Incognita: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Our Town
AJ is thrilled to be working with Theatre Incognita once again. Recent acting credits include As You Like It (Phebe/Charles) at the Cherry Arts and Marjorie Prime (Walter) with House of Ithaqua, which he also directed. AJ is the Artistic Director for HOI and has been a frequent collaborator of Ithaca Shakespeare Company. Thanks to the cast and crew. Love to Will!
Incognita: Spring Writes
Aoise is an internationally produced playwright and dramaturg, best known in Ithaca for her adaptation of A Christmas Carol (The Hangar), and her two walking audio plays Storm Country, and The Missing Chapter (The Cherry). She teaches a Cornell University and is delighted to have the chance to work with this cast on her favorite play.
Barbara Geary has had a varied performance career, careening through Mud Shows, mask performance, indie films and Shakespeare. A graduate of The Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater, she has performed and toured with The Dell’Arte Company and Imago-Theatre Mask Ensemble. Her directing credits include the opera THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS, the rock opera MURDERCASTLE, THE WHIPPING MAN, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, TWELFTH NIGHT, the acclaimed contemporary commedias LOVE POTION # MINE and 3 DOTTORES 3, as well as VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM at the Kitchen Theatre where she was also Artistic Associate. As a deviser/ collaborator, Barbara was a co-creator of the plays MESSAGES FROM THE SUN, ANY GIVEN MOMENT and ARTEMISIA. With the Dell’Arte Company, she was seen as The Woman in Green in BIG FAT LIAR/PEER GYNT, Madame Pernelle in TARTUFFE, Artemisia in ARTEMISIA and as Sylvia in GOLDEN STATE. More recently in Ithaca, Barbara played the Skriker in THE SKRIKER with House of Ithaqua and was one of the Women in MY MOTHER ALWAYS TOLD ME at Cherry Arts.
As a teacher, she developed the graduate course, Physical Expression for Animators for the Rochester Institute of Technology and also taught that work at the California State Summer School of the Arts. This is her first collaboration with Theatre Incognita.
Incognita debut
Beth Harris directed this past summer’s production of The Comedy of Errors for Ithaca Shakespeare Company. With Ithaca Shakespeare, Beth has also played Soothsayerv(Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra), Bawd (Pericles), Katharine (Taming of the Shrew), Audrey (As You Like It), and Margaret/Watch (Much Ado) and assistant directed (Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream). She performed in various theaters in Chicagoland, including as Nurse in Red Theater’s signed and spoken R&J: The Vineyard and as Pinch in Salt Box Theater’s all female Comedy of Errors; with Shakespeare by the Sea in St. John’s, Newfoundland; and with Treehouse Shakespeare Ensemble in Staunton, VA, where last year she played Duncan in a production of the Scottish play. Beth trained at Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and recently completed an MFA in Shakespeare Performance in Staunton, VA. She is an avid swing dancer and teaches English part time. Beth is happy to be working with this amazing group of people.
Incognita debut
Casey is very excited to swing swords in their first production with Incognita. As a nonbinary actor, Casey is no stranger to the central New York theatre scene; favorite credits include Julius Caesar (Trebonius/fight captain), The Importance of Being Ernest (Cecily), and As You Like It (Rosalind). When not on stage, they daylight as an administrative assistant at Ithaca College, and fill spare time with more sword fights, ballet classes, and too many books. Endless love to their family, friends, and partner for their continued support.
Incognita debut
CJ (she/they) is so excited to participate in this production with Theatre Incognita! CJ has previously played Brutus in Julius Caesar with the Hampshire Shakespeare Company and Antipholus of Ephesus in Comedy of Errors with the Ithaca Shakespeare Company. CJ’s day job is as the director of the LGBT Resource Center at Cornell and they love when Shakespeare’s characters and words are used to break expectations around gender. “If Gender is the instrument, and our character’s experiences, values and expectations are the notes, then we see that the possibilities for performing gender, both on and off-stage, are an infinite symphony”—Abby Weissman and Leo Mock.
