The Tempest Artistic Leadership, Cast, and Creative Bios

JOHN AUSTIN* (Ferdinand, Tempest) National Tour: Me, Myself, and Shirley starring the late Cindy Williams of the hit television show Laverne & Shirley; National Players, Tour 69: Othello, Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby (Jay Gatsby). Regional: Arena Stage: Angels in America (Joe Pitt), Holiday, Right to Be Forgotten, Kleptocracy; Round House; Signature; Studio; Shakespeare Theatre Company; Constellation: Melancholy Play (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Production); Tutto Theatre Company: Zeus in Therapy (Young Zeus, B. Iden Payne Award, Outstanding Young Performer); Austin Shakespeare: Pride and Prejudice. Education: Boston University: BFA Acting, Summa Cum Laude, Dean’s Award, Bette Davis Prize; Shakespeare at Winedale: Twelfth Night, The Duchess of Malfi, Pericles, Henry V. LAMDA: Julius Caesar (Antony). Certificate in Classical Acting. johnaustinactor.com.

CJ BARNWELL (Projections, Tempest) designs lighting and visual media for theatre and live events around the country. CJ was most recently projection designer for PSF’s How I Learned What I Learned by August Wilson. Regionally, CJ has also designed projections for Mountaintop and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AK; Be Here Now at North Carolina Stage in Asheville, NC; and Mountaintop for West Virginia Public Theatre. Some of CJ’s recent lighting designs include West Side Story at Flat Rock Playhouse; Jeeves Intervenes at North Carolina Stage Company; Jersey Boys at Theatre Raleigh; and Color Purple for North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh, NC. See his other current and upcoming designs at cjlights.com.

LESLIE ANN BOYDEN* (Stage Manager, Tempest) (she/her) is a stage manager based in the Philadelphia area. In the past she has worked with Philadelphia Theatre Company, Theatre Horizon, The Wilma Theater, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Azuka Theatre, Simpatico Theatre, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Act II Playhouse, Arden Theatre Company, Millbrook Playhouse, and Hedgerow Theatre. She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2014 with a B.A. in Theatre and Drama.

MEGAN CASTELLANE (Cera, Tempest) is a recent graduate of DeSales University’s Theatre program. She is very excited to be returning to PSF for her third summer! PSF: A Chorus Line (Swing), Charlotte’s Web (Charlotte), and A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Ensemble). DeSales Act 1: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Congregation, Dance Captain), Side by Side by Sondheim (Soloist), and Sister Margaretta (The Sound of Music).!

ROBERT CUCCIOLI* (Prospero, Tempest) He is known by many for his critically acclaimed TONY nominated performance as the dual title roles in the Broadway hit musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which he also received the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, FANY and Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards for “Outstanding Actor in a Musical.” Other Broadway credits: Inspector Javert in Les Misérables and Dr. Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.  Off-Broadway: And The World Goes ‘Round (Outer Critics Circle Award), Rothschild and Sons (Offie nomination – London), Jacques Brel, Bikeman: A 9/11 Play, Snow Orchid, White Guy on the Bus, The White Devil, Caesar & Cleopatra, Mrs. Warren’s Profession and most recently A Touch of the Poet at The Irish Repertory Theatre. Television: The Sinner, Elementary, White Collar, Sliders, Baywatch, The Guiding Light. Film: Woody Allen’s Celebrity, The Stranger, Impossible Monsters, The Rest of Us. Robert is currently involved with the new musical Mozart: Her Story now in development and recently performed the role of Malvolio in Twelfth Night at The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. robertcuccioli.com

AKEEM DAVIS* (Trinculo, Tempest) from Miami, FL, is a graduate of The Florida State University. PSF: Henry V (2015), Longaville (Love’s Labour’s Lost, 2016), Duke Orsino (Twelfth Night, 2018), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021), Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing, 2022). Regional: Arden Theatre Company: A Doll’s House, Gem of the Ocean; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Arsonists; Folger Theatre: District Merchants, King John; People’s Light: All My Sons; Theatre Horizon: Lobby Hero, In The Blood; InterAct Theatre: The Dangerous House of Pretty M’bane, Marcus/Emma; Theatre Exile: Buzzer; Simpatico Theatre Project: The Brothers Size. A Helen Hayes and Barrymore Award nominated actor, as well as recipient of the 2015 F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist, Akeem is a proud man of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

JOHNNY DRUMGOOLE (Master, Tempest) is a DeSales University Musical Theatre alum. Last season, he played The Big Bad Wolf in Little Red, Conrad and u/s Don Pedro (performed) in Much Ado About Nothing, and The Shrew in Young Company’s The Taming of the Shrew. Roles in previous DeSales productions include Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, Zeller in The Sound of Music, Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Wickham in Pride and Prejudice, and various characters in Civil War Christmas, Side by Side by Sondheim, Spoon River Anthology, Miracle on 34th Street, and Working: A Musical.

