Cast of King Lear
JANA MESTECKY (Goneril) is a Founding Company Member of Crescent City Stage. With CCS Virtual Reading Series: A Doll’s House, Macbeth, Uncle Vanya, The Importance of Being Earnest and This Living Hand. After two decades in New York City, Jana has found her a new home in New Orleans this past year. She has appeared with companies on stages across the country including the Astoria Symphonic Choir, The New Group, Cherry Lane Theatre, The Mint, The Gene Frankel Theatre, Lincoln Center Festival, Ernie Martin Studio Theatre, DR2. Playhouse on Park, Shakespeare and Co (Paris), The Players Club, Little Light Productions, and the Bleecker Street Theatre. She has also been a resident company member of The New Globe Theatre Inc., the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ Imaginary Theatre Company, and now Crescent City Stage. Her work extended beyond the stage to include television, film and commercial work nationally and internationally. In addition to her BA in French and Theatre, she holds an MFA in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University and has studied at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, Théâtre des Cinquantes in Paris, France, and The Actors Studio in New York City. Her other passion is teaching where she has held positions as Chair of the Performing Arts at The Spence School (NYC) in addition to other appointments at St. John’s University, The Birch Wathen Lenox School, The Buckley School, and Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré (New Orleans). She is a member of the professional unions AEA and SAG-AFTRA.
MICHAEL A. NEWCOMER (Edmund) founding company member of CCS. With CCS Virtual Reading Series: Uncle Vanya, The Importance of Being Earnest, Macbeth, A Doll’s House, and This Living Hand. New Orleans theatre: A Christmas Carol (2018/19) and Freud’s Last Session at Le Petit Theatre, Christmas at Pemberly with Southern Rep and The Illusion at the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival. Additionally, Michael was the curator of a staged reading series at the New Orleans Shakespeare festival, directing and performing in Othello, Titus Andronicus, and King Lear. Michael was a company member at The Old Globe performing in Macbeth, Othello, Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Comedy of Errors, and Winter’s Tale. Other Shakespeare works include Merchant of Venice at Portland Center Stage and Romeo and Juliet at the Alliance Theatre. Proud member of AEA and #FairWageOnStage advocate.
RICHARD HOLLMAN (Cornwall) is an actor, writer, musician, and teacher living in New York City. Rich has performed at the Cherry Lane, Playwrights Horizons, La MaMa Etc., the Lucille Lortel (Lysander in Midsummer's directed by Stuart Vaughan), and in the Public Theater's production of the lost Frank Loesser musicals, The Blueprint Specials. He received his Equity card playing Florindo in The New Globe's production of the Goldoni classic, The Servant of Two Masters. On tv: Law and Order, As The World Turns, All My Children, and Guiding Light. Additionally, Rich performs with the touring company of the premiere musical improv group, Baby Wants Candy. As a musician, Rich has composed music for the toy company, Thinkativity, and has scored numerous theater pieces including Playhouse on Park’s production of Metamorphoses, where he’s also acted in several main stage productions. Rich co-wrote, co-produced, wrote original music for, and starred in the feature film, Songs for a Sloth which has earned many festival accolades. Rich has also served on the faculty of the New School and the Buckley School, has lead leadership workshops at West Point Academy, and has taught at numerous other venues in the U.S. and internationally. He also was the improv coach for the Real Housewives of NYC. Which was fine. He was a TEDx speaker in 2017 and is the founder of the charity, Care Packages for the Homeless.
ED BERNSTEIN (Burgundy/Old Man) is based in Hartford. Recent roles include Polonius in Hamlet with the Dionysos Theatre, Malvolio in Twelfth Night with the Little Theater of Manchester, Jaques in As You Like It with the Suffield Players, and Jack in Dancing at Lughnasa with the Hartt School of Performing Arts. Ed is thrilled to be traveling without traveling to sit in with the Crescent City Stage.
ABDUL-KHALIQ MURTADHA (Edgar) has enjoyed various classical and contemporary roles in regional and repertory theatres across the country. With CCS Virtual Reading Series: Macbeth and A Doll’s House. Past Shakespeare roles include: Macduff in Macbeth, Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure , the title role in Othello, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Jacques in As You Like It, Escalus in Measure for Measure, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona. A few of his most recent roles include playing Claudius and the Ghost in Hamlet for the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, Orsino in Twelfth Night at Pioneer Theatre Co.(Salt Lake City), Martin Luther King, Jr. in Mountaintop at WBTT (Sarasota), James T in Barbecue at the Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis), for Ensemble Theatre Co. (Santa Barbara), and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the LBJ plays - All the Way and The Great Society, as well as Dr. Prentice in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at Asolo Rep in (Sarasota). Some of his TV and Film credits include: NCIS-LA, All My Children, Raising the Bar, The Unit, Medium, Numb3rs, and the current streaming feature – 8989 Redstone. (Amazon Prime). Awards include Best Actor - New Orleans Short film festival - In the Wind; NAACP Award: Best Ensemble - All My Sons (playing Chris Keller) at The Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles. He was recently appointed the position of visiting Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota and was also the Featured Guest Artist for the Africana Repertory Theatre of IUPUI where he directed The People Speak/ Voices of the African Diaspora. He is an ensemble member of the Fonseca Theatre Company in Indianapolis and his interactive multimedia play The American Muslim Project was the resident umbrella project for the 2019 Indy Convergence. BA – Indiana University, Bloomington; MFA – University of California, San Diego ** Member: AEA, SAGAFTRA
R. J. FOSTER (Albany) New York Credits include The Bacchae (Classical Theatre of Harlem) *AUDELCO nomination for Best Supporting Actor A Small Oak Tree Runs Red (Billie Holiday Theatre), Three Musketeers (Classical Theatre of Harlem)*AUDELCO nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Exchange), Richard III (The Gallery Players) *AUDELCO nomination for Best Lead Actor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Shakespeare Forum); Deep Are The Roots (Metropolitan Playhouse), Hamlet, Cave Dwellers, Toys in the Attic (Pearl Theatre Company) Regional credits include Nell Gwynn (Folger Theatre),All The Way (TheatreSquared), Richard III, Comedy of Errors (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Othello (Playhouse on Park); Twelfth Night (Bristol Riverside Theatre) Television credits include The Good Fight, The Village, The Code, Power, Person of Interest, Homeland, The Blacklist, Made in Jersey, Blue Bloods, Damages, Choice, Guiding Light, Fringe. He holds a BA in Theatre Performance from Fordham University at Lincoln Center
MOLLY FITE (Fool) is a native of Vancouver, Washington. She trained at The Jim Henson Company as a puppeteer, and you can see her puppeting every week at the historic Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Highland Park. She performs stand-up, sketch, and improv comedy, all over Los Angeles and has trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, I.O. West, The Groundlings, and The Second City. She has performed stand-up in festivals all over the U.S. and Canada including The All Jane and No Dick Comedy Festival, The Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Ventura Comedy Festival, The Burbank Comedy Festival, The Women in Comedy Festival, SheDot, and The Hollywood Fringe Festival. She has a MFA in Acting from UCSD, and she loves you very much.
