Othello
Cast & Crew
Christopher Brackett - STAGE MANAGER
Christopher is a stage manager and children’s supervisor who has worked across North America. He is thrilled to be back and joining forces with James, Julia and the BASHd team.
Select Theatre Credits: The Hockey Sweater (National Arts Centre); Sense & Sensibility (RMTC); Beauty & the Beast, FROZEN (Disney Cruise Line); Richard III (Shakespeare BASH’d); A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper); The Virgin Trial, Romeo & Juliet (Stratford Festival); MATILDA the Musical (1 st US National Tour, Mirvish); Rufus Does Judy, Contemporary Color, If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway (Luminato).
Other credits include work with Disney Theatrical Group, the Toronto International Film Festival, and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Always, much love to mom and dad. Follow online @CSDBrackett.
Select Theatre Credits: The Hockey Sweater (National Arts Centre); Sense & Sensibility (RMTC); Beauty & the Beast, FROZEN (Disney Cruise Line); Richard III (Shakespeare BASH’d); A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper); The Virgin Trial, Romeo & Juliet (Stratford Festival); MATILDA the Musical (1 st US National Tour, Mirvish); Rufus Does Judy, Contemporary Color, If I Loved You: Gentlemen Prefer Broadway (Luminato).
Other credits include work with Disney Theatrical Group, the Toronto International Film Festival, and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Always, much love to mom and dad. Follow online @CSDBrackett.
Olivia Croft - ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Olivia Croft is an actor/creator/mover who was raised in a theatrical family in Stratford, Ontario. She’s a proud graduate of Humber’s Theatre Performance Program, and is inspired by "play" in physical theatre, collective creation, and the fusion of contemporary and Shakespearean elements.
Her recent credits in Theatre include: Measure for Measure (Escalus)/ Shakespeare BASH’d, The Tenth Muse (Sappho)/ Filament Incubator, Thirteen Hands (Great Granddaughter) / Alumnae Theatre, Kambule (The Pierrot) / Ballet Creole, The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother (Eva) / Tatiana Jennings.
Her credits in Film/TV include: The Descendant (CPS Officer) / Dir. Nicholas McCarthy (Orion Pictures, 2019), The Modica Project (Loretta) / Dir. Matt Segal. Prod. Robin Blanchard (2017)
Her recent credits in Theatre include: Measure for Measure (Escalus)/ Shakespeare BASH’d, The Tenth Muse (Sappho)/ Filament Incubator, Thirteen Hands (Great Granddaughter) / Alumnae Theatre, Kambule (The Pierrot) / Ballet Creole, The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother (Eva) / Tatiana Jennings.
Her credits in Film/TV include: The Descendant (CPS Officer) / Dir. Nicholas McCarthy (Orion Pictures, 2019), The Modica Project (Loretta) / Dir. Matt Segal. Prod. Robin Blanchard (2017)
Jeff Dingle - RODERIGO
Jeff Dingle is a Toronto based actor originally from the Province of New Brunswick. For Shakespeare BASH'd he played Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and also took part in stage readings of Volpone, and The Changeling. Other recent credits include Book Club (Port Stanley Festival Theatre); The Birds and the Bees (Lighthouse/Showboat Festival Theatre); Antony and Cleopatra, The Three Musketeers (Saint Lawrence Shakespeare); and the short film Object Relations (Best Film – 2017 48 Hour Film Fest, 2018 Filmapalooza).
When not acting Jeff's hobbies include bath bombs, fried trout, Torey, writing adventure parodies, and being completely obsessed with cats. One day he will be a mad cat man with a hundred cats that provide him with all the love he needs. Meow!
When not acting Jeff's hobbies include bath bombs, fried trout, Torey, writing adventure parodies, and being completely obsessed with cats. One day he will be a mad cat man with a hundred cats that provide him with all the love he needs. Meow!