EMMA D. EMDE* (Assistant Stage Manager, Tempest) is elated to be spending part of her summer here at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival working on The Tempest and Sense and Sensibility. During the 2022-23 season, Emma was working at Virginia Stage Company as their Season Assistant Stage Manager. Her credits there include Henry V, Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous, The 39 Steps, A Merry Little Christmas Carol and The Hobbit. Emma is a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Kearney and a proud member of the Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honors Society and National Honors Society for Dance Association. @mrsemmademde

SARAH GLIKO* (Ariel, Tempest) is an actor/musician and founding member of the Wilma HotHouse Acting Company, where select productions include:  Eternal Life Part 1, KISSThe Cherry OrchardMinor Character, Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Drama League Award Nomination), Constellations (Barrymore Nomination-Lead Performance), When The Rain Stops Falling (Barrymore Award-Ensemble), the U.S. premiere of Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem, and the world premiere of Paula Vogel’s Don Juan Comes Home from Iraq. Other recent credits include: Greenbrier Valley Theatre’s Mountain Home Christmas, TOWN at Theatre Horizon, alongside Bebe Neuwirth in A Small Fire and The Bridges of Madison County (Barrymore Award-Lead Performance), both at PTC. She’s worked at various Philadelphia area theatres.

JIM HELSINGER* (Stephano, Tempest) is happy to join the PSF team for another beautiful summer. PSF: Parolles (All’s Well that End’s Well), Lady Bracknell (The Importance of Being Earnest), Master Ford (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Malvolio (Twelfth Night) and Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). PSF directing credits include The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Hound of the Baskervilles and Lend Me a Tenor. Regional acting includes title roles in Cyrano de Bergerac, Hamlet, Dracula, and Henry V. Helsinger is in his 29th season as the Artistic Director of the Orlando Shakespeare Theater in partnership with UCF. He holds a BA from Miami University (Ohio) and an MFA from the University of Alabama.

ERIC HISSOM* (Alonso, Tempest) PSF: Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, A Man for All Seasons, The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, Troilus and Cressida, Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Around the World in Eighty Days, King John, All’s Well that Ends Well, and more. Other theatre credits include work at Seattle Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Asolo Rep, Syracuse Stage, Arena Stage, Arden Theater Company, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, and many others. He did the national tour of The Thirty-Nine Steps, and has done a bit of TV and film, including the feature Out of Time. He has an MFA from Florida State’s Asolo Conservatory.

COLLEEN HUGHES (Intimacy Coordinator) (she/her) is a certified intimacy director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. She is trained in trauma-informed practices and holds this focus at the center of her work. She also specializes in devised and ensemble-based physical theatre, mask work, and social dance. Her intimacy work has been seen at PTC, the Lantern, Curio, Philly Shakes, and Simpatico among others. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

GREGORY ISAAC (Antonio, Tempest) (he/him) Based in Philadelphia, his recent work includes Doctor Faustus, My Fair Lady (Quintessence Theatre Group); The Royale, Betrayal (Lantern Theater Company); A Christmas Carol (Walnut Street Theatre); The Merry Wives of Windsor (Delaware Shakespeare); Hope, Gravity (1812 Productions); and he was a Barrymore Award nominee for his work in Iphigenia at Aulis (Philadelphia Artists’ Collective). He also spent a number of years living and performing in New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago. 2,500 years ago, Aesop told us, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”  gregory-isaac.com

JASON KING JONES (Artistic Director, Director, The Tempest) is excited for his first season at PSF. Prior to moving to the Lehigh Valley with this family, Jason spent ten years at Maryland’s Olney Theatre Center, where he served as Senior Associate Artistic Director and Artistic Director of National Players, America’s longest-running touring theatre company. At Olney, Jason directed over twenty productions, mentored over 200 early-career theatre makers, and established various in-school and summer educational programs. As a freelance director, Jason has worked across the US, including the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles and the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Jason is an Acting Company alumnus, a proud member of the PSF Board, and a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association’s IDEAA Committee, and Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit & Business Partners Council. Jason holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Missouri State and an MFA in Directing from Boston University.

