Scott C. Neale is thrilled to return to St. Louis Shakespeare Festival after designing the 2023 Shakespeare in the Streets production of The Game’s Afoot. As You Like It is Scott’s seventh SFSTL mainstage design, after his first production of Taming of the Shrew in 2011 and most recently The Winter’s Tale in 2017. Scott is an award-winning freelance scenic & experiential designer and Chair of the Scenic Design program at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has served as Resident Scenic Designer for Albany Park Theater Project in Chicago since 2006, which recently opened a 12,000 Sq. Ft. immersive production co-created with Third Rail Projects titled Port of Entry, an experience which invites audience members to step inside the real-life stories of immigrants and refugees from all parts of the world living side by side in a single apartment building in one of the country’s most diverse immigrant communities: Chicago’s Albany Park. Port of Entry was recently featured in the Fall 2023 edition of American Theatre Magazine. In addition, he continues to design theatrical sets, exhibits and events, and interactive immersive environments around the world.

Scott is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, Themed Entertainment Association, and USITT. He is also a credited contributor to the collegiate textbook Scene Design and Stage Lighting, 9th and 10th Editions (Parker, Wolf & Block: 9th and 10th Editions © Wadsworth 2009, 2013). www. ScottCNealedesign.com

Dottie is a St. Louis-based designer and has received multiple St. Louis Critics Circle and Kevin Kline Awards or nominations for her work. At St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Dottie designed Romeo & Juliet for the inaugural season and has designed other productions, including Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Henry Project and Twelfth Night. Long associated with Repertory Theatre St. Louis, she designed over 100 productions for The Rep’s Mainstage, Studio, and Imaginary Theatre Company seasons, including Pride & Prejudice, Hamlet, A Christmas Carol, Macbeth, Amadeus, Saint Joan, Kiss Me, Kate, The Taming of the Shrew and The Three Musketeers. For STAGES St. Louis, Dottie’s designs include The Secret Garden, My Fair Lady, Meet Me in St. Louis, Music Man, Carousel, Camelot, Man of La Mancha, and A Little Night Music. 

In addition to her St. Louis credits, Dottie has worked with Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Reduced Shakespeare Company, PCPA Theatrefest and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

A professor emerita in design at the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University, she also received the William T. Kemper Excellence in Teaching Award and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Beth Bombara is an accomplished songwriter, performer, and musician whose artistry has left an indelible mark on not only the St. Louis music scene, but across the midwest and beyond. With a career spanning multiple albums, Bombara has garnered acclaim for her ability to craft deeply emotive and thought-provoking lyrics while weaving together various musical styles from folk, rock, jazz to blues. It’s not that it’s retro, really, but there is something of a different era about her music – it has an earnestness to it, an organic depth that feels natural and easy. The Columbia Tribune notes, “Her songs live in the same world as greats like Petty and Dylan; Gillian and Joni, and grow up like trees drawing nourishment from their roots. But she never, ever sounds like the “typical” artist who claims these influences; Bombara to zig where someone else might zag, making harder or gentler turns, brushing up against jazz or taking rock toward its fulfillment.” As a performer, Beth has graced stages internationally, showcasing at the UK Americana Festival in London. Whether performing in intimate venues or large festivals, her genuine love for music and connecting with people propel her forward, pushing boundaries and exploring the universal language of song. 

Delaney Piggins (she/they) is an Arts Leader, Theatre Producer & Artist from Chicago, St. Louis, and beyond. She is the Executive Director of Ring of Keys, a national artist service organization that promotes community and visibility for queer women, trans, and non-binary artists in musical theatre. Delaney graduates in June of 2024 with their MFA in Arts Leadership from DePaul University. She currently serves as a Fellow at Chicago Shakespeare Theater where she is a deputy under CST’s Executive Director and Line Producer of local and international work. She was previously the Artistic Producer at the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) where she built new programming, produced and presented seasons of professional and pre-professional theatre and dance, and led new work development for multi-generational audiences. Delaney was the Associate Producer at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival for St. Louis Shakespeare in the Streets in 2018 and 2019, and she Co-Founded Action Art Collaborative with Colin McLaughlin, Kathi Bentley, and Joan Suarez. In 2022, Delaney was commissioned by St. Louis Shakespeare Festival’s Regional Writers’ Project for their play, HOMES. Delaney’s play Burden of Proof, premiered at SATE in 2018 and was produced in 2020 by Exit Left Theatre Company. They have served as an Intimacy Director and Consultant at STAGES St. Louis, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, The Sargeant Conservatory of Theatre Arts, and St. Louis University. Delaney earned her BFA in Acting from The Sargeant Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University. She’s glad to be back in her first artistic home of St. Louis, telling a story of love and self-discovery with Nancy Bell and the team at STL Shakes.

