Adama is excited about their performance in Enter Ghost. Adama is a Boston native living in Louisville. Their previous performances include The Legend of Georgia McBride (Jo), The Cake (Macy), Common Threads (Ensemble), Gloria: A Life (Dorothy/ Ensemble), The Masked Man (The Wanderer), and Note (Sam).

Brennen is grateful to return to Kentucky Shakespeare after appearing most recently in Shakespeare’s R&J, co-produced with Pandora Productions. He also appeared in Kentucky Shakespeare’s tour of Julius Caesar last spring. A graduate of Centre College, he performed in mainstage productions of Twelfth Night, Cloud 9, Assassins, and many others. Other credits include Miss In Her Teens with DCSG Theater and A School for Scandal with Shakesqueer Theater Company. If you happen to be in the area, you can see him next in La Petite Gerda et La Reine des Neiges with Footsbarn Travelling Theatre in Moulins, France, this winter.

Jon, as always, is excited to be back on Kentucky Shakespeare’s stage. A veteran of film (Shawshank Redemption, Lolita, Fled, and many more), TV (Days Of Our Lives, Designing Women, Quantum Leap, and many more), and hundreds of plays and musicals at theatres across the country, including Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Derby Dinner Playhouse, and StageOne Family Theatre. He considers Kentucky Shakespeare his artistic home, where he has played King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Iago in Othello, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Prospero in The Tempest, and many more wonderful roles. He dedicates his work to the memory of his TinyDancer, Barbara Cullen.

Justin is back with a joyful vengeance to join Kentucky Shakespeare’s Enter Ghost! Freshly concluding his run as Jonathan Harker for Actors Theatre’s Dracula, and before that, playing multiple roles in Kentucky Shakespeare’s 2022 summer season. Justin studied acting at SCAD and received his B.F.A. there. Having done everything from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to stand-up comedy, Justin seems to be preparing to become a charismatic superhero. Justin sends love to his grandmother who instills a love of Shakespeare in him and unyielding support.

Cherrie is from Louisville and studied theater at University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She recently moved back to home from Seattle. Recent Louisville performances: The Wiz (Dorothy) and The Color Purple (Celie) with Faithworks Studios; Alice in the Wonderland (Mouse) and Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day with Derby Dinner Playhouse. She had the opportunity to go to Belize C.A. and do some theater with the Mayans. In 2019 she was in Haiti and last year she was blessed to go to Uganda with a dance missions group to teach and perform in Africa. Currently she is a student at the University of Louisville and is looking forward to finishing her degree. This is Cherrie’s first show with Kentucky Shakespeare, and she is grateful and excited for this opportunity.

Jesse AlFord is a Freelance Lighting Designer based here in Louisville, and is always excited to collaborate with Kentucky Shakespeare, recently having designed the drive-in production of Macbeth, and co-designing Turn of the Screw and Henry VI: War of the Roses with Lindsay Krupski. He also regularly designs with the Louisville Ballet, Kentucky Opera, Louisville Orchestra, The Va Va Vixens, Circus Flora, Pandora Productions, and more. Working primarily in dance, circus, and theatre, Jesse specializes in the moments and productions that happen in between those disciplines.

Karl Anderson has worked in Louisville as a freelance scenic designer for over 25 years. He has designed, built, and painted dozens of sets for StageOne Family Theatre. He has also designed numerous sets for Actors Theatre of Louisville, CenterStage, and many seasons for Pandora Productions, Theatre [502], and Bunbury Theatre. He also designed Three Decembers for KY Opera and is currently the scenic designer for Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park. He graduated from University of Kentucky with a B.F.A. in Theatre Design and Technology. Karl is the Technical Director at StageOne and is married to costumer Allison Anderson. They have two wonderful boys.

Donna Lawrence-Downs (Costume Designer) has designed the costumes for Kentucky Shakespeare for the last eight seasons, including all the summer festival productions and spring tours, Turn of the Screw, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Macbeth and the indoor Titus Andronicus, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Twelfth Night,  The War of the Worlds, and Night of the Living Dead. Donna has designed almost 400 shows for more than 31 theatres in her 33-year career, including a stint at KSF in the 1990’s, and StageOne Family Theatre, Music Theatre Louisville, CenterStage, Bellarmine University, Louisville Ballet, Kentucky Opera, and Pandora Productions. One of Donna’s favorite projects is designing costumes for Shakespeare Behind Bars, which she has done for the last 11 years.  Donna and her husband also own Life is Sweet Homemade Treats Bakery.

Laura Ellis is a Peabody Award-winning audio producer who started working with Kentucky Shakespeare in 2018. Since then, she’s sound designed all mainstage shows, and other various theatrical adventures in parking lots, converted warehouses, and radio stations (you may remember her from her stint as Lead Spaghetti Squisher in War of the Worlds and Night of the Living Dead). When she’s not in a theater or a park, she makes podcasts and writes a podcasting advice column for Louisville Public Media. Her favorite role is “Maw,” the devoted matriarch of Kentucky Shakespeare alum, Barkley Ellis.

Eric Frantz has worked in stage combat as a choreographer and combatant for 18 years. During that time he led the research on sword fighting and combat techniques using historical manuals and texts at the Frazier History Museum.  Eric is delighted to be working with Kentucky Shakespeare for the seventh consecutive summer. In 2015, Eric choreographed the fight between Macbeth and Macduff for Kentucky Shakespeare, and it remains one of his favorites.

Amberly M. Simpson is a Choreographer, Dancer, and Dance Educator/Advocate originally from Glendale, California. She specializes in Modern, Post-Modern, and Contemporary Dance forms, creating work that is often interdisciplinary in nature to provide commentary on social issues and the human condition. By day, she is the Dance Director and Musical Theatre Co-Director at Noe Middle School, but by night she serves as the Artistic Director of Ambo Dance Theatre. Amberly’s work has been presented at venues such as the American Dance Festival, the Going Dutch Festival, the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival, and Princeton Research Day where her collaboration with Dr. David Vartanyan received the Impact Award. In 2019, she was honored as one of the Hadley Creatives through the Community Foundation of Louisville, and in 2022 she worked alongside her Dance colleagues in the Jefferson County Public Schools to create the first ever All County Dance program for the state of Kentucky.

Ryan Bennett is pleased to return for another production with Kentucky Shakespeare. He has worked as stage manager with Kentucky Shakespeare and Redline Performing Arts.  Ryan has worked as props artisan with Kentucky Shakespeare, Pandora Productions, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. He holds a B.F.A. from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ryan thanks his friends and family in Louisville and back home in the Midwest for their continuing support.

Kyle Ware is an actor, educator, artist and writer. He first came to work with Kentucky Shakespeare as an educator and development specialist in 2006; he returned in 2014 as a teaching artist and as part of the company for Kentucky Shakespeare’s 54th season. He served as Executive Director for Tourism Honors Academy, an academic leadership program for high school seniors in Jefferson County, championing a diverse population united by success through adversity. He is Co-Artistic Director of Think Tank Theatre, a collaborative theatre ensemble, and was a Producing Founding Artistic Director of Le Petomane Theatre Ensemble, which concluded its 10-year run in Central Park as a Community Partner in the 2014 summer season. Kyle is a graduate of the University of Louisville, holding degrees in Art, Theatre and English.