Carl Cofield was appointed Associate Artistic Director of the Off-Broadway award winning Classical Theatre of Harlem in 2018.  For CTH he has directed: The Bacchae (New York Times Critic’s Pick), Antigone, Macbeth, The Tempest and Dutchman.  He directed the award-winning world premiere of Kemp Power’s One Night in Miami for Rogue Machine Theater in Los Angeles, Miami New Drama and Denver Center. Other regional credits include A Raisin in the Sun and Afro-futuristic Twelfth Night at Yale Rep, Henry IV at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Disgraced at Denver Center, The Mountaintop at Cleveland Play House, August Wilson’s Radio Golf at Everyman Theatre and many others. For the McCarter Theatre, he collaborated with seven playwrights: Nathan Alan Davis, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Dipika Guha, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Emily Mann, and Regina Taylor, and directed The Princeton and Slavery Plays. Honors include an N.A.A.C.P theater award, L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award and many AUDELCO nominations. As an actor, his work has been seen at The Manhattan Theater Club (Ruined), Berkeley Rep, Alliance, Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, Intiman, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Milwaukee Rep, Alabama Shakespeare, The McCarter, The Acting Company, Studio Theatre and many others.  He was in the founding class of The New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida and B.F.A. in theatre performance from the University of Miami. He holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University and has also taught at Columbia, NYU and the New School and is on the faculty of the Yale School of Drama.

Wilson Chin’s designs include the world premieres of Next Fall (Broadway), Pulitzer Prize winner Cost of Living (Manhattan Theatre Club), Pass Over (Steppenwolf/Lincoln Center, Lortel Award nominee), Wild Goose Dreams (Public Theater/La Jolla Playhouse), The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons), Teenage Dick (Public Theatre), Aubergine (Berkeley Rep), Anne of Green Gables (Goodspeed Musicals), My Mañana Comes (Playwrights Realm), Tiger Style! (Alliance/Huntington), The Great Leap (Denver Center/Seattle Rep). Previous designs in St. Louis are Gaslight (St. Louis Theater Circle Award) and Miss Bennett, both at Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Opera designs include Lucia di Lammermoor (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and Eine Florentinische Tragodie/Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera, Dora Award). Film/TV design includes Pass Over (directed by Spike Lee) and the NBC series Blindspot. @wilsonchindesign. Associate set designer: Riw Rakkulchon

Mika Eubanks received her MFA in Costume Design at Yale School of Drama where she has designed Death of Yazdgerd and Tent Revival. Other work includes Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., In the Red and Brown Water, Schoolgirls; or The African Mean Girls Play, The Purple Flower (Yale Cabaret); Feeding Beatrice (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis); Harry and the Thief (Strand Theater); Animals out of Paper (Silver Spring Theater); and The Clothesline Muse (National Black Theatre Festival). Currently in New York, but hailing from Baltimore, Mika has worked at Center Stage, the Hippodrome, and Morgan State University. She earned the Leo Lerman Graduate Fellowship in 2019, the Jada Pinkett Smith Applied Arts Award in 2015, and holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. In Spring 2019 she designed Twelfth Night at the Yale Repertory Theatre, for which she received the Connecticut Critic Circle Award for outstanding costume design. Web site: mikaeubanks.com

David R. Molina is also a multi-instrumentalist, sound artist, and instrument inventor. He has created music and sound for all the performing arts, film, and multimedia productions, nationally and internationally, for the past 24 years. Most of his collaborations focus on social justice issues and include oppressed community members. He teaches sound and engineers at Brava Theater Center (SF). Awards include: LA Ovation, sound design, for Lydia, Mark Taper Forum, 2009; Creative Capital Grant (2009), Wattis Fund, (2011) with Secos Y Mojados; InterMusic SF’s MGP (2016). Molina’s instruments and multimedia collaborations were displayed at SFMOMA, The Broad Museum, Oakland Museum of California, McLoughlin Gallery, SOMArts. Band collaborations: TAU (Berlin), Emanative (UK), El Paso (Peru), The Pyramids. Molina’s bands are: Impuritan, Ghosts and Strings, and Transient. www.drmsound.com.

