The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

A.R.T. Senior Actor, founding member of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the A.R.T. Yale: more than 40 productions (including The Seagull). A.R.T.: 100 productions including The Seagull (three turns as Sorin), Julius Caesar, Three Sisters, The Onion Cellar, Major Barbara (Undershaft), Heartbreak House (Shotover), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Quince four times, Snug once), Henry IV (Falstaff), Twelfth Night (Toby Belch), The Caretaker (Davies), The Homecoming (Max), Loot (Truscott), Man and Superman (Mendoza/Devil), Waiting for Godot (Vladimir), The Threepenny Opera (Peacham/Petey), Ivanov (Lebedev), Three Sisters (Chebutkin), Buried Child (Dodge), The Cherry Orchard (Gaev) and The King Stag (Pantelone). Teaches at Harvard College, Harvard’s Summer and Extension Schools and at the A.R.T/MXAT Institute. Trained at the Old Vic Theatre School and subsequently taught there. Acted at the Old Vic, Young Vic, The Royal Court, in the West End, in films and television and has been hosting his own show “The Caravan” for the BBC for five years. Came to the U.S. with the satirical revue The Establishment and acted on and off Broadway, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and at the Lincoln Center Festival. Lectured on Shakespeare in India and the Netherlands Theatre School. Received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Boston Actor and the Jason Robards Award for Dedication to the Theatre.

Alvin Epstein is a former artistic director of the Guthrie Theater and associate director of Robert Brustein's Yale Repertory Theatre. He has directed over twenty productions (five at the American Repertory Theater, including the inaugural A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1980) and performed in over one hundred (over fifty at the A.R.T.). His A.R.T. roles include Old Man in Lysistrata, the Herald in Marat/Sade, Dionisio Genoni in Enrico IV, John of Gaunt/First Gardener in Richard II, Erich Honecker in Full Circle, McLeavy in Loot, Shabelsky in Ivanov, and Lee Strasberg in Nobody Dies on Friday; Mr. Epstein has also appeared in The Doctor's Dilemma, Antigone, Three Farces and a Funeral, The Winter's Tale, Charlie in the House of Rue, The Merchant of Venice, In the Jungle of Cities, The Bacchae, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, When the World Was Green (A Chef's Fable), Slaughter City, Tartuffe, The Tempest, Beckett Trio, The Threepenny Opera, and Waiting for Godot, among many others. His twenty Broadway and off-Broadway productions include his debut with Marcel Marceau, the Fool in Orson Welles's King Lear, Lucky in the American premiere of Waiting for Godot, Clov in the American premiere of Endgame, Peachum in The Threepenny Opera (co-starring with Sting), and the world premiere of Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin's When the World Was Green (A Chef's Fable). For twenty years he and Martha Schlamme performed A Kurt Weill Cabaret on tour in the U.S. and South America and a year's run on Broadway. He has performed at many resident theaters throughout the U.S., in films and on television. Awards include Most Promising Actor ('56 Variety Poll), Brandeis Creative Arts Award ('66), Obie for Dynamite Tonight! ('68), Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence ('96), and the IRNE Award for Best Supporting Actor as Shabelsky in Ivanov ('99). Mr. Epstein teaches acting at the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

A.R.T.: The Lily’s Revenge, Cabaret, Paradise Lost, Endgame, The Seagull, Oliver Twist, Island of Slaves, The Onion Cellar, The Communist Dracula Pageant, Cardenio, Julius Caesar, Amerika, The Miser, Henry IV and V, The Birthday Party, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Dispute, Uncle Vanya, Enrico IV, The Winter’s Tale, The Wild Duck, Buried Child, Tartuffe, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Waiting for Godot. Regional: Twelfth Night, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company; Sweeney Todd, My Fair Lady, Lyric Stage Company; Boston Playwrights’ Theatre; The Poets’ Theater; Israeli Stage; Central Square Theater; New Repertory Theater; Hartford Stage.

