Regina García is a Chicago-based scenic designer from Puerto Rico. She has had long standing relationships with the Latinx Theatre’s renowned Teatros including Repertorio Español, the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Teatro Vista and Pregones Theater. Upcoming shows include American Players Theatre and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Regina is a Fellow of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Designers and the Princess Grace Awards, USA; a Regional Associate member of the League of Professional Theatre Women; and company member with both Rivendell Theatre Ensemble and Boundless Theatre Company. She is the Head of the Scenic Design at The Theatre School, DePaul University, and a founding organizational member of La Gente: The Latinx Theatre Production Network.

Danielle is a costume designer, artist, and curator. Aside from design she specializes in global fashion history, clothing psychology, and textiles.
She is passionate about projects that uplift community voices and share stories that engage and challenge the canonical narrative. She is particularly impassioned when working with fellow Latine artists on projects that aspire towards authentic representation, and is humbled by the tangible impact achieved through reflective collaboration.
Regional credits include: The Old Globe, The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, South Coast Repertory Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Village Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Cleveland Playhouse. Off-Broadway credits: Pity in History, No End of Blame, Gertrude The Cry, and Lovesong of the Electric Bear for the Potomac Theater Project NYC at the Atlantic Stage 2 in NYC. She worked for a few years in Ehime, Japan under MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), and has continued freelance translating Japanese on the side.  At the Kyoto Costume Institute she completed the certified curatorial training program for Japanese and Western costumes and textiles. ​Beyond art and clothing, she has a passion for the outdoors, trying to recreate her abuela’s recipes, and the martial art of Aikido. 

Regional: King Lear (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival) El Borracho, The XIXTH (The Old Globe); Hotter Than Egypt (DCPA), Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage/ The Alley/Round House/DCPA); Mojada (Rep of St. Louis/CTG/OSF); Two Trains Running (Seattle Rep/Arena Stage); La Mezcla’s Pachuquismo tour, Macbeth (Next Chapter Podcasts/Play On! Shakes). Resident Artist: Brava Theater, NAKA Dance Theater, Human Shakes. Awards: LA Ovation, Creative Capital Grant, InterMusic SF, San Francisco Arts Commission Grant, MAP Fund. Multimedia: SFMOMA, The Broad, Oakland Museum of California, McLoughlin Gallery. Music collaborations: Tau (Berlin), Emanative (UK), El Paso (Peru). Bands: Impuritan, Ghosts and Strings, Transient. His multimedia concert will premiere at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco on Dec 8 & 9, 2023. www.drmsound.com.

Christine Freije is a director and deviser based in Chicago and Portland, Oregon. As an MFA Directing candidate at The Theatre School at DePaul University, she has directed Vinegar Tom, Tartuffe, Everybody, and The Gap. Other recent credits include Antigone (Redtwist Theatre), Dream-Rushes (Theatre Contra), and Song of My Self-Care (Philadelphia Fringe Festival). She’s delighted to be working with St. Louis Shakespeare Festival for the first time with this inspiring group of artists.

Elisa Gonzales is a voice and dialect coach, actor, and educator based in Amherst, MA, where she is the Assistant Professor of Voice and Acting at UMass Amherst. Select voice and dialect coaching credits include The Hangar Theatre, The Phoenix Theatre Company, WAM Theatre, Silverthorne Theater Company, and American Players Theatre. MFA in Theatre Performance from Arizona State University. Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork and Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework. www.elisagonzales.com

Select Chicago and Regional credits include: The Cherry Orchard, Sweat (Goodman Theatre), The Wizards (Concrete Content), The Madres (Teatro Vista), Harbur Gate (16 th Street Theatre), Waiting for Godot (Tympanic Theatre Co.), The Adventures of Robin Hood, Reprise (Adventure Stage Chicago), Othello: The Moor of Venice (Invictus Theatre), The Lady Demands Satisfaction (Babes with Blades Theatre Co.), Hedda Gabler (Undermain Theatre), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Theatre Three), A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theatre Center.), Bomb-Itty of Errors, Cyrano (Riverside Theatre).

