Women Beware Women Company
Cooper Bilton
Cooper Bilton is a Dora nominated actor and graduate of the George Brown Theatre school. Selected Theatre: The Ensemble (Second City), Maggie’s Getting Married (Upper Canada Playhouse), The Velveteen Rabbit (Video Cabernet/Rule of Three), Romeo & Juliet (YES Theatre), Bone Cage (Assembly Theatre), & Table Top (Pea Green Theatre). Some other companies Cooper has worked with include Capitol Theatre, Carousel Players, & Theatre Orangeville. Currently he is co-developing a new kids show titled 'My Learning Resource Teacher Is Alien!' with a grant from the Guild Festival. Cooper is also one half of the comedy duo Cooped Up With Tom who produce silly things with silly people. You can find him on instagram @cooperbilton
Oliver Dennis
Recent productions include Fagin in Oliver! (Yes Theatre, Sudbury), People, Places and Things (Coalmine), Waitress (Capitol Theatre, Port Hope)15 Dogs (Sadie Bronfman, Montreal) Bremen Town by Gregory Prest (Next Stage Festival), The Wonderful by Luke Reese (Caravan Farm Theatre). Oliver has performed in close to 100 productions with Soulpepper Theatre where he has had the opportunity to play Shakespeare and Moliere and Chekhov, Miller and Williams and Albee. Beckett, Ionesco, Orton. Simon. Sarah Ruhl and Suzan-Lori Parks and Tracey Letts. David French and Morris Panych/Brenda Robins and Mike Ross/Sarah Wilson and Lee MacDougall and Vern Thiessen and Michael Shamata and Kevin Loring and Erin Shields. Shaffer, Story, Stoppard, Frayn and Aykbourn. To name some.
Deborah Drakeford
Deb has been around for a long time and has been fortunate enough to have worked across the country from BC to PEI. Selected Credits: A Kind of Alaska, The City, Bea, Moment, Pomona, Human Animals, Oil, Gloria, Martyr, Rockabye (ARC); Steel Magnolias (Capitol Theatre); Redbone Coonhound (Tarragon); The Penelopiad (Grand Theatre); Shirley Valentine (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Portia’s Julius Caesar (Shakespeare in the Ruff); Innocence Lost, A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper); Hedda Noir (Theatre Northwest); Same Time Next Year, Rabbit Hole, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, 1939, Oliver! (Sudbury Theatre Centre). Deb is also a voice actor and narrated the audiobook for The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.
Other: Deb was a member of ARC, a Toronto based indie theatre company, for 19 years, the last 4 of which she was the Co-Artistic Producer. She has also done film and tv, including appearing in HBO’s “Station Eleven”. Deb has been Dora nominated 10 times (individual and ensemble). She also holds a BEd and teaches for YPT, Soulpepper and for the TDSB.
Other: Deb was a member of ARC, a Toronto based indie theatre company, for 19 years, the last 4 of which she was the Co-Artistic Producer. She has also done film and tv, including appearing in HBO’s “Station Eleven”. Deb has been Dora nominated 10 times (individual and ensemble). She also holds a BEd and teaches for YPT, Soulpepper and for the TDSB.
David Gingerich
Dave’s happy to be back as part of the Shakespeare BASH’d reading of Women Beware Women. A veteran of the company, Dave couldn’t ask for a better group to play with since rebooting his career as a water resources engineer. To Wally & Julia, eternal gratitude for bringing the Bard and contemporaries to the hallowed grounds of communion and revelry - the City’s bars !
James Graham
For Shakespeare BASH’d: Othello, King John
Selected Theatre: Casimir & Caroline, Punk Rock, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, The Glass Menagerie, 52 Pick-Up (Howland Company) Out the Window (Luminato Festival/Theatre Centre), Mockingbird (NSTF, Dora Nominee), NSFW (Studio 180), Titus Andronicus, As You Like It (Canadian Stage), New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre). Selected Media: Murdoch Mysteries (CBC).
Awards: Dora Award winner, two-time Dora Award nominee.
Selected Theatre: Casimir & Caroline, Punk Rock, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, The Glass Menagerie, 52 Pick-Up (Howland Company) Out the Window (Luminato Festival/Theatre Centre), Mockingbird (NSTF, Dora Nominee), NSFW (Studio 180), Titus Andronicus, As You Like It (Canadian Stage), New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre). Selected Media: Murdoch Mysteries (CBC).
