Cast Bios:

ALYSSA ANNE AUSTIN (Hippolyta / Titania) is pleased to be back home at CPH! Previous CPH credits: And the World Goes ‘Round, cul-de-sac, Mamma Mia, and Sheila in A Chorus Line. Others: La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Moonlight, North Coast Rep, Laguna Playhouse, Cygnet Theatre, SDMT, and Theatre at the Welk, as well as numerous on-camera projects. Her one-woman show, Always a Banana, Never the Bride: An Ode to Broadway’s “Lesser Ladies,” was recently awarded the 2023 BroadwayWorld San Diego Award for Best Cabaret/Concert/Solo Performance.

HUNTER M. BROWN (Puck / Philostrate) Hunter Brown is a San Diego based performer, fight choreographer, and teaching artist. Past credits: Xanadu (Sonny), Underground (Jimmy), Singing in the Rain (Ensemble), and Assassins (Balladeer). Hunter would like to thank you for supporting live theatre. Thank you.

AMERICA COVARRUBIAS (Snug), a singer, actress, and dancer from the San Diego-Tijuana region, made her US debut in 2023 with In The Corner, By The Door at San Diego City College and La Lucha with Optika Moderna. She looks forward to stepping onto the Coronado Playhouse stage for the first time.

FREDY GOMEZ CRUZ (Lysander) is making his Coronado Playhouse debut! Previous projects include, Optika Moderna’s La Lucha, Bocon’s Hip Hop It Don’t Stop and MiraCosta’s Addams Family as Gomez Adams. Currently he is a member of the Camino 23 Collective and has begun his Teaching Artistry journey with Bocón! Next Up: Blindspot’s IYKYK @ the WoW Fest! He is grateful to his family, Lu and Erin, and his wife, Natasha. <3

NATASHA GOMEZ (Hermia) is excited to be making her Coronado Playhouse debut with this production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Previous appearances include LJP and Optika Moderna’s La Lucha (2023), New Village Arts’ Beehive (2021), Little Shop Of Horrors (2019) and Smokey Joe’s Cafe (2019). She has also been in various shows as a singer, actor, improviser and musician for Legoland California since 2016. Most recently, she appeared and played her flute as Finch in The Songbirds (2023). Next Up: LJP’s WoW Festival in IYKYK (2024) and Legoland California’s Summer Jam! (2024). She is grateful to the fantastic director’s Lu and Erin for this opportunity and to her husband Fredy, who plays opposite her as Lysander.

JON ALEXANDER HEWITT (Nick Bottom) is taking part in his first professional debut at Coronado Playhouse! He has gotten his AA in Theatre Arts and is now in his senior year pursuing his bachelors at SDSU. Having found his calling in acting during his fledgling years at Grossmont College, Jon’s passion for the craft has only deepened over time. He believes in the transformative power of theatre, embracing each new opportunity to explore the depths of human emotions and experiences. Some of his roles include Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods, Gibson/Homer in Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play, Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, and Orcus/Ronnie in She Kills Monsters. He would like to thank his mom who has been his biggest fan and greatest supporter.

ANDALYN HONSELAAR (Helena) is excited to make her debut at Coronado Playhouse. She graduated with her BFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2023 and has enjoyed finding artistic community back in her hometown of San Diego. Previous roles include The Bawd in Pericles (Prague Shakespeare Company), Kayla in Throwback Island (The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep) and Elmire in Tartuffe (UCSB). She looks forward to beginning her MFA in Acting from DePaul University this fall.

STEVEN JENSEN (Tom Snout) appeared in more than 25 shows at CPH, including Mamma Mia!, Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hamlet, The Winter’s Tale, and Much Ado About Nothing. Elsewhere: Poor Players, Lyric Opera SD, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, New Village Arts, Diversionary, Lamplighters, Oceanside Theatre Company, OB Playhouse, Teatro Máscara Mágica, many others. Most recently at the Utah and Flagstaff Shakespeare Festivals and in PowPAC’s production of Inspecting Carol. Steven is president of the San Diego Shakespeare Society.

EMILY JEREZ (Mustardseed, Swing) is excited to be cast in her first Coronado Playhouse project. Other recent San Diego performances include The Ferryman (New Village Arts), Romeo and Juliet (Westminster Amphitheatre), The Other Place (OnStage Playhouse), On Her Shoulders (Tuyo, La Jolla Playhouse), and The Mineola Twins (Moxie Theatre). Love and gratitude to my Ryleoaki always.

ADAM LIGHTFOOT (Starveling) is thrilled to be returning to Coronado Playhouse after previously appearing in Macbeth as Angus, and The Winter’s Tale as Clown. Previous roles have included Jack in Leading Ladies (Melbourne Civic Theatre, Florida), Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (MCT), Norman in Cash on Delivery (MCT), and the dual roles of Samuel Ratchett and Colonel Arbuthnot in Murder on the Orient Express (MCT). Adam is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, and received his B.A. in Performance from Northumbria University.

KEVIN QUEZADA (Demetrius) is excited to tackle on the art of Shakespeare and for the opportunity to be a part of Coronado Playhouse to perform his passion in the arts. Coming right out of a play doing Tuesdays with Morrie at Trinity Theatre made him very grateful to be able to do show after show and is aiming to give his best performance to the public.

