Every day is opening night.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

SHAKESPEARE ON THE SOUND
ANNOUNCES COMPLETE CASTING FOR
“ O T H E L L O ”
DIRECTED BY JOANNA SETTLE
WITH MUSIC AND SONGS BY STEW AND HEIDI RODEWALD

DESIGN TEAM ANNOUNCED

PERFORMANCES BEGIN IN ROWAYTON JUNE 15

Rowayton, CT – Shakespeare on the Sound, Connecticut’s premier outdoor summer theater company presenting free Shakespeare in the park, today announced complete casting for their upcoming production of Othello, under the direction of Joanna Settle. Joining the previously announced Victor Williams (Othello) and Jesse J. Perez (Iago) will be Erin Krakow (Desdemona), Brian Tyree Henry (Cassio), Nat McIntyre (Roderigo), Stephanie DiMaggio (Emilia), Triney Sandoval (Brabantio/Ludivico), Rhett Henckel (Montano), Alexa Salamè (Bianca) and Will Cohn (The Boy). Currently in its 15th Season, Shakespeare on the Sound will present Settle’s all-new production at two beautiful locations on Long Island Sound. The show will play Pinkney Park, Rowayton June 15 – 26, 2010 and Baldwin Park, Greenwich July 2 – 11, 2010.

Lighting Design will be by Keith Parham, Costume Design will be by Tilly Grimes, Sound Design will be by Obadiah Eaves and Sound System Design will be by Jessica Paz. As previously announced, Stew and Heidi Rodewald will provide original music and songs and set designer Andrew Lieberman will return for this season’s production.

Shakespeare on the Sound's mesmerizing Othello explodes onto the stages of two Connecticut parks this summer. This psychological thriller promises edge-of-your-seat entertainment, music that excites and performances that delight, disturb and astonish audiences of all ages. Join Othello, Iago and an unforgettable cast of Shakespeare’s most dynamic characters as the drama unfolds under moonlit skies.

Shakespeare on the Sound has established itself as one of the most popular summer theater companies on the East Coast, drawing large audiences to each performance in the unique under-the-stars settings of its waterfront venues.

Audiences are invited to arrive early and picnic in the park before the performance. There is no admission fee, but a donation of $20 ($10 for students and seniors) is suggested. In Rowayton, parking is limited and early arrival is suggested. In Greenwich, the production is a five minute walk from the Greenwich Metro-North stop. Ample parking is available.

For rail and road directions, visit www.shakespeareonthesound.org.

Bios____________________________________________________________

VICTOR WILLIAMS (Othello). Most recently appeared in the Public LAB's production of Philip Roth in Karthoum by David Bar Katz (dir. John Gould Rubin). Also appeared as a guest artist in The Graduate Acting Program's production of Our Lady of 121st Street (dir. Michael Sexton). Other theater credits include Satisfy Me by Johnny Garcia dir. Andrew Borba (at the Lillian Theater in Los Angeles), Ohio Tip-Off by James Yoshimura dir. Kenneth Leon (at the Dallas Theater Center), and Troilus and Cressida dir. Mark Wing-Davey (at the New York Shakespeare Festival). TV/Film credits include “ER,” “The Practice,” “Girlfriends,” “The Flight of the Conchords,” “Mercy,” “The King of Queens,” Copland, The Preacher's Wife and Me and Mrs. Jones. The Shakespeare Lab 2009. MFA, NYU.

JESSE J. PEREZ (Iago). New York credits: Triple Happiness (Second Stage Theatre), Barrio Girl (Summer Play Festival), Recent Tragic Events (Playwrights Horizons), In the Penal Colony (Classic Stage Company), Up Against the Wind (New York Theatre Workshop). Lucia di Lammermoor (The Metropolitan Opera). Regional: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare on the Sound), A Servant of Two Masters, Lulu, Cherry Orchard, and Taming of the Shrew (Yale Repertory Theatre), Hard Weather Boating Party (Humana Play Festival), Arabian Nights (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Argonautika (Lookingglass Theatre Company), Celebrity Row (Portland Center Stage), Pericles (Goodman Theatre), Hamlet (McCarter Theatre Center). Film and Television: American Splendor, All Night Bodega, Playing God, Kazaam, “Life on Mars,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order SVU,” “The Job,” “Third Watch.” Jesse is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

ERIN KRAKOW (Desdemona) Off-Broadway: Julia Miles Theatre: The Shanghai Gesture; Classic Stage Company: Prometheus Bound. Regional: Guthrie Theater: The Importance of Being Earnest; Casa Mañana Theatre: Steel Magnolias; McCarter Theatre: YouthINK!; Florida Stage: In the Suicide Mountains; Kitchen Table Productions: Peaceful Easy; New York: Manhattan Theatre Source: Tumble Jumble; The Players Theatre: George the Fourth; New York Classical Theatre: Macbeth; American Globe Theatre: Kiss My Paczki, Mr. King of the World; The Production Company: Australia Project II: Syphon. Television “Guiding Light.” Training: The Juilliard School.

