Wooden O: The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Nik Hagen 
Proteus

This is Nik's first production with Seattle Shakespeare, and he could not be more thrilled to get back to his acting roots after graduating with a degree in theater from Whitman College and performing as Ariel in The Tempest for his senior project. Since graduation he's been performing across the Seattle area at The 5th Avenue Theater (including Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Rock of Ages) Village Theater (Hairspray, Mary Poppins) and the Can Can Cabaret (Hitchcock Hotel, Peacock) with much more planned this year. @nikhagen

Riley Gene
Valentine

Riley Gene is excited to debut at Wooden O and return to Seattle Shakespeare Company after four years. They have performed with Seattle Repertory Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Freehold's Engaged Theatre Tour, the 1448 Projects, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, and Dacha Theatre, among others. Currently, Riley is the General Manager of Sound Theatre Company and holds a BFA in Original Works Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts.

Rachel Guyer-Mafune
Julia

Rachel Guyer-Mafune (She/Her) is a fourth generation Seattleite and an ACT Core Company member. She is stoked to be back at Seattle Shakespeare after performing in The Bed Trick, Henry IV, As You Like It, Hamlet, and The Winter's Tale. Other credits include The Tempest (Seattle Repertory Theatre); The Wolves, WAD (ACT Contemporary Theatre); Howl's Moving Castle (Book-It Repertory Theatre); The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion, Snowed In (ArtsWest); Wonder Boy (The 5th Avenue Theatre); Hometown Boy (Seattle Public Theater); Feathers and Teeth, Tin Cat Shoes, The Internet is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre); Down the Rabbit Hole (Cafe Nordo). Endless love to her family and friends.

Alegra Batara
Silva

Alegra Batara (they/them) is so excited to be playing in the park with Seattle Shakespeare this summer! Alegra is a Filipino-American multihyphenate theatre artist, born and raised in the PNW. Seattle credits: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Seattle Shakespeare), Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, Maid Marian in Sherwood (Village Theatre), Sally in A Charlie Brown Christmas (Taproot Theatre Company). Other Shakespeare favorites: Mercutio and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Festival 56); Phebe in As You Like It, Perdita in The Winter's Tale, and Jacquenetta in Love's Labours Lost (Great River Shakespeare Festival); and Feste in Twelfth Night (Webster University). Alegra is dedicated to supporting the representation of AAPI and queer stories in theatre.

Cassi Q Kohl
Duke of Milan

Cassi graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in vocal performance and moved east, where she originated a role in the Off-Broadway production of Soul Doctor (New York Theater Workshop) and joined the original cast of Motherhood the Musical (GFour Productions). She later traveled as a mainstage performer with Disney Cruise Line and performed in the national tour of Martha Speaks. Favorite local credits include: Flotsam in The Little Mermaid (The 5th Avenue Theatre), Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (Village Theatre), and Grace in The Hello Girls (Taproot Theatre Company). Up next: Bernadette in POTUS at ACT Contemporary Theatre! Follow Cassi's Instagram to see her adventures in being a carpenter by day and an actor by night: @ThunderDyke (And endless love to her sweet fiancée, Amanda, for always setting out her favorite breakfast!)

Allison Renee
Lucetta

Allison Renee is absolutely thrilled to make her Seattle Shakespeare Company debut in this year's Wooden O! Recently receiving her BFA in Acting and Original Works from Cornish College of the Arts, her work includes Ophelia/Gravedigger in a radio production of Hamlet, Eddie Carbone in A View from the Bridge, Helga in Cabaret (Cornish College), and Gil/Briz in Mega Hero Rangers Go Go Go Supreme!! (The 14/48 Projects). Outside acting she has also directed and co-produced the musical Curiosity (2024) in Seattle and directed Matilda the Musical (2021) in New Braunfels, Texas at New Braunfels Performing Arts. @allisonr.enee

Pilar O'Connell
Lance

Pilar (they/them) is a Latinx theatre artist from Santa Fe, NM. They graduated from Cornish College of the Arts. Locally you may have seen them in The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Seattle Children's Theatre); The Tempest, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, and Luna Gale (Seattle Repertory Theatre); Twelfth Night, Henry IV, Cymbeline, Romeo y Julieta, As You Like It, The Tempest, and Taming of The Shrew (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Miss You Like Hell and Our Country's Good (Strawberry Theatre Workshop); Christmastown and The Liar (Seattle Public Theater); The Christians (PonyWorld); The Nether (Washington Ensemble Theatre); along with many others. Pilar is a proud member of AEA. For Entheos always.