Esteban Andres Cruz was born in Berwyn and raised in Cicero, IL and grew up on Chicago stages. Just this past winter, Esteban made their off-Broadway musical debut with Norbert Leo Butz and Mary Beth Peil-in Cornelia Street.  In this world premiere musical (book by Simon Stephens, music/lyrics by Mark Eitzel, produced at the Atlantic Theater and directed by Neil Pepe) Esteban originated the role of Philip .  Esteban also originated the role of Venus Ramirez in the world premiere by Stephen Adly Gurgis, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven.  For that performance (Esteban’s off-Broadway acting debut) they were nominated for the Drama Desk Award, for Best Featured Actor. Esteban has appeared on many stages throughout Chicago and the US. They have won numerous awards for acting as well as choreography.  They also compose music, write plays, poems and stories and direct theater.  Film: Spa Night, Valley of Bones, The Thin Line, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and Rattled. TV: “Chicago Fire,” “Awkward,” “Easy,” “Idiot Sitter,” “The Bridge,” “You’re The Worst” and “South Side.”@estebanandrescruz.actor  www.estebanandrescruz.com  

Alisha Espinosa is a Boricua actor-playwright and Producing Artistic Director for the Latinx Playwrights Circle. She is also an artist-in-residence through the Creatives Rebuild New York Artist Employment Grant. Select Acting Credits: blooms (EST), A Skeptic & A Bruja (Urbanite), Seize the King (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theatre), Hamlet (Stage One), Shakespeare the Remix (Capital Rep), Much Ado About Nothing (KY Shakespeare). alishaespinosa.com | @la.espi | MFA UMKC

Adam Flores is thrilled to be making his St. Louis Shakespeare Festival main stage debut, though he performed in the inaugural Shakespeare in the Streets in 2012, and again in 2018. He was last seen on stage as Jaxton in The Thanksgiving Play at the Repertory Theatre St. Louis, for which he won a St. Louis Theatre Circle Award; he was nominated for the same honor for his work as Jackie in The Motherf***er with the Hat at R-S Theatrics. He has performed with dozens of local companies including Mustard Seed Theatre (founding artist), Metro Theatre Company, Hot City Theatre, Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble to name a few. He works full-time as the Manager of Community Engagement and Education here at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, where he will next direct Shakespeare in the Streets focused on the history of soccer in St. Louis this coming September.

Cassidy Flynn is thrilled to return to St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, and make his debut in the glen. His previous Festival credits include the 2015 Shakespeare in the Streets production of “The World Begun” (Sebastian), and the 2018 staged reading of “The Thousand Natural Shocks” (Teachers/Old Man). His most recent credits include Grand Horizons (Brian) with Moonstone Theatre Company and Brontë Sister House Party (Anne) with SATE. Cassidy’s regional theatre credits also include The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, New Jewish Theatre, Metro Theater Company, Mustard Seed Theatre, SIUE Summer Theatre, Theatre Nuevo, Max & Louie Productions, YoungLiars, ERA, The Midnight Company, West End Players Guild, and more. michaelcassidyflynn.com

Ricki Franklin (she/her) is delighted to be making her main stage debut here at the festival. She has been seen in previous years in the tours of Othello (Emilia) and A Midsummer Nights 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.  She loves Jesus, her family and pasta.

Ryan Garbayo is a Cuban American screen and stage actor.  On Television, Ryan played Ruben Ortiz on Law and Order: SVU in seasons 22 and 23. He has also been seen on Elementary, The Good Wife and Person of Interest. He has performed extensively off- Broadway with Red Bull Theater Company and Keen Company where he recently performed the lead role in Peter Gil Sheridan’s “This Space Between Us”. He also has performed at several regional theaters including Denver Center Theater Company, The Shakespeare Theatre of DC, Westport Country Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Maltz Jupiter Theater. He earned a BFA at Emerson College and is an alum of NYU’s Graduate Acting Program where he received an MFA. Ryan has held faculty positions at the University of Miami, The Professional Performing Arts School and New York Film Academy. Ryan currently serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Acting at the University at Albany SUNY.

