A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder proudly presented on the Henry C. Bishop Stage

Meet the D'ysquiths

Tess Burgler - Sound Design, Costume Crew

Tess has been with Ohio Shakes since its first year and grown with the company ever since. She has had decades of acting roles on the OSF boards, and more recently begun to direct for the main stage (Wizard of Oz, The Woman in Black, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost, She Kills Monsters, and more). Even more recently she’s discovered and developed a love of sound design, having self-taught during the pandemic radio plays (which are still available for free at ohioshakespeare.com!). Most recently, she created the sound scape for The Woman in Black, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Romeo & Juliet, and Shakespeare in Hollywood.

Troian Butler - Man 1

Troian is so excited to be back for his second show at Ohio Shakes! Troy graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in May of 2024 with a B.A. in Theatre: Acting and Directing. Selected credits: Romeo & Juliet (Benvolio), The Laramie Project (Moises Kauffman, Doc O’Connor), In The Next Room (Leonard Irving), Altar Boyz (Luke), The Tempest (Antonio), and Men on Boats (George Young Bradley). Catch him in The Tempest, King Lear, and The Greenshow with OSF this summer! Troy would like to thank Joanna, and the rest of the Gent’s Guide production team, cast, and crew for their kindness and support. @troianbutler

Andrew Cruse* - D’Ysquith Family

Andrew returns to Ohio Shakes, having last appeared on the Henry Bishop stage as Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest. A longtime company member, previous Ohio Shakes roles at Greystone include John Adams (1776), Arthur (Camelot), and Robin Hood. Past performances at Stan Hwyet include: Polixenes (The Winter’s Tale), Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew), Edgar (King Lear), Antipholus (The Comedy of Errors), and titular roles in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and King Henry IV and King Henry V. Additional appearances around NE Ohio include, Porthouse, Dobama, Coach House, and Ensemble Theater in Cleveland. By day, Andrew is the Director of College Guidance at Laurel School in Shaker Heights, where he also serves as a theater teacher and director. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. Special thanks to this incredibly talented company of players, as well as his best castmates at home, Amy, Owen and Morgan.

Joanna May Cullinan - Director

Joanna is excited to make her OSF directing debut with this gem of a show. As artistic director of theater at Cain Park, some of her favorite directing credits include Big Fish, Fun Home, Ragtime, Memphis, and Rock of Ages. As a freelance director, Joanna has worked at Playhouse Square, Great Lakes Theater, Cleveland Play House, Blank Canvas Theatre, Mercury Theatre Company, Baldwin Wallace University, Lorain County Community College, and Mount Union College. For her friend and voice coach, the late Steven Lutvak.

Scott Esposito - Monty Navarro

Scott is pleased to be making his Ohio Shakespeare Festival debut with this incredible team. Scott was most recently seen in The Crucible (Rev. Hale) at Blank Canvas Theatre, Significant Other (Jordan) at Dobama Theatre, and Bach at Leipzig (Schott) with Seat of the Pants, where he is a member of the ensemble (www.seatofthepants.org). Prior favorite credits include Fun Home (Bruce) and Ragtime (Tateh) at Cain Park, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Molina) at Blank Canvas Theatre, Buyer & Cellar (Alex) at Beck Center, Parade (Leo) at French Creek Theatre, and both parts of Angels in America (Prior Walter) at Ensemble Theatre. He would like to thank Joanna for this opportunity and his husband Vince for his constant love and support.

Natalie Green* - Sibella

Natalie is grateful to appear with Ohio Shakespeare Festival, where in the past she performed as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Katherine in The Taming of The Shrew, Isabella in Measure for Measure and Guinevere in Camelot. She is a graduate of Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts and member of Actors’ Equity Association. Regionally, Natalie has worked with Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, EJ Thomas Hall, Cleveland Play House, Pittsburgh Repertory Company, Mamai Theatre Company, Beck Center for the Arts, Cain Park, none too fragile theatre, and many more. Natalie is a regular soloist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and a voice over artist with American Greetings.