John Wylie is the Head of Production Programs at Webster University where he teaches Technical Direction and Lighting.  He is a graduate of Augustana College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City.  John has designed for The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Missouri Rep, the St. Louis Black Rep, Metro Theatre Company, Variety Children’s Theatre, Geva Theatre and Alabama Shakespeare, among others.  This is his fourteenth season with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. In past seasons at the Festival, John has designed the lighting for Much Ado, Richard III, Merry Wives, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Twelfth Night, Henry V, Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, and Love’s Labors Lost.

André De Shields is the triple-crown winner of the 2019 awards season, having won the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Tony awards for Best Featured Actor in a musical for his critically acclaimed performance as Hermes, Messenger to the Gods, in Hadestown. The Actors’ Equity Foundation followedsuit with the Richard Seff Award, honoring veteran stage actors’ best supporting performances of the year. In 2020, André received the 2020 Grammy Award for Musical Theater Album for Hadestown, an Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and the 2020 AUDELCO for Lifetime Achievement. In 2019, he received the 2019 Project1Voice Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2019 SAGE Joyce Warshow Lifetime Achievement Award, The York Theatre Company’s 2019 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre, and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He received the key to the city of his hometown, Baltimore, Maryland, from Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young in August, 2019. Prior to his Tony Award win, De Shields was best known for his show-stopping performances in four legendary Broadway productions: The Wiz, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award), Play On! (Tony Nomination), and The Full Monty (Tony Nomination). In a career spanning 52 years, he has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, and educator, receiving in 2018 the eighth annual Off-Broadway Alliance Legend Award and the 33rd annual Bob Harrington Life Achievement Bistro Award. Among his other accolades are the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award and a 2007 Village Voice Obie Award for sustained excellence of performance, and eight AUDELCO Awards for Outstanding Performance, Direction and Choreography. His film and TV projects include Anton Ego in “Ratatouille: The TikTok Tok Musical”, the Algebra Tutor in “John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch” on Netflix, Chubby in “Katy Keene” (CW) and as Wyndham on “Almost Family.” He can next be seen as Gavin Plimsoll in Charles Busch’s new film, The Sixth Reel. De Shields is a proud member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and SDC. UBUNTU! www.andredeshields.com

Rayme Cornell has been a Professional Actor for over 25 years, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Actors Equity Association. Rayme is an Associate Professor at The Conservatory at Webster University. She began her teaching career as an Assistant Professor in the Stage & Screen Acting program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she taught Acting, Shakespeare, Modern Styles, Audition Techniques, and Voice-Overs, in the MFA and Undergraduate Acting programs. She was the host of the national award-winning PBS show Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy. She worked in film, television, Off-Broadway and with some of the nations most prestigious regional theaters. Her favorite roles include; Cassandra in Trojan Women  (The Old Globe), The Greek Chorus, in the world premiere of Trevor Nunn and John Barton’s seven hour play, The Greeks, (The Alley Theatre), Louise Marie Therese in the premiere of Lynn Nottage’s new play Las Meninas (Crossroads), Elmire in Tartuffe (The New York Acting Company), Olivia in Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Santa Cruz); Aunt Cora in the world premier of the John Henry Redwood play ‘No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs’ (The Philadelphia Theatre Company and New York’s Primary Stages), Titania in Midsummer and Queen Margaret in Richard III (Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival), Odessa in Water by the Spoonful, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Diane in Little Dog Laughed, Arkadina in The Seagull and Mrs. Muller in Doubt (Nevada Conservatory Theatre).Other regional theatre credits; Arizona Theatre Company, Vinyard Playhouse, The O’Neill, Missouri Repertory Theatre and The Unicorn Theatre. Rayme is a private coach for professionals. Her speech and acting clients range from network News Anchors and Celebrity Chefs to UFC champions. Rayme is also known for her extensive voice-over work. Rayme is a Master Teacher at the Don LaFontaine Voice Over Lab at the Screen Actors Guild Foundation in Los Angeles and New York. Rayme has represented such products as L’Oreal, Ford, Dunkin Donuts, Uber, Cingular Wireless, Station Casino’s, Singulair, Lifetime, WE, Oxygen Network, USA Network, MTV, VH1, BET, ESPN, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Republican and Democratic Candidates and many more. Her greatest role to date is that of being Brick’s Mom.

