Peri, who is also acting as Assistant Director for A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a highly experienced actress. She has played numerous Shakespearean roles, dating back to working with John Ross “way back when” she says, and including, amongst others, Olivia in Ryan Hartigan’s production of Twelfth Night. In 2010 she played the leading woman in Angie Farrow’s huge community theatre project Before the Birds, and she has worked extensively with director Jaime Dörner, starring in his productions Antigone’s Death, Project Exiles and, most recently, as Renée de Sade in the White Coat Ensemble production of Madame De Sade.
After graduating from UCOL’s programme in Performing Arts, Tawanda took up a place at Bachelor of Performing Arts degree in acting at the prestigious New Zealand Drama School, Toi Whakaari, where he is entering his third year. He has returned to Palmerston North from Wellington purely to be in this year’s Summer Shakespeare and to get another chance to work with Jaime, after having appeared in Project Exiles.
Ashleigh, who is one of twin Pucks in this production, has worked extensively with Angie Farrow and Amanda McRaven particularly in the After Eden Project and Before the Birds. She has performed in several MUDS productions, and the last two Festivals of New Arts, including playing the female lead in Moscow Ticket, the play which won the International One-Act Play Competition.
Our second Puck, Lana has worked with Jaime in major performances twice before, performing in Antigone’s Death and Project Exiles. In addition, she was part of the After Eden company, performing in Falling and Lifetime, a play that went on to compete in the Short and Sweet competition in Auckland. She played the Porter in last year’s production of Macbeth, performed in a number of pieces, including drama, dance and poetry at the recent Festival of New Art and has been in several MUDS productions, most recently playing Felicity (aka “Bob”) in Worse Things Happen At Sea.
Tessa describes herself as a Shakespeare geek, with a goal to get involved with community theatre, so this production will suit her down to the ground. She was involved with drama at high school, where she played a number of lead roles, has just finished the Drama in Performance paper at Massey, and was a performer in the 2010 Festival of New Arts.
Sapphire was in All’s Well That Ends Well in 2009, and found it a lot of fun and a great experience. She loves Shakespeare in general, and his relevance in a modern world. She was in the group that won the 2009 Shakespeare Fest and has also taken part in three Stage Challenges, annual dance recitals and was a dancer in Shadow of the Messiah.
Catriona is another graduate of the UCOL Performing Arts programme. She played Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well, was a member of the Centrepoint Basement Company and has competed in Sheila Winn festivals. She adores Shakespeare and is passionate about acting and theatre, which is why she wanted to be involved. Most recently, Catriona has been seen in Three Little Pigs at the Globe, Worse Things Happen at Sea and the Manawatu Festival of New Arts.
Hannah has recently completed the UCOL Certificate in Performing Arts. This is her first Summer Shakespeare: she’s excited about being involved and looking forward to it.
Rozee studied drama at school and was most recently seen committing improv with Quality Programming. She was in the 2009 Summer Shakespeare production of All’s Well That Ends Well and enjoyed it so much that she’s back again.
Trent is another member of the cast who has recently completed Massey’s Drama in Performance paper, where he performed in Our Country’s Good and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and he was also involved with the festival of New Arts, where he played a role in the play Around the Kitchen Table.
Karen is a choreographer, dancer and actress, whose most recent work has been seen in the Festival of New Arts, where she choreographed and performed two dance pieces – Papatanuku and Passing, as well as acting in Angie Farrow’s Nearly There. All’s Well That Ends Well. Like Karen, Kristin was last seen in FONA, where she acted in Moscow Ticket. This is Natalia’s first Summer Shakespeare, but she dances with Massey’s Latin American Dance group, and has been invaluable in the production, acting as translator for our choreographer.
Haleigh is an old trooper for dance, having performed last year in Before the Birds. Dara is a dancer and is looking forward to joining the fairies. Maddie is new to acting, but was dying to be a fairy, so here she is.
While newcomers to Summer Shakespeare, Oberon’s train are not all newcomers to performance, with Michael Jones recently performing in Round the Kitchen Table at the Festival of New Arts and in multiple roles in Eurobeat for Manawatu Theatre Society. Marcelo recently graduated from the UCOL Performing Arts programmer, and all four are looking forward to performing Shakespeare — especially in an outdoor environment.