Caroline is making a childhood dream come true, returning to St. Louis to play Rosalind in the Park. She’s a proud graduate of Nerinx Hall and Webster’s Conservatory and is no stranger to St. Louis Shakespeare Festival: former credits include Hamlet and Puck in the 2016 Education Tour and Rosalind in “Good In Everything”, Shakespeare in the Streets 2014. New York credits include Midsummer: A Banquet; I’m Happy for You; and Big St. Germain. Regional: former company member of Great River Shakespeare Festival (All’s Well That Ends Well, The Comedy of Errors, Romeo & Juliet); Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); and Nashville Shakespeare Festival (Richard II). She’s currently based in New York City and you can follow her on instagram (@carolineamos) and TikTok (@caroline.amos) or check out her website (www.carolineamos.com).”

Christian Thompson is thrilled to be making his St. Louis Shakespeare Festival debut! A mixed race, multi-hyphenated artist from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Broadway: Wicked (Fiyero), Thoughts Of A Colored Man (Passion), Ain’t Too Proud (Smokey Robinson/Damon Harris). Regional: Devil Wears Prada (World Premier), Catch Me If You Can (Arena Stage). Tour: Wicked (Fiyero), Ain’t Too Proud (Swing), Rent 20th Anniversary (Benny, u/s Roger). JMF’s Writers Grove Participant at Goodspeed Musicals, 24′. Commissioned Playwright at Penn State, 22’. @itschristianthompson

Riley Carter Adams (SAG-AFTRA) is an 9th grader and has performed in a plethora of youth and professional theatre productions with COCA, Gateway Center for Performing Arts, Ignite Theatre Company, Union Avenue Opera, The Black Rep, The Rep, and The Muny, where she is also a member of The Muny Kids Touring Troupe. In 2019, Riley made her television debut in a recurring role in a Showtime Original series entitled On Becoming a God in Central Florida, co-executive produced and starring Kirsten Dunst.  She also starred in the local Nine PBS sensation A New Holiday, directed by Brian Owens. Riley voices the animated character, Nevaeh Campbell, in the Nine PBS educational series, Drawn In created by Lion Forge Animation. A few favorite theatre roles include Tom of Warwick/Reveler in Camelot (The Muny), Debater in What the Constitution Means to Me (Max and Louie Productions), and Paris France Washington in  The Bee Play (New Jewish Theatre). You can also look for Riley in the Youth Ensemble in The Muny’s 106th Season’s Waitress and In The Heights. She is extremely thankful to the AYLI team of creatives for this amazing opportunity! Follow her IG: @its_miss_riley. 

Kathryn Bentley has an extensive career as an actor, director and arts educator. She has performed with companies such as The St. Louis Black Repertory Company, Portland Stage, Cleveland Playhouse and Buffalo Studio Arena. A few of her directing credits include “Love at the River’s Edge” (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival), Bold, Brave and Curious (Metro Theater Company) and Action (Action Art Collaborative), which she co-produced. From 2018-2021, she was the Artistic Director of Bread & Roses Missouri, directing The Workers’ Theater Project and the company’s first full-length productions of Jailbird in 2019 and the radio drama Mrs. Palmer’s Honey in 2021. She is a 2002 Fellow of the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission (RAC) Community Arts Training Institute and currently serves on their advisory board. In 2014, she was one of the inaugural recipients of the RAC Artist Fellowship and in 2020 she received the Outstanding Working Artist St. Louis Visionary Award. Kathryn is an NCCJ St. Louis Certified Diversity FaciliTrainer. As the Founder and Curator of The Alaiyo Collective, she specializes in developing new creative works and community-engaged arts collaborations utilizing inclusive theater practices. Kathryn strives to create compassionate, artistic experiences, using theater to lift social consciousness.