VINCENT RICHMOND (Peter Quince) is happy to make his first performance on the Coronado Playhouse stage. He is a graduate of California State University Dominguez Hills where he received a B.A. in Theatre Arts. Some other appearances elsewhere he has made are Metamorphoses, Stick Fly, and She Kills Monsters (CSU Dominguez Hills).

RUTH RUSSELL (Moth, Swing) is thrilled to be back at CPH in a bucket list show. She was last seen here in A Winter’s Tale. Ruth studied acting at the University of St Thomas and has trained locally with Jacqueline Ritz, Justin Lang and Jo Anne Glover. Favorite roles: Lucy Westenra in Dracula (CPH), Myra Bruhl in Deathtrap, Arlene Moss in Rose and Walsh (PLP, Aubrey Award winner), Abigail Williams in The Crucible, and Daisy Lawrence in Return Engagements (SRT). tinyurl.com/RuthRussellActor and IG: @theruthrussell

MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ (Theseus / Oberon) is a local actor and aspiring playwright. Select credits include New Fortune: As You Like It; SDIFF 2022: Castaways; Vanguard: Julius Caesar; Praxis Stage: The Plague; Flat Earth Theatre: Anouilh’s Antigone. Wellesley Players: Love’s Labour’s Lost. Tattooed Potato: Nightmare Dreamer; Meade Theatre Lab: We Fight We Die; Guerrilla Rep: Strings. Michael holds an M.A. in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory from IU-Bloomington.

BOOKER SCHROCK (Peaseblossom, Swing) is excited to perform with Coronado Playhouse for the first time. Booker attends San Diego State University, where they recently played Matt/Homer/Scratchy in Mr Burns: a Post-Electric Play. They’re especially thrilled to perform Shakespeare’s work again after studying last summer with Prague Shakespeare Company.

FRED STRACK (Flute) is thrilled to be back performing at Coronado Playhouse. He has recently performed in Alice in Wonderland (White Rabbit) at Grossmont College and here at the Playhouse in Clue (Mr. Green) and The Spongebob Musical (Mr. Krabs). Other credits include Hairspray (Link Larkin), Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (VP Panch), Annie (Daddy Warbucks), and The Crucible (Reverend Parris) with SDJT.

DONAE SWANSON (Cobweb, Swing) is ecstatic to be on the Coronado Playhouse stage for the first time! She is a third year performance major at San Diego State University. She has performed in regional and community theater both nationally and internationally. Some of Donae’s favorite performances include Rosalind in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Divadlo Bez zábradlí, Prague), Katherine in Love’s Labor’s Lost (SDSU Mainstage) and Ruth in A Raisin in the Sun (SDSU Mainstage).

KARA TUCKFIELD (Egeus) is delighted to back at CPH. She recently was seen as Suzanne in All Bark, No Bite. Other CPH credits: Princess Dragomirov Murder on the Orient Express  Paulina The Winters Tale, and Two Gentleman Rock Verona.  Other credits: Captain Anything Goes (SDMT) Bartender Honkey Tonk Angels, Geneva 1940’s Radio Hour (Lamplighters),  Nurse Romeo and Juliet, (Vanguard Ampitheater), Love/Sick (Pt Loma Playhouse). Directing credits include The Marvelous Wonderettes (Pt Loma Playhouse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Godspell (Vanguard).

Production Bios:

LU GARCIA (Director) is back for his sixth production at Coronado Playhouse after appearing in Underground, Company, The SpongeBob Musical, Murder on the Orient Express, and Two Gentlemen Rock Verona. Other credits include Lit with Blindspot Collective, The Sound of Music, and Into the Woods. Lu is a Musical Theatre major at City College and shares his love for theatre with his three children Alex, Gracie, and Emma.

ERIN PETERSEN (Director) is the current Program Manager at Company Youth Theatre and former Resident Artist and Education Program Manager for the critically acclaimed, Intrepid Theatre. Acting credits include Honey (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf), Perdita (A Winter’s Tale), Hero (Much Ado), Juliet (Romeo & Juliet), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth). Other credits include Skinless, HickoryDickory and Ten Cent Night, All My Sons, An Enemy of the People. When not on stage, Erin enjoys working as a director, choreographer, and teaching artist.

MAYA CANALES (Stage Manager) is so excited to make her stage managing debut for Coronado Playhouse this spring. Maya has been stage managing for four years now with shows like Imogen Says Nothing (SDCC 2022), Cabaret (SDCC 2023), and most recently Salvation Road this past fall. Maya is soon to go work on her bachelors for theater arts and expand her stage management career. She would like to thank her parents for always believing and her and her directors for always giving her courage to do the right thing.

CASSANDRA SHELLUM (Assistant Stage Manager) is so excited to be working with Coronado Playhouse again. After moving to Portland, Oregon for a year and stage managing two devised works with Hand 2 Mouth Theatre, she is glad to be back in San Diego! This is her third time working with CPH and wants to thank Lu and Erin for welcoming her back! She would also like to thank her girlfriend for the endless support.

KATE NEFF STONE (Intimacy Choreography) is thrilled to work on her first production at Coronado Playhouse. She is an Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts at San Diego City College, and is a theatre director, voice teacher, acting coach, and intimacy choreographer. Recent directing credits at City College include Mr. Burns, a post-electric play, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Imogen Says Nothing, The Festival of New Plays, and Macbeth. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Irvine, and an MA from NYU. She has completed her intimacy training through Theatrical Intimacy Education.