Masquers Playhouse is pleased to present
William Shakespeare’s Tragical History of Frankenstein
An epic audio drama presented in five parts
By New York Times best-selling author Ian Doescher
Directed by Angelina LaBarre
with original music from Jerica Banson
Episodes and bonus content released weekly starting on January 29, 2021.
Get access to all five episodes and bonus content for $30.
From New York Times best-selling author, Ian Doescher, best known for William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and the Pop Shakespeare Series, comes Mary Shelley’s classic tale retold in the style of the Bard.
William Shakespeare’s Tragical History of Frankenstein tells the familiar story of Victor Frankenstein, his creation, and their tragic downfall. In five acts—with Shakespearean soliloquies and asides, literary conventions, and more—you’ll revel in the Gothic tale given the Elizabethan treatment. Mary Shelley published Frankenstein 202 years ago. Now, William Shakespeare’s releasing the remake. And it is hauntingly beautiful! Join Masquers Playhouse for the audio odyssey. ‘Tis alive and ’twill certainly be lit! 🔥🔥
Meet the CREATIVE TEAM
IAN DOESCHER
Playwright
Ian is a Portland, Oregon native, and lives in Portland with his spouse Jennifer and two children. He has a B.A. in Music from Yale University, a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary. Ian is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He is currently a Senior Copywriter at CareOregon, a nonprofit health care provider in Portland. In 2020, Ian established the Shakespeare 2020 Project, a public read-through of Shakespeare’s works that attracted 6,000 participants in its first year, and continues today.
ANgELINA LABARRE
Director
Angelina LaBarre is a Bay Area Director and Professor of Drama at Contra Costa College. Recent directing credits with CCC include The Book of Liz, How We Got On, Exit, Pursued By a Bear, and The Laramie Project. Other CA directing credits include The Merry Wives with Big Idea Theatre, Julius Caesar with Darkroom Productions, and Twelfth Night, The Sea Voyage, and The Merry Wives of Windsor with Roving Shakespeare. Other credits include Cupid’s Revenge with Bad Quarto Productions (NYC), and Angels in America: The Millennium Approaches with Lake Shore Players (Minneapolis). Angelina holds an MFA and an M.Litt. in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University’s partner program with the American Shakespeare Center and a BA from Sacramento State University.
JERICA BANSON
Composer
Jerica Banson is a composer, musician, writer, and producer born and raised in San Francisco. She has been playing guitar since the age of five and has studied classical guitar, jazz guitar, songwriting, and composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and San Francisco School of the Arts. Jerica has composed numerous works for stage, screen, and various other mediums. Her original full-length film musical compositions for The After (2012) and Some Night (2020) were featured at various film festivals like the Los Angeles Motion Picture Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, and Accord Cine Fest where she won Best Music Direction for Some Night in 2020. In addition to composing, Jerica is a Creative Director for Lumos Films and works as an active studio musician as well as a guitarist for the Oakland Diocese. Upcoming projects include her singer-songwriter album and Mercury Retrograde, a comedy web-series premiering in 2022. Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @jericabanson
Kit Lanthier
Sound Design & Editing
Kit Lanthier first began sound design in 2020, self-teaching as she went, to develop and co-host the podcast “Season by Season.” With her lifelong friend, Alexis, who now lives on the opposite coast, they explore poetry, music, and sound on a journey through the rhythm of nature expressed by the seasons. She edited her first show with the Masquers, A New Deal Christmas in December, and received glowing reviews. A third-generation Masquer, Kit draws inspiration from classic audio dramas as well as modern podcasts. Kit lives in the Bay Area with her cute husband Cyrus and some charming and intelligent cats.
Four-eyed Jacks Productions
Special Sound Effects
Mostly known for his original radio plays, featured all over the country, Bill Chessman lends his expertise to Frankenstein to create and record many of the special sound effects needed to make the audio come to life. A special thank you is also in order for Bill’s partner in radio drama, Suzan Lorraine.
Meet the Cast
AIMEE GREENBERG
Aimee Greenberg is an award-winning veteran theatre artist whose works have been performed worldwide. Aimee is a writer, director, performer, and educator. She is the producing artistic director of Fruitless Moon Theatreworks and former founding artistic director of HEIJERA productions. She is a native New Yorker who trained with master teachers Sanford Meisner, Wynn Handman, and Stella Adler. Aimee cut her teeth working Off-Broadway at La Mama, Etc., Theatre for the New City and The Medicine Show Theatre. She has collaborated with theatre icons Grotowski, Augusto Boal, and Guillermo Gentile. She is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards and fellowships including The Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, The Los Angeles Endowment, The Los Angeles Women’s Foundation Award, Seattle Original Works, and the Susan B. Komen Award. Aimee has taught performance technique, writing, directing, theatre, and film studies at international conservatories and universities including JAMU, UCSD, CSUSM, SDSU, and CSLA. Since moving to the Bay Area last year, Aimee has directed Utopia for the Women’s Theatre Festival, NC, and performed her solo show The Making of American Carnage for Dragon/ Fuse Theatre and The Marsh. She has also had the lead role of Eva in Jennifer Maisel’s 8 Nights.
