We believe that practical experience with the plays of William Shakespeare and the art of dramatic storytelling are critical components of any education. This is no less so during this extraordinary time for our schools and our society.
This spring, Red Bull Theater is continuing its Shakespeare in Schools initiative with an online interactive initiative centered on Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET. Central to this program is a 60-minute LIVE online presentation of Shakespeare’s play performed during school hours by a diverse cast of teaching artists. This viewing experience will be complemented by online interactive residency activities with members of the company. And it’s all being offered for FREE.
Activities are being planned through MAY 8, 2021. If you would like more information, please email us.
Directed by Nathan WINKELSTEIN
Teaching Artists | Austin Burrowes, Madeline Calais, Topher Embrey, Reagan Tankersley, and Sarin Monae West
Community Engagement Manager | Matt Freeman
Visual Designer | Nicole Wee
OBS Designer and Operator | Jessica Fornear
Sound Designer | Megumi Katayama
Zoom Manager | Victoria Gelling
Assistant Zoom Manager | Sarah Preston
General Manager | Sherri Kotimsky
This program is made possible through the leadership support of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Program support has also been provided by The Achelis & Bodman Foundation, KAM Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, and The Michael Tuch Foundation.
THE TEACHING ARTISTS
ABOUT THE TEACHING ARTISTS
Austin Burrowes, a graduate of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, has performed, studied and directed contemporary and classical texts in an educational, festival, regional and community setting. He is a founding company member of Spokane Valley Summer theatre, where he also was a resident conservatory director/instructor for three years. He is grateful to have the opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with a new creative team.
Madeline Calais received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (summa cum laude) in Acting from the University of Houston's School of Theatre & Dance while working with multiple companies in and around Houston. Following undergrad, Madeline performed in theatres across the country with the American Shakespeare Center's national touring troupe based out of Staunton, Virginia for two years where she had the opportunity to lead workshops for students ranging from the intermediate to undergraduate levels. These sessions focused on Shakespeare's use of rhetoric, poetry, music, and more within his works. Past credits include Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Imogen (Cymbeline), Luciana (The Comedy of Errors), and Ismene (Sophocles' Antigone).
Topher Embrey is a graduate of Christopher Newport U with a BA in Theatre Arts and a minor is Philosophy. Theatre's/roles: 1st Swordsmen in A King and No King (Redbull Theater, New York, NY) Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night; Montano in Othello, Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility; Biondello in The Taming of the Shrew; Lennox, Scottish Doctor in Macbeth; Shepherd’s Son/Clown, Lord in The Winter’s Tale; Tiresias, Chorus in Antigone; Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors; The Bear in 16 Winters or the Bears Tale; Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol; Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Cloten in Imogen aka Cymbeline, and Grandpa/ensemble in Grapes of Wrath (American Shakespeare Center, Staunton VA)Simon Fernando in The Lost Colony 79th Season (Waterside Theater, Manteo, NC); Ted in Peter and the Starcatcher; Francisco/Alonso, understudy in The Tempest; Ensemble/Cleon, understudy in Pericles; Merlin, Mr. Pinch in Magic Treehouse: A Ghost Story for Mr. Dickens; Eros in Antony and Cleopatra (Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando, FL); Morocco in The Merchant of Venice; Outlaw in The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Titinius, Ensemble in Julius Caesar; Lord Grey, Ely in Richard III (Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Williamsburg, VA) Awards include: Best Featured Actor in a Drama as Eros in Antony and Cleopatra at Orlando Shakespeare Theater 2017
Reagan Tankersley is an actor in New York City. He began teaching Shakespeare through performance and play in central Texas, to K-12 students in rural and urban communities (Shakespeare at Winedale). Most recently, he performed and led discussions on Macbeth in NYC schools, community centers, and jails (Stella Adler Studio). Reagan holds a BA in Rhetoric from The University of Texas at Austin, and recently completed study at The Stella Adler Studio of Acting (‘20).
