to bring the history plays alive with Brave Spirits Theatre.

Jacqueline Chenault

Jacqueline was previously seen in Brave Spirits’ A Midsummer Nights Dream and Two Noble Kinsmen, and was the assistant director for their repertory productions of Henri IV Parts I & II. Other recent projects include: 4615 Theatre Company: King John, Electra; Folger Shakespeare Theatre: Pericles (U/S), The Second Shepherd’s Play (U/S), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (U/S), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (U/S); Studio Theatre: Three Sisters (U/S), The Father (U/S); Theatre Prometheus: Cymbeline; Maryland Renaissance Festival: As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing, Comedy of Errors, Hamlet; Baltimore Shakespeare Factory: The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet. She is a teaching artist for the Young Actors’ Ensemble at the Studio Acting Conservatory and a 4615 Theatre Company Member. EDUCATION: BA, The George Washington University; Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.

Gary DuBreuil

DC credits include: Keegan Theatre: Hands on a Hardbody; 1st Stage: The Farnsworth Invention (Helen Hayes Awards nominations: Outstanding Play, Ensemble); NextStop Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing; Nu Sass Productions: The Ugly One; Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks: As You Like It; Brave Spirits Theatre: The Maid’s Tragedy,’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, A King and No King; Scena Theatre: War of the Worlds (DC/Prague), Fear Eats the Soul, 1984; Annapolis Shakespeare: As You Like It. Other favorites include: Papermill Theatre Company: A Christmas Carol (National Tour), The Complete History of America (Abridged); Acadia Repertory Theatre: Sherlock Holmes and … Suicide Club, Wait Until Dark; Advice to the Players: Romeo and Juliet (directed by Shakespeare & Company co-founder Kevin G. Coleman). www.garydubreuil.com

Brianna Goode

Brianna is thrilled to be a part of the Histories ensemble. Recent credits include Dominion Stage: How I Learned to Drive (Lil’ Bit), Tape (Amy Randall), Bachelorette (Regan); Silver Spring Stage: Anton in Show Business (Casey Mulgraw), All in the Timing (Mrs. Trotsky, Betty); Port City Playhouse: Hamlet (Horatio). Training: University of Virginia. Brianna is a board member at Dominion Stage and a founder of Artists by Volume, a theatre company performing at Port City Brewery. Originally from Baltimore, MD, she is a mild-mannered consultant during the day. Thanks to her boyfriend Jesus, family, and friends for their constant support!

Lisa Hill-Corley

Lisa is an actor and writer. BST: The Trojan Women Project (Betty/Hecuba), Doctor Faustus (Ensemble), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Donata), A King and No King (Ensemble), Henri IV (Westmoreland, Worcester); Next Stop Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing (Antonia); Theatre Prometheus: Macbeth (Witch); Capital Fringe Festival: Psycho Beach Party (Berdine), A Christmas Story (Miss Shields), Antigone Reflected (Antigone); Prince George’s Shakespeare Festival: Romeo and Juliet (Lady Capulet).

Tom Howley

Tom arrived in DC in ’84 to pursue his MFA in Acting at CUA, and then simply took root. Along with a National Players tour, and many extremely gratifying years in our once-thriving professional dinner theater community, he has found his way onto the boards of stages small (Caos on F; Capital Fringe; Silver Spring Stage), medium (Theater J; Folger), and large (Three Little Bakers; National Theater; Kennedy Center). His experiences have run a gamut from the very last vestige of vaudeville (tent show in Michigan), to children’s theater, to opera and operetta, to a delightful stint with PuppetCo, to soloing with the BGSO – as well as a wealth of conventional musicals and plays. Tom’s theatrical home is Theater J, where he has been the TD since 2004. And his beloved benefactor is his brilliant, understanding (and highly motivating) wife, Susan.

Caroline Johnson

Caroline is a performer, designer, and dramaturg. Most recent performance credits include festivals sponsored by King’s College London: The Ballroom: Adult Play-Time (Infancy, History, and the Avant-Garde: A Contemporary Music and Movement Micro Festival), and Underground Medieval London: Etheldreda, site-specific performance in the crypt of St. Etheldreda’s Cathedral in Holborn (Arts and Humanities Festival).

Brendan Edward Kennedy

Brendan is an actor and singer based out of Silver Spring, MD. His previous Brave Spirits Theatre productions include As You Like It (Oliver), A King and No King (Arbaces), and ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore (Bergetto, Cardinal). He has also appeared onstage in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s She Stoops To Conquer (Marlowe) and The Museum Of The Bible’s production of Amazing Grace: The Musical (Hawies/Quigley). He is a proud Actors Equity Membership Candidate.

