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Michael Keefe - Resident Composer Phil Timberlake - Resident Voice and Diction Coach Ron Keaton - Educational Program Coordinator Hayley L. Rice - Office Assistant
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Brian McKillip- President Alan I. Becker - Vice-President Patty Paul - Secretary Coleman Tuggle - Treasurer Margaret Bennett Ellen Callahan Jim Cunningham David Rice Alison C. Vesely
BOARD OF ADVISORY TRUSTEES Robert Jones (Attorney, Huck Bouma PC) Robert Schillerstrom (President, DuPage County Board) D. "Dewey" Pierotti (Chairman, DuPage Forest Preserve Board) Dr. Richard Strier (University of Chicago) Dr. Martin Mueller (Northwestern University) Dave LaBrash (Clarendon Hills Bank) Melissa LaBrash (Accountant)
ARTISTIC ASSOCIATES
Christopher Jensen - Scenic Designer/Technical Director Mr. Jensen has been with First Folio since its very first show in 1997 and has worked on everyone of its outdoor productions, including Richard III, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Antigone, As You Like It, Macbeth, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. Chris will design this summer's production of Much Ado About Nothing. He has also designed for many other Chicago area theatres, including designing the sets for Come Blow Your Horn, Lust-N-Rust (The Ttrailer Park Musical) at the Theatre Building and David's Mother and Old Wicked Songs at Apple Tree Theatre. He is currently enjoying his new job as scenic designer and technical director for Maine West High School. He resides in the northern suburbs with his wife Cindy, and their children Nadia and Donovan.
Visit Sean's work on the web! www.marriedalive.net www.adogslifethemusical.net www.anothernightbeforechristmas.com
Angie Weber Miller - Scenic Designer Ms. Miller designed Jeeves Intervenes and Driving Miss Daisy for the company this winter and spring. She will design our production of The Passion of Dracula in our new Event Hall space this coming fall. Previous credits include the 2007 remount, as well as the original premiere of The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story, Angel Street, The Tempest, Private Lives, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Prior to First Folio, she designed for Theatre at the Center, where her credits include Jolson & Company, The Thing About Men, Almighty Bob, Over the River and Through the Woods (later adapted for the Mercury Theatre), A Christmas Story, I Love You You're Perfect Now Change, High Society, Gigi, and Little Shop of Horrors. Additional credits include Two for the Show at Theater Wit; Five Guys Named Moe, and And the World Goes Round at Drury Lane Evergreen Park; His Way, A Tribute to the Man and His Music at the Mercury Theatre and at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts; and Rose-Marie and Yeoman of the Guard for Light Opera Works. Angie was a designer at Chicago Scenic Studios for six years where she designed exhibits, corporate scenery, television and video sets, and special events until “retiring” to expand her family.
Vicky Strei - Costume Designer Ms. Strei will be leaving the area this January to design all of the costumes for the opening of the new Hard Rock Theme Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! Past First Folio credits include: Richard III (as assistant costumer) Angel Street, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew (2005), A Midsummer Nights Dream (2004), Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Antigone and As You Like It. When not designing for First Folio, she focuses on her other two favorite endeavors: working with her Children's Theatre Company and designing and running the number one haunted house in the mid-west, Statesville Haunted Prison.
STAFF BIOGRAPHIES ALISON C. VESELY is the Artistic Director and is Co-Founder (with her husband David Rice) of First Folio Shakespeare Festival and directed last season’s Jeff Nominated world premier of The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe:A Love Story. Earlier this year she directed First Folio’s Jeff Nominated production of Richard III and the Jeff Recommended Angel Street. Other First Folio credits include The Tempest (1997 & 2006), Private Lives, A Connecticut Yankee, The Taming of the Shrew (1999 & 2005), The Importance of Being Earnest, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Antigone, As You Like It, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1998). Onstage at First Folio she has been seen as Widow Kitty in The Taming of the Shrew and Amelia in The Comedy of Errors. She also oversees First Folio’s school touring shows, which have played to over 100,000 students in the past eleven years. Before founding First Folio, Alison was the Classics Project Director for Footsteps Theatre, a women’s theater company specializing in all-female productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Alison worked as the Folio Director and Dramaturge on many productions at Footsteps, including Romeo and Juliet, A Midsommer Night’s Dreame, and Macbeth. She also performed in these productions, earning an After Dark Award for the title role in their production of Macbeth. Additionally, Alison directed Richard III for both Footsteps and Shakespeare’s Herd at the Chicago Cultural Center. Other directing credits include Twelfth Night for Dominican University, as well as Real Human Dialogue, Riders to the Sea, Kiss Me Kate, and Scrooge at various theaters around Chicagoland. As an actress, Alison’s work includes Richard II at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Exeter in the Jeff-Recommended Henry VI: Blood of a Nation (Bailiwick). Alison has also served as an adjudicator for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the Irene Ryan Awards and currently serves on the Theater Program Grants Panel for the Illinois Arts Council. She is a proud graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.
