The Merchant of Venice Company
Ori Black - Lorenzo
Ori Black is a Toronto-based Jewish French-Canadian actor/playwright with a BFA from York University. He is honoured to have recently had the world premiere of his first play, ‘Summer of Semitism,’ at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Ori continues to be inspired by the contemporary Jewish experience, and is motivated to carve out a true space for new Jewish perspectives in the industry. Also, he is a loving father to his cat Tommy Blue. Selected credits: Morris/Teddy in 'Bobbie' (TBTB); Ohbee in ‘Summer of Semitism’ (WJT); Izzy in ‘Forever Young: A Ghetto Story’ (GCTC); The Security Guard in 'The Spectators' Odyssey’ (DLT& TOLive); Orpheus in 'The Curious Voyage' (DLT & TIFT); Emmett in 'rochdale' (SummerWorks, Theatre@York). @oriwilliamblack.
Sofia Contal - Launcelot Gobbo
Sofía is a storyteller, a jazzer, a mover, and an empanada baker. Their craft is incredibly important to them - it is the playground in which they find expansiveness, unbound curiosity, and connection to an inner sense of Earth. They love working with Shakespeare BASH'd; Julia and James create such a nurturing environment, and Sofía is grateful to be a part of a show that is so near and dear to the company.
Some dreams Sofía holds is one day getting to write and direct their own Spanglish play, releasing a jazz cover album, and building a community of loved ones with whom to host elaborate and flavourful monthly dinner parties! They are a firm believer in the power of representation and would also find it a dream come true to have been able to inspire other young, queer, Latinx individuals along the course of their career; Sofía’s parents gifted them rich Argentine traditions, but by coming here, have also gifted them the opportunity to live fiercely unabridged. As they continue to grow their artistry, they continue to explore just how far they can blur the limitations and dive head first into imagination.
Other credits: Into The Woods (Ovation Productions), The Tempest and She Stoops to Conquer (SLSF), 33 1/3 (Theatre Aquarius), Cabaret (Ovation Productions), 9 to 5 (Capitol Theatre).
Some dreams Sofía holds is one day getting to write and direct their own Spanglish play, releasing a jazz cover album, and building a community of loved ones with whom to host elaborate and flavourful monthly dinner parties! They are a firm believer in the power of representation and would also find it a dream come true to have been able to inspire other young, queer, Latinx individuals along the course of their career; Sofía’s parents gifted them rich Argentine traditions, but by coming here, have also gifted them the opportunity to live fiercely unabridged. As they continue to grow their artistry, they continue to explore just how far they can blur the limitations and dive head first into imagination.
Other credits: Into The Woods (Ovation Productions), The Tempest and She Stoops to Conquer (SLSF), 33 1/3 (Theatre Aquarius), Cabaret (Ovation Productions), 9 to 5 (Capitol Theatre).
M Fera - Stage Manager
M is a Toronto-based artist and producer. She is the Co-Founder of A.C.T. Productions. She has been stage managing in Toronto for over 10 years. M is thrilled to return to Shakespeare BASH'd for her third consecutive year as Stage Manager.
Some of her recent credits include: The Second City; (as Stage Manager) Don Pasquale (Canadian Opera Company); (as Apprentice Stage Manager) TIFF; (as Stage Manager) The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Tragedy of King Lear (Shakespeare BASH’d) (as Stage Manager).
Some of her recent credits include: The Second City; (as Stage Manager) Don Pasquale (Canadian Opera Company); (as Apprentice Stage Manager) TIFF; (as Stage Manager) The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Tragedy of King Lear (Shakespeare BASH’d) (as Stage Manager).
Brittany Kay - Nerissa
For BASH’d: Phoebe in As You Like It
Selected Theatre: Madame Minister (TIFT), Those Movies (OOH & Upper Canada Playhouse), Where You Are, Our House, Book Club (Port Stanley Festival Theatre), Forever Young: A Ghetto Story (GCTC), This was the World (Tarragon Theatre), Doll Play (Bloodpact/Witchboy), Asking for It (Thousand Islands Playhouse), The Wolves (Howland Company/Crows), Mikveh (HGJT), Fitz Happens! (Lighthouse Festival Theatre), Romeo & Juliet Chainsaw Massacre (Toronto Fringe), 9 Parts of Desire (Seventh Stage/Theatre Centre), The Lion King (Mirvish)
Selected Film/TV: Night Shift (Rapid Eye Movement), The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), Taken (NBC/Universal), Dance Together (Amazon Prime), and Hemlock Grove (Netflix)
Other: Brittany is also an OCT teacher and arts educator with her MEd from OISE. Love always to my Buddy and my two Js.
Selected Theatre: Madame Minister (TIFT), Those Movies (OOH & Upper Canada Playhouse), Where You Are, Our House, Book Club (Port Stanley Festival Theatre), Forever Young: A Ghetto Story (GCTC), This was the World (Tarragon Theatre), Doll Play (Bloodpact/Witchboy), Asking for It (Thousand Islands Playhouse), The Wolves (Howland Company/Crows), Mikveh (HGJT), Fitz Happens! (Lighthouse Festival Theatre), Romeo & Juliet Chainsaw Massacre (Toronto Fringe), 9 Parts of Desire (Seventh Stage/Theatre Centre), The Lion King (Mirvish)
Selected Film/TV: Night Shift (Rapid Eye Movement), The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), Taken (NBC/Universal), Dance Together (Amazon Prime), and Hemlock Grove (Netflix)
Other: Brittany is also an OCT teacher and arts educator with her MEd from OISE. Love always to my Buddy and my two Js.
Cameron Laurie - Bassanio
Cameron has been a long time fan of Shakespeare BASH'd and is excited to be part of the The Merchant of Venice team. He recently completed his 4th season at the Blyth Festival where he has appeared in Saving Graceland, The Trials of Maggie Pollock, The Donnelly's Trilogy, The Drawer Boy and Our Beautiful Sons. Cameron is also a Founder and Artistic Leader of The Howland Company, where he has performed in a number of shows including Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Prodigal, Three Sisters, Punk Rock and Casimir & Caroline, for which he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Ensemble. He will appear in Theatre Aurinko's production This Feels Like the End, this October as part of the Next Stage Festival.
Alon Nashman - Shylock
Alon Nashman is an award-winning performer, director, creator, and producer of theatre. Selected acting credits include: The Breathing Hole (National Arts Centre), Birds of a Kind, Hirsch (Stratford Festival), I send you this cadmium red (Art of Time Ensemble), Much Ado About Nothing, Forests, Scorched, Democracy, Remnants, Alias Godot (Tarragon Theatre), Hamlet, All’s Well That Ends Well, Botticelli in the Fire/Sunday in Sodom, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, THIS (Canadian Stage), The Wild Duck (Soulpepper), Hedda Gabler(Volcano/Buddies in Bad Times), If Jesus Met Nanabush (De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre), and Tales of Two Cities (Tafelmusik). Alon established Theaturtle in 1999 to create and tour essential, ecstatic theatre that touches the earth and agitates the soul. Projects include Wajdi Mouawad’s Alphonse, Kafka and Son (with Mark Cassidy of Threshold Theatre), and The Snow Queen, scored for string quartet and narrator. Alon wrote the libretto for Charlotte: A Tri-coloured Play with Music which premiered at Toronto’s Luminato Festival and toured to Taiwan and Europe, including the Czech National Opera.
Jesse Nerenberg - Antonio
Jesse is thrilled to return to a BASH’d stage, performing Shakespeare’s timeless words for an audience for the first time in nearly five years.
For Shakespeare BASH'd: Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, The Duchess of Malfi.
Selected Theatre: A Christmas Carol (Three Ships Collective), The Golem’s Mighty Swing(Winnipeg Jewish Theatre/Outside the March), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea(Kidoons/MTYP/Persephone/Ohio Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Cyrano, The Three Musketeers (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Perfect Wedding (Magnus Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chekhov Collective); The Whipping Man (Winnipeg Jewish Theatre); Twelfth Night (Repercussion Theatre); Romeo & Juliet (Citadel Theatre); Casimir & Caroline (Howland Company); Birth (Pandemic Theatre); Journey's End (Empty Room); The SantaLand Diaries (Frosty Co-op); Equus (Hart House); Mary's Wedding (Brantbury Fair); Serious Money (RTS/Nightwood).
Film, TV, Voice-Over: Mayday (Cineflix), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Fare Trade (Bell Media), Slasher (Shaftesbury), Private Eyes (Global), Touring T.O. (Bell Media), Warehouse 13 (SyFy), The Transporter (HBO Canada), Canadian Made, Storming Juno (History), Trust, INC. (CBC Radio).
Other: A graduate of Ryerson Theatre School and participant in the 2014 Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Program. In addition to his work on stage, Jesse is a licensed Speech Pathologist, helping adults to improve their speech, voice, and communication. His keenest interests lie in the realm of voice therapy and stuttering therapy.