Incognita: Stage Manager for The Dodgson Girls; Egeus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Friar, Romeo & Juliet
Dave is so happy to be returning to Theatre Incognita. He has done many of Shakespeare’s plays as a member of the Ithaca Shakespeare Company and this will be his fourth time playing in Macbeth, once with Emme Emmunds’ Black Umbrella Company and twice with ISC. Dave did not appear in his first play until he was 49 years old. He has now appeared in over twenty of the plays of William Shakespeare along with performances of original plays, staged readings and once in Cornell’s Schwartz Center. He most recently appeared in the Encore Players production of Inherit the Wind in Trumansburg. Over the years he has built stages, made props and sewn costumes, His pickup truck has played an integral role in Ithaca’s local theatre scene.
If Dave isn’t familiar to you from his work onstage, you may recognize him from his years at Moosewood Restaurant.
Incognita debut
Elizabeth Fresquez also stage managed WOW’s production of “Snoopy” in summer 2023. Regularly seen on stage, rather than behind it, Elizabeth was last seen as Rod in ELT’s production of “Avenue Q” and is currently performing Ms. Marrieta Shingle with a joint cast of ELT and Elmira College in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”. She is thrilled to be a part of this thought-provoking production and it’s cast.
Elizabeth is thrilled to be making her design debut with Theater Incognita! She has been a freelance costumer in Ithaca for almost a decade, working with Civic Ensemble, Opera Ithaca, ICSD, Ithaca Shakespeare and House of Ithaqua. She would like to thank her family and the creative team. Working with the all star cast and crew has been a delight from beginning to end!
Incognita: The Dodgson Girls, The Rimers of Eldritch, and queermonsterfreaks.
Elizabeth Livesay is very happy to be in another Theatre Incognita production. It’s wonderful to be with such a fine cast performing Shakespeare, and she’d like to thank Ross for creating this opportunity for all of us, cast and audience alike! When not scouring the countryside for poisoned entrails, she can also be found teaching tap dancing at the CSMA.
Incognita debut
Elizabeth is a physical actor and devised theatre artist who was last seen on stage as part of The Hangar Theatre’s Wedge Future Now Festival in Elizabeth Mozer’s play “Castle On The Hill.” Before that she was the title role at The Hangar in Red Riding Hood and also collaborated with The Hangar as Fight Choreographer for Billy Elliot and Dance Choreographer for Shrek Jr. More recently she was the fight and intimacy choreographer for Ithaca High School’s production of Clue.
Elizabeth is the Creative Director of Pandoluci Studio (Pandoluci.com) which focuses on theatre/ film production and classes as well as community events and engagement for local businesses.
Beyond that she is a skilled Tap Dancer, Martial Artist, Playwright, Producer, and Singer/Songwriter who is deeply grateful for the opportunity to perform this version of The Scottish Play with such an incredible cast, crew and creative team. Super shout out to Ross for inviting me in and deep gratitude to everyone involved for making this process so delicious! Enjoy the show!
Griffin is in 7th grade at Lehman Alternative Community School, and this is his Incognita debut. You may have seen him previously dancing in Ithaca Ballet’s Nutcracker, in LACS Shakespeare’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the role of Egeus or more recently rocking out in LACS’ production of School of Rock. In his free time, Griffin enjoys messing around with special effects makeup, hanging with his pets, and reading fantasy. Griffin hopes you enjoy the show!
Incognita debut
Gwen is excited for her first show with Theatre Incognita and her second time acting in the Scottish Play, her first time being nine years ago in Bloomington, Indiana as the roles of Fleance and Young Macduff. She was most recently seen as Sextus Pompey in Antony and Cleopatra with Ithaca Shakespeare Company. Other favorite roles include Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, Cassandra in The Trojan Women, Cecily in Travesties, and Cordelia in King Lear, all with Monroe County Civic Theater in Bloomington.