David Rice is producer and co-founder (with his wife Alison C. Vesely) of First Folio. He is proud to say that his script for The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe: A Love Story was nominated for a Jeff Award for Best New Adaptation. This past summer, his adaptation of Dean Monti’s Why Dogs Don’t Talk was chosen for City Lit Theater’s first annual Art of Adaptation Festival. This spring he’ll be moving back in front of the curtains to play Boolie in Driving Miss Daisy. He has also been seen at First Folio as Chris the Sly in The Taming of the Shrew, Egeus and Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Aegeon in The Comedy of Errors, Feste in Twelfth Night and Friar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing. David has also appeared as Boolie in Driving Miss Daisy, with Charlotte Rae (Briar Street Theatre); George Reed in 1776 (Marriott’s Lincolnshire); Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened... (Kinetic Theatre); and in numerous other plays and musicals, including Follies (Candlelight Dinner Playhouse), Kuni-Leml (Illinois Theatre Center), and Room Service (Bailiwick). David originated the role of Mr. Toad of Toad Hall in Doug Post’s musical version of The Wind in the Willows at the Organic Theater. Die-hard trivia fans might be interested to know that David was a 4-time winner on Jeopardy! David has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity Assn. since 1991
Michael Keefe has provided music for First Folio for ten seasons, having composed scores for The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, As You Like It, Antigone, Twelfth Night, and The Comedy of Errors among others. Most recently, Michael conducted and played for the WTTW Soundstage concert with Raoul Malo (of "The Mavericks"), performed with Dennis DeYong (formerly of "Styx") as well as playing keyboards for the Chicago engagements of Wicked, Hairspray, Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp's Movin' Out, the ABBA musical Mamma Mia and many other Broadway touring shows. Michael has also performed with such artists as Henry Mancini, Shirley Bassey, and Eddie Arnold, as well as accompanying Edith Piaf singer Raquel Britton at Orchestra Hall, Charlotte Church at the Chicago Theater, the Three Tenors at the Chicago Theater, and the Joffrey Ballet's restaging of the 1967 groundbreaking ballet "Astarte" at the Auditorium. As a composer, Michael was commissioned by the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Chicago to write a setting of the "Passion According to St. John" and composed the score for WTTW's "Treasures of the Art Institute" as well as composing commercial music for clients such as 7-UP and Ruffles Potato Chips. Michael is also one of the principal synthesizer programmers in the Chicago area, working with such groups as the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera, and Steppenwolf Theater. |
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Daniel Allar has worked as
a stage manager for Driving Miss Daisy, Richard III, Hamlet,
The Taming of the Shrew, and on stage as
Banquo in MacBeth. He is stage managing all four of First Folio's
school touring shows as well as this summer's production of Much Ado About
Nothing. Dan’s acting credits include work at the Goodman, Chicago
Shakespeare, Drury Lane Oak Brook, Court, Drury Lane Evergreen Park,
Candlelight, Forum, Apple Tree, Organic, Pheasant Run, and most recently as Sam
Byck in the Jeff Nominated ensemble of Assassins (Porchlight
Theatre). His films include Rooter in Henry: Portrait of a Serial
Killer 2 – The Mask of Sanity and Charlie in Chasing Robert.
Mr. Allar played in two episodes of Early Edition (CBS),
one of What About Joan? (ABC), and he plays Avocado on
Prison Break (FOX). Last December he performed with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall and at Carnegie Hall in Bartok’s
The Miraculous Mandarin.
Dan has worked at Bradley University as the
Technical Director and Scene Shop Foreman, doing set and props design for Drury
Lane Evergreen Park, and as Stage Manager at the Apollo Professional Theatre.
He resides in Westchester, with his wife Gwen, and their children Garret and
Isabella.
Michael Goldberg
was last seen at First Folio as the usurper Antonio in The Tempest. He
will be returned to directing for the company this summer with Much Ado About
Nothing. In
2003, Michael directed First Folio’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
which received two Jeff Award nominations. His movement and combat
work for the company include Richard III, Hamlet, The Madness of Edgar
Allan Poe: A Love Story, Much Ado About Nothing and several school touring
productions. He has choreographed for many of Chicago’s stages including
the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Court Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre,
Shattered Globe, American Theatre Company, and Wisdom Bridge Theatre. Chicago
acting credits include Kabuki Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), As You Like It,
Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre);
Metamorphosis (Lookingglass Theatre); Action Movie: The Play, Ubu Raw
(Defiant Theatre); The Flight of the Phoenix (American Blues Theatre);
and shows at Big Game Theatre, Bailiwick Repertory, and A Red Orchid Theatre.
