As You Like It
In conjunction with Willamette Shakespeare, our 50th annual “Shakespeare in the Park” - Touring August 2nd through September 2nd
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As You Like It. Join us in the pastoral fields this summer as we present a new twist on our very first productions, 50 years ago. One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, As You Like It, is a hilarious play about the complexities of life and love. Director Sara Fay Goldman takes the Shakespearean classic and adds to its gender-bending plot a further reflection on gender roles, identity, and love.
Production Staff
Sara Fay Goldman (she/her) – Director / Choreography / Adaptation / Songwriter
Molly Shevaun Reed (she/her) – Stage Manager / PM
Gary Strong (he/him) – Producer
Jake Merriman (he/him) – Dramaturg
Myrrh Larsen (they/them) – Music Director / Songwriter
Kimberly Smay (she/her) – Costume Designer
Leslie Renee (she/her or they/them) – Violence / Intimacy Choreographer
Sam Dinkowitz (he/him) – Set / Props Designer
Paul Susi – Board
Cameron Poehner – Social Media / Marketing
Performers
Catherine “Cat” Louise Miller (they/them/theirs) – Rosalind
Kelsea Ashenbrenner (she/her) – Celia
Alex Blesi (they/them or she/her) – Orlando
Rusty Tennant (they/them) – Touchstone + Jacques
Kate Faye Cummings (she/her) – Olive
Sofia May Molina (she/her) – Adam
Paul Bright (he/him) – Duke Senior/Charles/William
Jacquelle Cherise Davis (she/her) – Phebe / HYMEN
Jacob Beaver (he/him) – Silvius / HYMEN
Mishelle Apalategui (she/her) – Duke Frederique / Corin
Evan Tait (he/him) – Le Beu / Audrey

Molly Shevaun Reed (Stage Manager / PM)
Molly Shevaun Reed is a multidisciplinary artist who feels most herself directing for the stage and committing acts of dramaturgy. Molly has thoroughly enjoyed production & stage managing PAE’s As You Like It with Sara Fay and this lovely cast. Her recent stage management work has been at Portland Center Stage for their 18-19 season as an apprentice stage manager, and Spectravagasm X. Also a director, she loves the classics as well as developing new work, most recently Endless Oceans by Corey Maier performed at Backdoor Theatre. Originally from Denton, Texas, Molly holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Baylor University and has worked in Dallas, TX and Portland, OR stage managing, directing, and wearing many theatrical hats. Molly also enjoys the fiction of Flannery O’Connor, communing at the coast, and hanging out with her partner Cam and their corgi mutt, Bear.

Myrrh Larsen (Music Director / Songwriter)

Leslie Renee (Violence / Intimacy Choreographer)

Catherine "Cat" Louise Miller (Rosalind)
“Cat” is incredibly stoked to be working with Portland Actors Ensemble for the first time. A native of Boise, Idaho and a graduate of Portland State University (BA, Theater Arts), Cat has been wearing a variety of theatrical hats around the Portland area for the last several years. This is their second time working with director Sara Fay Goldman; the first time being last year’s The Taming AND the Shrew: A Kind of History. Cat wants to thank Sara Fay for the challenge of filling Rosalind’s shoes, and PAE for the opportunity to partake in this rich Portland tradition.

Kelsea Ashenbrenner (Celia)
Kelsea is new to Portland after commuting from Corvallis, Or for the last year. She’s an OSU theatre grad that loves teaching youth acting classes. She’s been seen doing summer Shakespeare with Original Practice Shakespeare Fest and Experience Theatre Project. She’s very excited to be playing Celia this summer with PAE. This upcoming year she will be a part of the 2019 ICP actor training cohort with Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble. Follow her on Instagram @kelsearose15

Alex Blesi (Orlando)

