Tongs and Bones Shakespeare at Theater for the New City

NONI ALLEY (Fairy, Ariel and Sir Oliver Martext) (they/them) is an actor and Voice Over artist based in NYC. An acting alumnus from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, with background in circus arts, Noni performs in film, anime, and live theater, with a special interest in characters that break gender expectations.

MEGHAN COVINGTON (Titania, Forester # 1 and Audrey) is a NY based actor, playwright, and producer. Her most notable acting work has taken place regionally on the stages of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co, The Shakespeare Theatre, Round House Theatre, Theatre J, Olney Theatre in Washington DC, and Firehouse Theatre, Richmond Shakespeare Festival, and Theatre Lab in Richmond, VA. She was also a company member for Synetic Theatre, where she spent 4+ years developing skills in classical pantomime technique, physical theatre, and dance. Meghan has a BFA in theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University, and she currently serves as the Artistic Director and Board President of River's Edge Theatre Company in the Lower Hudson Valley.

JAMES DRYDEN (Indian Boy, Fairy, Jaques and Shepherd) is an aspiring actor from Durham, North Carolina.

ALEJANDRO FLORES (Ape, Sailor 2, Duke Senior, and Voice of Apollo) is an actor from Ossining, NY who has recently graduated from the City College of New York and ever since had been working and enjoying the beginnings of his acting career! He started acting in high school and begun seeing acting as a career in his sophomore year. During his college career he was a part of multiple productions such as Dominique Morriseau’s Pipeline, Sweat by Lynn Nottage, and finished off his career strong with his portrayal of Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Besides school productions, Alejandro had explored other aspects of theater as well such as Directing and lighting design. Upon graduating, Alejandro was exposed to multiple theater and film projects, and had even explored the world of improv. He was not exposed to Shakespeare until high school, however once he began to explore monologues from various Shakespeare projects, he had grown a love and appreciation from the Playwright’s work and is ecstatic to perform this compilation to further expand his knowledge and his love for the craft. When he isn’t preforming, you can find him practicing illustration and writing various works, such as poetry, creative writing, playwrighting, and screenwriting. He is also an avid cat lover, and is the proud owner of a three-year-old tuxedo cat called Gandules. He is extremely excited to perform in this production and create something wonderful with the cast and production team. He wants to thank his fellow cast mates, the production crew, and his family and friends for supporting him throughout his journey! Much love!

JENNIFER KIM (Judith, Puck, Spirit # 1, Rosalind, and Vassilios) is a NYC-based actress. Her recent roles include Cassandra in the Gallery Players' Oresteia, Zubaida Ula and Catherine Connolly in St. Jean's Players' The Laramie Project, and Beth March, Aunt March, and Hannah in First Flight Theatre's Little Women.

MYCHAL LEVERAGE (Oberon, Sailor # 1, Touchstone) is an alumnus of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and has been a performer his entire life. Off-Broadway: Sleepy Hollow the Musical (Ichabod Crane). Tours: Little Women (Prof. Fritz Bhaer). Regional: Daddy Long Legs (Jervis), The Addams Family (Gomez) Shrek the Musical (Shrek), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Monty), Nice Work If You Can Get It (Jimmy), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon). His hobbies include playing Magic: The Gathering and… not much else, actually. He lives in New Jersey with his lovely wife Heidi and their dog Atticus Finch. W: mychalleverage.com IG: @MychalLeverage

EMILY ROSS (Sycorax and Forester # 2) is an artist from Chistochina, Alaska. They are a founding member and current artistic director of the Clementine Players and a graduate of Atlantic Acting School. They were last seen as Harriet in Megan Quick's Vice and Virtue, the Sheriff in Brokeneck Girls: A Murder Ballad Musical, and Macduff in Macbeth.

