MEET THE CAST AND CREW:
HILLARY WHEELOCK (Viola) is a former teaching artist with Great Lakes Theater. While earning her BA at Case Western Reserve University, she studied abroad at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the British-American Drama Academy. Hillary is an alumna of IMPROVment, Case Western Reserve University’s premier short-form improv comedy troupe. She has studied long- and short-form improv with Jet Eveleth (iO Theater – Chicago), Brandon Gardner (Upright Citizen's Brigade – NYC), and Christopher Bohan (Something DaDa – Cleveland) and occasionally performs stand-up comedy in the Cleveland area. Twelfth Night marks her fourth production with Ensemble Theatre, having previously appeared in The Neverending Story as Atreyu, The Great Gatsby as Mrs. Michaelis, and Frankenstein as Walton/Elizabeth/Ensemble. Highlighted productions also include: The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival - The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Silvia), Love’s Labours Lost (Rosaline); CWRU – The Crucible (Abigail Williams), The Tempest (Ariel). Hillary will be performing in Three Sisters at Mamaí Theatre this June and The Happy Sad at convergence-continuum in October. Keep up with her at www.hillarywheelock.com.
ROBERT HAWKES (Sir Toby Belch) has previously appeared on Ensemble's TheatreCLE stage as King Berenger in Exit the King. He will appear later this year in Three Sisters for Mamaí Theatre, in Much Ado About Nothing for the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, and in First Love for none too fragile. He is a member of the acting company at convergence-continuum in Tremont, where he will appear in April in a special one-weekend engagement of Mickle Maher’s An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, and in November in Bob: A Life in Five Acts.
SEAN SEIBERT (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) This marks his 20th Shakespearean production- favorites include: Henry V (Henry), and Midsummer Night's Dream (Bottom), both with Gorilla Rep (NYC); The Hamlet Project (Horatio) at La Mama (NYC); and Richard III (Catesby) with Actors' Theatre in Columbus, way back in 1994. Locally lately Sean has been seen in Theatre Ninjas' Code (Gunter/Ensemble), as well as Twelfth Night (abridged) (Feste/Antonio/etc.) with Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. He is a Program Specialist at Great Lakes Science Center, and hosts the Last Saturday Open Mic at Negative Space Gallery, downtown Cleveland.
ZACHARY OLIVOS (Fabian) Zachary Olivos (Fabian) is a recent graduate of Case Western Reserve University. In college, he studied classical performance at the British American Drama Academy in London. He has studied Shakespearean performance under Bob Mason (Chicago), Fiona, Shaw and Madeline Potter (London-BADA). This is Zac’s Ensemble Debut, though he recently has performed on stage in Romeo & Juliet for the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. Recent acting credits include: The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival: Romeo and Juliet (Paris), Twelfth Night (Sir Toby/Orsino); Case Western Reserve University: The Crucible (John Proctor), Measure for Measure (Angelo), Fifth of July (Ken), Love’s Labours Lost (Don Adriano); British American Drama Academy: The Fire Raisers (Gottlieb Biedermann).
ERIC FANCHER (Orsino)is delighted to be included in a cast of such wonderful actors. He is the founder and administrator of the Cleveland Stage Alliance, and has previously been seen at Ensemble in Road Kill (Blaine) for the Colombi New Plays Festival last year. Other credits include Violet (Monty) at Lakeland Civic Theatre, The History Boys (Dakin) at Beck Center for the Arts, William Shakespeare's Land of the Dead (Francis Bacon), Othello (Cassio) and a gender-swapped Love's Labour's Lost (Prince of France) with Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. Eric can be seen this June in Godspell at Cain Park. Eric thanks his parents, and his lovely Sarah. TPOG
TREY GILPIN (Sebastian) is thrilled to make his Ensemble debut with such a talented group of people. Trey is a Kentucky native who moved here after receiving his BA at Grove City College in Pennsylvania and working with the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. As an adopted Clevelander, Trey has appeared at Beck Center for the Arts, Cain Park, Actors’ Summit, Mercury Summer Stock, Lakeland Civic Theatre, and more. Favorite shows include The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), Anything Goes (Lord Evelyn Oakley), ASSASSINS (Giuseppe Zangara), The Drowsy Chaperone (Aldolpho), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Martin Van Buren), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Freddy Benson), and The Last Five Years (Jamie Wellerstein). He’d like to thank his amazingly talented friends and his relentlessly supportive parents.