Incognita debut
Hugo is delighted to join Incognita for his first Shakespeare. You may have seen him as Billy Elliot at the Hangar last summer, or as Fritz in The Nutcracker for Ithaca Ballet. Hugo is also a regular with Running To Places, where favorite roles include Flounder in The Little Mermaid and Young Will in Big Fish.
Incognita debut
Jacob began training in stage combat in 1999 and draws on extensive martial arts research and movement training to create of safe, effective fight scenes, whether dramatic, comic, tragic, or all of the above. Since 2016, he and his wife, Jennifer, have been Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s resident fight choreographers, as well as shows for House of Ithaqua, the Kitchen Theater, and Cornell’s Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. He has taught workshops at Cornell University, Wells College, and Hamilton-Gibson Productions’ summer camp, and would like to thank everyone involved for promoting a safe set while exploring the darker aspects of humanity.
Incognita debut
Jared is excited to take to the stage for the first time since 2018. Previous Shakespeare performances include Oberon in Midsummer Night’s Dream and Antipholus of Syracuse in Comedy of Errors. Born and raised in Michigan, Jared has bounced around the country, living briefly in Chicago, Honolulu, and Buffalo, NY, before moving to Ithaca to work as an urban planner while writing on the side. He dedicates his performance to you, the reader, specifically.
Incognita debut
Jennifer is excited to choreograph her first show with Theatre Incognita. Jennifer has trained in stage combat since 2006. She has regularly been involved on- and off-stage with Ithaca Shakespeare Company and House of Ithaqua productions since 2016, providing a range of serious to slapstick fight choreography with her husband, Jacob Lehman. (Notably, choreographing her own murder, twice, in ISC’s 2016 production of Macbeth.) Jennifer holds performance and choreography certifications in rapier, broadsword, rapier/dagger, staff, and mass combat. When she’s not holding a sword, she dances hula and plays roller derby, though not usually at the same time. Sealbh math duibh! Break a leg, safely, everyone!
Past work with Theatre Incognita includes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a Rave Fable) by Caridad Svich, and Bertolt Brecht’s The Baby Elephant.
Incognita debut
Lindsey was most recently seen last summer in Ithaca Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (Emilia). Other productions include The House of Bernarda Alba (Maria Josefa), Twelfth Night (Feste), Blithe Spirit (Madame Arcate) and The Odyssey (Circe). She studied at the British American Drama Academy and with the Upright Citizens Brigade. She is also an assistant director for Acting Out New York. She enjoys soap carving, hanging with Miles, Harriet, Dori and River, and owns a banjo that she will realistically never learn to play.
Incognita debut
Lochi has been a participant in the Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP), since he was in the womb. He wrote and directed his first play as a third grader with Brooke Burnett at Beverly J. Martin elementary school, “The Story Never Told.”
Today, he is an eighth grader at LACS and member of Running to Places, where he has participated in a series of musicals. You may have seen him as Olaf in R2P’s Frozen, Jr., in LACS’ Little Shop of Horrors as Crystal, in LACS’ The Addams Family as Gomez, or as Ned in LACS’ most recent production of School of Rock.
Lochi enjoys learning, leading, playing volleyball, and brightening up everyone’s days in general. He would like to thank his older brothers (Rohan & Eamon) and his mother (Dr. Nia). He’d also like to thank his grandparents (Fe & Shelley Nunn), as well as everyone from the Southside Community Center family and Courtney McGuire for introducing him to theatre as a first and second grader at GIAC. With his extensive early career in theatre, Lochi is eager to not only continue to grow as an actor, he wants to especially encourage young people who look like him to have access and enjoy these opportunities as well.