Jennifer Dzialoszynski - EMILIA
Jennifer always loves working with the crew at Shakespeare BASH’d. She has laughed with, fought to the death with, spit on, been murdered by, colluded with, and many more fun verbs, with some of her favourite people over the years collaborating with BASH’d. Last seen as Lady Anne/Lord Mayor in Richard III, and Laertes in Hamlet before that, Jenn is so happy to be back for Othello! She has worked in theatres across Canada including; four seasons at The Shaw Festival, Magnus Theatre, The St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, The Citadel, Canadian Stage, The Harold Green Jewish Theatre, The Grand Theatre, and others. She is also an accomplished stage fighter and fight director, and one day hopes to adopt a wildly cute puppy.
Dylan Evans - CASSIO
Dylan is a Toronto born, and Calgary raised actor. He is a graduate of Ryerson's BFA acting program. Since graduating in 2015 he has worked with many companies including The Howland Company, lemonTree Creations, Soulpepper, Rock Bottom Movement and of course Shakespeare BASH’d. He is thrilled to be working with the BASH’d crew once again! Othello has long been his favourite Shakespearean play.
James Graham - IAGO
James is a Dora-nominated actor and founding member of The Howland Company. Favourite credits include Punk Rock, Lemons Lemons, The Glass Menagerie, 52 Pick-up (The Howland Company); Out the Window (Theatre Centre/Luminato); Mockingbird (NSTF); King John (Shakespeare BASH’d); NSFW (Studio 180) Titus Andronicus/As You Like It (Canadian Stage); New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre); South Pacific (US National Tour); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC).
He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago.
He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago.
Melanie Leon - MONTANA
Melanie received her theatre training from the University of Victoria and recently participated in Factory Theatre’s Mechanicals program. Selected theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Dauntless City Theatre), Measure for Measure (Shakespeare BASH'd), Configurations of a Divine Bitch (Goat Howl Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Hart House), Shakespeare in Hospitals (SOTMSC), This Will Be Our Last Transmission (Fireworks Festival), FLOODED (North America), CAESAR (Wolf Manor), and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Amicus Theatre).
Wilex Ly - LODOVICO
Wilex is excited to be working with BASH'd on this production of Othello.
His recent works include Much Ado About Nothing with Dauntless City Theatre, Memorable Munsch with Solar Stage Theatre, and a film by 8-bit films.
Other Shakespeare companies he has worked with include Shakespeare in the Ruff, Shakey-Shake and Friends, and Spur of the Moment Shakespeare.
You can find out more about Wilex on Instagram @wilex_ly.
His recent works include Much Ado About Nothing with Dauntless City Theatre, Memorable Munsch with Solar Stage Theatre, and a film by 8-bit films.
Other Shakespeare companies he has worked with include Shakespeare in the Ruff, Shakey-Shake and Friends, and Spur of the Moment Shakespeare.
You can find out more about Wilex on Instagram @wilex_ly.
David Mackett - BRABANTIO / GRATIANO
For Shakespeare BASH’d: The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and
Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors, Edward ll (Staged
Reading), Gorboduc (Staged Reading)
Elsewhere (Selected): Titus Andronicus (Hart House); Arcadia (Citadel Theatre); Dublin
Carol, Port Authority, Cold Comfort (Fly on the Wall Theatre); After the Fall (Equity
Showcase), The Weir, The Good Thief (MacKenzieRo); Aftershock (SummerWorks);
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Touchmark Theatre); Half Life (Rose Theatre);
All’s Well that Ends Well (Shakespeare in the Square); Lucrece (Willow Cabin Theatre);
Peter Pan (TheatreWorks/USA); Candida, Of Mice and Men (Kentucky Rep).
Other: David is a graduate of the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program, Circle in the Square Theatre School (NYC), and completed his Classical Theatre Training at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is Co-Artistic Producer of Fly on the Wall Theatre (www.flyonthewalltheatre.ca).
Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors, Edward ll (Staged
Reading), Gorboduc (Staged Reading)
Elsewhere (Selected): Titus Andronicus (Hart House); Arcadia (Citadel Theatre); Dublin
Carol, Port Authority, Cold Comfort (Fly on the Wall Theatre); After the Fall (Equity
Showcase), The Weir, The Good Thief (MacKenzieRo); Aftershock (SummerWorks);
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Touchmark Theatre); Half Life (Rose Theatre);
All’s Well that Ends Well (Shakespeare in the Square); Lucrece (Willow Cabin Theatre);
Peter Pan (TheatreWorks/USA); Candida, Of Mice and Men (Kentucky Rep).
Other: David is a graduate of the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program, Circle in the Square Theatre School (NYC), and completed his Classical Theatre Training at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is Co-Artistic Producer of Fly on the Wall Theatre (www.flyonthewalltheatre.ca).
Julia Nish-Lapidus - DUCHESS / CLOWN
Julia is an actor, director, and producer, as well as a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Shakespeare BASH'd, where she has produced all of the company's productions. She has worked as the Managing Director of Common Boots Theatre and as part of the team at The Theatre Centre.
For Shakespeare BASH'd, Julia has directed Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, and the staged reading of The Duchess of Malfi. She has also performed in many BASH'd productions, including The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Volpone (staged reading).
Selected Additional Credits: The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen and This Property is Condemned (Director, The Playwright Project), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Next Stage), As You Like It (Text Coach, Theatre By the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Text Coach. Hart House), and as an actor OVER, See Bob Run (Theatre Caravel), reasons to the pretty (The Labute Cycle), The Forest (Red One Theatre Collective), Dublin Carol (Fly on the Wall). Julia is a member of the Advisory Board for the Canadian Stage GYM program and a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
For Shakespeare BASH'd, Julia has directed Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, and the staged reading of The Duchess of Malfi. She has also performed in many BASH'd productions, including The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Volpone (staged reading).
Selected Additional Credits: The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen and This Property is Condemned (Director, The Playwright Project), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Next Stage), As You Like It (Text Coach, Theatre By the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Text Coach. Hart House), and as an actor OVER, See Bob Run (Theatre Caravel), reasons to the pretty (The Labute Cycle), The Forest (Red One Theatre Collective), Dublin Carol (Fly on the Wall). Julia is a member of the Advisory Board for the Canadian Stage GYM program and a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
Catherine Rainville - DESDEMONA
Catherine Rainville is so happy to be working on this incredible play with such an wildly talented team. With BASH’d as a director: Measure for Measure, Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor (co-director), and The Taming of the Shrew (associate director).
With BASH’d as an actor: Queen Elizabeth and Catesby in Richard III, Cardinal Pandaulph in King John, The Widow in The Taming of the Shrew, and Katherine in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Other acting credits include: Rosalind in As You Like It, Cordelia in King Lear, and Jenny in the company written musical production of Pinocchio with Shakespeare by the Sea.
With BASH’d as an actor: Queen Elizabeth and Catesby in Richard III, Cardinal Pandaulph in King John, The Widow in The Taming of the Shrew, and Katherine in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Other acting credits include: Rosalind in As You Like It, Cordelia in King Lear, and Jenny in the company written musical production of Pinocchio with Shakespeare by the Sea.
Natasha Ramondino - BIANCA
Natasha Ramondino is a Toronto based actor and graduate of the Theatre and Drama Studies program at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto Mississauga. She is thrilled to be working with BASH'd again!
Recent theatre credits include:Crow Hill: The Telephone Play (4th Line Theatre), Happy (Thousand Islands Playhouse), Coriolanus (Skipping Stones Theatre), Volpone (Shakespeare BASH’d), Romeo and Juliet (Bard in the Park), Get Yourself Home Skyler James(Binocular Theatre), Lion in the Streets (Theatre By Committee), Shakespeare in Hospitals (Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective), MathJam, JiggiJump (Education Arts Canada), Andy Warhol Presents: Valerie (Fail Better Theatre), and Rumpelstiltskin (Solar Stage Theatre). You can catch her in this year’s Next Stage Theatre Festival playing a queer, punk, high school drummer in Ali Joy Richardson’s A Bear Awake In Winter. Check out her website at natasharamondino.com
Recent theatre credits include:Crow Hill: The Telephone Play (4th Line Theatre), Happy (Thousand Islands Playhouse), Coriolanus (Skipping Stones Theatre), Volpone (Shakespeare BASH’d), Romeo and Juliet (Bard in the Park), Get Yourself Home Skyler James(Binocular Theatre), Lion in the Streets (Theatre By Committee), Shakespeare in Hospitals (Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective), MathJam, JiggiJump (Education Arts Canada), Andy Warhol Presents: Valerie (Fail Better Theatre), and Rumpelstiltskin (Solar Stage Theatre). You can catch her in this year’s Next Stage Theatre Festival playing a queer, punk, high school drummer in Ali Joy Richardson’s A Bear Awake In Winter. Check out her website at natasharamondino.com
E.B. Smith - OTHELLO
E.B. Is thrilled to be appearing in his second project with Shakespeare BASH’d. Two seasons ago, he read the role of Deflores in The Changeling.
Other Theatre Credits: The Mountaintop, Art, Coriolanus, The Tempest, Napoli Millionaria All My Sons, Mother Courage, King John, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Elektra, Richard III, Titus Andronicus (Stratford Festival); Gone With the Wind (Manitoba Theatre Centre); Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Macbeth (First Folio Theatre); King Hedley II, Dream on Monkey Mountain, Before It Hits Home (Karamu House Theatre). Other credits at the Cleveland Play House, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Theater Wit in Chicago and two seasons at the Great Lakes Theater Festival.
Film and TV Credits: The Beast (Sony Pictures Television); Ask Gilby, Maybe By Then, Thunder Bay (PBS-TV).
Other: E.B. received his training at Ohio University and The Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival. E.B. dedicates his work to his parents and grandmother, and to the memory of his Papa, who will always be in the front row.
Other Theatre Credits: The Mountaintop, Art, Coriolanus, The Tempest, Napoli Millionaria All My Sons, Mother Courage, King John, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Elektra, Richard III, Titus Andronicus (Stratford Festival); Gone With the Wind (Manitoba Theatre Centre); Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Macbeth (First Folio Theatre); King Hedley II, Dream on Monkey Mountain, Before It Hits Home (Karamu House Theatre). Other credits at the Cleveland Play House, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Theater Wit in Chicago and two seasons at the Great Lakes Theater Festival.
Film and TV Credits: The Beast (Sony Pictures Television); Ask Gilby, Maybe By Then, Thunder Bay (PBS-TV).
Other: E.B. received his training at Ohio University and The Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival. E.B. dedicates his work to his parents and grandmother, and to the memory of his Papa, who will always be in the front row.
James Wallis - DIRECTOR
James has been a Shakespeare fan all his life, having performed with Resurgence Theatre Company as a teenager and again as a professional later in his career.
In 2010, James co-founded Shakespeare BASH’d with his wife, Julia. For the company, James has directed staged readings of Romeo and Juliet (2010), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2011), Edward II (2015), Volpone (2017), as well as the full productions of Romeo & Juliet, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Twelfth Night. He played Petruchio in the company's Best of Fringe winning production of The Taming of the Shrew in 2012 and the remount in 2015, and played Benedick in their sold-out production of Much Ado About Nothing in the 2013 Toronto Fringe. In addition, here are some of James’ selected theatre credits: A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Shakespeare’s Magic and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre by the Bay), Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath Theatre, US Tour), Sleeping Beauty (Sudbury Theatre Centre), Paradise by the River (Shadowpath Theatre).
James participated in the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing at the Stratford Festival, assistant directing Macbeth, Bunny, and Romeo and Juliet, as well as Julius Caesar in 2018.
In 2010, James co-founded Shakespeare BASH’d with his wife, Julia. For the company, James has directed staged readings of Romeo and Juliet (2010), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2011), Edward II (2015), Volpone (2017), as well as the full productions of Romeo & Juliet, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Twelfth Night. He played Petruchio in the company's Best of Fringe winning production of The Taming of the Shrew in 2012 and the remount in 2015, and played Benedick in their sold-out production of Much Ado About Nothing in the 2013 Toronto Fringe. In addition, here are some of James’ selected theatre credits: A Midsummer Nights’ Dream, Shakespeare’s Magic and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre by the Bay), Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath Theatre, US Tour), Sleeping Beauty (Sudbury Theatre Centre), Paradise by the River (Shadowpath Theatre).
James participated in the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing at the Stratford Festival, assistant directing Macbeth, Bunny, and Romeo and Juliet, as well as Julius Caesar in 2018.