BRIAN TYREE HENRY (Cassio). Theatre credits include: The Brother/Sister Plays (Public Theater), The Book Of Mormon (NY Theatre Workshop), The Total Bent (Public Theater – workshop), A Free Man Of Color (Lincoln Center – workshop), Fortress of Solitude (CTG – workshop), The Brothers Size (Public Theater, The Abby Theatre in Dublin and The Studio Theatre; Helen Hayes nomination), A Civil War Christmas (Long Wharf Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (New York Shakespeare Festival), Wig Out! (Sundance Theatre Lab), Dance of the Holy Ghost (Yale Rep); TV/Film credits include: “Law & Order,” “Last of the Ninth” (HBO). Graduate of Yale School of Drama MFA 2007.

NAT MCINTYRE (Roderigo). New York: A Doll’s House (Infinite Theatre) Regional: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentleman of Verona, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, and All’s Well That Ends Well (The Old Globe); The Rivals (Huntington Theatre); Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse); Living Room In Africa (Gloucester Stage); Heart Of Jade, Cuckooland and A New War (W.H.A.T.); Rapist James (Next Stages); Take Me Out and Homebody Kabul (Boston Theatre Works); Dracula, Rope, The Violet Hour and Wait Until Dark (Stoneham Theatre); Epic Proportions (Lyric Stage Company of Boston); Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, The Merchant Of Venice, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and The Winter’s Tale (Boston Publick Theatre); Bash (TheatreZone); Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet (Worcester Foothills). Film and TV: “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” The Nashville 9 and They Made America.

STEPHANIE DIMAGGIO (Emilia). Regional credits include All My Sons (dir. David Esbjornson) at The Huntington Theatre, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (dir. Evan Cabnit), Bloody Mary, and Kilroy Was Here with the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film and television credits include: “Cupid” (Shirley), “Law & Order,” “Guiding Light,” and the short film The First Born. Stephanie received her M.F.A. from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and she holds a B.A. from Fordham University at Lincoln Center. www.stephaniedimaggio.com.

TRINEY SANDOVAL (Brabantio/Ludivico). Broadway: Frost/Nixon, A Man for All Seasons. Other New York credits: The Idiot; Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue; As You Like It. Regional: Baltimore Center Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Alliance, The Old Globe, Milwaukee Rep., La Jolla Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare, The Wilma Theater, among others. More than 35 productions of Shakespeare. Television: “The Sopranos,” “One Life to Live,” “All My Children,” recurring roles on “Law & Order” and “Law & Order SVU.”

RHETT HENCKEL (Montano). New York: A Doll’s House (Infinite Theatre), The Bear (Midtown Theatre Festival). Regional: Hamlet in Hamlet (Dallas Shakespeare Festival), Lady of Larkspur Lotion (Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival), Measure for Measure, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Restoration Comedy, Othello, Titus Andronicus (The Old Globe), Burn This, Speed-The-Plow, Pounding Nails in the Floor with my Forehead (Actors’ Theatre of San Antonio), Towards Zero (Dorset Theatre Festival). Film/TV: iChannel, Broken, 70’s Cops. BFA: Baylor University. MFA: The Old Globe.

ALEXA SALAMÈ (Bianca). Alexa is a recent graduate of Greenwich Academy. She has appeared as Viola in Twelfth Night, as Maddy in A California Seagull (performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and worked as a producer and assistant director for Brunswick School’s production of Les Misérables. Last summer, she made her professional debut with Shakespeare on the Sound as Moth in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Later this summer, she will be appearing in Steven Levenson’s The Retreat. She will be attending Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in the fall.

WILL COHN (The Boy). Will’s favorite community theater roles include Denby in Ice Glen at Westport Community Theatre and Peter Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank at Curtain Call. His Shakespearean roles include Mariner in The Tempest at Curtain Call, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Richmond in Richard III, and Goldsmith in The Comedy of Errors at Purchase College Shakespeare Youth. Will performs at Staples High School, where he is a student and a member of Staples Players. TV credits include “Personal Justice” on Discovery Investigation. Will has trained at Stella Adler, HB Studios, and Purchase College Shakespeare Youth. Will is very excited to be in his first professional production.

KEITH PARHAM (Lighting Design). Off Broadway: Adding Machine: A Musical (Obie award, Lucille Lortel Award, Drama Desk Nomination, Hewes Design Nomination), Crime and Punishment and The Sunset Limited at 59E59, Red Light Winter at the Barrow Street Theatre, and Future Me with SPF at The Public Theater. International: Homebody/Kabul at The National Theatre of Belgrade and Joan Dark at Linz09 Autria. Regional: Gas for Less, Ghostwritten, and Stoop Stories at The Goodman Theatre, Carters Way, Sunset Limited, and Red Light Winter at Steppenwolf, The Farnsworth Invention at The Alley Theatre, Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead, A Minister’s Wife, and Picnic at Writers’ Theatre. He is a company member of TUTA Theatre where recent credits include Baal, The Wedding, Maria’s Field, Romeo and Juliet, Uncle Vanya, and It’s Only the End of the World. He has also designed for numerous other companies including Milwaukee Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Chicago Opera Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Timeline Theatre (Associate Artist), Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, European Repertory Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Theatre Wit.