Incognita: queermonsterfreaks
Marie is a performer, theatre educator and playwright. She was most recently seen as Tess in House of Ithaqua’s Marjorie Prime. She has been a teaching artist for The Hangar Theatre for many years. Some notable performance credits include work at The NYC Fringe Festival, The Kitchen Theatre, the Icarus Theatre Ensemble, Third Floor Productions, Shearwater Productions (Ithaca, NY) and The City Theatre, Unseam’d Shakespeare Company, and The New Works Festival (Pittsburgh, PA.)
Marie first collaborated with Ross Haarstad as Harper in his production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Incognita debut
Meg Elliott is delighted to be performing again in Ithaca. Recent Chicago stage credits include Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery and Noises Off (both at Metropolis Arts Center); A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre); Christina the Girl King (Cor Theatre); Top Girls (Arc Theatre); Request Concert (The Side Project) and The Unfortunates (Solotheatre Chicago, Kitchen Theatre, Ithaca). She was also a member of the Icarus Theatre Ensemble in Ithaca, NY.
Film work includes the shorts Quiver and That Damned Yellow Raincoat. She’s also in the casts of the web series Other People’s Children and Distant Learners. You can also hear her voice work in The Onion’s A Very Fatal Murder and Cock and Bull’s podcast The Children of NYX. For the curious there is more at megelliott.com.
Incognita debut
Mikaela is over the moon to be making their debut with Theatre Incognita. A lover of their community, children’s teacher at the Hanger Theatre and last seen in Ithaca Shakespeare Company’s Comedy of Errors as Dromio of Ephesus.
Incognita: The Riders of Eldritch
As a retired English teacher of 35 years, Moira is excited to dig deeply into a play that she has studied and taught multiple times.
Ross Haarstad is a theatre-maker, writer, graphic designer and social justice activist. He founded Incognita in Fall 2009 and over the next seven years shepherded 25 productions to the stage.
In 2017 Incognita went on a hiatus. In 2020 and 2021 we hosted a virtual local playwright festival through Spring Writes.
Ross is overjoyed that Incognita returns to live in-person theatre with this production of MACBETH, a long-time dream of his. He thanks all his collaborators: the 22 actors, creative collaborators Liz Kitney, Jacob & Jennifer Wholey Lehman, Keir Neuringer, and Tracy Thomson. A special shout out to a stage manager from the heavens, Elizabeth Fresquez.
As always, Ross is supported and loved, and loves in turn his partner/ lover/ husband of 37 years, the inimitable Larry Roberts.
Samantha is delighted to join in the dark and magical work of Macbeth in her first role with Theatre Incongnita.
Previous credits include roles such as Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gower in Pericles, and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing with the Ithaca Shakespeare Company, and Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest with the Binghamton Summer Savoyards. Samantha holds a BFA in acting from Northern Illinois University.
Incognita: Romeo & Juliet; Spring Writes
Scott is urban planner and landscape architect who had a long previous life as a performer and who, on occasion, delightedly steps back into the theatre. He has appeared locally with the Ithaca Shakespeare Company, Theatre Incognita, The Reader’s Theatre, and the Ithaca Ballet.
Incognita debut
Tamar has been reading Shakespeare since she was seven and performing it since she was fourteen. Past roles include Fairy, Snout and Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Reynaldo and Player in Hamlet.
When she was twelve, she saw Theatre Incognita’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and it changed her life forever, so she is beyond excited and honored to be making her Incognita debut many years later.
She would like to thank the entire Theatre Incognita team for their warm welcome (with an especial shoutout to Elizabeth S for being an amazing big brother), Ross for putting together such an amazing process, her sisters Shoshana and Noa for paving the way for her by acting in Macbeth previously, and her parents for getting her all the places she needs to go, and also to Scotland and specifically to Cawdor Castle last summer. (Fun fact: it was originally called Calder, but Shakespeare wrote it down wrong and the family eventually changed the name to align with his spelling.)
Finally, “thanks to all at once, and all each one, who we invite to see…” this play!