Rusty Tennant (Touchstone + Jacques)
Rusty Tennant is the Artistic Director of Fuse Theatre Ensemble. They have an MFA in Directing and Performance from the University of New Orleans.
Selected Regional Credits: Directing:The Reason for the Season (Director, Artists Rep), Ten Chimneys (Asst. Director, [Dámaso Rodriguez, dir.] Artists Rep), A Streetcar Named Desire (Asst. Dir., Fight Choreographer [Jon Kretzu, dir] Artists Rep). As an Actor: Carousel (Gary English, dir. Connecticut Rep), House of Plunder (Ryan Rilette, dir. Southern Rep), Mother Courage (Robert Benedetti, dir. Nevada Conservatory Theatre).
Recent Portland productions: Directing: Cabaret (Seven 2019 Drammy Awards including: Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Ensemble, and Outstanding Direction), Sordid Lives, Stupid Kids, Under the Influence (Director, OUTwright/Fuse), King Lear (Director, Post5), Rope (Director, Bag&Baggage), The Last Days (Director, Post 5), Sonnetscape (Director/Performer, Fuse), Suburban Tribe (Co-Director, Fuse), Tether (Director, Fuse). As an actor: The Importance of Being Frank, Richard III (Buckingham, Post5), HenryIV 1 (Falstaff, Post5), A Midsummer Night’s Somnambulism (Bottom, Fuse).
Rusty serves as the Technical Director at Reed College and is a regular adjunct faculty and guest artist at multiple local colleges and universities. They are also the Producing Artistic Director of The OUTwright Theatre Festival, a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ contribution to theatre that is held annually in Portland, OR. They have won Drammy awards in directing and design, a Storer Boone Award for directing, and an OOBR award for performing in The American Globe’s Hamlet.

Kate Faye Cummings (Olive)
Kate Faye Cummings is honored to be performing Shakespeare for the first time during PAE’s 50th season. She has performed with several other companies around town, including in FUSE Theatre Ensemble’s productions of Cabaret and Pursuit of Happiness, Funhouse Lounge’s Die Hard: The Musical Parody and Back to the Future: The Musical Parody and Post5’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Kate Faye also performs improv, and works backstage as a stage manager and director. She moved to Portland in 2015 and is so happy to have found a home amidst the vibrant arts community here in the City of Roses.

Sofia May Molina (Adam)

Paul Bright (Duke Senior / Charles / William)

Jacquelle Cherise Davis (Phebe / HYMEN)
Jacquelle Davis was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She studied acting at Willamette University. She is a proud member of Theatre Vertigo. Jacquelle performs regularly with her beloved improv group No Filter Improv. You may have seen her recently as Lost Boy in Peter/Wendy at Bag and Baggage Productions and Haskell in The Delays at Theatre Vertigo. Her favorite roles include Jane Fonda in That Pretty Pretty; Or, The Rape Play, and Box Worker 2 in Box. Jacquelle would like to thank Sara Fay for the fierce vision and open communication, Molly for the hard work and grounded spirit, and the entire cast for playing the “no but you can touch my elbow” game. Jacquelle loves long baths, and pickles and impromptu dance parties. She hopes you sit back and enjoy the magic as you trip the Light Fantastic.

Jacob Beaver (Silvius / HYMEN)

Mishelle Apalategui (Duke Frederique / Corin)
Mishelle Apalategui is a writer, actor, voice over artist, thrifter, immigration paralegal and mother to her sweet Inigo. This is Mishelle’s debut with Portland Actors Ensemble and is thankful to DIrector Sara Fay for the opportunity. She was last seen as Cordelia/Burnt Reed in The Reformer’s production LER. Previous to that, she spent many years on storefront stages in Chicago where she playd such roles as Peter Pan, Christopher Robin, Nora and Ismene. You can see her monthly at the Old Church Concert Hall as an actor with Tesla City Stories, where she plays Betsey Harper and a myriad of 1940’s radio play characters (teslacitystories.com). Follow her instagram (@cubicle_creep) where she documents life in a cubicle when you’re also an artist and mother. She dedicates her performance to her one and only, Owen.