Harry Todd Jamieson
Speed

Harry is so pleased to return to the parks this summer, this production being his eighth with Wooden O. Locally, Harry has worked as an actor, director, designer, and choreographer for over 20 years with institutions such as Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Public Theater, Book-It Repertory Theatre, ArtsWest, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Seattle Opera, ACT Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, Shakespeare Walla Walla, Balagan Theatre, Theater Schmeater, and 14/48, among others. Previous Wooden O roles include Boyet in Love's Labour's Lost, Fabian in Twelfth Night, Malcolm in Macbeth, and Bardolph/The Dauphin in Henry V. Harry would like to thank his friends and family for their support, and you the audience for supporting live theater.

Mike Wu
Thurio

Mike Wu is thrilled to be joining this season's Wooden O! His previous credits include: The Comedy of Errors (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Unrivaled, Hometown Boy, Christmastown (Seattle Public Theater); Mamma Mia!, Sense & Sensibility (Village Theatre); The Tempest (Seattle Repertory Theatre Public Works); A Christmas Carol, Junk, The Chinese Lady (Milwaukee Repertory Theater); and Freaky Friday: A New Musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Crucible, Mamma Mia!, Twelfth Night (Pacific Conservatory Theater). He would like to thank his family and friends who have been a constant support in his life on and off stage; the wonderful staff at Seattle Shakespeare Company; and you, the audience for coming to support us this summer! Thank you, and enjoy the show!

Evan Mosher
Outlaw & Musician

Evan Mosher is a sound designer, audio engineer, musician, and actor. He has made sounds for many Wooden O shows, but this is his first time touring the parks with the company. He last played onstage for Seattle Shakespeare as an actor/musician in She Stoops to Conquer in 2019. Previous design highlights with the company include The Bed Trick, Merry Wives of Windsor, Merchant of Venice, and Measure for Measure. He has designed frequently at Seattle Public Theater, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, Washington Ensemble Theatre, ArtsWest, Book-It Repertory, as an artist-in-residence at Whitman College, and at Cafe Nordo where he was a company member and sound designed nearly every show at their Pioneer Square venue (2015-22). He is a member of the artpop band Awesome, with whom he's made melodic noise and peculiar performance since 2004, including three original commissions by On the Boards.

Jesse Parce
Outlaw & Musician

Jesse Parce is a Seattle based performance artist whose recent roles/productions include co-directing, Before It All Goes Dark at Chicago Opera Theater, devising/Simon Stimson in Pony World Theater's Not Our Town, and Chaos in Cafè Nordo's, The Witching Hour. Cellist for the band Peculiar Pretzlemen, Jesse has played for SANCA circus school, Theater Battery, recorded with Seattle Symphony/Music of Remembrance, and guest taught Clown at Youth Theatre Northwest. A graduate of the University of Washington School of Drama and the Accademia dell'Arte in Arezzo, Italy, Jesse is an ensemble member of PonyWorld Theatre and The American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory and a regular performer at La Petite Mort's Morbid Curiositease.

Olivia Pedroza
Outlaw & Musician

Olivia is a musician/writer/music director based in the Seattle area. Recent music direction includes Miss You Like Hell at Strawberry Theatre Workshop and Guys & Dolls at Village Theatre KIDSTAGE. She was recently onstage in Showtunes Theatre Company's Sunset Boulevard in the featured ensemble, and she was in the band for The 14/48 Project this spring. Olivia teaches private voice and piano lessons to students of all ages; she is also an educator in KIDSTAGE's Institute program. Olivia is always writing and loves to create and collaborate with others. You can find her in dive bars and venues all over Seattle supporting her friends' art or playing in her own band Skipping Victor. She is so excited to be making her Seattle Shakespeare debut!

Jayne Hubbard
Full Cast Understudy

Jayne Hubbard is stoked to make their Seattle Shakespeare Company debut. Jayne is a Seattle based actor, playwright, and teaching artist. Previous credits include: Peter & the Starcatcher (Reboot Theatre Company), Safe Hands: a New Musical (Seattle Public Theater), Rushing (The Scratch), The Revolutionists (Whidbey Center for the Arts). Jayne is a teaching artist at Seattle Shakespeare Company and loves showing high school students that Shakespeare is actually really cool. jaynehubbard.com

Shay Shay Bay Bay Esq.
Crab

Shay is thrilled to be making his professional stage debut! He has been working behind the scenes in the Seattle theatre community since 2021, as an assistant director and resident emotional support Shay. In his time off stage, you will find him doing a snooze, working in the legal field, and being perfect. Thanks to Seattle Shaykespeare, his parent, his cat brothers, and you for supporting live theatre! Follow Shay @shayshaybaybayesquire