CB Brown is bouncing off the walls to be making their professional debut at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival! Training: They are on track to graduate from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in 2025 with a BFA in Acting. Recent Credits: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Sargent Conservatory), Blood at the Root (Sargent Conservatory), Rain and Zoe Save the World (Sargent Conservatory), and Sueño (Sargent Conservatory). Socials: Connect with CB via Instagram @cblovesyouall

Greg Cuellar [kway-yar] a St. Louis native, making his debut at STLSF. NYC credits: Comedy of Errors (Classic Stage), I Wanna F*ck Like Romeo & Juliet (New Light – ’24 LAMBDA Nominee), Play On! Shakespeare Festival (Oregon Shakespeare), and It’s Only a Play opposite Broadway legends Kristine Nielsen, Julie Halston, directed by Tony-nominee Kevin Cahoon (George Street Playhouse). Recent work: voiced Ferdinand in The Tempest (Play On Podcasts – ’23 Silver Sigil Award), guest-starred on New Amsterdam (NBC), and featured in Beauty of a Blank Space (’22 Audience Award at Austin Film Festival). Cuellar is active in new work development, collaborating with Page 73, The Public’s Emerging Writer’s Group, and Alchemation. Additional projects for Apple TV, Playwrights Realm, The Lark, Trans Theatre Lab, and The Civilians. Playground-LA company member. COCA’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Jack Kent Cooke Arts Scholar, and Bob Hope Foundation Fellow. Training: MFA Columbia University. This performance is dedicated to his early STL mentors: Ed Reggi, Cecilia Nadal, Shawna Flanigan, Beth Enloe Fritz, and Tom Martin. ‘thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.’ GregCuellarActor.com @itsgregcuellar

Ricki Franklin (she/her) is so excited to be returning to the Shakespeare Festival mainstage after her award-winning run as Dame Toby in last year’s production of Twelfth Night. She has been seen previously as Kathryn in the critically acclaimed premiere of See You in a Minute with Contraband Theater. She has also been seen in the Shakespeare Festival tours of Othello (Emilia) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius/Bottom). She’s a St Louis, Missouri, native who was trained at Baylor University. Some of her favorite credits include Monique Thomas in Feminine Energy (Mustard Seed Theatre), Ensemble in Comb Your Hair or You’ll Look Like a Slave, Lucrece in The Liar and Buddy (Bunny) Holly in Honeymoon in Vegas. IG: pretty_ricki20

Hannah Geisz is currently fulfilling her childhood dream of performing Shakespeare in the Park, something she’s passionately attended since 3rd grade. Huge thanks to Nancy, Ricki, Michelle, and the entire As You Like It team, as well as the Festival for welcoming her enthusiasm. Past Credits Include: Cymbeline, Othello, and Shakespeare in the Streets in Bevo Mill with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Spells of the Sea and Go Dog Go! at Metro Theatre Company, and The Lonesome West with West End Players Guild, for which she won a St. Louis Theatre Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Hannah is also directing the Summer Shakespeare Studio this June: a program that provides St. Louis area students with concrete performance tools and pre-professional performance experience. 1 Cor 1:31

Michelle Hand has been lucky enough to perform with nearly every iteration of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival—appearing as Mrs. Page in the touring production of Merry Wives of Windsor, as Kent in the Shakespeare in the Streets production of “Blow, Winds Blow” and as Maggie in Into the Breeches, where she received the St. Louis Theater Circle Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy. This opportunity to now perform in the park, where it all began, is a true privilege—thank you to Nancy Bell, Tom and Adam for making it possible. Many thanks to our cast and designers and crew for their magic, to Dave, Baz and Matt for their love and to this great community of St. Louis theater artists for giving me a home these past twenty years.