Awards: Dora Award winner, two-time Dora Award nominee.
Veronica Hortiguela
Veronica Hortigüela (she/her) is a Scarborough-born and raised actor and playwright who graduated from TMU’s Theatre Acting program. She’s one half of the creative/performance team behind MONKS (Theatre Centre, Crow’s, County Stage, Toronto Fringe Patrons’ Pick). Other performance credits include: Bremen Town, Feast (Tarragon), The Bidding War (Crow’s), Prodigal (Crow’s, Howland Co.), Casimir and Caroline (Howland Co., Dora Award - Best Ensemble), Little Women, Every Little Nookie (Stratford) and Dry Land (Cue6).
Beck Lloyd
Beck Lloyd holds an MFA in Performance from York University, is a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre, and teaches acting, text and Shakespeare across Ontario. Theatre Credits (Select): [Slave Play, Hamlet (Canadian Stage)]; [Pride&Prejudice, Controlled Damage (The Grand)]; [Measure for Measure (Crows/House&Body)]; [The Tempest (Theatre Rusticle/Buddies in Bad Times)]; [The Miser, Grand Magic, A Wrinkle in Time, Richard iii, r+j (Stratford Festival)]; [The gruesome terror & most brave triumph of Bluebeard's Bride, The Madwoman of Chaillot (The Lunar Stratagem)]; [Portraits, Patterns, Possibilities (Culcha Works)]; [The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Lower Ossington Theatre)] @beckklloyd
Jamie Mac
Jamie Mac is honoured to make his Shakespeare Bash’d debut! He has performed 9 seasons at the Stratford Festival, as well as at many theatres across Canada including the National Arts Centre, Blyth Festival, GCTC, Canadian Stage, Upper Canada Playhouse, Stage West, Magnus Theatre, Two Planks & A Passion and more: In Film & Television you can see him in Frankenstein, Painkiller, What We Do In The Shadows, On The Count Of Three, Murdoch Mysteries, Republic Of Doyle, and Life With Derek. Jamie is proud Newfoundlander, and lived in Toronto and Stratford for 20 years.
Paige Madsen
Paige Madsen (she/her) is thrilled to be working with Shakespeare Bash’d! She is a theatre artist with a BFA in Performance Acting from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Paige is co-founding Artistic Director of Panoply Theatre Collective, a Toronto-based charitable non-profit theatre organization which is dedicated to collaborative creation of new works, with a focus on reclaiming the classics through an inclusive lens. Paige’s artistic practice includes work as an actor, director, writer, producer, and singer. She has worked with companies such as Motus O Dance Theatre, Shadowpath Theatre, Education Arts Canada, Skylark Vocal Trio, the Toronto Fringe Festival, the Parados Festival, and the National Arts Centre’s #CanadaPerforms program. She is also an arts educator with Ovation! Performing Arts Academy. A huge fan of Early Modern drama, Paige recently completed a Spring Into Shakespeare academic short course through the University of Birmingham's renowned Shakespeare Institute. You can learn more about her work at www.panoplycollective.com/paige.
Paige is co-founding Artistic Director of Panoply Theatre Collective, a Toronto-based charitable non-profit theatre organization which is dedicated to collaborative creation of new works, with a focus on reclaiming the classics through an inclusive lens. Paige’s artistic practice includes work as an actor, director, writer, producer, and singer. She has worked with companies such as Motus O Dance Theatre, Shadowpath Theatre, Education Arts Canada, Skylark Vocal Trio, the Toronto Fringe Festival, the Parados Festival, and the National Arts Centre’s #CanadaPerforms program. She is also an arts educator with Ovation! Performing Arts Academy. A huge fan of Early Modern drama, Paige recently completed a Spring Into Shakespeare academic short course through the University of Birmingham's renowned Shakespeare Institute. You can learn more about her work at www.panoplycollective.com/paige.
Michael Man
Big fan of BASH’d, Michael’s glad to be back.
FOR SHAKESPEARE BASH’D: The Two Noble Kinsmen, Measure for Measure, Duchess of Malfi (reading).