Sarin Monae West is a New York actor, writer, singer, producer and teaching artist originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sarin recently graduated from NYU Grad Acting with her MFA in Acting. She holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Oklahoma City University with additional training from the British American Drama and the National Theatre Institute. She’s recently been seen as Bulrusher (Bulrusher) directed by Michele Shay, as Angela Davis (Angela’s Mixtape) directed by Adrienne D. Williams, and as Esther (Intimate Apparel) directed by Arin Arbus. As a teaching artist, she has worked with Epic Theatre Ensemble, Arthur Miller Foundation, Lower Manhattan Arts Academy, and as a private acting coach. Sarin is currently serving as Artist in Residence with Opening Act in Brooklyn.
THE TEAM
ABOUT THE TEAM
Nathan Winkelstein | Director - Nathan is Red Bull Theater's Associate Artistic Director. He has been with Red Bull Theater for three years, serving as Producing Director of The Revelation Reading Series, Education Director of Shakespeare in Schools and the Masterclass offerings. He also serves as a literary and casting associate for Red Bull. Nathan is also the NY Casting Associate for American Shakespeare Center. He has acted or directed for numerous companies around the country and in the UK, including Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Shakespeare Theater Company, W.H.A.T., LCT, The Folger, The Tobacco Factory, American Shakespeare Center and others. Nathan has taught for Red Bull, STC, LCT, WHAT, TGS and Shakespeare Forum; he also provides private acting coaching in NYC. Nathan received his BA in Theater from the University at Buffalo and his MFA in Classical Acting from the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the UK. Nathan is a proud member of Actors Equity.
Nicole Wee | Visual Designer - National Tour: Martin Luther on Trial and The Great Divorce (Fellowship for the Performing Arts). Off-Broadway: Desperate Measures (New World Stages), Sideways (The Pecadillo Project), Closer Than Ever (Dir. Richard Maltby) and Storyville (Henry Hewes and Audelco nominations - Outstanding Costume Design, York Theatre Co.), The Body Politic (59E59), Surely Goodness and Mercy (Keen Co.), The Sensational Josephine Baker (Emerging Artists Theatre). Regional: The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage), Back Home Again (Lesher Center for the Performing Arts), Crazy For You, Spamalot (Muhlenberg SMT), I Do! I Do! (Peterborough Players), Tosca (Boheme Opera N.J.), Ruined (regional premiere, Best Costume Design — Best of the Suncoast 2010, Florida Studio Theatre). Lecturer: NYU Tisch - PHTS. MFA: New York University.
Megumi Katayama | Sound Designer - Megumi is a Sound Designer, Sound Artist, Audio Engineer, and Composer based in NY. Her recent theatrical sound design credits include Pass Over (Studio Theater), Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf Theater), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (The Public Theater), El Huracán (Yale Rep/The Sol Project, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Nomination), soft (Williamstown Theater Festival Fellowship). In addition to Theater, she has worked on Art Installations, Video Projects, Short Films, Audio Plays, Theme Park, Corporate Events, and TV productions. Megumi holds a BFA from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA from Yale School of Drama.
Matt Freeman | Community Engagement Manager - Matt is thrilled to join the Red Bull Team as interim Community Engagement Manager. Additionally, Matt works with the organizations CHANGE Arts and Wingspan Arts, while previously holding posts at Tectonic Theater Project (inaugural Education Director), The New York City Arts-in-Education Roundtable, and The CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS), where he served as the first Assistant Director of its M.A. in Applied Theatre. Matt has also been associated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The New Victory Theater, and New York Cares doing educational theater work. Matt holds a B.A. in Theater and Arts Administration from Muhlenberg College, an M.A. in Arts Administration from Teachers College at Columbia University, and an M.A. in Applied Theatre from CUNY SPS.
This program is made possible through the leadership support of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
Program support has also been provided by The Achelis & Bodman Foundation, KAM Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, and The Michael Tuch Foundation.