R. DAVIS MCCALLUM
Midsummer in Oxford 1993
Davis is the Artistic Director of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and leads the company alongside Managing Director Kate Liberman. Under McCallum’s leadership, HVSF established Full Circle, a community engagement program inspired by last year’s citizen-driven production of Our Town. This season marks the launch of HVStories, a multi-year exploration of the people, history, and culture of the Hudson Valley. His extensive background with Shakespeare and the classics includes productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Guthrie, The Old Globe, The Pearl, the American Shakespeare Center, and The Acting Company. A graduate of Princeton, he studied Shakespeare at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and trained as a director at LAMDA. He has taught acting and directing at Princeton and The New School for Drama.
SUSAN KELECHI WATSON
Midsummer in Oxford ’98
Susan Kelechi Watson currently stars as Beth Pearson on NBC’s critically acclaimed series “This Is Us,” for which she earned an individual nomination for the 49th Annual NAACP Image Awards.
Susan has appeared in numerous television series including two seasons of “Louie” on FX. Additional television credits include: NBC’s “The Blacklist” and “Third Watch”; HBO’s “Divorce”; CBS’s “NCIS”; and FOX’s “The Following.”
Her film credits include period drama “Peter and John,” starring Jacqueline Bisset, and the indie “Small, Beautifully Moving Parts.”
Susan currently serves on the board of Drama Club, an organization that uses theater to mentor incarcerated youths in NYC. Started in 2013, Drama Club’s mission is to provide theater and positive mentor relationships to youth throughout each step of their journey through the criminal justice system.
Susan is also a proud Epic NEXT youth development mentor with the Epic Theatre Ensemble, a professional theater company with a mission to promote vital civic discourse and social change through drama. She co-created and continues to lead Epic NEXT’s Annual New Play Festival that showcases original plays about social justice issues as written, directed, and performed by Epic NEXT students.
She received her BFA from Howard University and MFA from NYU.
TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY
Midsummer in Oxford 2005
Tarell won the 2017 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Moonlight, based on his play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. He is best known for his acclaimed trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size, In the Red and Brown Water, and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet which have been performed at the McCarter Theatre, The Public Theatre, and Steppenwolf Theatre, and the Young Vic (Olivier Award nomination) in London. Tarell has received the prestigious Whiting Award and Steinberg Playwright Award, the inaugural NY Times Outstanding Playwright Award, and the inaugural Paula Vogel Playwriting Award.
BLAKE ROBISON
Midsummer in Oxford 1986
Blake is Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, where he has directed A Prayer for Owen Meany, the world premiere of Karen Zacarías’ Native Gardens, Mad River Rising, Peter and the Starcatcher, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Pride and Prejudice, 4000 Miles, The Book Club Play, The Three Musketeers and the world premiere of Abigail/1702. Over the summer, he staged Native Gardens at the renowned Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Previously, he collaborated with John Morris Russell and the Cincinnati Pops as director of their concert staging of The Music Man starring Will Chase and Betsy Wolfe. Blake has directed classics, musicals and new plays at theatres across the country including Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, National Shakespeare Company and Vermont Stage. Internationally, he directed the Tennessee Williams classic Summer and Smoke at English Theatre Berlin and has worked several times at the renowned Avignon Festival in France. As an adapter, he created successful stage versions of Alice McDermott’s beloved novel Charming Billy and Jay Parini’s The Last Station. Before joining the Playhouse, Blake served as producing artistic director of Round House Theatre in metro Washington, DC.
SARAH STERN
London Theatre Program ’96
Sarah Stern is a dramaturg and the Artistic Director of the Vineyard Theatre, where she has helped develop and launch more than 50 world-premiere plays and musicals, including Avenue Q, [title of show], The Scottsboro Boys, God’s Ear, Middletown, Wig Out!, Brooklynite, Gloria.