A.R.T.: 119 productions, including R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Myster) OF THE UNIVERSE (R. Buckminster Fuller), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), Endgame (Clov), The Seagull (Dorn), Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Birthday Party (Stanley), Highway Ulysses (Ulysses), Uncle Vanya (Vanya), Marat/Sade (Marquis de Sade), Richard II (Richard). Broadway: Jackie: An American Life (23 roles). Off-Broadway: Johan Padan (Johan), Big Time (Ted).  Tours with the Company across the U.S., with residencies in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and throughout Europe, Canada, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Moscow, and has recently been performing Julius Caesar in France. Other: I Am My Own Wife, Boston TheatreWorks; Approaching Moomtaj, New Repertory Theatre; Twelfth Night and The Tempest, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.; London’s Battersea Arts Center; five productions at Houston’s Alley Theatre, including Our Town (Dr. Gibbs, directed by José Quintero); and many theatres throughout the U.S. Awards: 1994 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, 2000 and 2004 IRNE Awards for Best Actor, 1997 Los Angeles DramaLogue Award (for title role of Shlemiel the First). Television: Julie Taymor’s film Fool’s Fire (PBS American Playhouse), "Unsolved Mysteries," "Del and Alex" (Alex, A&E Network). Film: Mystic River (directed by Clint Eastwood), The Pink Panther II. He is on the faculty of the A.R.T. Institute, teaches acting at Harvard University and Emerson College, and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Benjamin Evett has appeared at the American Repertory Theater in La Dispute, as Ilya Ilych Telegin in Uncle Vanya, Kinesias in Lysistrata, Jacques Roux in Marat/Sade, Peter in Absolution, Cassio in Othello, Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk/Sir Stephen Scroope in Richard II, Burris in Animals and Plants, the General in Mother Courage, the Messenger in Antigone, Time in The Winter's Tale, Lvov in Ivanov, the Policeman in Charlie in the House of Rue, Babbybobby in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Hyppolytus in Phaedra, Clèante in The Imaginary Invalid, Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew, Pentheus in The Bacchae, Zalman Tippish/Chaim Rascal/Dopey Petzel in Shlemiel the First, the Dreamer in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Leandro in The King Stag, the Son in Six Characters in Search of an Author, Punch 2/Judy Bell/Taxi Judy in Punch and Judy Get Divorced, Bouggerslas in Ubu Rock, Vince in Buried Child, Ariel in The Tempest, Charles Filch/Walt Dreary/Beggar Joe in The Threepenny Opera, Bardolph/Montjoy in Henry V, Lucky in Waiting for Godot, Herald/Chorus/Pylades/Hermes in The Oresteia, Epihodov in The Cherry Orchard, Nicholas Beckett in What the Butler Saw, Pistol in Henry IV, Part 2, and as Sir Richard Vernon in Part 1, in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and in Platonov. He has also performed at the Missouri Repertory Theatre, where he played the title roles in Billy Bishop Goes to War and Amadeus, and at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, where he played Swiss Cheese in Mother Courage. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. Mr. Evett currently serves as artistic director of the Actors' Shakespeare Company in Boston.

Vlad Tepes/the Functionary in The Communist Dracula Pageant. A.R.T.: Fifty-four productions, including Alfed in Cardenio, Conspirator in Julius Caesar, Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, Eddie Darko in Donnie Darko, A Marvelous Party!, Mr. Brownlow in Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Garcin in No Exit, Kulygin in Three Sisters, Uncle Jacob, Innkeeperess, Head Waiter in Amerika, Jupiter in Dido, Queen of Carthage, Valère in The Miser, Goldberg in The Birthday Party, Egeus and Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, several roles in Highway Ulysses, the President of the Senate in Lysistrata, Marat in Marat/Sade, Brabantio and Lodovico in Othello, Dantly in Animals and Plants, the Father in Nocturne, Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonington in The Doctor's Dilemma, Gregory Smirnov and Gonov in Three Farces and a Funeral, Heiner Müller in Full Circle, Borkin in Ivanov, the State Trooper, Policeman, Grave Digger, and Grandfather in We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, Dr. McSharry in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Karl Hudlocke in The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Argan in The Imaginary Invalid, Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew, Tiresias in The Bacchae, the title role and other parts in Shlemiel the First, the Doctor in Woyzeck, Hjalmar in The Wild Duck, Brighella in The King Stag, Will in Six Characters in Search of an Author, Mother/Father in Alice in Bed, King Wenceslas/McGreedy in Ubu Rock, Cléante in Tartuffe, Sebastian in The Tempest, Murray in Demons, Exeter in Henry V, Aegisthus and Chorus in The Oresteia, Sagot in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Earl of Westmoreland in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Lord Chief Justice in Part 2. Other credits include The Rivals and Melinda Lopez's Sonia Flew (Huntington Theatre), Twelfth Night (Feste, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Brian Friel's Faith Healer (Gloucester Stage Company), Shear Madness (all male roles), the Boston Pops premiere of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (narrator). Film: Next Stop Wonderland. Television: the Cable Ace Award–winning animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (voice of Stanley).

