Tennessee Shakespeare Co. - 2024-2025 Playbill

28 TNSHAKESPEARE.ORG is wasted on the young;” and “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything;” and “My way of joking is to speak the truth…It’s the funniest joke in the world.” Bernard moved to London at age 20 and wrote over 60 plays, including Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Arms and the Man, Candida, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, Pygmalion , and Heartbreak House . He was a proud Socialist and anti-WWI speaker and pamphleteer. His belief that our current cosmic period called Humanity is a short phase of the universe’s development en route to a higher evolution was informed by what he deemed our spiritual bankruptcy during warfare of the early 20th Century. He received the 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature for “his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty.” At age 94, Bernard was still writing. STEPHANIE SHINE+ (DIRECTOR OF TWELFTH NIGHT AND SAINT JOAN ; ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC PRODUCER) , in 14 seasons with TSC, her directorial credits include Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Emily Dickinson: I Dwell in Possibility , which she co-created with Denice Hicks, Henry VI: Wars of the Roses, Macbeth, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Julius Caesar, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Southern Yuletide, Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, Shake(s), Rattle, and Roll, Shakespeare Said It, Lend Me Thy Sword , 12 productions of Romeo and Juliet , and 15 Literary Salons . On stage at TSC, she played the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors , Countess in All’s Well That Ends Well , the female roles in Unto the Breach , and Gertrude in Hamlet . Prior to joining TSC, she was Artistic Director of Seattle Shakespeare Company, a position she enjoyed for 13 years. Other directorial credits include King Lear and As You Like It for Houston Shakespeare Festival, The Taming of the Shrew and The Comedy of Errors for Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the award-winning one-woman internationally-touring Marilyn Monroe Biopic, Marilyn: Forever Blonde , and several new works for Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre. Her production of I am of Ireland (which she also conceived and adapted) opened Book-It’s 25th Anniversary Season in 2014. As an actor, she has performed with the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, NYC’s Theatre for a New Audience, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Alley Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, ACT, The Empty Space, and Seattle Children’s Theatre, among others. Roles include Juliet, Rosalind, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Regan, Feste, Kate, Bianca, Dionyza, the Princess of France, Hero, Perdita, and the Chorus in Henry V . The Germantown Arts Alliance honored her with its 2016 Distinguished Arts and Humanities Medal for Performing Arts. She is the mother of four exceptional people: Conor, Cahilan, Sullivan, and Collins. Education: graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts; B.F.A in Acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program; M.F.A. in Directing from the University of Memphis. JASMINE SIMMERS (PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER) TSC: Stage Manager for Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire , and Macbeth Initiative ; and Assistant Stage Manager for The Tempest . Other credits include La Bohème, The Rocky Horror Show, Back When Mike Was Kate, The Forever Question , and Le Nozze di Figaro . She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre, Design, and Technology from the University of Memphis.