A. J. SCLAFANI
A.J. Sclafani holds a double Masters in Shakespeare & Performance from Mary Baldwin University, where he focused on breaking down and analyzing the language that Fools use in Early Modern plays. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Theatre at Irvine Valley College in Southern California. Previously, A.J. has performed professionally at South Coast Repertory, in Costa Mesa, CA, in One Man, Two Guvnors, Amadeus, and Mr. Popper’s Penguins. He also served as Assistant Director for the premier of Aaron Posner’s District Merchants, at South Coast Rep. A.J. Is delighted to get to work with Angelina LaBarre on this project, and he hopes you enjoy!
ALAN COYNE
Alan Coyne is a Bay Area actor who has been messing around with Shakesthings since high school, where he wrote and directed Omelet, a three-act parody of Hamlet. He has performed with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s school tour (Hamlet, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth), Livermore Shakespeare Festival (Antigonus / Autolycus, The Winter’s Tale), We Players (Cinna, Caesar Maximus), Curtain Theatre (Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew), and Vallejo Shakespeare (Demetrius, A Midsummer Night’s Dream). He brought 2ELFth Night, his two-person adaptation of Twelfth Night, to the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Hypnos, his version of Shakespeare’s lost play Cardenio, was performed in 2016 at SF Olympians Festival VII. He has also played Dr. James Watson (The Secret of Life), mathematician G. H. Hardy (Partition), and Dr. Stephen Hawking (A Time for Hawking), all with Indra’s Net Theater in Berkeley. Regrettably, he has minimal experience with the reanimation of dead tissue, as those fools at the academy thought him mad.
ALISON RADKEY
Coming Soon.
BOBBY BYERS
James “Bobby” Byers is a Culture & Arts Education Specialist for the Dougherty Arts Center in Austin, TX. Previous Credits: Penfold Theatre: Marley, Fred, Fezziwig, and others, A Christmas Carol Classic Radiocast; Austin Shakespeare: Hugh Evans, Merry Wives of Windsor, Medvedenko, The Seagull, Roderigo, Othello; Hidden Room Theatre: Adam/Lord Cheiny, Arden of Faversham, Collin/Barachius, Mucedorus; Emily Ann Theatre: Major Metcalf, The Mousetrap, Duke Vincentio, Measure for Measure; Roving Shakespeare: Suffolk/Jack Cade, Henry VI Part 2, Kent, King Lear, Antipholus of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors. James is a graduate of St. Edward’s University and Mary Baldwin University’s MFA Program in Shakespeare & Performance. He would like to thank Angelina for her strong stewardship, the cast and crew of this amazing show, his amazing wife and family, and his two dogs and three cats.
BRUCE KAPLAN
Bruce is excited and grateful to be able to help bring this monstrously creative adaption of such a classic story to life (pun intended). Bruce has been trodding the San Francisco Bay Area boards since 2000. Some of his favorite recent roles include Grandpa in You Can’t Take It With You, Maraczek in She Loves Me, Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner, the Wizard and Professor Marvel in Wizard of Oz, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Robert in Proof, Lingk in Glengarry Glen Ross, Nunzio in Over the River and Through the Woods, Selsdon in Noises Off, the ghost of Marley in A Christmas Carol, and Johnnypateen in The Cripple of Inishmaan. In 2001, he won the Goodman Choice Award for the role of Philip in Orphans. In the real world, Bruce tutors young students in literacy and volunteers as a digital audiobook reader for children with visual learning disabilities. Oh, and this: the more we act responsibly and keep ourselves and others around us safe, the faster live theater will return! “A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”
CARMEL CLAVIN
A Creative Producer from the mid-Atlantic region, she has made her home in Richmond, Virginia. As the founder of the Spectacle & Mirth production haus, she’s built immersive projects like the internationally award-winning cabaret The Marvelous Mechanical Music Maiden, the GlamourHobo Field Notes storytelling podcast, and regional arts festivals, The Shenandoah Fringe & The Richmond Fringe. An overly complicated Venn Diagram of adjacent identities, she tours the world, tells stories, and plays wearable musical inventions. This vaudevillian loves to sing too loud, stand very still, and wear grand hats. #Glamourhobo SpectacleAndMirth.com
DESTINI MOODY
While studying acting and film at Indiana University, Destini starred in stage productions including Thoroughly Modern Millie and Night of January 16th. After a hiatus from acting where she has been working in healthcare and with professional athletes, this production marks her first return to performing.
JERRY KENNEDY
Jerry Kennedy is pleased to join Masquers for his first performance with the company. His previous credits include Merry Wives, Cloud 9, and Art with Big Idea Theatre in Sacramento, CA and Jerusalem, Cabaret, The Rocky Horror Show, and Aida with Green Valley Theatre Company in Sacramento, CA. He also directed the 2014 Elly Award-winning production of A New Brain at Green Valley Theatre Company and is a frequent MC and performer for their Vertfee Cabaret series. When not making theatre, Jerry is a stay at home dad to four monsters of his own, a writer, and a part-time suburban farmer.