Megan Herbert - Stage Manager, carpenter

Megan is excited to make her stage managing debut here at Ohio Shakes. You may have seen her recently in The Woman in Black (OSF), Much Ado about Nothing (OSF), Othello (OSF), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (OSF), The Minds of Dolls (KSU), and Dracula (OSF). Megan would like to say a big thank you to the OSF family for every wonderful friend, experience, and opportunity they have given her. Last but not least, she thanks FerFer and Eric for always supporting her in everything she does and for every sacrifice they have made for her to pursue a career in the Arts.

Adam Day Howard - Music Director

Adam is an American-born, British-trained music director, actor and playwright. Trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he has music directed the new musical Here There Be Dragons Off-Broadway as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. He was the music director for the West End international tour of Dreamboats and Petticoats, He has appeared on BBC Scotland on Tonight’s the Night, and the series Plain Jane for UK MTV. He is the only American certified in the Vocal Process Methodology. He was an original writer for the British musical From Up Here and has written several plays for Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, including Snow White and the Seven Dorks. Premiering at Youngstown State University, Pete The Penguin’s Vintage Variety Show is his latest play and is based on research into the history of American vaudeville. He was most recently on the Ohio Shakespeare Festival stage as Ladvenu and Gilles de Rais in St. Joan. Adam has formerly taught at the Institute of the Arts, Barcelona, as well as Texas Tech University and currently teaches at Youngstown State University. He lives in Warren with his incredible wife Lisa and their three outstanding children.

Kenny Lear - Assistant Music Director

Kenny is delighted to be making his OSF debut! Even better working with long time friend, Joanna May Cullinan, after collaborating last summer on Cain Park’s Big Fish. Other music direction credits include: Alice by Heart (Blank Canvas Theatre), Waitress (assoc. MD/Beck Center), Mamma Mia!, A Christmas Carol, Queen of the Night: A Whitney Tribute (Palace Theater New Hampshire), Chicago, Always Patsy Cline, Elf! (Show Palace Dinner Theater, Florida), The 80s Benefit for BCEFA (GreenRoom 42, NYC). Select on-stage credits: The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Featured Singer/Radio City Music Hall), Naked Boys Singing! and Mrs. Smith’s Broadway Cat-Tacular (Off-Broadway), and Million Dollar Quartet (Jerry Lee Lewis/Show Palace Dinner Theater). Kenny is also an Adjunct Professor at Baldwin Wallace University - Conservatory of Performing Arts.

Bridgett Martinez - Woman 2

Bridgett is excited to make her first appearance on the Ohio Shakes stage! As an actor, she has worked in Chicago at theaters such as Theo Ubique, Colectivo el Pozo, Akvavit Theatre, Skokie Theatre, and Do Process. In Ohio she has also worked as a teaching artist and director at theaters such as Near West Theatre, Dobama, Cleveland Public Theatre, and Playhouse Square. She earned her BFA in Musical Theatre from Kent State University. She would like to thank her husband, Ricky, and her family and friends for their support!

Cameron Olin - Woman 1

Cameron is so excited to be making her Ohio Shakes debut with this phenomenal cast of A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder. She graduated in 2022 from Kent State University with her BFA in Musical theater and continues to perform all across northeast Ohio. You may have seen her in Beauty and the Beast, Cassidy Theatre (Belle), The Crucible, Blank Canvas Theater (Mercy Lewis/Abigail Williams u/s), Sondheim on Sondheim, Cain Park (Swing), and Disney’s: Freaky Friday, Kent State (Ellie Blake). Cameron is incredibly grateful for the love and support from her wonderful friends and family, without whom she would not be where she is today! JPO <3

John Peters - House Manager

John feels at home whenever back at it again with the Ohio Shakespeare Festival! When not managing the front of House, John is most often found treading the boards as an actor in various northeast Ohio area theatres including OSF. Ohio Shakespeare Festival credits include: Cinderella (Ensemble), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Philostrate), Hamlet (English Ambassador), Dracula: Laboratory Performance (Arthur Holmwood) and Romeo and Juliet (Apothecary), as well as numerous ShakesBEER's over the years. John was also the House Manager for Cleveland Musical Theatre's world premiere of the revised musical Jane Eyre.

