Cast for Romeo and Juliet and The Real Thing

	Lisa Ackerman (Apprentice/R&J ensemble) is appearing in her second show with Livermore Shakespeare Festival, having been Peaseblossom in last summer’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has worked with numerous other companies in the Bay Area and continues to be involved with theatre at Harvard where she will be a senior in the fall.
	Sean Patrick Higgins (Apprentice/Paris) is appearing in his first Livermore Shakespeare Festival. He recently played the role of Laertes in the spring production of Hamlet at the University of Wyoming. He enters his second year at UW, pursuing a BFA in Theatre and Dance as well as a history degree.
	Tiffany Hoover (Nurse) was last seen in On Golden Pond at Hapgood and in Be My Baby at the Willows. Other companies she worked for include Crowded Fire, Center Rep, New Conservatory, and TheatreWorks. Tiffany is also a voice over actor, group exercise instructor, a mother, an acting instructor for children and a member of Theatre Bay Area. She holds a BA from UCSB and a MA from UCD, both in theatre.
	Patrick Jones (Henry - The Real Thing) most recently appeared in Animal Vs Animal (Marin Theater Company). Other credits include Cymbeline, Misalliance (New York Classical Theater), You Can’t Take it With You (Denver Center), and The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Florida Studio Theater). MFA in Acting, Case Western Reserve University. Patrick is a member of Actor’s Equity.
	Ben Kahre (Tybalt/ Billy) is thrilled to be making his debut with Livermore Shakespeare Festival. He appeared in A Lie of the Mind, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Henry IV Part 1, The Front Page, Company, A Little Night Music, and The Taming of the Shrew. Ben is a graduate of the University of Evansville and is currently pursuing an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater.
	Alison Koch (Apprentice/R&J ensemble) has been involved in numerous plays and musicals over the years. At University of the Pacific, she was the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and Libby in Blue Window. Alison is thrilled to be a part of Livermore Shakespeare Festival as her first professional experience. She starts her senior year as a Theatre Arts major in the fall.
	Bob Lane (Montague) is making his debut at Livermore Shakespeare Festival. He worked with Broadway West Theatre, Act Now!, Playhouse West, and Las Positas College. He is an acting coach at Irvington High School (Fremont), a Performing Arts Magnet, and teaches Shakespeare whenever and wherever he can.
	Joshua Large (Apprentice/The Prince) appeared in such plays as Servant of Two Masters, And They Dance Real Slow In Jackson, The Zoo Story, Riverside Drive, and many others. He worked for two years with Sandstone Productions in Farmington, New Mexico; playing son of white Eagle in Black River Traders. Joshua is currently a student at Mesa State College, in Grand Junction Colorado.
	Jennifer Le Blanc (Annie - The Real Thing) is working with Livermore Shakespeare Festival for the first time. Her recent roles include Grace in Opus with TheatreWorks; Regan in King Lear with the National Black Theatre in Harlem; Eurydice in Eurydice at Artists Repertory Theatre; and Lady Macduff in Macbeth, Constance in Three Musketeers, and the Princess in Love's Labour's Lost at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Her MFA is from the National Theatre Conservatory. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association.
	Hope Mirlis (Charlotte- The Real Thing) is pleased to make her Livermore Shakespeare Festival debut. She is a dedicated teacher of acting, movement, and yoga currently working with Marin Theatre Co. and Cal Shakes. Hope was nominated for a 2009 Bay Area Critic's Circle Award for her portrayal of Hildy in Diablo Theatre Company's production of On the Town. She received her MFA from UC Davis in 2009 and is a member of Theatre Bay Area.
	Miranda Munro (Dance Captain/ R&J ensemble) debuted with Livermore Shakespeare Festival in last year's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as Cobweb. She began her training in Livermore at Dance Boutique and Las Positas College, and after getting her BA from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, continued training at Columbia College Chicago, Moving Arts Dance Center, and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center.
	Fiona Nies (Apprentice/R&J ensemble/Debbie) is excited about her first season with Livermore Shakespeare Festival. She previously worked with Brava Theatre and California Theatre Center. An Interlochen Arts Academy graduate, Fiona is currently working on a BA in theatre at Northeastern University in Boston.
	Michael Wayne Rice (Mercutio) holds a BA in theatre from California State University Northridge and an MFA from the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC). Michael has worked in New York, Kansas City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. While at UMKC he was fortunate enough to work with the Dell 'Arte School of Physical Theatre. Michael has worked with Shakespeare's Associates as an actor in The Seagull (Trigorin), Cymbeline (Cloten), and As You Like It (Jaques) and directed VSF's The Promise, part of The Wharton One Acts.
	Joseph Salazar (Romeo) is excited to be part of Livermore Shakespeare festival and the greater Bay Area theater family. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Joseph has been seen on stage as Christian in Cyrano De Bergerac for the Ethos Theater in Southern California. Other roles include Elvis in PCPA’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Estragon in Waiting for Godot and Feste in Twelfth Night. Last summer, Joseph performed with LSF as Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Medvedenko in The Seagull.
	Lee Simmons (Lord Capulet) appeared in three shows with Livermore Shakespeare Festival, most recently as Antipholus in Comedy of Errors. Locally he worked with Marin Shakespeare and Lamplighters and recently performed with the Bolshoi Ballet as a character dancer in their touring production of La Bayadère.
	Ryan Tasker (Benvolio/Max) recently returned from a tour de France of Tennessee Williams’ Two On A Party with the Word for Word Performing Arts Company. Other recent roles include James Bank in the world premiere of See How We Are at Impact Theatre and Malcolm in Shotgun Players’ Macbeth. In the Bay Area, he also worked with TheatreWorks, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Willows Theatre Company, and Sierra Repertory, among others. Look for him next in Mark Jackson’s Mary Stuart at Shotgun Players.
	Ashley Wickett (Juliet) is pleased to be making her Livermore Shakespeare Festival debut this summer. She is a third year student in the American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program. This fall she will be appearing as Hyacinth in ACT’s production of Scapin. Past MFA productions include A Month in the Country, Almost, Maine, and Britannicus. Ashley holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville.
	Bill Wolak (Friar) played Robert in Proof and last summer played Sorin in The Seagull, and Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Livermore Shakespeare Festival. He’s appeared at The Clinton Playhouse in Connecticut, Loretto-Hilton Theatre in St. Louis, and the Western Stage Theatre in Salinas. He recently appeared in Schönberg on Parnassus at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
	Kathryn Zdan (Lady Capulet) worked locally with Shotgun Players, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Berkeley Playhouse, CenterREP, and Crowded Fire. Internationally, she toured with the Amsterdam-based group Warner & Consorten. Kathryn holds a B.F.A. from UCSB and an M.F.A. from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre.