Sam Bashakevitz (They / Them)

Swing for Romeo, Mercutio, Lady Capulet, & Gregory

Sam is super jazzed to be making their theatrical return with Bowls with the Bard after over a decade away from the stage! What have they been up to for the past eleven years? First, young Sam earned a degree in vocal performance that they promptly decided never to use. Then they switched gears and found their calling working as a children’s librarian who gets to read stories to babies. Outside of work, Sam is an enthusiastic self-taught cook and an amateur but ardent lover of all things puzzles (jigsaw, sudoku, word games, you name it). Sam would like to give a massive thanks to their sweet-as-a-peach partner for taking care of the household zoo while they’ve been at play practice late into the night!

Hileena Channell (She / Her)

Swing for Nurse, Tybalt, Friar Lawrence, Capulet, Prince, Sampson, Abraham, and Rosaline

Hileena Channell is a Denver-based actor and Shakespeare lover. This is her first show with Bowls with the Bard, but her second time performing in Romeo and Juliet, having previously appeared as Tybalt in 2025 with The Upstart Crow Theatre Company in Boulder. Other Shakespeare credits include Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing, Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, and Queen Dionyza in Pericles. She is so excited to be a part of this show! 

Sophia Gulley (She / Her)

Romeo & Gregory


Sophia Gulley is from Nashville, Tennessee where she got her BFA in Painting. She started acting 3 years ago when she moved to Colorado. She has studied movement, clowning and comedy and loves incorporating these elements into her work. Sophia would like to thank Dell and Theresa Domnik, Jennifer Rincon, and all the actors at Visionbox Studio. Thank you Jacob Dresch for helping me prepare for this role. Thank you Amey Goerlich and the people at Chaos Bloom theatre. Thank you Anatasha and Jacob for being my first clown teachers.   And finally thank you to the awesome cast and crew here at Bowls with The Bard. 

Kyle J. Lawrence (He / Him)

Benvolio, Paris, & Apothecary

Kyle J. Lawrence is a Denver based cat dad, actor, teaching artist and musician. He is thrilled to be returning for his third show with Bowls with the Bard, having previously been seen in Macbeth and As You Like It. Other credits include: Tempest, Richard II, Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Book of Will, The Alchemist (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Agenda Theatre), The Inheritance (Vintage Theatre)




Andrea Mérida (She / They)

Capulet, Abraham, & Rosaline


After taking some time away from the stage to focus on personal life amidst gender transition, I am/Andrea is thrilled to return to the vaunted works of Shakespeare! Having once performed in As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing, her first Shakespearean tragedy is one of her first roles since coming back to performing. With a Major in Kicking Ass and a Minor in Taking Names, I am/she is thankful most especially to her closest friends, incredible family and ridiculous cat for their support and constant rambling about the nuances of Olde English. 

Michaela Murray (She / Her)

Mercutio & Lady Capulet

Michaela Murray is excited to make her Bowls with the Bard debut! Her most recent local credits include; Goodnight Moon, Elephants and Piggie's We are in a Play! (Piggie), Little Red a New Musical, and Theatre of the Mind, DCPA. A Case for Black Girls Setting Central Park on Fire (Rottweiler), Chasing Breadcrumbs (Gwen), Local Theater Company. Regional work includes; Beautiful:The Carole King Musical (Little Eva), Arvada Center Theater; Once on this Island at Town Hall Arts Center; GYPSY (June), Drowsy Chaperone (Trix the Aviatrix); at the Vintage Theatre. She would like to thank friends and family for their constant support! 

Bruce Robinson (He / Him)

Nurse & Sampson

The Bard has been a part of Bruce's life since he was in the womb. On the eve of his birth, his mother performed Kate in Taming of the Shrew. Bruce's love of Shakespeare inspired him to join the acting profession, and he has been in five Shakespeare productions. Today he is still inspired by the orations, as he performs closing arguments as an attorney. This is Bruce's first, but hopefully not last, appearance with Bowls with the Bard. Bruce is ecstatic to be sharing the stage with this wild and wildly talented cast and crew.

Stephanie Saltis (She / Her)

Juliet & Balthasar

Stephanie Saltis is excited to be back with Bowls with the Bard after doing Macbeth as Witch 1/Malcom and Lennox. Other credits include the Sala Project as Alma (Theatre Artibus); Shakespeare in the Parking Lot as Juliet, Hermia, Puck and Quince (DCPA); Local Lab 12 & 14 (Local Theatre Company); Tomas and the Library Lady as Josefa/Enrique (Denver Children’s Theatre); None of the Above as Jamie (Bailey Theatre Company); Charlotte’s Web as Goose (U/S Wilbur – performed) and Belmira in The River Bride (Arvada Center); Countess Andrenyi in Murder on the Orient Express, Georgia in Blackademics (Vintage Theatre); Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (Breckenridge Backstage/BETC/Clover and Bee); as well as the CSF Education Tour and roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Odyssey, and Pericles at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. She holds a BFA in Acting.

Stephane Sizov (She / Her)

Montague & Swing for Juliet, Benvolio, Paris, Apothecary, & Balthasar

Stephane Sizov is a student at the University of Northern Colorado getting her degree in Acting and Theater Studies. This is her first show outside of a school and she has enjoyed every moment of the experience. The last time she performed a Shakespeare piece was in 7th grade at the Shakespeare Festival when she played Romeo in the final scene of the play. She has loved getting to rediscover her love for the Bard, and hopes you enjoy the show!