For Shakespeare BASH'd: Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, The Duchess of Malfi.
Selected Theatre: A Christmas Carol (Three Ships Collective), The Golem’s Mighty Swing(Winnipeg Jewish Theatre/Outside the March), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea(Kidoons/MTYP/Persephone/Ohio Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Cyrano, The Three Musketeers (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Perfect Wedding (Magnus Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chekhov Collective); The Whipping Man (Winnipeg Jewish Theatre); Twelfth Night (Repercussion Theatre); Romeo & Juliet (Citadel Theatre); Casimir & Caroline (Howland Company); Birth (Pandemic Theatre); Journey's End (Empty Room); The SantaLand Diaries (Frosty Co-op); Equus (Hart House); Mary's Wedding (Brantbury Fair); Serious Money (RTS/Nightwood).
Film, TV, Voice-Over: Mayday (Cineflix), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Fare Trade (Bell Media), Slasher (Shaftesbury), Private Eyes (Global), Touring T.O. (Bell Media), Warehouse 13 (SyFy), The Transporter (HBO Canada), Canadian Made, Storming Juno (History), Trust, INC. (CBC Radio).
Other: A graduate of Ryerson Theatre School and participant in the 2014 Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Program. In addition to his work on stage, Jesse is a licensed Speech Pathologist, helping adults to improve their speech, voice, and communication. His keenest interests lie in the realm of voice therapy and stuttering therapy.
Julia Nish-Lapdius - Director
Julia Nish-Lapidus is a director, actor, and producer, as well as a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Toronto’s Shakespeare BASH'd (Best Site Specific Theatre Company, NOW Magazine Readers’ Choice 2018, 2019). She is also the Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON.
She was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing in, acting as the Assistant Director on Private Lives and Associate Director on All's Well That Ends Well, and as co-facilitator of the WordPlay series in the Forum. In the Festival's 2021 season she was Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mixtape.
For Shakespeare BASH'd, Julia has directed Cymbeline, 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 Two Noble Kinsmen, The Tragedy of King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, and more.
Selected Additional Credits: Romeo and Juliet (George Brown); She Stoops to Conquer, Play On! (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Romeo and Juliet (YES/STC); The Duchess of Malfi, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Co-Director, Toronto Metropolitan University); The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director, SpringWorks), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, This Property is Condemned (Director, The Playwright Project), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Next Stage). Julia is a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
She was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing in, acting as the Assistant Director on Private Lives and Associate Director on All's Well That Ends Well, and as co-facilitator of the WordPlay series in the Forum. In the Festival's 2021 season she was Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mixtape.
For Shakespeare BASH'd, Julia has directed Cymbeline, 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 Two Noble Kinsmen, The Tragedy of King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, and more.
Selected Additional Credits: Romeo and Juliet (George Brown); She Stoops to Conquer, Play On! (St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival); Romeo and Juliet (YES/STC); The Duchess of Malfi, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Co-Director, Toronto Metropolitan University); The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director, SpringWorks), Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, This Property is Condemned (Director, The Playwright Project), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Next Stage). Julia is a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
Matt Nish-Lapidus - Sound Designer
Matt Nish-Lapidus is an artist and musician based in Toronto. His varied practice includes publications, recordings, installations, performances, software, and objects. Recent projects include Romeo and Juliet (YES Theatre), The Tragedy of King Lear, The Two Noble Kinsmen (Shakespeare BASH’d), the EDAA award winning Finger Plays, and Only the Dreamer Knows It at MOCA Toronto. Matt has performed and exhibited with The Power Plant (Toronto), INDEX Biennial (Braga), ACUD Macht Neu (Berlin), Electric Eclectics (Meaford), InterAccess (Toronto), ZKM (Karlsruhe), The Plumb (Toronto), and more, including many DIY community spaces.
Adriano Reis - Prince of Arragon / Salerio
Adriano Reis is a Dora Award nominated actor raised in a Brazilian-Portuguese home. After graduating from George Brown Theatre School, he has performed on stages across Toronto and the GTA. Selected credits: Romeo and Juliet (YES Theatre), MARTYR (ARC Stage), Shanty Show (The Lakeside Players), Cyrano de Bergerac (Theatre on the Ridge), Cowgirl of Suburbia (Theatre by the Bay), A Midsummer, Night’s Dream (Theatre Orangeville). Adriano also works as a flooring installer, bartender and furniture mover - young in limbs, in judgement old.
Neta J. Rose - Gratiano
Neta J. Rose (they/them) is an actor, writer, and visual artist based in Tkaronto. Selected theatre credits include The Penelopiad (Hart House), The Omnibus Bill (TACTICS), The Bonds of Interest (Odyssey), Heart of a Dog (Nowadays/Next Stage), 1184 (Phoenix Arts/Aga Khan), The Garden of Alla (Minmar Gaslight), and I Love You & It Hurts (Canadian tour - Theatre of the Beat). This year they appeared in a number of short films, and will next be seen onscreen in the feature-length thriller, Violence. Neta is a graduate of the Claude Watson Arts Program and the Centre for Drama Theatre and Performance Studies at University of Toronto, and is a founding member of Create! Youth Theatre in Scotland, now in its 15th year. In addition to acting, Neta makes paintings, zines, poems, and short stories. Find out more at www.netajrose.com or @neta.j.rose
Cameron Scott - Jessica
Cameron Scott is a Toronto-based actor and singer, born and raised in Port Perry, ON. Cameron is a 2024 graduate of Randolph College for the Performing Arts, where she performed in productions of 12 Angry Jurors and Crazy For You. Most recently, Cameron has worked with Smile Theatre, as a member of their Fall Serenades. Cameron has also Vocal Directed for Vocally Inspired Performers, a youth theatre group in Uxbridge, ON, and spends time as a princess with Enchanted Princess Parties. Cameron is thrilled to be joining the cast of The Merchant of Venice and beyond grateful to be making her BASH’d debut!
Hallie Seline - Portia
Hallie is a Jewish Québec-born, Toronto-based actor, and one of the Founding Artistic Leaders of The Howland Company. She is beyond thrilled to make her return with the wonderful folks at Shakespeare BASH'd. BASH'd audiences may have seen her most recently as Rosalind in their As You Like It, or in earlier productions as Olivia in Twelfth Night, a Witch in Macbeth, the Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Hallie has won a Dora Mavor Moore Award and a Toronto Theatre Critics Association Award and has acted in many critically acclaimed shows in Toronto and throughout Ontario. Selected Theatre Credits Include: The Farm Show: Then & Now, Resort to Murder (Blyth Festival); Heroes of the Fourth Turning (The Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre); The Donnellys: A Trilogy - Sticks & Stones, The St. Nicholas Hotel, Handcuffs (Blyth Festival); Prodigal, Three Sisters, Casimir and Caroline, The Wolves, Punk Rock, 52 Pick-Up (The Howland Company); Prairie Nurse (Lighthouse Festival); Stag and Doe (Bluewater Summer Playhouse); Oliver! (Capitol Theatre Port Hope). Selected Film/TV Credits: Fellow Travelers (Showtime), Everything's Going to Be Great (Lionsgate Productions), Mayday(Discovery).
Carson Somanlall - Prince of Morocco / Stephano / Antonio’s Man
Carson is an actor and multidisciplinary artist, holding a BFA from Toronto Metropolitan University. They truly cherish their experience working with director James Wallis, on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion at TMU, and had an incredible experience working with James, and Julia Nish-Lapidus, on their reading of Arden of Faversham (Shakespeare Bash’d). Carson also recently appeared in 86 Me: The Restaurant Play (Dead Raccoon Theatre), and continues to create analog video-feedback projections for the Brampton-based rock band, Club Cadetta.
James Wallis - Old Gobbo / Duke / Tubal / Jailer
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), and Edward II (2015), 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, and Julius Caesar. He returned in 2021 as Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mix-Tape. He is also the Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON.
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), and Edward II (2015), 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, and Julius Caesar. He returned in 2021 as Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mix-Tape. He is also the Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Prescott, ON.
Arielle Zamora - Solanio / Servingwoman
Arielle Zamora (she/her) is a queer, Jewish performing artist, theatre maker, educator, and prospector of language. She is buzzing with gratitude to be making her Shakespeare BASH’d debut. Selected credits: Capulet & Friar John in the Dora Award-winning ensemble of Romeo and Juliet. And Action. (Shakespeare in Action), Keeper in Worry Warts (Convergence Theatre/SummerWorks), Odysseus in The Penelopiad (Hart House), Exeter in Henry V (The Edge Productions). Arielle is an Education Associate at the Stratford Festival and sends endless thanks to Sweet Action Theatre Company for providing a place to fail gloriously.