QERIT QUEALY
Midsummer in Oxford 1994
Gerit Quealy is the author/editor of Botanical Shakespeare. As a journalist, she has covered everything from lipstick to Shakespeare, with pieces ranging from dollhouses to birdhouses; beauty, brownies, and brides, in outlets including The New York Times, Country Living, Woman’s Day, Modern Bride, and more. She’s had her hand in a number of other books, which pulled in former stints as actor & model, but her overriding passion is for history (& paleography), embracing the Renaissance tenet of ‘Learning through Delight.’
FRANCOIS BATTISTE
Midsummer in Oxford ’05
Broadway: Prelude to a Kiss (Roundabout). London: One Night in Miami… (Donmar Warehouse). Off-Broadway: The Good Negro (The Public Theater, 2009 Obie Award, 2009 Lucille Lortel nomination), 10 Things to Do Before I Die (Second Stage Theatre), Public LAB. Films: One Week, 51/50, Blood in the Sand.
JORDAN THALER
Midsummer in Oxford ’85
New York City casting director for more than 25 years in theatre, film and television, based at the Public Theater. Has cast more than 150 productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, including Hair and The Tempest.
DAVID CHALIAN
London Theatre Program 1993
David Chalian is CNN’s Political Director where he oversees political coverage across all CNN platforms. Chalian plays an instrumental role in the network’s daily coverage by providing on-air political analysis across the network’s programs.
Prior to arriving at CNN, Chalian served as Vice President for Video Programming at POLITICO where he oversaw all of the video efforts including POLITICO LIVE special events coverage and all new video program and product development. Before that, Chalian served as Washington Bureau Chief for Yahoo! News, Political Editor and on-air political analyst for PBS NewsHour, and ABC News’ Political Director.
While at the PBS NewsHour, Chalian oversaw the 2010 midterm political coverage that won the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for excellence in television political journalism. He won an Emmy Award as part of the team that produced ABC News’ presidential inauguration coverage in January 2009.
Prior to joining ABC News, Chalian produced “Inside City Hall,” a widely acclaimed nightly political program for NY1 News.
MAMIE GUMMER
Midsummer in Oxford ’04
Film/TV: Taking Woodstock, John Adams, Stop-Loss, Evening. Theatre: Les Liasons Dangereuses (Broadway), Mr. Marmalade (Roundabout, Theatre World Award), The Water’s Edge (Second Stage, Lucille Lortel Award nom.), Uncle Vanya (Classic Stage, Lucille Lortel Award nom.)
JUSTIN THEROUX
Bennington College Program ’91
“While at BADA, I was afforded priceless experiences. Ones that gave me the opportunity to attend numerous master classes with incredible veterans of the stage and film… all the while talking in London’s incredible performances on the West End, The Fringe and The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford Upon Avon. My teacher’s influence, guidance and real life experience grounded me on my own path to explore the craft of acting. BADA is unquestionably a unique experience, and if one is fortunate enough, as I was… can and should be part of every drama student’s education.”
Film: Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Tropic Thunder (co-writer), TV: Maniac, The Leftovers, John Adams, Broadway: Three Sisters
DONNA LYNNE CHAMPLIN
Midsummer in Oxford ’92
TV: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Submissions Only; Theatre: Billy Elliot: The Musical (Broadway), Sweeney Toddy (Broadway), Hollywood Arms (Broadway), By Jeeves (Broadway), James Joyce’s The Dead (Broadway) Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare in the Park), The Qualms (Playwrights Horizons), As You Like It (Shakespeare in the Park), Film: Downsizing
WILL FREARS
London Theatre Program 1994 – 1995
Sarah Lawrence College. Yale School of Drama. Film: Coach, All Saints’ Day (winner, best narrative short, Savannah Film Festival), Beloved. Off Broadway: Year Zero (Second Stage Uptown), Still Life (MCC), Rainbow Kiss (The Play Company), The Water’s Edge (Second Stage), Pen(Playwrights Horizons), Terrorism (The New Group/The Play Company), Omnium Gatherum (Variety Arts), Where We’re Born and God Hates the Irish (both at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), Get What You Need (Atlantic 453), and Kid-Simple (Summer Play Festival). Regional: Build at the Geffen Playhouse; Some Lovers at the Old Globe Theatre; Romeo & Juliet, Bus Stop, The Water’s Edge, and A Servant of Two Masters at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Pillowman at George Street Playhouse; Hay Fever and The Price at Baltimore CenterStage; Sleuth at the Bay Street Theatre; Our Lady of 121st Street (Steppenwolf Theatre); Omnium Gatherum (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville). Artistic Director: Yale Cabaret (1999-2000). Recipient of Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller directing fellowships. Contributor to The Paris Review, New York Magazine, Harper’s, and The London Review of Books.