St Louis native, J. Samuel Davis has appeared on stages all around the country. J Samuel started his acting career as a member of St Louis Black Repertory Company. Most recently (pre pandemic) performed in The Black Reps production of Two Trains Running in the role of West. He has performed all over the St Louis area. New Jewish Theater, Upstream theater, Repertory Theater of St Louis, and Mustard Seed Theater. Some of his favorite roles include Simon (The Whipping Man), Oedipus (Oedipus King), Floyd (Seven Guitars), Jesus(Godspell), Curtis (Dreamgirls), Bashir Lazhar (Bashir Lazhar) for which he won a Kevin Kline award and Antione Dupree (District Merchants) for which he won a St Louis Theater Circle award.

Leland Fowler* Off-Broadway: one in two (The New Group); Novenas for a Lost Hospital (Rattlestick); If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons); Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public); Measure for Measure (TFANA). Regional: Skeleton Crew (Westport Country Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival); Protect the Beautiful Place (McCarter Theatre Center); Seven Guitars (Yale Rep); The Taming of the Shrew, Tiny Houses (Chautauqua Theatre Company); Songs to Grow On and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Alliance Theatre).  TV: “City On A Hill.”  BA: Morehouse College.  MFA: Yale School of Drama.

Allen Gilmore* is very happy to debut at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in this production of King Lear. A resident of Chicago, he is a proud ensemble member of Congo Square Theater Company where he played Papa Shakespeare in The African Company Presents Richard the Third and Bynum in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. He is the first actor of color to play Scrooge in Goodman Theater’s annual production of A Christimas Carol. He has been an actor for 40 years and performed across the United States and Canada and in Paris, France and Madrid, Spain. Favorite roles include Othello (Atlantic Theater Festival; Nova Scotia), Cyrano (Court Theater; Chicago), Uncle John in Objects In The Mirror (Goodman Theater; Chicago), Aaron in TITUS ANDRONICUS (Intiman Theater; Seattle), M. Geronte in A Doctor in Spire of Himself  (Berkeley Rep; Berkeley, CA), and Malvolio in Twlfth Night (Yale Rep; New Haven, CT), directed by his good friend, Carl Cofield. He has received numerous acting awards and nominations and is a 2015 3Arts Prize awardee, a 2015 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, and the 2019 Ruddall Prize recipient. Allen is originally from Houston, TX and is a U.S. Army Infantry veteran.

Kentrell Jamison a native of Chicago, Illinois (the city not the suburbs) is a first-year Acting Intern at The Black Rep. Kentrell recently performed in the Front Porch Society stage reading by Melda Beaty at The Black Rep. He also performed in The Incredible Jungle Journey of Fenda Maria. He is a recent graduate from Washington University in Saint Louis with a bachelor’s in performing arts. As an undergraduate of Washington University, he performed all four years in black student theater performances. He is thankful for the opportunity to work with such a profound theater company and to be working with a remarkable group of colleagues.

Atum Jones, born in Saint Louis Missouri began studying music and dance (Djembe, West African Dance) at a young age with many dance companies in the St. Louis area including Spirit of Angela, Harambee Institute, Pinx Academy of dance and Afriky Lolo. Atum has studied West African percussion with world renowned musicians–Weedie Braimah, Caph Guei, Amadou Kouyate and many others. He graduated from Webster University with a B.A. in Music: Instrumental Performance, studying classical guitar under John McClellan, participating in master classes with Pavel Steidtl and GFA-winner Olivier Chassain (Paris Conservatory) and others. Atum began teaching West African dance at age 14 and has worked with groups across the U.S. and Europe. He currently works at COCA as a percussionist and teaches djembe and dance locally as well as throughout the US. In 2019, Atum began producing hip-hop, R&B and rock music under the alias RorschachBeatz and R.W. Kovack. He has released two instrumental albums and competed in several Fresh Produce Saint Louis and Oklahoma producing competitions.