JOHN CROSTHWAITE
John Crosthwaite received his MFA from the Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois and has been an Actor, Improviser, and Voice Actor for nearly 20 years. John is also an experienced Fight Choreographer and is an Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. Theatrical Credits include Macbeth (Macbeth- Legacy Stage, Chico, CA), Taming of the Shrew (Petruchio- OPFT, Oak Park, IL), The Importance of Being Earnest (Jack- OPFT, Oak Park, IL). Media Credits include the Dark Hunger (Best Actor, Portland Horror Film Festival), Circle of Stone (Directed by Mark Andrews), the Rise of the Dead (Audiobook, Written by Jeremy Dyson) and Go! Go! Cory Carson! (Kuku Studios Berkely, CA with Netflix Family). Currently, John is an Associate Professor at Chico State University and Adjunct Faculty at Los Medanos Community College and Yuba College. A full list of credits can be found at: www.imdb.me/Crosthwaite
KIT LANTHIER
Kit Lanthier (she/her/hers) is delighted to be a part of this exciting new classic! A third-generation Masquer, Kit first appeared on stage at the Point Richmond theater twenty years ago in The Diary of Anne Frank. Since then, she has stage-managed at several theaters around the Bay Area, including NCTC, Theatre Lunatico, Chanticleers Theater, Pinole Community Players, and of course, Masquers. Kit is co-creator of the podcast Season by Season, which she co-hosts with her best friend from childhood. Much love to Cyrus, who has the wisdom to know Frankenstein is the monster.
LILI FOX-LIM
Lili Fox-Lim got her B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Media Studies at Stanford University, where she performed roles such as Ophelia (Hamlet) and Bassanio (The Merchant of Venice). Lili displayed her stage combat skills as the Romulan Emperor in last year’s Klingon Tamburlaine (School of Night) in LA. She also speaks Spanish, having recently done a bilingual voiceover for First 5 California.
MICHAEL DOPPE
Michael is so excited to be working with Masquers and this incredible team of old friends and new. He is an actor, writer, director, musician, and graduate of the SCT “Actor Training Program”, and has been seen at various companies including Theatreworks Silicon Valley, Center Rep, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, San Jose Stage, Town Hall Theatre, 42nd St. Moon, Ray of Light Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and Solano College Theatre. He is also an educator, projection designer, and the host of “I’m B.A.T.man” – Your Bay Area Theatre Podcast. “Doppe” is also an avid fan of “Shakespeare” and kills time making iambic pentameter adaptations of famous onscreen moments on his show, BIG SCREEN BARD. “Come visit me at michaeldoppe.com.”
PAM DRUMMER-WILLIAMS
Pam Drummer-Williams is a proud Masquer since 2009 and has recently become a company member of Queer Cat Productions. She is thrilled to be portraying “Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein” and “Agatha” in William Shakespeare’s Tragical History of Frankenstein. Her role of Sister A in Sisters Three and a Tree was reprised as a part of the 4th Annual Lihandula Festival in the Philippines. She was last seen as a part of Same Boat Theater Collective’s 2020 EarthQuake Global Theatre Festival in The Ballad of the Dying Body as Naima, Geointerfering as CEO, Sisters Three and a Tree as Sister A and Narrator in Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest and Untouchable. She made her debut as Lady Ptomaine in Bibbidi Bobbidi Boos with Dragon and Fuse Theatres, with Playland Production in Bitsy Bites Back as Pepper, A full Zoom play with Same Boat Theater Collective in The Emeryville Horror as The Mayor. Also, on Zoom Pam has been seen in living rooms via Zoom with Queer Cat Productions in Felix B. Love Is Not Alone as Dr. Ray Daly. Some of her favorite roles have been with B8 Theatre Co. in Strange Ladies as Suffragist Mary based on Mary Church Terrell, with Queer Cat Productions in The Gay Divorce Play as The Officiant, with Contra Costa Civic Theatre in Ragtime as Sarah’s Friend, with Contra Costa Civic Theatre, in You Can’t Take it With You as Penelope Sycamore, and with Pinole Community Playhouse in Godspell as Pam. When not working or performing, Pam is living vicariously through her daughter, a commercial pilot who is living her dreams as we all should!
NORMAN MACLEOD
Norman trained as an actor at the York Repertory Theatre, England. Over the last 35 years, he has appeared in many productions throughout the Bay Area. This is his tenth appearance with Masquers, usually as an aging and not too bright gentleman. He continued this typecasting trend as Dr. Gerald Drimmond in There Goes the Bride in 2015. As always, he thanks his wife Dianne for putting up with and supporting his theatrical efforts.
SABRINA SONNER
Sabrina is excited to be making their debut at Masquers! A Bay Area native, they grew up doing shows with local theatres before moving to LA to study theatre at the University of Southern California. Since graduating, they’ve been working as a freelance voiceover artist, dramaturg, and game designer, including voice work for Netflix, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and an upcoming role on The Strange Case of Starship Iris. As of this fall, they have returned to USC to pursue their Masters in Cinema and Media Studies.