DONAL LOGUE
London Theatre Program ’88
TV: Gotham, Terriers, Sons of Anarchy, Vikings, Grounded for Life, ER, The Knights of Prosperity, Life, Copper; Film: The Patriot, Charlie St. Cloud, We Only Know So Much, 9 Full Moons, Tao of Steve (Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance)
RUSSELL HORNSBY
Midsummer in Oxford 1995
Film: Fences, The Hate U Give TV: Grimm, Seven Seconds, Lincoln Heights, In Treatment, Gideon’s Crossing Theatre: Fences (Broadway), Jitney (Off Broadway, Drama Desk Award Outstanding Ensemble Performance), King Hedley II (Off-Broadway), Intimate Apparel (Off-Broadway)
CHARLIE SANDLAN
Midsummer in Oxford 1997
Charlie Sandlan is the Executive Director & Head of Acting at the Maggie Flanigan Studio in New York City. He has worked in theater, film and television in NYC, LA, and regionally throughout the United States. Charlie also teaches Meisner internationally, most recently at Act4All acting studio in Lisbon, Portugal.
STEFANIE ZADRAVEC
London Theatre Program ’89
Stefanie Zadravec is a resident playwright at New Dramatists, playwright-in-residence at The Women’s Project, and the 2017 Keen Company Playwrights Lab. Her plays include Colony Collapse (Theatre@Boston Court: 2015 Kilroys List and LA Times Critics Choice); The Electric Baby (Two River Theater, Quantum Theater); Honey Brown Eyes (Theater J, Working Theatre, SF Playhouse); and currently – The Boat (The Working Theater Commission) and Tiny Houses (Women’s Project Commission). She received a 2015 Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award,the Francesca Primus Prize, Helen Hayes Award, a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, & the Women in Arts & Media Collaboration Award; as well as fellowships from NYFA, the Lark, Playwrights Realm, The Dramatists Guild, & Sewanee Writers Conference, and commission/developmental support from The Edgerton Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the NEA, NYSCA, The Mellon Foundation, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Lilly Awards, New York Stage & Film, The Lark, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Kennedy Center, Play Penn, The Women’s Project, Epic Theatre Ensemble, The Barrow Group, and New Dramatists.
NICOLE OLIVER
Midsummer in Oxford ’90
TV: Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
JENNIFER STEIL
London Theatre Program 1989
Jennifer Steil is an award-winning American writer, journalist, and actor currently living in La Paz, Bolivia. Her debut novel, The Ambassador’s Wife, was published by Doubleday on July 28, 2015. The Ambassador’s Wife won the 2013 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Best Novel award and has received considerable critical acclaim, notably in the Seattle Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and The New York Times Book Review.
Jennifer’s first book, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (Broadway Books, 2010) is a memoir about her tenure as editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in Sana’a. The book received accolades in The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Sydney Morning Herald among other publications. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune called it one of the best travel books of the year in 2010, and Ellemagazine awarded it their Readers’ Prize. National Geographic Travelerincludes the book in its recommended reading list. It has been published in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and Poland. Her freelance work has appeared in the World Policy Journal, Die Welt, Vogue UK, the Washington Times, The Week, Yahoo Travel, Time, and The Rumpus.