Isaiah Henry (he/him) is ecstatic to be making his St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and professional debut in As You Like It. Isaiah graduated from the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in May of this year. Recent educational credits include: Old Prince Bolkonsky/Andrey in Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 (Dir. Michael Baxter), Paris in Romeo & Juliet (Dir. Jef Awada), and Icarus in Myths and Hymns (Dir. Evangeline Whitlock). Follow Isaiah’s journey on instagram: @_isaiahhenry_ or visit his website: www.isaiah-henry.com

Wali Jamal is a visiting artist from Pittsburgh who is elated and honored to perform in this great celebration of the Bard. He has been performing on stage for the last four decades. Wali has the single distinction of being the only actor in the world to have performed in all ten plays in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle PLUS his one-man play How I Learned What I Learned, for which Wali was named the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Performer of the Year. He also does Artist’s Residencies at Colleges, performing that one-man play and conducting master classes on acting, August, and playwriting. 

This is Jop’s seventh production at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, beginning with Romeo and Juliet in 2001, in which he was given the honor of delivering the first lines spoken on the stage at The Glen. He has appeared in over 230 productions in the St Louis area since coming here in 1972. He wishes to thank all those who support theatre; the audience, the management, the staff, the crews, the actors, the directors, the playwrights, and everyone else who have made theatre in St Louis the thriving success it has become. Special thanks to his remarkably talented daughter and son, Jennifer and Jared, and very especially the love of his life, his beloved wife, Janie.

The Maniacal Mephisto has terrorized the STL wrestling scene for almost two decades with a controversial and violent style. Having earned the title of “STLs most hated wrestler”, Mephisto seems to enjoy it. After all this is a man who has wrestled on Thumbtacks, Barbed Wire, Glass and consumes the physical blood of his opponents. Mephisto was once arrested at The South Broadway Athletic Club for assaulting an official. Lenny also owns and promotes his own pro Wrestling company in Saint Louis, Pro Wrestling Epic. You can find PWE on all social media platforms and youtube by searching @pwepic

Joel Moses is excited to make his mainstage debut at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival! Shakespeare fanatics may remember him from last year’s Festival TourCo production of Merry Wives. Joel is a multiple St. Louis Theater Circle Award recipient for his work in Bronte Sister House Party (SATE), and The Christians (West End Players). Elsewhere in St. Louis, he has performed with St. Louis Repertory Theatre (Murder on the Orient Express), The New Jewish Theatre (All My Sons, Laughter on the 23rd Floor), St. Louis Actors’ Studio (Copenhagen, The Zoo Story, The Dumb Waiter), and the Midnight Company (The Lion in Winter). Regional credits include productions with First Folio Theatre, 16th Street Theater, Theatre Y, and several seasons with the Organic Theater Company in Chicago. He received his MFA in Acting from Northern Illinois University and studied abroad at the Moscow Art Theatre.

Jasmine Cheri Rush is elated to be back with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival where she played Olivia in last year’s production of Twelfth Night. Most recently, Jasmine was seen as Medea in the Exodus Ensemble’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy. Other credits include STEW (Nelly), School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play (Gifty), and King Lear (Cordelia). Jasmine is a 2021 graduate of the BFA Acting program at The Theatre School at DePaul University, where she starred in the Chicago premiere of Our Lady of Kibeho. She is a writer, mover, deviser, and newly a film director. You can find Jasmine on all social media platforms @jazzycheri.  She is represented by Gray Talent Group.

Bianca Sanborn is so ecstatic to be working on As You Like It with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival this summer! A recent graduate in the class of 2023 from The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University, Bianca received their BFA in Acting. Some of their credits include A Bright Room Called Day (Die Alte/Herr Swetts), American Idiot (St. Jimmy), the first annual production of A Christmas Carol at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (Ghost Dancer/Beggar), Billy Elliot at COCA (George), as well as appearing in the Confluence New Play Festival this year in “Saving Grace” (Grace) and in 2022. 

Sam Golden is a St. Louis-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, recording and mixing engineer, and music teacher. Active in the regional music scene, Sam has collaborated as a recording and performing artist with a diverse array of St. Louis musicians, sharing the stage with Beth Bombara, Brothers Lazaroff, Ryan Koenig and many others. Sam runs Holiday Heart Studio, a professional recording and music production studio specializing in string arrangements.