Alison Talvacchio (She / They)

Tybalt, Friar Lawrence, & Prince

Alison Talvacchio is delighted to once again work with Bowls with the Bard, after participating in Twelfth Night and Cymbeline. Alison is an actor, modern dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist. Colorado theater credits include: Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice; Three Leaches), The Pillowman (Tupolski; Miscreant Theatre), Sister Mary Ignatius… (Diane; Three Leaches), The Revolutionists (Charlotte; 11 Minutes Theater), and Myth Adventures (Pandora, etc; Arts in the Open). Previously Alison created artistic work in Austin, TX and Washington, DC - where she graduated from the Catholic University of America’s Drama Department. alisontalvacchio.wixsite.com/alisontalvacchio

Meet

The Production Team

Natalie Edwards (She / Her)

Director


New Paragraph

Audrey Edwards (She / Her)

Designer

Audrey is a big-time crafter and lifelong theatre lover. Her most recent involvements include playing Sister Margeretta in The Sound of Music and Frenchie in Cabaret. In between projects, you can find Audrey singing in the car, working at the library, and hanging out with her dog, Sadie.

She is thrilled to be involved in her first paid theatre gig. She would like to thank all her sweet friends and family for their constant support.









Cameron Gillespie (She / Her)

Stage Manager

Cameron Gillespie is excited to join her first Bowls with the Bard production, bringing in 10+ years of experience as a stage manager in New York (Spellbound Theatre, Bluelaces Theater Company, New York University) and Texas (Overtime Theater) plus a lifetime of nerding out over Shakespeare. Cameron's love of dabbling in all things theatrical has led to additional experience as a house manager, production manager, director, lyricist, puppeteer, prop designer, lighting/sound operator, immersive and site-specific deviser, and occasional actor. 

Micaela Mannix & Jonathan Miot

Artistic Director & Production Manager

Micaela Mannix (she/her) is an actor, content creator, and Shakespeare lover from Draper, Utah. She is the face of 10kshakespeare on instagram and TikTok where she is working towards 10,000 hours of Shakespeare practice. Micaela is the founder and host of Bowls with the Bard. Acting credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Othello (BSF); Macbeth, King Lear (Commonwealth Shakespeare); Henry V, Pirate Macbeth (Cohesion Theatre Company); Loves Labors Lost (Chesapeake Shakespeare); Twelfth Night (Three Leaches); Antony and Cleopatra (Brave Spirits Theatre). Micaela holds a BM in Musical Theatre from The Catholic University. Learn more at micaelamannix.com.

Jonathan Miot (he/him) is less than a year into his Denver theater journey and is already enamored with what this incredibly diverse and welcoming community has to offer. Thank you for coming and enjoy this fresh new experience!


Clove Love (They / Them)

Intimacy Director

Clove Love is a queer and disabled Multidisciplinary and Generative Theatre Artist. They are based in Denver, CO and believe in theatre's innate and immense power to change minds, lives, and worlds. Their focus lies with the importance of the progressive steps we must take today to keep theatre alive and well for years and generations to come. 

In their work, Clove most enjoys exploring social justice through absurdism, horror, immersion, and physical metaphor/movement choreography within their staging, conceptual analysis, and overarching themes. They believe that movement onstage expands the creative capacity of live storytelling and they enjoy exploring the balance between scripted movement and movement that is devised with a certain group of people for a production.







Hildegard von Blingin’

(She / Her) 

Musician

Hildegard Von Blingin' is a Canadian based musician who specializes in creating early modern versions of pop songs. Bowls with the Bard is psyched to feature some of the tunes in this production of Romeo & Juliet. You can find more music here!


https://www.youtube.com/@Hildegardvonblingin


Plot Summary by the Folger Shakespeare Library

The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters “star-crossed lovers”—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers.


Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet’s house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they want to be married.


A friar secretly marries them, hoping to end the feud. Romeo and his companions almost immediately encounter Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who challenges Romeo. When Romeo refuses to fight, Romeo’s friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed. Romeo then kills Tybalt and is banished. He spends that night with Juliet and then leaves for Mantua.


Juliet’s father forces her into a marriage with Count Paris. To avoid this marriage, Juliet takes a potion, given her by the friar, that makes her appear dead. The friar will send Romeo word to be at her family tomb when she awakes. The plan goes awry, and Romeo learns instead that she is dead. In the tomb, Romeo kills himself. Juliet wakes, sees his body, and commits suicide. Their deaths appear finally to end the feud.



Special Thanks

to B. Ryan Glick for accessibility consultation

to the Tetra Lounge and the Three Leaches for our performance space

to Nicholas Setty for legal counsel

to Daniel and Carolyn Mannix for considerable contributions

to Lizzy Colandene for our Graphic Design



Land and Labor Acknowledgements

Bowls with the Bard acknowledges that by performing in Denver, we are performing on the land of the Apache, Comanche, Cheyenne, Ute, and Arapaho Tribes. We also recognize that statements like these are merely words without action. We encourage our patrons to make donations to the organizations at the links below:


Native American Rights Fund: https://secure.narf.org/page/64457/donate/1?locale=en-US


First Nations Development Institute: https://www.firstnations.org/fndi_donate/


We acknowledge our debt to the enslaved people, primarily of African descent, whose labor and suffering built and grew the economy and infrastructure of a nation that refused to recognize their humanity. We encourage our patrons to make donations to the following organizations:


Black Lives Matter 5280: https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/Blm5280


YouthSeen Colorado: https://youthseen.app.neoncrm.com/forms/2022-individual-donors