SELECTED THEATRE: As You Like It, Forgiveness (Stratford Festival); Everybody, Prince Caspian, Village Wooing, Doctor’s Dilemma, Victory, Cyrano de Bergerac, Sherlock Holmes (Shaw Festival); Snow in Midsummer (Shaw/National Arts Centre); Lear, Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night, As You Like It (Canadian Stage/Dream in High Park); Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing (St. Lawrence Shakespeare); Birds and the Bees, The Jungle Book (Magnus); Meet Chloe (Carousel); Christmas Carol (Grand); Hymn of the Weaverbird (找我劇場 ESP-I, Taiwan); 彼岸 (Gateway).
WRITING: The Orphan of Chao (Shaw).
FILM/TELEVISION: What We Do in the Shadows, Backstabbing for Beginners.
TEACHING: National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan); George Brown Theatre School.
OTHER: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Board Member (2022-Present).
INSTAGRAM: @michaelman1n.
FOR SHAKESPEARE BASH’D: The Two Noble Kinsmen, Measure for Measure, Duchess of Malfi (reading).
SELECTED THEATRE: As You Like It, Forgiveness (Stratford Festival); Everybody, Prince Caspian, Village Wooing, Doctor’s Dilemma, Victory, Cyrano de Bergerac, Sherlock Holmes (Shaw Festival); Snow in Midsummer (Shaw/National Arts Centre); Lear, Titus Andronicus, Twelfth Night, As You Like It (Canadian Stage/Dream in High Park); Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing (St. Lawrence Shakespeare); Birds and the Bees, The Jungle Book (Magnus); Meet Chloe (Carousel); Christmas Carol (Grand); Hymn of the Weaverbird (找我劇場 ESP-I, Taiwan); 彼岸 (Gateway).
WRITING: The Orphan of Chao (Shaw).
FILM/TELEVISION: What We Do in the Shadows, Backstabbing for Beginners.
TEACHING: National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan); George Brown Theatre School.
OTHER: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Board Member (2022-Present).
INSTAGRAM: @michaelman1n.
Eliza Martin
Eliza Martin is an award-winning actor, writer, and creator. She is a graduate of the Theatre and Drama Studies program at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College and has since performed on stages in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. For Shakespeare BASH’d: Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Isabella in The Changeling. Selected additional credits include: Ghost of Christmas Past in A Christmas Carol (Three Ships Collective), Zoey in Like it Or Not (Carousel Players), Katie in The Money Tree (Roseneath Theatre), Molly in Peter and The Starcatcher(LOT), Hedvig in The Wild Duck Project (Re:Current Theatre), Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (Hart House Theatre), Patricia in Hiding Like Elephants (Hangar Theatre), Hanna in Canadian independent film Otium (Seven to Forty Cinema), and most recently Save Me in the London UK workshop of Good Girls Don’t Go to Hell (SIQ Collective/Brooklyn Rep UK). Eliza has created such works as: O (NYC United Solo Award Best Satire, All About Solo, Critics' Choice), Harvey & The Extraordinary (My Entertainment World - 2018 Critics' Pick Award Nominee, Outstanding Solo Performance) and BLOOM (Bad Hats Theatre, 2019 Creator-in-Residence). Eliza's first novel Harvey and the Extraordinary, based on her play of the same title, was published by Annick Press in 2021 (Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens), and translated into Czech in 2022. Her next two books will be hitting shelves soon. @elizavmartin www.elizamartin.ca.
Morgan Roy
Morgan is an emerging Toronto-based theatre artist and recent graduate of George Brown Theatre School. Born and raised in Ottawa, she is also a graduate of the Drama program at Canterbury High School where she was lucky enough to spend four years beginning her dive into the world of theatre. She is a lover of all things classical (especially Shakespeare) but has also begun exploring new work. She recently produced and performed in The Ensemble at the Toronto Fringe Festival and will be working on it again at The Second City in October. In her time in theatre school, she played such characters as: Lydia Languish in The Rivals; the Ringmaster in Carnival of Munsch, another new work; and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, directed by Shakespeare Bash’d artistic director Julia Nish-Lapidus. Morgan is so excited to explore this wild play and take this next step in her artistic journey with such an amazing company.