Nicole King St. Louis Shakespeare Festival debut. Theater credits include Steel Magnolias (Guthrie Theater), title role Possessing Harriet (Syracuse Stage Theater Company), The Bluest Eye (Virginia Stage Company), Antony and Cleopatra (Folger Theater Company), Shakespeare’s R + J (Hangar Theater Company), and Macbeth (Shakespeare Theatre Company). International: A Midsummer Nights Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe, LONDON) AWARDS SALT “Best Leading Actress” Award in 2019. Training: B.F.A., Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts B.F.A. Actor Training Program. Shakespeare Globe Conservatory. Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artist Alumni. The Guthrie Theater Shakespeare Project. Website nicole-king.com

Jason J. Little is thrilled to be joining Shakespeare in the Park production this year! Jason performed in the regional premiere of Shakespeare’s lost play Cardenio in 2017 with St. Louis Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare in the Streets “Love at the Rivers Edge” in 2019.  Some of his previous performance’s include The Meeting where he portrays Malcolm X (Jpek Theater company), A Christmas Carol (Lyceum Theatre), To Kill A Mockingbird (The Repertory Theater of St. Louis), international: Camwood on the Leaves (Bermuda Islands), and many other shows around St. Louis and out of town. Jason would like to thank his family for allowing him to use his gift to tell stories around the world!

Theorri London a native of Arkansas is a first-year Acting Intern at The Black Rep. Theorri studied Theatre with a concentration in Performance at The University of Memphis, where she received a B.F.A. Some of her favorite roles include Jane Doe in Shaming Jane Doe, Kaliope in She Kills Monsters), and Engineer in Elephant’s Graveyard. She is very excited to be a part of King Lear.

Brian McKinley a native of Peoria, IL  has completed three years of the Acting Intern program at The Black Rep and is currently Executive Assistant to Producing Director Ron Himes. Brian attended Western Illinois University (WIU) to earn a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre. Credits from his time in college include The Tempest, The Colored Museum, The Wild Party and Ruined. Highlighted credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Minot State University Summer Theatre), Fences (The St. Louis Black Repertory Company), The Wizard of Oz (Theatre League, Inc.), and The Wiz (Center of Creative Arts). He would like to thank his family and friends for all their love and support.

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Credits include Broadway: Fish in the Dark (Cort Theatre); Off-Broadway: Terra Firma (BPAC); Regional: Othello (A.R.T.); Henry V in Henry V; Ferdinand in Love’s Labor’s Lost; Hal in Henry IV, Part One and Two; Ferdinand in The Tempest; Elliot in Water by the Spoonful; Posthumus in Cymbeline; Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and three seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival. Film: The Yellow Birds. 2011 National Irene Ryan Acting Award. BFA: Savannah College of Art and Design

Carl Overly, Jr is a full-time artist living in St. Louis. He was last seen with the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival as The Wall in “A Late Summer Night’s Stroll”. He also appeared in “The World Begun” and “The New World” as part of the companies Shakespeare in the Streets program. Recent credits include Poochie in Suffer the Children (COCA), Coach in Ghost (Metro Theater Company) and Wolf in Two Trains Running (The Black Rep). Carl has worked with SATE, Upstream Theater, Insight Theatre, West End Players Guild, Unity Ensemble Theater, Solid Lines Productions, Mustard Seed Theater, Magic Smoking Monkey, among others. His directing credits include MotherFu&@$er with the Hat (R-S Theatrics), Anansi the Spider (The Black Rep touring company), Baby Black Jesus (Q Collective) and Assistant Director for We are the Levisons (The New Jewish Theater). He was a producer for The Every 28 Hour Project (2015 and 2016). Carl was named a Rising Leader of Color by Theater Communications Group (TCG) in 2018 and is a three-time St. Louis Theater Circle Award winner. Carl is a teaching artist with Prison Performing Arts and COCA. Carl is a part of the EMC Program. #representationmatters Carl would like to thank Director Carl Cofield for this opportunity and his cast and crew for a wonderful experience. I would like to dedicate this performance to my late grandmother, Hilda Hord.