KYLA BUTTS (Ensemble) is an African American actress from Harlem, New York. She found her passion for acting at the Spence School in New York City and appeared in productions such as Noises Off!, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Alice!, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged: Revised and Top Girls. During her time at the Spence School she was awarded the James Coleman scholarship and attended the Atlantic Theatre Company where she studied Shakespeare, Dance, Voice, Acting, and Audition Technique. While at the Atlantic Theatre Company her ensemble extended their time with the company by working with playwright Danny Rocco on the world premiere of his play Gradually, Suddenly. She was also fortunate enough to work alongside the Tectonic Theatre Company and her peers to devise an original work entitled, Uncovered, where she explored social and political issues through Moment Work. Kyla is currently studying at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with the Playwrights Horizons Theatre School.
HILARY WARD (Regan) Theatre: South Coast Rep (Sense and Sensibility), Ojai Playwrights Conference (Ripe Frenzy), La Jolla Playhouse (Mother Courage), Classical Theatre of Harlem (Macbeth, King Lear, Madea), Chalk Rep. Television/Film: Bull, Sharp Objects (Emmy nomination), All the Way (Emmy nomination), NCIS, The Fosters, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Other People, Like You Mean It. Hilary’s image and voice has been featured in over two dozen national commercials. She serves on the Organizing Committee for SAG-AFTRA, of which she is a proud member. She is also a member of the Television Academy and AEA. In 2008, she became a co-founder of the award-winning Chalk Rep. MFA: UCSD.
ALOK TEWARI (Gloucester) Broadway: The Band’s Visit Other Theatre: Monsoon Wedding (Berkeley); The Band’s Visit (Atlantic); Awake and Sing! (Public / NAATCO); A Fable, Through the Yellow Hour, War (Rattlestick); Bunty Berman Presents, Rafta, Rafta… (New Group) CCS Virtual Reading Series: A Doll’s House Television: “BULL,” “For Life,” “FBI,” “Looming Tower,” “Iron Fist,” “House of Cards,” “Madam Secretary,” “Homeland,” “Fringe” Film: Pirates of Somalia, Shelter, Brooklyn’s Finest. Upcoming TV/Film: “Ramy,” Love-40
LEICESTER LANDON (Kent) is a theatre artist and educator based in Baton Rouge. He has performed on stages across the country. He is an alum of the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA program, the Chautauqua Theatre Conservatory, and the LSU School of Music and Dramatic Arts. He is a member of The Willams Project theatre company in Seattle and the International theatre outreach organization Stories 4 Strength.
BRAD MAKAROWSKI (France/Oswald) is thrilled to be working again with Crescent City Stage. In New York, he's a Resident Company member of the TITAN Theatre Co. where he's been seen in: Richard III, King Lear, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, and A Christmas Carol. Off Broadway: The Flea: Design Your Kitchen; Metropolitan Playhouse: Both Your Houses; Resonance Ensemble: R.U.R., Caesar and Cleopatra; Attic Theatre: The Time of Your Life, Moonchildren. Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Co., Asolo Rep, Palm Beach Dramaworks, People's Light, Depot Theatre. Film: Ask for Jane, The Heart Outright TV: Happy!, Redrum. MFA: FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Much Love to all during this pandemic. www.BradMakarowski.com
DERRICK TOUPS (Host) is a New Orleans-based actor and teaching artist. He most recently appeared in “In the Red and Brown Water” with No Dream Deferred, “SILENCE! The Musical” with The Storyville Collective, and “The Flick” with Promethean Theatre Company (2017 Big Easy, Best Ensemble). As a teaching artist, Derrick has directed Shakespeare for third through sixth graders, Swan Lake for three year olds, original performance works for four year olds, and musicals for middle schoolers. Derrick is an early childhood educator as well as chef of Bonne Terre Pop Up, a Louisiana-focused catering venture. Love to Kristen and mom.