Mikaela Ray - Woman 3, dance captain

Mikaela is delighted to be making her Ohio Shakespeare Festival debut with this production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder! Her most recent credits include Peter/Wendy (Wendy) at Dobama Theatre, 25th Annual…Spelling Bee (Rona) at Rubber City Theatre, and Much Ado About Nothing (Hero) at French Creek Theatre. She would like to thank her friends and family for their continuous support and for being a much better family than the D’Ysquiths. And while you wait to see if anyone is found guilty you can find Mikaela on Instagram @heymikaelaray and her website mikaelaray.com

Danny Simpson - Man 3, u/s Monty

Danny is very happy to be on the Ohio Shakes stage for the first time with such a great group of friends, new and old. Danny graduated from John Carroll University with a B.A. in Communications and Theatre Arts and was most recently seen in Near West Theatre's production of Little Shop of Horrors as Orin and The Stocker Arts Center’s production of Songs for a New World. Danny would like to thank Joanna for this awesome opportunity, the entire production staff for their hard work and dedication, and his fellow cast mates for their time, talent and friendship.

Laura Starnik - Miss Shingle

Laura is pleased to make her first on-stage appearance with Ohio Shakespeare Festival. She has worked at a number of area theatres including Beck Center, Blank Canvas, Clague Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, convergence-continuum, Dobama, Ensemble Theatre, Karamu, none-too-fragile, Oberlin Summer Theatre Festival and Weathervane. Thank you for welcoming her here and for supporting live theatre.

Natalie Steen - Phoebe, Set Design/Construction

Natalie is pleased to be a part of this stellar cast. She enjoys her position as resident Scenic Designer and Production Manager for Ohio Shakespeare Festival. She is a Baldwin Wallace University graduate with her BFA in Acting. Previous Ohio Shakes credits include: Twelfth Night as Viola, A Midsummer Night's Dream as Helena, and The Taming of the Shrew as Hortensio, all under the stars. Indoors, she has been seen in The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy, Dracula as Lucy, All My Sons as Annie, Hay Fever as Jackie, Cinderella as Grace the nasty stepsister, and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as Nicholas' love interest(s). She is honored to be creating with this amazing gaggle of humans. Many thanks to The Rude Sea, you are all brilliant and my favorite people. Their music is on any listening platform and CDs for sale at the merch tent! She thanks her ever supportive family, friends, and you for coming out and supporting the arts! Enjoy the show! DPTL

Kelsey Tomlinson - Costume Designer

This year marks Kelsey's 10th season with Ohio Shakespeare Festival! In addition to acting with the company, Kelsey serves as one of the resident costume designers for Ohio Shakes. Notable designs include costumes for The Three Musketeers..., Cinderella, Dracula, co-designing Wizard of Oz, and the redesign of Greenshow to all green. Here's to many more years of the joy that theatre brings her. Much love and gratitude to friends, family, and her best friend and husband, Emerson Thoenen.

Clay Yoder - Man 2, u/s D'Ysquith Family

Clay is very excited to be making his Ohio Shakespeare Festival debut and hopes you all have as much fun watching as he has had in the process! Clay was last seen in the Mimi Ohio Theatre as the Velveteen Rabbit, in Playhouse Square's, Velveteen: A New Musical and was also seen as the Deputy, in Purlie Victorious at Karamu House in Cleveland, OH. Other credits include; Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare at the Castle), Scrooge in A VHS Christmas Carol (Stage Door Studios), and Mal in The Addams Family Musical (Players Guild Theater). When not on stage Clay is a teacher for CMSD and a fight choreographer. Most recently, he choreographed Treasure Island at Hudson High School, as well as Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare at the Castle. He wants you to know you can find him on Instagram @theclaytenjames and hopes you all check him out and follow along as he takes on NYC this fall as a part of NYU’s Vocal Performance: Musical Theatre graduate program!

Ryan Zarecki - Fight Director, Properties, carpenter

Ryan loves his job as a resident actor-manager at the Ohio Shakespeare Festival. He's played Bottom, Orlando, Porthos, Mercutio, Quincy (Dracula), Robin Hood, Thomas Jefferson (1776), and Roy (Lone Star). His fight production company [They Fight], with partner Tess Burgler, works to bring safe, affordable, and awesome stage violence to Northeast Ohio stages. Ryan is a Bowling Green State University graduate, a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, and he loves his pups, kittehs, and girls Zelda and Persephone. He is ever grateful for his Tessa, Fridays and Saturdays and all. Check out his leather goods shop, The Buckle & Rose on Etsy.com.