Adam Poss makes his St. Louis Shakespeare debut and is thrilled to reunite with his former professor, Lisa Portes. A Chicago actor, Adam has worked at several notable theaters where some favorite roles include Angelo in Measure for Measure, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Teddy Ferrara, 2666, and A Christmas Carol, The Goodman Theatre, 1984, Animals out of Paper, Steppenwolf Theatre, A Doll’s House, Writers Theatre, Oedipus el Rey, Queen, Victory Gardens Theatre, Passage, Remy Bumppo Theatre Co., Scorched, The Lake Effect, Silk Road Rising, and The Beats,16th Street Theatre. Regional: Denver Center for Performing Arts, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Rep., Indiana Rep., Ensemble Theatre Co. Santa Barbara, Studio Theatre DC, Kansas City Rep, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Television credits include a recurring role on Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD (NBC), Paper Girls (AMAZON),The Big Leap (FOX), Empire (FOX), Shameless (SHOWTIME), Crisis (NBC), NeXt (FOX), The Chicago Code (FOX), The Mob Doctor (FOX), and and the pilots Controversy (FOX) and No Apologies (FOX). Film credits: Bar Fight!, Another Happy Day, All Happy Families, The King of U.R.L.’s, The Drunk, Speed Dating. He holds a BFA from the Theatre School at DePaul University. www.AdamPoss.com

Christina Rios is an actor, opera singer, director, producer, vocal coach, and intimacy coordinator in St. Louis. When not on the stage or preparing others to be there, Ms. Rios is a teacher at The Wilson School, where she teaches math, mythology, and problem solving and makes endless puns and incredible “Mom jokes”.Christina is the mother of four incredible children, the partner of an wonderful human being, and a true believer in the power of art and how it can change the world. ¡Muchas gracias por esta oportunidad!

Avi Roque is happy to be making their St. Louis Shakespeare Festival debut! They are a Latine, Transmasculine, Non-binary actor and voice-over artist. Coming from a theatre background, Avi has performed in a number of stage productions in Chicago and regionally as well, including the West Coast Premiers of Tiny Beautiful Things (The Old Globe) & The Inheritance (Geffen Playhouse). Avi is the narrator of several audiobooks including the New York Times Best Seller Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Film credits include Landline, and short films To Be With You (Outfest 2019) and Kind Of (Outfest 2020). You can also hear them as the voice behind Raine Whispers on Disney Channel’s animated series The Owl House. They are represented by Gray Talent Group and use the pronouns They/Them. Thank you to Lisa Portes for being such a champion of their work and to their wife, Christina Nieves, for her constant love and support. 

Jasmine Cheri Rush is elated to be making her debut at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. Her recent credits include the Chicago premiere of STEW (Nelly), Cincinnati Playhouses’ School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play (Gifty), and Shakespeare & Company’s 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.

Gabriela Saker is a Cuban-born actress, currently based in New York and Puerto Rico. In 2022, she won the Princess Grace Award in Theatre, earned her MFA in Acting from The Juilliard School and made her regional theatre debut as Marela in Anna in the Tropics (Barrington Stage Company). She is also the founder and artistic director of Puerto Rican theatre company Teatro Público, and is a proud graduate of the University of Puerto Rico. Her theater credits in Puerto Rico include Nina (The Seagull), Harper Pitt (Angels in America: Part One), Vanda (Venus in Fur), Magdalena (The House of Bernarda Alba), and Abigail Williams (The Crucible). She has worked with The Acting Company, Notch Theatre Company, The Peace Studio and Repertorio Español, and has performed internationally in Rwanda and Spain. Her lead role in the short film Monserrate earned her the Best Actress Award at Rincon International Film Festival and Lusca Film Festival. She has also worked as a professional journalist, covering politics, economics and education (Honorary Mention for Best Human Interest Journalism at the Overseas Press Club PR), and her play The Eye of Powder won First Prize in Playwriting at the UPR Literary Contest.