Regional credits: Achilles (The People’s Light & Theatre Co.); The Idaho
Shakespeare Festival. He resides in the Chicago area with his wife, Kelly, and
their sons, Jacob and Will.
Christian Gray
returned to First Folio's stage this winter to play the hapless Bertie
Wooster in the Jeff Recommended Jeeves Intervenes. He is also hard at work directing two of
First Folio’s educational touring shows - The Fifty Minute Romeo and Juliet
and Shakespeare's Warring and Wooing. He also appears as Oberon in
The Fifty Minute Midsummer with the Tour. Previous credits at First
Folio include Private Lives, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The
Taming of the Shrew (2005 and 1999), Twelfth Night, The Importance of
Being Earnest, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer
Night's Dream (1998). Christian was recently seen as a hilarious Count
Dracula in Laughing Stock at Artists Ensemble in Rockford and in What
Every Woman Knows and
Getting Married at Shaw Chicago.
Sean Grennan
has been focusing more on the writing side of his life these past couple of years. His play
Married Alive! has been performed around the country, including a
production summer at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago. His most recent show, A
Dog's Life debuted last season at the American Heartland Theater, which will
also be mounting his next show Another Night Before Christmas this
coming, well, Christmas! First Folio acting credits include A Midsummer
Night's Dream (2004) Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing and the
record-setting production of The Taming of the Shrew, with his wife,
Kathy Santen. Sean recently appeared as the lead in Mitch Albom's Duck Hunter
Shoots Angel and has appeared in a very
semi-recurring role on "Law & Order-Criminal Intent" (OK twice...). Sean misses
the gang and the fine audiences at First Folio and wishes you all the best.
He resides in New York with his wife, Kathy Santen. 
Melanie Keller
is currently working at the Stratford Festival of Canada, where she is the 2007
Chicago Associates Fellow. She will be seen there in Love's Labours Lost
and Romeo and Juliet. She was last seen at First Folio playing Bella Manningham in Angel Street.
Other First Folio credits include Private Lives and The Importance of
Being Earnest - both of those productions earned Jeff Award Nominations.
Earlier this past year she was also seen in The Weir at Signal Ensemble,
her other home company and in the Jeff Citation-Winning Ensemble of Marathon
‘33 at Strawdog Theatre.
Kevin McKillip
returned to the First Folio stage this winter as Eustace Bassington-Bassinton
in the Jeff Recommended Jeeves Intervenes. He appeared
last summer as the title character in First Folio’s Richard III,
which earned him a Jeff Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He recently
directed two of First Folio’s educational touring productions
- The Fifty Minute Midsummer and Master Shakespeare and his Stories.
Other First Folio credits include: The Importance of Being Earnest, A
Midsummer Night's Dream (Jeff Award Nomination - Best Supporting Actor),
Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Antigone, As You Like It, Macbeth, Much Ado About
Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew (1999) and A Midsummer
Night's Dream (1998). He was seen in Court Theater’s
production of Arcadia and has also appeared at The Goodman Theatre,
Milwaukee Rep, Pennisula Players (where he will be appearing in all five
productions this coming summer), Shaw Chicago, Artist's Ensemble, Famous Door
and at American Players Theatre. Kevin was the 2002 Chicago Associates
Fellow to the Stratford Festival of Canada. While there he appeared in
Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, The White Devil and A
Midsummer Night's Dream and was the recipient of a Tyrone Guthrie Award.
Nick
Sandys is our newest Artistic Associate and will be playing the role of Benedick
in our summer production of Much Ado About Nothing. He most recently appeared as Buckingham
in last summer's Jeff Recommended production of Richard III, as well as
Theseus/Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2004). Other recent Chicago
credits include: Henry in The Real Thing (Jeff Nomination-Best Actor)
Tartuffe in Tartuffe, Willocks in Aren’t We All? Bernard in
Arcadia (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, where he is also an Artistic
Associate); Freud in Oedipus Complex (Goodman Theatre); Cardinal in
The Duchess of Malfi (Writers' Theatre); Darcy in Pride and Prejudice
(Northlight Theatre); Sherlock (replacement) in Sherlock’s Last Case
(Drury Lane Oakbrook); and Alceste in The Misanthrope (Next Theatre --
Jeff nomination). Last season he directed Twelfth Night for Noble
Fool Theatricals and he this fall he directed Steven Dietz's Fiction for
Remy Bumppo. His work as a fight director is seen all over the city, most
recently at Shattered Globe, Timeline, The Goodman, Silk Road, Vittum Theatre,
The Theatre School at DePaul, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.