MISF Team
Check out the incredible talent behind the 2022 Mackinac Island Shakespeare Festival!
Benjamin Curns
Director & Fight Director, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Benjamin Curns (he/him) is a Theatre Artist whose work includes Acting, Fight Choreography, Teaching, and Directing. Previous directing credits include Richard III (Hoosier Shakespeare Festival); An Enemy of the People, Red Velvet, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged (Southern Connecticut State University); As You Like It (Elm Shakespeare Young Company); Coriolanus (Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford), The Good Doctor (ACES, ECA); Macbeth (Excellent Motion Shakespeare Company), national tours of Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth (American Shakespeare Center); and world premieres of The Boy (Philadelphia Fringe); and Shakespeare on Ice (Blackfriars Conference). His work as a Fight Director has been featured at Two River Theatre, PlayMakers Rep, Roust Theatre, Virginia Stage, Elm Shakespeare, The Shakespeare Forum, Live Arts, The American Shakespeare Center, and several colleges and universities. He received his MFA in Acting from UNC Chapel Hill’s Professional Actors Training Program where he was also awarded the David Hammond Award for Excellence in Dramatic Art. He holds the rank of Advanced Actor/Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors where he was also awarded the David Boushey Founder’s Award for Excellence in Unarmed Combat. Curns is a faculty member with Southern Connecticut State University and is a Resident Artist with the Elm Shakespeare Company where he serves as an actor, musician, and teacher. www.benjamincurns.com
Austin Tichenor
Director, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Austin Tichenor (he/him) is an actor, playwright, and co-Artistic Director of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, for which he’s co-authored and co-directed ten stage comedies and with whom he’s performed off-Broadway, in London’s West End, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, at the White House, and in venues across the country and around the world. Recent directorial credits include his own William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) at the Folger Shakespeare Theater and Hamlet’s Big Adventure! (a prequel) at the London In Tel Aviv Festival in Israel (both co-written with Reed Martin); Twelfth Night at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company; Much Ado About Nothing at Pacific University; and his own adaptation of Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair at Valparaiso University.
Austin also played Richard Burbage in the midwest premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will at Chicago’s Northlight Theater, and various roles in the world premiere of Sara Gmitter’s In The Garden at the Tony-winning Lookingglass Theater. TV credits include recurring roles on 24, Alias, Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Felicity; plus various guys in ties on The West Wing, Gilmore Girls, NYPD Blue, ER, The X-Files, Chicago Med, and shows like them.
Austin writes about the intersection of Shakespeare and popular culture for the Folger Shakespeare Library, and is the co-author of Pop-Up Shakespeare (illustrated by Jennie Maizels). Since 2006, Austin has produced and hosted the world’s longest-running weekly theater podcast, the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast, and he offers his services as a writing and acting coach at The Shakespeareance. Follow him on Twitter @austintichenor.
Kat Quiñones
Actor
Kat Quiñones (she/they) is an Actor/Designer from New York that loves telling stories. They received their BFA in Performance from Hofstra University on Long Island in 2020. Her past theatre credits include Acting Shakespeare (2022) with Irvington Shakespeare, C.P.R. (2022) with Mass Transit Thetre, Viola in Twelfth Night (2021), Fefu in Fefu and her Friends (2019), Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida (2020), and Frances in the virtual play Unboxing (2021) that premiered at Cincy Fringe Festival. Their Film credits include Stacey in Never Blink (2021) and an upcoming role in With One Stone (2022). Kat is also an avid designer and has done Costume Design for Theatre, Film, and Opera. Kat is so grateful to this cast and her friends and family who supported her along the way! KatQuinones.com @Kat.Quinones
Ryan Wilson
Actor/Assistant Director
Ryan Wilson (he/him) graduated from Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance MFA program in 2019 with a concentration in directing. Since graduating, Ryan has worked with the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival and the American Shakespeare Center as an assistant director; he also returned to Mary Baldwin for assistant director positions in their undergraduate and graduate theatre programs. As a performer, Ryan’s favorite roles include Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Charles the Dauphin in The Lark, and Lucio in Measure for Measure. Most recently, Ryan has been delighted to serve as an adjunct professor at James Madison University’s School of Theatre and Dance. Ryan’s areas of interest include devising, ensemble building, interactive theatre, and the horror genre. Ryan is so excited and grateful to return for his second season with the Mackinac Island Shakespeare Festival, and would like to thank his friends and family for their continued support.
Jessie Lillis
Actor
Jessie Lillis (she/her) is an actor, director, and co-founder of Starling Shakespeare Company. She graduated in 2020 from Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance MFA program with a concentration in directing. Past roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Troilus in Troilus and Cressida, Face in The Alchemist, Leartes/Guilderstone in Q1 Hamlet, and Moll in The Roaring Girl. A Coldwater, Michigan native, Jessie is thrilled to be returning to her home state for the second annual Mackinac Island Shakespeare Festival.
Tyler James Haggard
Actor
Tyler James Haggard (he/him), an actor-musician based in Roanoke, VA, is an MFA graduate in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University. Recent Shakespeare credits include Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet and Malvolio in Twelfth Night with the Rude Mechanicals (Washington, D.C.), and Angelo/Claudio in Measure for Measure with the Bards Blaze Theatre Collective (Staunton, VA). Haggard is thrilled to spend his summer on tour with Starling Shakespeare Company for the first time and would like to thank his family, friends, and partner Tiffany for their unending love and support.
Heron Kennedy
Actor
Heron Kennedy (she/her) is an actor and educator from Foster, Rhode Island, and co-founder and artistic director of Starling Shakespeare Company. She began work on SSC in 2020 after graduating with her MFA from Mary Baldwin University's MLitt/MFA Shakespeare and Performance program. During her time at MBU, Heron performed in numerous Shakespeare and other early modern plays, in addition to designing props, crafting workshops, and teaching two undergraduate courses. Prior to pursuing her master's degrees, Heron worked as an actor and educator in New England, and is a graduate of Rhode Island college. Favorite roles have included Imogen in Cymbeline, Hamlet in Q1 Hamlet, Miranda in The Tempest, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. She is deeply grateful to be returning as an actor for the 2022 season, and for the opportunity to work with this wonderful team.