Jacqueline Thompson is a Theatre Artist who has directed/performed with The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, The Black Rep, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Upstream Theater, Mustard Seed, SATE, Metro Theater Company and New Jewish Theatre. In March 2018, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recognized her as one of six women shaping St. Louis arts and entertainment. She was also noted as one of St. Louis’ most versatile performers. She received a St. Louis Theater Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama as well as an Artist Fellowship from the Regional Arts Commission. Jacqueline Thompson was selected by the Theatre Communications Group (TCG, the national organization for theater) to participate in The Rising Leaders of Color program. In 2019, she received a Visionary award that recognizes St. Louis women in the arts. She is currently in the 2020-2021 Focus St. Louis Impact Fellows cohort. Jacqueline is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and is an Associate Professor in the Communication and Media Studies Department at UMSL.

Michael Tran is beyond thrilled to be returning to St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, having previously appeared in the staged reading of The Thousand Natural Shocks as part of the In The Works program. As a St. Louis native, he has performed in the ensembles of Pride and Prejudice (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), La Traviata (Opera Theatre St. Louis) (, Suffer the Children (COCA)  and Aida (The Muny). Regionally: Iago in Othello and Touchstone in As You Like It (Hoosier Shakes). B.F.A. Webster Conservatory. Michael is a proud member of the AEA-EMC program. tranmichael.com, @michael.thanh.tran. #UnapologeticallyAsian Michael is filled with immense gratitude for this amazing opportunity to work with a company that he has been inspired by for many years. He would like to thank Carl, Colin, and Tom as well as the countless creative forces offstage who make the magic possible every night. Much love to his family, friends, and teachers for their wisdom, generosity, and support.

Tyler White a native of St. Louis is a third-year Acting Intern at The Black Rep. Tyler’s performances include Milk Like Sugar, Crowns, Sarafina, The Black Nativity, The Me Nobody Knows, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, and Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope all at The Black Rep. Assistant Stage Manager for Canfield Drive, The Gospel at Colonus and Nina Simone: Four Women also at The Black Rep. Tyler graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Environmental Science with a major in Fashion Merchandising. Tyler is elated for this opportunity to work with such creative geniuses.

Brian Anthony Wilson is thrilled to be making his St. Louis Shakespeare Festival debut. Brian’s last time, live, ‘on the boards’, was at Act II Playhouse (Ambler, PA), in the one man show, “Looking Over The President’s Shoulder” in November of 2019. Regional Theatre, selected credits: Gem Of The Ocean (Arden Theatre * Barrymore Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Play), Thurgood (Olney Theatre Center, MD), King Lear (Shakespeare in Clark Park, PA) & Fences (J.A.G. Productions, VT). Film/TV selected credits: Oceans 8, Glass, Creed, Limitless, The Arrangement, The Postman / Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), Mare of Easttown (HBO), FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC), Siren (FreeForm), Bloodline (Netflix), The Sopranos, and The Wire (HBO). For my Family.

Christina Yancy a native of Alabama is a second year Acting Intern at The Black Rep. Since joining The Black Rep family, Christina has been featured in numerous productions including Home, Spell #7, For Colored Girls…, Freedom Songs, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt and The Incredible Jungle Journey of Fenda Maria. She received her B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Montevallo. While studying at university, Christina performed in Much Ado About Nothing, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, HAIR, and Boy. As always Christina would like to thank her spectacular mother and village for their continuous support as she lives out her dreams.