Janet Berka

Design credits include: The Tempest and Pericles, Nashville Shakespeare Festival (2019); Svetlyachki, NYC Fringe Festival; A Piece of My Heart, IVP at the Museum of American Armor; Utah, Wyoming Theatre Festival; Radio Golf, African American Repertory Theatre, Dallas; Uncle Vanya, Dallas Actor's Lab. Assistant Lighting Design credits: Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical; Les Misérables; FLY (all Dallas Theater Center). Television: Lighting Director, CNN New York. MFA Southern Methodist University; BFA Penn State University. Web: jberka.com

Patricia "Pixie" Convertino

Patricia ”Pixie” Convertino is excited to be working as Prop Master with Nashville Shakespeare Festival for a second summer. Pixie graduated with a Bachelors in Theatre from Rhode Island College and went on to work on a national tour as prop manager for 2 years. Recently, she has been working as a performer and technician at local Community theatres, Consider This and Brava Boro and has restarted the Drama Club at Smyrna Middle School where she will be directing Willy Wonka Jr. this fall.  Pixie is grateful to her family and friends for their encouragement and support in all her theatrical adventures.  

Scott Baker

Tracy Bidochka-Deakin

Sarah Bolek

Sarah is delighted to be back for Summer Shakespeare at oneC1TY. She Assistant House Managed for the previous two Summer Shakespeares and designed props for their 2019 winter production of Julius Caesar. Born and raised in the Middle Tennessee area, Sarah has a BS in Theater from Middle Tennessee State University and currently works freelance in Nashville.

Carrie Brewer

Katie Bruno

Katie is thrilled to coordinate all classes, camps, and workshops for learners of all ages. She recently studied with Shawnda Moss at the Utah Shakespeare Festival and is eager to share new teaching techniques with teachers and students in the greater Nashville area.

Lucy Calaway

Lucy is a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt University studying Vocal Performance and European Studies. She performed in numerous community theatre shows, with some highlights including Mary Poppins, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Seussical and Oliver!. Earlier in the summer, Lucy was a member of the Druid City Opera Workshop, and has also participated in other classical voice programs such as the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Interlochen Vocal Artist Program. Lucy graduated from the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2020 with a concentration in music. She hopes to pursue a career in classical voice and arts administration after college.

Brooke Leigh Davis

William Finley

Kiare Green

Victoria Griffin

Taryana Hatley

Taryana Hatley is a recent graduate of the illustrious Fisk University, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Biology. She now pursues her dream of research to eventually obtain her PhD in nutrition. In her free time, she enjoys longboarding and adventuring with friends. Taryana has a passion for helping others and believes small changes in the right direction results in long lasting success.

Denice Hicks

Denice has been working for The Nashville Shakespeare Festival since 1990 as an actor, director, teaching artist, and administrator. Educated at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, she moved to Nashville in 1980 to perform at Opryland. Denice started directing in 1992, while enjoying a successful career as a stage, film, television and voice over actor. From Shakespeare to Dollywood, she approaches every production as a new work, where creativity, collaboration and audience connection prevail. An Ingram Fellowship award winner, she has developed and facilitated workshops for students of all ages and designed and implemented the NSF Apprentice Company Training and Shakespeare Allowed programming. She has been a guest lecturer at several universities, and served as a Teaching Artist for the Folger Shakespeare Library Institute, and the Cooperative Center for Study Abroad program for three weeks in Stratford-Upon-Avon and London. She was honored by the Nashville Scene as one of the “Twenty- five Nashvillians who’ve shaped the city for the better since 1989”.

Sarah Katherine Kessen

Shane Lowery

Shane Lowery lives in Franklin, TN, works as Hydrologic Data Technician for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and has worked on more than 100 sets in Middle Tennessee over the last Twenty years.  Owner/operator of Constructis Set Design, Shane has recently designed and built sets for "Too Heavy for Your Pocket", "The Colored Museum", and "Breathe" at Fisk University.  Shane has been attending the Nashville Shakespeare Festival since he was a teenager and is honored to be a part of their production.

JR Knowles

Robert Marigza-Yeo

Robert first became involved with NSF as an actor in the 1994 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Over these 27 years, he has served The Festival as an actor, stage manager, designer, technical director, crew, teacher, and IT person. From 2005 to 2018, he was the full-time Operations Manager of the company and Producer of Antony & Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet, Coriolanus, Richard III, Shakespeare’s Case, Complete Works, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Pericles, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Henry V, King Lear, and The Comedy of Errors. As an actor, Robert has also worked with Nashville Children’s Theatre, People’s Branch Theatre, Mockingbird Theatre, Nashville Repertory Theatre, Green Room Projects, and Actors’ Bridge Ensemble, as well as in commercials and independent films. He holds a BS in Mathematics from Mary Washington University. Robert sends his love and thanks to his wife Jayme and son William.

McKenna Mimms

McKenna Mimms is a Junior Political Science and Criminal Justice major at Fisk University from Nashville, TN. This is her 10th theater production and 4th stage management position. She has career aspirations to be a strong community activist for dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.

DJ Ranta

has been working with The Nashville Shakespeare Festival since 1992, and this marks his 21st year on the production staff. D.J. is the Theatre Manager/Technical Director for Harpeth Hall School. He has also been Technical Director for Circle Players, ACT I, and others, as well as lighting designer for numerous productions. He is a past board member of ACT I as well as Circle Players, where he is currently the company TD. Recent credits include light design for Les Miserables and Master Class, TD for Titanic the Musical, and set design for To Kill A Mockingbird. The top 3 memorable productions that D.J. has worked on are A Chorus Line, Pippen, and Masterpieces. D.J. would like to thank his wife Laurie and daughter Vonnie for putting up with all the long hours and even helping into the wee hours of the morning on many an occasion.

Anita Reed

Keenya Riley

Hazel Robinson

Mary Sack

Mary Sack is delighted to join the NSF as the Pre-Show Entertainment Coordinator in 2021, having participated in 2014 and 2016 in an ancillary role in support of then Music Director/Actor/Singer-Songwriter/Musician David Olney. She currently represents recording artists and published authors in all aspects of their career. Ms. Sack has extensive press, radio, internet and marketing promotions experience having worked for several record labels (Columbia Records,  Capricorn Records, Relentless/Nashville,  Rising Tide, Naxos Jazz, Pat Boone’s The Gold Label) and retail outlets (Blockbuster Music, Wherehouse Music, Waxie Maxie’s, Olsson’s, Turtle’s and more) before starting her own Mary Sack Management company in 2002. She earned a B.S. from Towson University with a degree in Mass Communications/English specializing in Public Relations and World Literature. 

David Wilkerson

David has over 100 professional credits as a stage manager, fight director, actor, and director. He is a full-time lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University. He recently directed the NSF’s Winter Shakespeare 2020 production of Macbeth.

Vance Buchanan