DAVID SCHWIMMER
Midsummer in Oxford ’85
“The Summer I spent in BADA’s program at Oxford University was one of the most memorable and illuminating experiences of my life. Any young actor who has the opportunity to attend Midsummer in Oxford should grab it.”
Emmy nominee, Friends; Madagascar; Band of Brothers; The Pallbearer; The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (Broadway); Some Girls (West End); co-founder, Lookingglass Theater Company.
ERIK PATTERSON
London Theatre Program ’98
Film: Another Cinderella Story (writer, WGA Award winner), TV: R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour
ZURIN VILLANEUVA
Midsummer in Oxford 2008
Theatre: Mean Girls (Broadway), Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (Broadway), Book of Mormon (National Tour), Witness, Ruined (Everyman Theatre), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Crossroads Theatre), Josephine Tonight! (MetroStage), Crowns (Arena Stage).
OLIVER PLATT
Midsummer in Oxford ’86
Theatre: Tony nominee, Shining City; Guys and Dolls (Broadway); TV: Chicago Med, Huff (Emmy Nomination, Golden Globe Nomination); The West Wing (Emmy Nomination); Nip/Tuck (Emmy Nomination), The Big C Film: Kinsey; Casanova; Bulworth; Postcards From the Edge; 2012
STEVEN SKYBELL
Midsummer in Oxford 1984
Steven Skybell teaches acting both at NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, and Fordham, and has taught elsewhere at Harvard and the Shakespeare Lab at the Public Theater. His Broadway acting credits include Dr. Dillamond in WICKED, Harold Nichols in THE FULL MONTY, PAL JOEY, LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! CAFE CROWN, and AH, WILDERNESS. Numerous off-Broadway appearances include ANTIGONE IN NEW YORK (Vineyard Theatre) for which he received an Obie award, The Professor in Tina Howe’s translation of Ionesco’s THE LESSON (Atlantic Theater), the US premiere of Jean-Claude Carriere’s THE CONTROVERSY (Public Theater) and the world premiere of Chris Shin’s WHAT DIDN’T HAPPEN (Playwrights Horizons). His regional credits include King Arthur in CAMELOT (Helen Hayes nomination), the title roles in UNCLE VANYA (McCarter/La Jolla) and HAMLET (California Shakespeare Festival). Other Shakespearean roles include Vanessa Redgrave’s ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, Holofernes in LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST, Ulysses in TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (all at Public Theater), Bottom in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (CSC), title role in RICHARD 2, Buckingham in RICHARD 3, AS YOU LIKE IT (directed by Mark Rylance), and Julie Taymor’s TITUS ANDRONICUS (all for Theatre for a New Audience). Mr. Skybell was one of two Americans chosen for the inaugural season of Shakespeare’s Globe/London, where he appeared in HENRY V, and A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE, which included a command performance for Elizabeth 2 (as seen on PBS’ Great Performances). His film and TV credits include: ELEMENTARY, 666 PARK AVENUE, NYC 22, LAW & ORDER, SEX AND THE CITY, ALL MY CHILDREN, SIMPLY IRRESTIBLE, CRADLE WILL ROCK, and TOM AND FRANCIE. Mr. Skybell holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama, a BA from Yale College, and a certificate in acting from the British-American Drama Academy, Bailliol College, Oxford.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
Midsummer in Oxford ’98
“When I came back, I began to feel like, ‘Oh, now I know what it means to be an actor. There’s a difference between being able to do it and being it.’”
Film: Captain America: Civil War, Get on Up, 42, The Kill Hole, The Express. TV: Persons Unknown, Fringe, Justified, Detroit and Lincoln Heights. Theatre: Deep Azure (Congo Square Theatre, Chicago, nominated for a 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award).
