ABOUT US: cast and crew
Board of Directors | Staff | Company Biographies
Board of Directors (Incorporated April 14, 1994)
David Burrell, President
Ronan Short, Vice President
Jan Dawe, Secretary
Helen Burrell, Treasurer
Bruce Rogers, Founding Director
Greg Gustafson, Founding Director
Bruce Hanson, Founding Director
Murray Richmond, At Large
Alison York, At Large
Staff
Steve Mitchell, Managing Director
Bruce Rogers, Artistic Director
Christy Burgess, Education Coordinator
Claudia Lively, Production Manager
Company Biographies
Steve Mitchell (Managing Director)
Bruce Rogers (Founder/Artistic Director/Director/Actor)
Christy Burgess (Education Coordinator/Actor/Director)
Claudia Lively (Production Manager/Costume Designer/Director)
Graham Watts (Director)
Janis Lull, Ph. D. (Dramaturge)
John Mayer (Camp Cook/Lighting and Set Designer)
John Bartlett (Master Carpenter)
Shannon Luster (Actor/Director)
Andrew Cassel (Actor/Publicist)
Jake Waid (Actor)
Kit Mayer (Set Designer)
STEVE MITCHELL (Managing Director/) - Email Steve
Bruce Rogers (Founder/Artistic Director/Director/Actor) - Email Bruce
was a founding member of FST in 1992 and since then has been its visionary. As a performer in nearly every FST production, he receives well deserved critical praise and has worked professionally statewide. As a director he has created some of FST’s most memorable summer shows including Richard III and Hamlet (mainstage and international tour). Bruce’s vision and dedication to the company has brought together the incredible community of artists in the boreal forests of interior Alaska.
Christy Burgess (Education Coordinator/Actor) - Email Christy
is a life-long Alaskan and University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate in Theatre and Drama. Before coming to Fairbanks, Christy worked in Juneau at Perseverance Theatre as their Education Intern, and then returned to direct and teach the Young Shakespeare Training Company in Comedy of Errors. She was also the Artist in Residence for the Juneau Community Charter School where she directed Anazi and the Moss Covered Rock, Tasty Baby Belly Buttons, and El Cuento de Llama. Christy is the director and co-founder of the Groundlings, FST’s youth theatre company, who made their debut in 2004 with Macbeth. Directing credits at FST include; Merry Wives of Windsor, Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Macbeth, as well as workshops and residencies throughout Alaska.
Claudia Lively (Production Manager/Costume Designer/Director) - Email Claudia
Graham Watts (Director)
directed Love’s Labor’s Lost (2001), Julius Caesar (2003), The Winter’s Tale (2004), Much Ado about Nothing (2005), and Henry V (2006). For five years he was a director at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon, spent a year as Staff Director at the National Theatre of Great Britain, and was a Resident Director on a world tour of Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and Corialanus with the English Shakespeare Company. He has directed several times at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and also at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. His direction of A Woman is a Weathercock, a Elizabethan play left unperformed for 325 years, earned the Pentameters Theatre a nomination for a ‘Time Out’ Best Production Award. He has written and directed two short films Just A Minute and Prey for the Future which can be viewed on the web at www.streetsahead.com/shorts.htm. Graham also regularly teaches workshops and classes on acting, directing and Shakespeare studies. His website is www.grahamwattsdirector.com.
Janis Lull, Ph. D. (Dramaturge)
currently teaches Advanced Shakespeare for US Open University and is a Professor Emerita of English at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She has been the dramaturge for many FST productions and will return this summer for The Winter’s Tale. As an author, she has published many works including non-fiction, chapters, articles, and essays. She is also the editor the New Cambridge Edition of King Richard III, which made it’s world premiere at FST in 1999.
John Mayer (Camp Cook/Lighting and Set Designer)
originally hails from Key West, and has been with the company since 1998’s As You Like It. He cooks, he cleans, he designs and builds sets (and theatres!), operates our sound and lighting systems, and does whatever he can however he can. He is one of the hardest working guys in show business.
John Bartlett (Master Carpenter)
Shannon Luster (Actor/Director)
has been an Alaskan resident for most of his life. Born in Anchorage, Shannon has performed as an actor in over 50 productions in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Seattle. Previous directing credits include: The Santaland Diaries, Tartuffe, and The Devil & Billy Markham. As Production Manager, Shannon has previously served as props master, stage manager, and/or actor in numerous FST productions. He is an alumnus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks theatre program and currently serves on Fairbanks Drama Association’s Board of Directors, where he chairs the Artistic Directions Committee.
Andrew Cassel (Actor/Publicist)
has been a part of the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre since 1999. While continuing his studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks he worked closely with the local theatre community. Since 1999 he has been a part of more than 25 productions. Andrew has served on the board of the Fairbanks Drama Association (FDA) and has been a part of the FST and FDA administration. In 2002 he took over as the head of the drama department at Monroe Catholic High School in Fairbanks.
Jake Waid (Actor)
has been acting in the Pacific Northwest since 1992. He began with FST as a teenager and has become a leading player and respected actor throughout the state. Jake played the title role in Hamlet for both the FST Mainstage production of 2002 and the FST international tour in 2003. He also regularly appears on stage at the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska. His favorite roles include Chili/Jabber in West Coast premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’ In the Blood, Tom in The Glass Menagerie, and Ensemble in the World Premiere and state-wide tour of Moby Dick.
Kit Mayer (Set Designer)
is a founding member of FST and has designed the sets since the beginning of the company. Kit is a freelance designer/technical director who works in La Crosse, WI. He teaches at Saint Mary’s University and Technical Directs for the La Crosse Community Theatre. Kit has designed sets and lights for hundreds of shows.