Annette Mooney

Annette worked as a DC actor in her younger days then restarted her acting career in mid-2013. Her resumé includes musicals, dramas, Shakespeare, children’s theatre, training films, indie films, standardized patient work, and mock trials. She last appeared with Brave Spirits as Queen Henri in Henri IV: The Regendered Henry IV Repertory. Favorite roles: leslie/vicki/barbara/joy, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (Molotov Theatre Group); Britomart Undershaft, Major Barbara (Pallas Theatre Collective); Madame Thénardier, Les Misérables (Theatre Lab); Lady Carter, Witch (Convergence Theatre where she is Managing Director and a Company Member). She also sits on the Board of The Actors’ Center. www.annettemooney.com

Duane Richards

Duane is a writer, director, and performer born in Washington D.C., and raised in various U.S. states due to his father’s military service. A graduate of both Duke Ellington School of the Arts (Theatre Dept., 2012) and Hampton University (Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, 2016), Duane’s first major Shakespeare experience was in a 2007 Junior Shakespeare Camp in Bowie, Maryland. He has since gone on to play a myriad of Shakespeare characters including Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (both at Hampton). Since graduating, Duane has had the pleasure of performing with Metrostage (Blackberry Daze), NEWorks Productions (various capacities), and The Keegan Theatre (Mainstage: Hands on a Hardbody; Keegan PLAY-RAH-KA: The Reluctant Dragon, The Elves and the Shoemaker), in addition to writing and directing at NEWorks and Keegan as well. Duane is incredibly excited to be a part of Brave Spirits’ massive undertaking and will be constantly re-watching Gnomeo and Juliet to prepare (just kidding …or am I?).

Jillian Riti

Jillian is excited to make her DC area debut with Brave Spirits’ Histories project. She is an actor, stage-combatant, director, fight choreographer, and teaching artist. Los Angeles: Bullshot Crummond, As You Like It, Perfect Wedding, She Stoops to Conquer, Long Joan Silver, Macbeth, The Reasons Why. New Jersey: Noises Off. Jillian is a proud member of the Society of American Fight Directors.

Charlene V. Smith

Artistic Director

Charlene is an actor, director, and scholar who has worked in the DC metropolitan area since 2006. She co-founded Brave Spirits Theatre in 2011 and became Artistic Director in 2014. Charlene completed her BA in English and Theatre at the College of William and Mary and studied at the London Dramatic Academy. She has an MLitt and an MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College (now University) in partnership with the American Shakespeare Center.

Jordan Friend

Associate Director / Composer / Music Director

Jordan is a DC-based director, actor, and composer. He is the Founding Artistic Director of 4615 Theatre Company, where he has directed productions including King John and The Lion in Winter. As an actor, he has most recently appeared as Isaac in Disgraced (NextStop Theatre). Jordan holds a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College, and has studied directing under Joy Zinoman at the Studio Theatre, as well as classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Learn more at www.4615theatre.com.

Paige Washington

Assistant Director (1 Henry VI & 2 Henry VI)

Paige is a DC-based director, choreographer, and performer. She is thrilled to be working on her first show with Brave Spirits! Her past credits include There is No Hope in the City of Chaos and By the Hand of a Woman as part of Keegan Theatre’s WOMXN on Fire Festival (Director), The Infinite Tales with 4615 Theatre (Choreography), and Soul Redeemer with LaTiDo-DC (Ensemble). She is the Director of Patron Services and a frequent collaborator with 4615 Theatre Company.

Claire Kimball

Dramaturg

Claire is a dramaturg, theatre practitioner, and scholar of early modern drama whose performance-based research focuses on staging and gesture. Her dramaturgy credits with BST include The Changeling, The Duchess of Malfi, Doctor Faustus, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, A King and No King, and The Bloody Banquet.  She has also served as a dramaturg at the American Shakespeare Center, as an education editor for “The Shakespeare Standard”, and previously taught high school theater arts. Claire has an MLitt in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University. Her work on staging dismemberment in early modern drama appeared in Renaissance Papers 2008.

Emily MacLeod

Dramaturg

Emily is working towards her PhD in English at the George Washington University. She has presented her research at Shakespeare’s Globe where she completed a Masters in Shakespeare Studies in 2015. She is an Associate Artist with TheatreTruck in western Massachusetts, and a long time director at the American Shakespeare Center Theater Camp in Staunton, VA. She is thrilled to be back with Brave Spirits after serving as dramaturg for As You Like It in 2019.