Kelly Kitchens
Director

Kelly Kitchens is an award-winning director, actor, arts educator, and avid lover of Shakespeare in the Park. This is Kelly's eighth production with Wooden O, and playing Kate in the "trailer park" Taming of the Shrew is one of Kelly's favorite roles of all time. Kelly is an omnivore of theatrical genres, forms, and styles; some past directing projects include: Le Nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, Orfeo, Carmen, Hand to God, Ironbound, Grounded, Medea, Sunset Boulevard, and The Light in the Piazza. Some upcoming directing projects include: Britten's The Turn of the Screw and Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann. Kelly is an Artist in Residence at the University of Washington, a member of AEA, and a member of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Kelly earned her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and her M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Orlando G. Morales
Composer & Lyricist

Orlando is a Seattle-based musician, educator, and songwriter. He currently serves as Assistant Artistic Director for the Tacoma Refugee Choir, and is on the faculty of Washington State's Teaching Artist Training Lab. He is a Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project alum, a Jonathan Larson Grant finalist (2019, 2020, 2022), and recently received a 2024-25 National Fellowship from the Dramatist Guild Foundation. Favorite music direction credits include How to Break (2018, 2016), Great Wall (2012), and Cloaked (2011, 2010). Orlando also coordinates Rondalya sa Seattle, a Filipino American folkloric music ensemble and is a member of the Shades of Praise Gospel Choir at St. Therese Parish. For more, please visit: orlandogmorales.com

Tucker Goodman
Scenic Designer

Tucker is thrilled to return to Seattle Shakespeare Company after designing the scenery for The Comedy of Errors! After earning his MFA at the University of Texas at Austin, Tucker returned to the Pacific Northwest to teach theatrical design and production at Seattle Pacific University. He was the lighting designer for Taproot Theatre Company's 2023 production of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and his scenic designs have been seen recently at Seattle Shakespeare Company, Village Theatre KIDSTAGE, Seattle Pacific University, the Butler Opera Center, and Cape Fear Regional Theatre. His graphite and ink portraits were also recently featured in Taproot Theatre Company's Kendall Center Gallery in an exhibition entitled Family Matters. See his designs and artwork at tuckergoodman.com.

Jocelyne Fowler
Costume Designer

Jocelyne Fowler has designed for Seattle Shakespeare Company (Twelfth Night the Musical, Arms and the Man, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Titus Andronicus, Richard II, etc.), Taproot Theatre Company (A Woman of No Importance, The Spitfire Grill, Babette's Feast, Steel Magnolias, Arsenic and Old Lace, Lady Windermere's Fan, etc.), Book-It Repertory Theatre (Howl's Moving Castle, Jane Eyre, Treasure Island, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, Anna Karenina, etc.), ArtsWest (Born With Teeth, Head Over Heels, The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion, Office Hour), Harlequin Productions, Vashon Opera, Youth Theatre Northwest, SecondStory Repertory, Bellevue College, Roosevelt High School, Overlake School, and others. She is the recipient for the 2016 Gregory Award in Outstanding Costume Design. www.jocelynefowler.com

Olivia Pedroza
Music Director

Olivia is a musician/writer/music director based in the Seattle area. Recent music direction includes Miss You Like Hell at Strawberry Theatre Workshop and Guys & Dolls at Village Theatre KIDSTAGE. She was recently onstage in Showtunes Theatre Company's Sunset Boulevard in the featured ensemble, and she was in the band for The 14/48 Project this spring. Olivia teaches private voice and piano lessons to students of all ages; she is also an educator in KIDSTAGE's Institute program. Olivia is always writing and loves to create and collaborate with others. You can find her in dive bars and venues all over Seattle supporting her friends' art or playing in her own band Skipping Victor. She is so excited to be making her Seattle Shakespeare debut!

Robin Macartney
Props Designer

Robin (she/her) is an award-winning freelance set and props designer who has been fortunate to work with a large number of the theatre companies in Seattle. She is the resident set designer at Theatre Off Jackson as well as the former scene shop supervisor for the University of Puget Sound’s Theatre Department.

Annika Evens
Stage Manager

Annika Evens is excited to be back at Seattle Shakespeare Company for her first time working on Wooden O. Some favorite credits include: Merry Wives of Windsor (Seattle Shakespeare Company); The Fantasticks, Sense and Sensibility, KIDSTAGE's The Prom, (Village Theatre); Disney's The Little Mermaid (The 5th Avenue Theatre); Matilda the Musical, Hamlet (New London Barn Playhouse); and KÀ (Cirque du Soleil). Annika is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in Stage and Production Management.

Arden DeForest
Assistant Stage Manager

Arden DeForest (he/him) is a senior at Pomona College, originally from Seattle. He has enjoyed acting, directing, and stage managing college productions, including Twelfth Night, Everybody, and Moments; A BIPOC Artists' Showcase. He is thrilled to be a part of Two Gentlemen of Verona, his third production at Seattle Shakespeare. When not in the theater, you can find him baking; ballroom dancing; or playing with his beagle, Scout.