Broadway: Betty Haynes (the Rosemary Clooney role) in Irving Berlin's White Christmas, The Baker's Wife in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods (Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk nominations), Billy Elliot (Mum), Annie Get Your Gun (Dolly Tate, understudy to Reba McEntire), Cyrano, Translations. City Center Encores!: Fran Kubelik in Promises, Promises opposite Martin Short. International Tour: The Plough and the Stars directed by Shivaun O'Casey. Off-Broadway: Original cast of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive, Mary in the American premiere of Dublin Carol (written and directed by Conor McPherson at the Atlantic Theatre Company), Megan in Bright Lights Big City at New York Theatre Workshop, Caitlin O'Hare in Over the River and Through the Woods at the John Houseman Theatre, Sharon in the acclaimed Irish Repertory Theatre revival of Finian's Rainbow, Anne Morrow Lindbergh in Garth Wingfield's Flight at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Regional theatre: Betty Haynes in Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Boston's Wang Theatre 2005, 2007, St. Paul's Ordway Center 2006), Abigail Adams in 1776 at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Electra in The Oresteia at the American Repertory Theatre, Katie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Goodspeed Musicals), Mother in Ragtime, Molly in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (all at Sacramento Music Circus), Sister Sharon in Elmer Gantry (Marriott's Lincolnshire, Joseph Jefferson nomination), Katherine in Henry V, Elizabeth in Richard III, Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Bianca in Shrew! The Musical, and Constance in The Three Musketeers (all at the Georgia Shakespeare Festival). Television:  Mary-Kate Martinson (sister to the titular brothers) on the Showtime drama Brotherhood (three seasons). Series regular on Costello on Fox and The Mike O'Malley Show on NBC, Guest Star appearances on Monk, Law & Order SVU, My Name is Earl, Without a Trace, Charmed, Kidnapped, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Brooklyn South and King of Queens. Film: Case 39 opposite Renee Zellweger (opening 2009), The Happening, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Rounders, Firehouse and The Flying Scissors. Graduate of Duke University and the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.   She is a native of Nashua, NH and adores the Boston Red Sox.

Benjamin Evett has appeared at the American Repertory Theater in La Dispute, as Ilya Ilych Telegin in Uncle Vanya, Kinesias in Lysistrata, Jacques Roux in Marat/Sade, Peter in Absolution, Cassio in Othello, Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk/Sir Stephen Scroope in Richard II, Burris in Animals and Plants, the General in Mother Courage, the Messenger in Antigone, Time in The Winter's Tale, Lvov in Ivanov, the Policeman in Charlie in the House of Rue, Babbybobby in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Hyppolytus in Phaedra, Clèante in The Imaginary Invalid, Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew, Pentheus in The Bacchae, Zalman Tippish/Chaim Rascal/Dopey Petzel in Shlemiel the First, the Dreamer in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Leandro in The King Stag, the Son in Six Characters in Search of an Author, Punch 2/Judy Bell/Taxi Judy in Punch and Judy Get Divorced, Bouggerslas in Ubu Rock, Vince in Buried Child, Ariel in The Tempest, Charles Filch/Walt Dreary/Beggar Joe in The Threepenny Opera, Bardolph/Montjoy in Henry V, Lucky in Waiting for Godot, Herald/Chorus/Pylades/Hermes in The Oresteia, Epihodov in The Cherry Orchard, Nicholas Beckett in What the Butler Saw, Pistol in Henry IV, Part 2, and as Sir Richard Vernon in Part 1, in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and in Platonov. He has also performed at the Missouri Repertory Theatre, where he played the title roles in Billy Bishop Goes to War and Amadeus, and at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, where he played Swiss Cheese in Mother Courage. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. Mr. Evett currently serves as artistic director of the Actors' Shakespeare Company in Boston.

Vlad Tepes/the Functionary in The Communist Dracula Pageant. A.R.T.: Fifty-four productions, including Alfed in Cardenio, Conspirator in Julius Caesar, Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, Eddie Darko in Donnie Darko, A Marvelous Party!, Mr. Brownlow in Oliver Twist (also at Theatre for a New Audience and Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Garcin in No Exit, Kulygin in Three Sisters, Uncle Jacob, Innkeeperess, Head Waiter in Amerika, Jupiter in Dido, Queen of Carthage, Valère in The Miser, Goldberg in The Birthday Party, Egeus and Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, several roles in Highway Ulysses, the President of the Senate in Lysistrata, Marat in Marat/Sade, Brabantio and Lodovico in Othello, Dantly in Animals and Plants, the Father in Nocturne, Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonington in The Doctor's Dilemma, Gregory Smirnov and Gonov in Three Farces and a Funeral, Heiner Müller in Full Circle, Borkin in Ivanov, the State Trooper, Policeman, Grave Digger, and Grandfather in We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, Dr. McSharry in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Karl Hudlocke in The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Argan in The Imaginary Invalid, Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew, Tiresias in The Bacchae, the title role and other parts in Shlemiel the First, the Doctor in Woyzeck, Hjalmar in The Wild Duck, Brighella in The King Stag, Will in Six Characters in Search of an Author, Mother/Father in Alice in Bed, King Wenceslas/McGreedy in Ubu Rock, Cléante in Tartuffe, Sebastian in The Tempest, Murray in Demons, Exeter in Henry V, Aegisthus and Chorus in The Oresteia, Sagot in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, the Earl of Westmoreland in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Lord Chief Justice in Part 2. Other credits include The Rivals and Melinda Lopez's Sonia Flew (Huntington Theatre), Twelfth Night (Feste, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Brian Friel's Faith Healer (Gloucester Stage Company), Shear Madness (all male roles), the Boston Pops premiere of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (narrator). Film: Next Stop Wonderland. Television: the Cable Ace Award–winning animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (voice of Stanley).