IYANU JOSHUASVILLE (Adrian & Boatswain, Tempest) is a rising senior Acting for Stage and Screen major at Desales University. He is excited to be returning to the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival this summer. His past Festival credits include: Little Red (Narrator), Much Ado About Nothing (Messenger, u/s Benedick ), Young Company’s Taming of the Shrew (Curtis/Pedant), and Fences (u/s Corey).. His recent DeSales credits include, Silent Sky (Peter Shaw), Civil War Christmas (Walker Lewis, Etc), Our Town (Simon Stimson), Crumbs From The Table of Joy (u/s Godfrey Crump), and Chainz/Broken (Tre).

GINA LAMPARELLA* (Goddess, Tempest) has appeared on Broadway in Caroline or Change, The Phantom of the Opera, A Little Night Music, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Fiddler on the Roof (Tzeitel), Gypsy, Imaginary Friends, Jane Eyre (Blanche Ingram), and Les Miserables. Other theater: Miss Saigon, Crazy For You (Polly),  The Graduate (Mrs. Robinson), The Sound of Music (Elsa Schraeder), Fiddler on the Roof (Golde). TV: The Blacklist, Master of None, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and All My Children. For PSF, Gina has appeared on stage as Thaisa in Pericles and Miranda in The Tempest; and directed Crazy For You, Richard II, and WillPower tours of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet.

NICOLE LAWRIE (Francisca, Tempest) recently graduated from DeSales University with a BA in Acting and a minor in Philosophy.  She was a member of the Young Company last year, appearing in Little Red (Georgina), Young Company’s Taming of the Shrew (Baptista), and Much Ado (u/s Watchman 1 (performed)).  DeSales Credits include: Silent Sky (Henrietta Leavitt), A Civil War Christmas (Silver), Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Gerte), and The Lower Depths Project.  She also recently served as the costume designer for Act 3’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

ELI LYNN* (Fight Director, Tempest) (they/them) is a trans nonbinary actor, IDC-certified Intimacy Director, and Barrymore-nominated fight director. Regional acting credits include: Trevor (The Play That Goes Wrong, 1812 Productions), Orsino/Toby (Twelfth Night) and Jean 3/Prince (Thrive, World Premiere – American Shakespeare Center), Aramis (The Three Musketeers, Cleveland Playhouse), Raymond (The Sea Voyage, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective), Flute/Thisby (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, PA Shakespeare Festival), Dorcus/Dion (The Winter’s Tale, Folger Theatre), Danny/Diana (Sensitive Guys, World Premiere – InterAct), Flask (Moby Dick, Hedgerow). They are also an Artistic Associate with Philadelphia Artists’ Collective.

RODRIGO HERNANDEZ MARTINEZ (Associate Scenic Designer, Tempest) (they/he) is a Scenic and Costume designer and visual artist from Cancun and Mexico City currently based in NYC. Excited to join PTP in the company of immigrant artists and collaborators. Previous works include: Something Borrowed, Something Green commissioned performance piece at Park Ave. Armory, NYC. Scenic Designer for LA Liberazione Di Ruggiero Dall’isola D’Alcina at Manhattan School of Music, NYC; Costume Designer for Spring Awakening and Scenic Designer for Side by Side by Sondheim at Northern Stage, VT; Scenic and Costume designer for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for New York Children’s Theater at Theatre Row, NYC; Scenic Designer for Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them and Scenic and Costume Designer for FADE at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, NY. Proud member of “Wingspace Theatrical Design,” “La Gente: The Latinx Theatre Design Network” and “Colegio Mexicano de Diseño Escénico.” For more works visit www.rodrigohmdesign.com.

GABRIELLE MOSELEY (Iris, Tempest) (she/her) is a junior Musical Theatre major. Previous DeSales credits: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Esmeralda) and Crumbs From the Table of Joy (Ernestine). Gaby was most recently seen in PSF’s Little Red (Red), Much Ado About Nothing (u/s Hero), and The Young Company’s Taming of the Shrew (Tranio).

CHRISTOPHER PATRICK MULLEN* (Caliban, Tempest) is a DeSales graduate. CPMʼs work with PSF (since 1992) includes: Irma Vep, Henry IV Part 1, Shakespeare In Love, Richard II, Loveʼs Labours Lost, Julius Caesar, Pericles, Charleyʼs Aunt, Hamlet, The Glass Menagerie, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker! Other credits include: ChipandGus (Baltimore CenterStage, et al); A Christmas Carol Comedy (Hedgerow Theatre); Long Day’s Journey into Night, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (Bridge Street Theatre); Birds of North America, The Pavilion (Chester Theatre Co); Rumors, Noises Off (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina); Hamlet (Orlando Shakespeare Theater); West Side Story (1st National Tour); The Runner Stumbles (Off-Broadway); Cabaret, Metamorphoses, Macbeth, A Little Night Music, Candide, Assassins (Arden Theatre); TV/Film: Law & Order, FBI. ChristopherPatrickMullen.com