Bob Shuman (Playwright & Co-Producer) earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch and is the owner of Marit Literary Agency and the Theatre Web site Stage Voices (www.stagevoices.com). He is also a playwright, a senior editor with experience in mainstream publishing, a college professor, and a recipient of Hunter College's Zarkower Award for excellence in playwriting. His dramatic work has appeared in four anthologies from Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, which includes a volume of monologues for kids. He co-edited “Acts of War: Iraq and Afghanistan in Seven Plays” (Northwestern University Press) and has written for the Eugene O'Neill Society and judged work for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Co-author, with fashion florist Michael George, of “Simply Elegant Flowers,” Shuman is a past fellow of the Lark Theatre Company, and his work has been given readings with the Amoralists, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Second Stage, and the WPA, among others. Productions and readings of his plays have been presented at New York University, Ursinus College, Hunter College, and University of Mount Saint Vincent. He has also spearheaded three monologue events at the Drama Book Shop, where he was a featured author, and he ran such an evening at the Cornelia Street Cafe. He attended the Sewanee Writers Conference in Tenn., and his musical compositions for “As You Like It” and “Twelfth Night” have been heard at Ursinus College. Additionally, Shuman has acted in college productions and in local theatre in NJ and GA. He has seen productions of every Shakespeare play, many of which he has reviewed for his site, and has interviewed industry notables such as playwright Albert Innaurato (in his last “talk” before his death), Natalia Kaliada (Belarus Free Theatre), and Mia Yoo (La MaMa), among others. The actor Liv Ullmann answered several of his questions for “The Guardian" (UK). In 2021, one of the projects he represented as a literary agent was optioned by HBO, and he currently teaches courses on Eastern European Literature and Environmental writers.

Frank Farrell (Co-Producer & Director) recently returned to his hometown New York City and directed “Walt Kelly’s Songs of the Pogo” as part of the 2024 New York City Fringe Festival. An actor in Chicago for 40 years, he received three Joseph Jefferson acting nominations, and directed and produced plays for the Free Shakespeare Theatre Company, Temporary Theatre, Shakespeare’s Herd, Steppenwolf Theater, Raven Theatre, Equity Library Theater Chicago, the North Lakeside Players, and Theatre-Hikes. Frank has formed seven theater companies, including the Free Shakespeare Theatre Company, Chicago’s first year-round Shakespeare performance ensemble, Theatre-Hikes in Chicago and, in Grand Haven, Michigan, the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. In New York City, for First Flight, his new performance group, he wrote, directed, and produced “Forgotten Soldiers from Our Forgotten War.” Also for First Flight, he coordinated several stage readings of Maxwell Anderson’s plays in New York City, New Jersey, and Chicago, and he directed and produced a 2022 production of Anderson’s play “Valley Forge.” His Zoom film “In the Garden of Live Flowers” recently won Best Biopic at the Green Academy Awards Film Festival. With First Flight in New Jersey in July, he directed his adaptation of “Little Women.” In August 2024, through his company FFP, he will produce “Hamlet on the Run” at the Tank Theater; in September, he is producing and directing “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare” Off-Off Broadway. Farrell has published several books, including “Forgotten Soldiers from Our Forgotten War,” “What Price Glory,” and his adaptation of “Little Women,” all available at Amazon.com.

Ben Masterton (Musical Composer and Sound Design) has composed and arranged music for dozens of Shakespeare productions in Chicago with the Shakespeare Festival of Chicago, Free Shakespeare, and Body Politic, including “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” “Macbeth,” “Hamlet,’ “The Winter's Tale,” “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “Twelfth Night,” “The Merchant of Venice,” and “All's Well That Ends Well.” Other favorite productions include, “The Lennon Play,” “Dagon,” “The Lorenzaccio Story,” “A Dorothy Parker Revue,” “Dear Brutus,” “The Songs of the Pogo Podcast” (with Frank Farrell), “The Imaginary Invalid,” “The Successful Life of 3,” “The Snow Queen,” “The Crucible,” and “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (Raven Theater), “Three Sisters” (Commons Theater), and “The Enchanted” (Chicago Waldorf School). Ben has written over a hundred songs and currently resides in Gainesville, Florida.

William Shakespeare (Playwright, 1564-1616) The Bard’s incomparable, seismic canon of work far exceeds the plays, used as foundations, for the one-acts in “Tongs and Bones Shakespeare.” Yet there is little factual information regarding his life. Baptismal records document that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, part of a family that included seven brothers and sisters. His own children numbered three, after his marriage at age eighteen to Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his elder. The first mention of his career in the London Theatre is as an actor and playwright in 1592. His prodigious outpouring of dramatic writing includes “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Tempest,” “As You Like It,” and “The Winter’s Tale” and at least thirty-three other titles.