KATE LEIGH MICHALSKI (Maria Feste) is thrilled to make her Ensemble debut in this wonderful Shakespeare fun times! Past favorite shows include Guys and Dolls (Sarah Brown) at The Cassidy Theatre, Hair at Blank Canvas Theatre, Young Frankenstein at Beck Center, Sunday in the Park with George (Frieda) at True North, The Texas Chainsaw Musical (Lucretia) and Godspell, at Blank Canvas Theatre. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Point Park University. Many thanks to Aaron for his trust, his unending patience, and this fantastic opportunity to play with a truly amazing cast of friends. Love you Mom! Love you Dad.
TESS BURGLER (Olivia) is pleased to be performing on the Ensemble stage for the first time. No stranger to Shakespeare, she is a company member and associate producer with the Ohio Shakespeare Festival in Akron. There, she has played Imogen, Juliet, Viola, Cordelia, Helena, Bianca, the other Bianca, Ladies Anne and Percy, Nerissa, Witch 2, Rosaline, Guildenstern, and others. She has studied in depth Shakespeare’s verse and original practices. More recently, she appeared as Mabel in Coach House Theatre's Three Men on a Horse. Other favorite roles include Tracey Lord (The Philadelphia Story), Cecily (Importance of Being Earnest), Player 1 (Shipwrecked!), and Anybodys (West Side Story). By day, she teaches Language Arts at Hudson Montessori Middle School. She is lucky to often share the stage with her sun and stars, Joe, whose name she haloos to the reverberate hills. To her family and friends who drove up to see the show, “I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks!"
DOUG KUSAK (Malvolio) recently appeared as Fragrance Fellow in Spirits to Enforce at Cleveland Public Theatre. As part of a day job he wrote the Weekends on the Water script and narrated eight one-hour cruises for the Cleveland Foundation aboard the Goodtime III. . Favorite roles on stage include: Johnny in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Steve in Grace; Crumpet in Santaland Diaries; Man in This is How it Goes; and Matt in Red Light Winter. Professional theatrical credits include Bad Epitaph, the Bang & the Clatter, Beck Center, Blank Canvas Theatre,Cain Park, Charenton, Cleveland Public Theatre, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland SignStage, convergence-continuum, Dirty Shakespeare Company, Ensemble, FPAC, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Lakeland Theater, Theater Ninjas and TITLEWave. Doug's featured as Marty Machody in the award-winning film And the Winner Is... For broadcast and recorded media he is represented by the Docherty Agency.
TIM YOUNG (Antonio)
Meet THE CREW:
AARON D. ELERSICH (Director) first joined Ensemble in 2010 and was named an artistic associate in 2014. His most recent directing credit at Ensemble are All This Intimacy by Rajiv Joseph. Before that he assistant directed The Gospel According to James by Charles Smith under Artistic Director Celeste Cosentino. Aaron also served as an associate producer, director, actor and production manager at The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival for several seasons where he directed their 2011 production of Othello. Aaron has been seen as an actor on numerous area stages, including Ensemble, The Cleveland Playhouse, Dobama, Lakeland Civic Theater and Convergence Continuum to name just a few. Aaron lives in South Euclid with his wife Carrie, his daughters London and Catherine, a dog named Abraham and a cat named Auggie. Aaron dedicates this production to his friend and mentor, the late Jim McCormack, and to his Nanna, the woman that taught him about the power and pleasure of words.
SAM LANDGRAF (Stage Manager) is happy to be working on Twelfth Night with such an amazing cast and director. This is Sams second season with Ensemble and can not wait for what the upcoming season has in store. She has worked on lighting for Exit The King, Frankenstein(2013), and The Neverending Story. She Stage Managed The Great Gatsby, The Neverending Story, Frankenstein(2013), and Knock Me a Kiss. She is also one of the artistic associates for the theatre. She would like to thank Ian and Celeste for allowing her to work on the thing she loves most, and Becca for being her theatre sister.