MARK COLSON
Midsummer in Oxford ’84
TV: Outsiders, Banshee, Invasion, Heroes, Angel Theatre: Of Mice and Men (Theatre Banshee), Gaps in the Fossil Record (Purple Rose Theatre, world premiere)
ELIZABETH MARVEL
London Theatre Program ’88
Theatre: Picnic (Broadway), Other Desert Cities (Broadway), Top Girls (Broadway), Saint Joan (Broadway), Little Foxes (New York Theatre Workshop), The Book of Grace (The Public Theater), Fifty Words (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk nomination), Hedda Gabbler (New York Theatre Workshop), King Lear (The Public Theater) TV: House of Cards, Fargo, Homeland, Law & Order, Special Victims Unit, The District Film: True Grit, A Most Violent Year, Lincoln, Hyde Park on Hudson, The Bourne Legacy
PAUL RUDD
Midsummer in Oxford ’93
Film: Ant-Man; Ant-Man and The Wasp; I Love You, Man; Knocked Up; Forgetting Sarah Marshall; The Forty Year Old Virgin; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; The Shape of Things; The Cider House Rules; Clueless. Broadway: Twelfth Night, Three Days of Rain, The Last Night of Ballyhoo
SAM GOLD
Midsummer in Oxford ’96
Sam Gold is a multiple Tony, Lortel, Obie and Drama Desk award nominated director who won the 2015 Tony Award Best Direction of a Musical for Fun Home. He has collaborated with playwrights Annie Baker, Stephen Belber, Bash Doran, Will Eno, Noah Haidle, Nick Jones, Zoe Kazan, Dan LeFranc, Sam Marks, Theresa Rebeck, Betty Shamieh, Beau Willimon and others. Recent credits: We Live Here (Manhattan Theatre Club), A Doll’s House (Williamstown Theatre Festival), August: Osage County (Old Globe), Kin (Playwrights Horizons), The Coward (Lincoln Center’s LCT3), Tigers Be Still (Roundabout), Dusk Rings a Bell (Atlantic), The Aliens (Rattlestick, Obie Award in 2010 for Outstanding Direction), Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk nomination, Obie Award in 2010 for Outstanding Direction), Jollyship the Whiz-Bang (Ars Nova and Under the Radar Festival), Rag and Bone (Rattlestick), The Joke (Studio Dante), The Black Eyed (NYTW). Sam was the dramaturg at the Wooster Group from 2003-2006. He is a Roundabout Associate Artist, NYTW Usual Suspect, Drama League Directing Fellow, recipient of the Princess Grace Award and the Garson Kanin/Marian Seldes Theatre Hall of Fame Fellowship, and a graduate of the Juilliard Directing Program. Upcoming: Look Back in Anger (Roundabout), The Big Meal (Playwrights Horizons), The Realistic Joneses (Yale Rep), Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep).
Y’LAN NOEL
Midsummer in Oxford ’12
TV: Insecure, The Hustle Film: The First Purge, Slice, The Weekend
JOE MYDELL
Midsummer in Oxford ’84
Trained at the New York University of the Arts and BADA (1984). His theatre experience includes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Last Confession, and The Boys Next Door, (London’s West End), The Tempest (Regent’s Park), Medea(Broadway), and A Season in the Congo(The Young Vic). Joe has starred in many productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company: Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Breakfast with Mugabe, Worlds Apart and Macbeth and the National Theatre: The Comedy of Errors, Edmond, Alice’s Adventures Underground, Angels in America, Perestroika (Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role) and Lyrics of the Hearthside (Edinburgh Fringe First). Most recent TV work includes Homeland, Midsummer Murders and The Missing. Radio credits include Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Falco, Great Escape, Henry VIII and The Lost Boys.
TAYLOR DEARDEN
London Theatre Program ’14
TV: American Vandal, Sweet/Vicious, Search and Destroy Film: The Last Champion, Heartthrob