Randy Danson has been seen at the American Repertory Theater in the title role of Phaedra, as Kate in The Cripple of Inishmaan, Delfina Treadwell in Valparaiso, Mae Garga in In the Jungle of Cities, Agave in The Bacchae, and Clytaemnestra in The Oresteia. She played Ahab's Wife in Ahab's Wife and the Whale, conceived, choreographed, and staged by Amy Spencer and Richard Colton, with text by Tom Sleigh, and presented at the Jim Henson Festival at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center in New York. Other New York credits include Ain and David Gordon's workshop production of The First Picture Show and Elizabeth Egloff's The Devils, directed by Garland Wright; the title role in Elizabeth Egloff's Phaedra; Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest; as well as Triumph of Love, The Treatment, and Blue Window. Her resident credits include Masha in Three Sisters, Arkadina in The Seagull, ShenTe/Shui Ta in The Good Person of Szechuan (Helen Hayes Award winner), Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, several roles in Tony Kushner's Slavs, and the title role in Robert Woodruff's production of The Duchess of Malfi. On television she has appeared in the film version of Blue Window and The Prince of Homburg, as well as in guest roles on Law and Order, The Equalizer, and several soap operas. On film she has been in several features by independent filmmaker Mark Rappaport and in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. She is the recipient of an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.

Starla Benford has been seen on the American Repertory Theater stage as Roach in Slaughter City and as the Trojan Interpreter/Servant/Chorus Leader/Fury in The Oresteia. She is a graduate of the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, where her credits included the Doctor in Woyzeck, Anna Andreyeva in The Inspector General, Procne in The Love of the Nightingale, Mrs. Alving in Ghosts, and Jaques in As You Like It. She also appeared in several roles in the A.R.T. New Stages productions of The L.A. Plays and Media Amok, as well as on the Loeb Stage in The Island of Anyplace. Recent theater credits include Stefanie in Denial, the title role of The Snow Queen, Rose in Fences, Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, the title role in Phaedra, and her one-woman show Sonata Blue. Ms. Benford's film and television credits include Blank Check, Hard Promises, New York Undercover, A Seduction in Travis Co., and Save the Dog.

Natacha Roi recently played the roles of Angela in The King Stag, Bessie in The Accident, and Cassandra and Athena in The Oresteia at the A.R.T. In the last year she appeared as Silvia in Changes of the Heart, directed by Stephen Wadsworth at the McCarter Theatre, Fiona and Lady Lelouche in Three Birds Alighting on a Field, directed by Max Stafford-Clark at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, directed by Mark Lamos at Hartford Stage Company. Other credits inlcude Isabelle Perry in Strictly Dishonorable at the Philadelphia Drama Guild, Mary in The Strike of '92 at the AboutFace Theatre Company, and on television as Linda in Another World and Eugenia in One Life to Live. Ms. Roi received her B.F.A. from the Boston Conservatory of Music, Theater, and Dance and her M.F.A. from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting Program.

Jessalyn Gilsig's roles at the American Repertory Theater have included Mariane in Tartuffe and Miranda in The Tempest. Other Loeb Stage work included The Oresteia and understudy roles in Henry V and The Cherry Orchard. Ms. Gilsig is a graduate of the American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, where she appeared in The Trojan Women: A Love Story (under the direction of Robert Woodruff), Cymbaline (the Queen), Three Sisters (Masha), The House of Bernarda Alba (Magdalena), Titus Andronicus (Lavinia), and in Ionesco's The Bald Soprano and Jack, or the Submission. Other roles include Estelle in No Exit at the Morrice Theatre, Philomele in The Love of the Nightingale at Moyce Theatre, Hanna in A Shayna Maidel at Centaur Theatre, and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Marina in Pericles at Repercussion's Shakespeare in the Park. Ms. Gilsig is a native of Montreal and a graduate of McGill University.