TILLY GRIMES (Costume Design). Tilly currently works between London, Dublin and New York. Recent theatre credits include; The Storm directed by Michael Sexton, The Lonely Soldier Monologues at La Mama Club directed by William Black, The Hot L Baltimore directed by Lisa Rothe, Summer and Smoke directed by Tlaloc Rivas, Caligula directed by Connor Hanratty (Best Costume Design Nomination 2007 Irish Times Theatre Award), Vinegar Tom directed by Tom Creed at The Samuel Beckett Theatre Dublin, La Casa Azul directed by Aiofe Spillane-Hinks (UK & Irish Tour) and the Paris Chocolate Fashion Show 2006. Tilly is also co-artistic director of the London/Parisian theatre company SavageCharm. Tilly has just received her M.F.A in Design for Stage and Film from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

OBADIAH EAVES (Sound Design) is a sound designer and composer for theater, television, and film. His work for the stage has appeared on Broadway in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Shining City, Collected Stories; Accent On Youth; Come Back, Little Sheba and in countless Off-Broadway and regional productions over the past fifteen years. He has written music and created sound for the original productions of works by such playwrights as David Mamet, Woody Allen, Eric Bogosian, Ethan Coen, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Obadiah’s jingles and scores have aired on Nickelodeon, Discovery, The Learning Channel, HBO Family, Noggin, the broadcast networks and Fisher-Price toys. He has appeared as a session violinist, mandolinist and whistler in many film, television and theater scores. In 2007, he received the BACC Award for his work on Heartbreak House, in 2005 the Lucille Lortel Award for Nine Parts of Desire and in 2003, a Viv Award for Suzan-Lori Parks’ Fucking A. He received a Career Development Grant for Designers from Theatre Communications Group and the NEA in 2001. He has been featured in the periodicals Front of House, Entertainment Design and American Theatre. Obadiah is a Master Artist at the University of Rochester’s theater program, where he has designed between one and three productions per season over the past fifteen years. He played the electric violin in the band Big Hair and performed with them at the New Music Seminar, CMJ Music Festival, and the Foundations Hard Music Convention. Big Hair has released two nationally distributed CDs and three 7” records.

JESSICA PAZ (Sound System Designer) is a Brooklyn born, New York based Freelance Sound Designer whose work spans multiple genres. From Baroque to Spoken Word, AfroBeat to Chamber Music; whether creating custom Systems or original SoundScapes, her work is always rooted in meaningful collaboration, inspiration and experimentation. Associate Sound Designer of the Broadway production of Fela! A New Musical and Stunning at Lincoln Center. Design Credits include: Looking for the Pony (Vital Theater Co.); Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theater); STRETCH-A Fantasia (New Georges). Other Associate Credits include: Zooman and the Sign (Signature Theatre); Wig Out (The Vineyard-Lortel Nomination; Design by R. Kaplowitz). Assistant Credits include: Calvin Berger (George St Playhouse; Design by Brian Ronan) Hunting and Gathering (Primary Stages); Pumpgirl (MTC); Pretty Chin up and A Small Melodramatic Story (LAByrinth).

ANDREW LIEBERMAN (Set Designer). Andrew’s recent projects include L’etoile at New York City Opera, Paradise Lost at A.R.T. and The Aliens at Rattlestick. His designs for opera and stage have been seen in the US and abroad at Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Montreal Opera, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Long Beach Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Gotham Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, The Kennedy Center, Second Stage, The Public Theater and at America’s most prominent regional venues, including A.R.T., The McCarter Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theater, and Baltimore’s Centerstage. He was part of the creative team responsible for Partenope at English National Opera, winner of the 2009 Lawrence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production. He is a 2005 Barrymore Award nominee for Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House at the Wilma Theater, a 2004 Drama Desk nominee for Chuck Mee’s Wintertime at Second Stage, a Princess Grace USA award winner, and an Associate Professor of Stage Design at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Upcoming projects include Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place at NYCO, Partenope at Opera Australia, and Fidelio at Staatstheater Saarländisches.

STEW (Original Music and Songs) is the recipient of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, for Passing Strange, a film of which was directed by Spike Lee. After a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Passing Strange – The Movie completed a successful run at IFC theaters in select cities and screened on PBS in January. As a two-time Obie Award-winner and four-time Tony Award nominee, Stew leads, along with his collaborator Heidi Rodewald, two critically acclaimed bands: The Negro Problem and Stew. Stew's Making It was performed at St. Ann's Warehouse in February. But what he'll ultimately be remembered for is having composed “Gary Come Home” for the Sponge Bob Square Pants cartoon.

HEIDI RODEWALD (Original Music and Songs). Obie award winner Heidi Rodewald co-wrote the musical Passing Strange, nominated for seven Tony Awards and winner of Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical and the 2008 Obie Award for Best New American Theater Piece. Ms. Rodewald has worked for over ten years performing, producing, arranging, and composing for both The Negro Problem and Stew. She composed music for Karen Kandel's Portraits: Night and Day (2004) and co-wrote the screenplay We Can See Today for the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs (2005).

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