Marshall B Garrett

Dramaturg

Marshall is the artistic director of the pop-up theatre company Susquehanna Shakespeare Ensemble and the company manager of Baltimore Shakespeare Factory. He was the dramaturg on BST’s Antony and Cleopatra, and has assisted the company as needed covering stage management and offering moral support. He’s directed about 40 productions over the last decade, favorites including The Tempest, As You Like It, Knight of the Burning Pestle, Pericles, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone. www.MarshallBGarrett.com

Liam Thomas Daley

Dramaturg

Liam is completing his PhD in English at the University of Maryland, focusing on literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In particular, Liam is interested in the interplay between literature and history — especially in the history plays of Shakespeare and others. Prior to this, he studied at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Previous dramaturgy includes the PlayPenn conference for new play development, Philadelphia. Online publications include “Stand Up for Bastards: Remembering Illegitimate Children in Two Wills, 1437 and 1535” for the blog of the American Friends of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Jen Katz

Stage Manager

Jen has worked in DC theatre for several years and is thrilled to be joining the Brave Spirits team. Favorite projects include stage managing Book of Days for Rockville Little Theatre and House of Blue Leaves for Silver Spring Stage, and directing In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play for Silver Spring Stage. She has a masters in English Language and Literature from Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY, and hopes to one day pursue her PhD in Shakespeare Studies. During the day she works as a Casting Associate for Carlyn Davis Casting in Falls Church, VA.

Casey Kaleba

Fight Director

Casey staged violence for BST’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, The Maid’s Tragedy, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet and Co-Directed The Bloody Banquet. A Certified Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Casey has arranged fights for more than four hundred productions throughout the country, including extensive work with Folger, Round House, Signature, and Rorschach. He designed blood effects for Faction of Fools’ Titus Andronicus and Constellation Theatre’s Lieutenant of Inishmore, as well as the Men at Arms: Reforged web series, and he serves as an audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live. Casey has been an instructor at Catholic University, the University of Mary Washington, University of Maryland – Baltimore County, as well as a guest artist for Fight Directors Canada and the Nordic Stagefight Society. He founded and fostered Tooth & Claw Combat Arts into the largest stage combat training program in the DC area: www.toothandclawcombat.com

Megan Behm

Intimacy Choreographer

Megan is pleased to be joining the Histories rep after coordinating the intimacy for As You Like It and staging the fights for the gender-swapped Henri IV rep. Other Intimacy Direction credits include: East of Eden at NextStop Theatre; The Head That Wears the Crown at Ally Theatre Company; Safe as Houses with Pinky Swear Productions; and The Campsite Rule with the Washington Rogues. Megan is also a director who has recently directed for WSC Avant Bard, NextStop Theatre, The Welders, The Virginia Shakespeare Festival, and many more. Learn more: www.megan-behm.com

Amanda Forstrom

Movement Director (The King's Shadow) / Assistant Director (3 Henry VI & Richard III)

Amanda has assistant directed and choreographed at the Folger Theatre (Julius Caesar), and choreographed with 1st Stage (The Farnsworth Invention, Helen Hayes Awards nominations: Outstanding Play, Ensemble) and Rorschach Theater (She Kills Monsters). She recently co-conceived and co-directed a holiday show for Arts On the Horizon. She has taught at Catholic University, the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, the Actors’ Center and Round House Theatre. Local acting credits include: Arena Stage (Junk) Folger Theatre (Timon of Athens) Round House Theatre (Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley), Shakespeare Theatre Company, Constellation Theatre, 1st Stage, Rorschach Theater, and others. She is a proud company member of Arts on the Horizon and Solas Nua. IG: amanda_forstrom amandaforstrom.net

Megan Holden

Set Designer

Megan is a long-time theatre lover from Harrisonburg, VA. She studied theatre design and film production at James Madison University. Recently, she has moved to Washington, DC and been involved with several theatre companies, including WSC Avant Bard, Studio Theatre, and Anacostia Playhouse, either painting or designing scenery. More of her work can be found at mholdendesigns.com.

Caolan Eder

Properties Designer (The King's Shadow)

Caolan is a props designer and artisan and general denizen of the backstage area. Having worked as technical director for Georgetown University’s Black Theatre Ensemble and production apprentice for Encore Stage & Studio, they are excited to be joining Brave Spirits Theatre and continuing to make theatre more accessible and equitable for all.

Kristen P Ahern

Costume Designer

Kristen is excited to be a part of this epic journey. Locally she’s designed for Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, and Monumental Theatre Company and assisted at Studio Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, and others. Kristen holds an MFA from the University of Maryland where she designed Maryland Opera Studio’s production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. Other UMD credits include The Amish Project, and Love & Information. Kristen also lives and works in Chicago where she’s worked with Chicago Folks Operetta, Lifeline Theatre, BoHo Theatre Ensemble, and many others. These experiences have instilled in her an enthusiasm for teaching people about history, cultures, and each other through her work while building a stronger foundation for environmentally and socially conscious art.