MATTHEW M. NIELSEN (Composer, Tempest) is happy to be joining the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival for the first time on The Tempest. Off-Broadway sound design and original music credits include: The Public Theater/NYSF, Lincoln Center Theater, and 59E59 Theaters. Regional credits include: Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Barrington Stage, Round House Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, Theater Alliance, Olney Theatre, and Contemporary American Theater Festival. Film/TV credits & clients include: Elbow Grease, Blue, Epix Drive-In, Netflix, Discovery Channel. Matthew wrote the songs for Audrey Cefaly’s musical The Last Wide Open and is the creator of the audio drama series Troublesome Gap. He is currently enrolled in Songwriting and Music Production with the Berklee College of Music Online. Samples online at CuriousMusic.com.

DAVID PICA (Sebastian, Tempest) (he/him) is an Actor, Text Coach, Teaching Artist, Director. PSF debut.  Regional credits: Arden Theatre, Hedgerow Theatre, PAC, Delaware Shakespeare, New Light Theatre, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Theatre Exile, Theatre in the X, Lantern, Azuka, Inis Nua, Tiny Dynamite, Revolution Shakespeare, Commonwealth Classic, Quintessence Theatre Group, & Greenfield Collective. He trained at Millikin University, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and with The Factory.

SUE JIN SONG* (Gonzala, Tempest) Select credits include OFF BROADWAY: The World of Extreme Happiness (NYC premiere, Manhattan Theatre Club); Iphigenia at Aulis, Exit the King (Pearl Theatre).  REGIONAL THEATER: A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre Center), The Arsonists, Marie Antoinette (Woolly Mammoth Theatre), Smart People, Hot ‘n Throbbing (world premiere) (Arena Stage), Mirele Efros, Yellow Face, iHo (Theater J), 36 Views (Constellation Theatre), Waiting for Tadashi (world premiere, George Street Playhouse), Burn This (Syracuse Stage), FILM:  Steel Town, Pipe Dream, Someone Like You. TELEVISION:  New Amsterdam, 24, ER, Law & Order.  EDUCATION: MFA Acting NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

STEVE TENEYCK (Set Designer, Tempest) is pleased to return to PSF having designed here for many of the last 16 seasons. Some favorite PSF past productions: West Side Story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado, Evita, Ragtime, Julius Cesar and Twelfth Night. Designs have been seen at Dallas Theater Center, Gulfshore Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, Big Art Group, Kitchen Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Hangar Theatre, Madison Opera, Syracuse Opera, Anchorage Opera, Minnesota Opera, Florida Grand Opera. Steve is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and teaches design at Ithaca College in New York.

BILLIE WYATT* (Miranda, Tempest) (she/her) Billie was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia and is a proud graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy Studio Conservatory. She is also an alumnus of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Apprenticeship. Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey Credits: The Rose Tattoo, Twelfth Night, Florence and Mojo two plays by Alice Childress, The Metromaniacs, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, the world premiere of Snug by Bonnie J. Monte, Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare Live! 2019-2021, Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and multiple filmed productions on Pandemic Playhouse Entertainment. Pennsylvania theater credits: Camille and Flyin’ West at Quintessence Theatre Group. Other credits: Hamlet Isn’t Dead’s Julius Caesar, Oxford Shakespeare workshop’s All’s Well That Ends Well. Billie is currently represented by Victoria Kress at A3 Artists Agency.

LISA ZINNI (Costume Designer, Tempest) has designed many PSF productions over the years. Some Favorites include: Shakespeare in Love, Evita, Sweeney Todd, Les Mis, Macbeth, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ,The Importance of Being Earnest and The Mystery of Irma Vep. Broadway Credits include Freestyle Love Supreme, Associate Costume Designer for SIX the Musical, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, School of Rock, Cats, An American in Paris, The Play that Goes Wrong, The Glass Menagerie, Rent, and Hair including the National and international touring companies. Off Broadway, Is There Still Sex and the City written and performed by Candace Bushnell. Other Design credits include of West side Story at the IHI stage around in Tokyo, Breaking Bricks and Remember Our Song for the Tulsa Ballet, Orlando Shakes, Walnut Street Theatre, The Arden Theatre Company, Riverside Theatre Vero, Bucks County playhouse, Bristol Riverside Theatre, The George Street Playhouse. LISAZINNI.com

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards.