MONICA SHEA GIORDANO -- Founding Company Member

As an actor: International: Marta the Divine* (Marta). Regional: The Tempest ft. Olympia Dukakis, Tartuffe (Shakespeare & Company), Othello (Real Live Theatre), King Lear (Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble), Die Klienen (Gan e Mead Theatre). Educational: Closer (Anna), Suitors* (Rosaura), Midsummer…Dream (Titania), How He Lied to Her Husband (Her), Urinetown (Ensemble), Love the Doctor* (Estefania), Twelfth Night (Curio), Night on the Galactic Railroad*(Giovanni’s Mother/Conductor), House of Bernarda Alba (Maid). *Original English Cast
As Director: Romeo & Juliet, Stop Kiss, The Secret Love Life of Ophelia, Casanova (asst. Director), Machinal (asst. Director).
Monica has worked as a costume designer and sound designer both regionally and in New York.
For more information about Monica as a playwright, please visit sheagiordano.com. She’s really much more eloquent when not writing a biography. Real Live Theatre produced staged readings of her scripts The Great Adventures of Samson and From the Sea, To Somewhere Else. RLT also brought a production of her play Hand Grenades to the Ithaca Fringe Festival in 2014 where it won Audience Favorite.

Monica is, as always, constantly thankful for her wonderful and patient teachers, her wonderful and even more patient friends, and her incredible family. She enjoys adjectives. She has relocated to Boston where she continues to pursue her artistic career.

LUCY GOUVIN -- Founding Company Member, Company Administrator

Lucy Gouvin is a general art enthusiast, maker, and facilitator. Theatre has been a consuming passion since she was twelve. Since then, she has tried to experience as many aspects of theatre as possible, and fell in love with Stage Managing. Lucy has worked in a variety of theaters as a Stage Manager, including the Ogunquit Playhouse, the Drama Studio, Smith College, Serious Play!, and the Ensemble Theatre Community School. She has also interned with the Majestic Theatre, and been invited to Stage Manage in The 24 Hour Theatre Project twice. Additionally, Lucy trained extensively with Dan and Ellen Morbyrne at the Drama Studio for six years, and spent three summers at the Ensemble Theatre Community School in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. During her time at the Drama Studio, Lucy appeared in several productions; her favorites include Antigone, Comedy of Errors, The Less Than Human Club, and Ascension Day. In her continuing exploration of theatre, she has also directed, light designed, and been a light and sound operator. She was honored to join Real Live Theatre in 2013, and feels incredibly lucky to have worked alongside so many artists she deeply admires. Lucy graduated from Smith College with a double major in Studio Art and Economics and has since relocated to Pittsburgh for a career at Schell Games.

KATE HARE -- Governing Member

Kate Hare's preoccupation with theater was passed down genetically by a beautiful line of compulsive actors and goofballs. Originating from New York City, she received a BA in Theater from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She became the Communications Director of the All For One Theater Festival in New York, working with a wonderful team there to build the company in its inaugural years. She was a proud member of Real Live Theatre 2014-2018. Theatre: The Life and Death of Queen Margaret, The Lion & The Clown (Real Live Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors (Hampshire Shakespeare Company), Variations of Emily (The Emily Dickinson Project), The Reason for Play (The Secret Theatre), By the Light of a Match, Romeo and Juliet (Snorks & Pins Productions), My California (The Drama League). Film: Hank (Say It Loud Productions), Sitters (BrickBurns Productions). She has also performed several solo works at the Fresh Fruit Festival, Emerging Artists Theatre, the Estrogenius Festival, The Wild Project, and Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Kate left Western Mass to return home to NYC where she has recently completed an MFA at The New School in NYC.

EMMA JIMERSON -- Founding Company Member

Emma Jimerson majored in Theatre at Smith College, where she graduated Magna cum Laude. She also spent a semester in London studying acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. At 14 years old, she was introduced to theatre by the amazing Ellen Morbyrne, and formed part of Ellen's young actors troupe, the North Star Players. Emma also attended youth workshops with Hampshire Shakespeare Company and the Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble. Emma has appeared in a number of plays in the Pioneer Valley, playing the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, and Shen Teh/Shui Ta in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, both directed by Ellen Morbyrne. She also appeared in a Smith College Theatre Department production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. In addition, Emma has performed in two radio dramas for Old Deerfield Productions: Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and an adaptation of Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun, both directed by the awesome Kevin Maroney. Emma has trained in a variety of acting techniques including the Suzuki Method, Anne Bogart's Viewpoints, Laban, Commedia dell'Arte, and stage combat, and has also studied Contact Improv, Tai Chi, Flamenco, Argentine Tango, and Ballet. Emma played Desdemona in Real Live Theatre's exciting and moving debut production, The Tragedy of Othello, and was thrilled to continue working with this hugely talented company before leaving to pursue her graduate degree in England.

ALBERTO CARLOS PEART

Alberto Carlos Peart was happy to be part of Real Live Theater. Alberto has trained with Shakespeare & Co,  Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble, and Mimoda Dance Co in Los Angeles CA. He graduated from Westfield State University in Mass Communications and co-founded the film production company, JYA I AM Productions (jyaiamproductions.com). Alberto has been involved in various dance, theater, and film productions in the Valley, New York, California, and Spain. Alberto has relocated to Florida where he is now a teacher to youth with special needs.

MICHAEL PRAY -- Founding Company Member

Michael Pray from Chicopee, MA, first took interest in theater at the tail end of high school. Performing in an abridged version of A Midsummer Night's Dream was enough to inspire him to pursue the art, and he is now an actor, teacher, and former student of Holyoke Community College and Quinnipiac University's theater programs. He is a Teaching Artist with Serious Play! Theatre Ensemble where he teaches workshops in Suzuki, Anne Bogart's Viewpoints, and stage combat. He has also taught at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School, Holyoke Community College, The Drama Studio, and in residence at various schools as well as CT-based Performing Arts Programs and abroad in Nicaragua. Some favorite roles include Cassio (RLT’s The Tragedy of Othello), Fencer (Serious Play!’s Commedia dell Smartass), and Moritz (Serious Play!’s Spring's Awakening). He also appeared in Stageloft Repertory Theater's production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as Billy Bibbit. Mike has moved on to be the Executive Producer for Tieline Theater, based in Connecticut.

NIA STEINER -- Founding Company Member

Nia Steiner began acting in 2004. She trained under Ellen at North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens, where favorite roles included The White Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass and Tilly in Melancholy Play. Nia was co-director of the North Star theatre program with Ellen from 2010 through 2015. She has co-directed many productions with Ellen and the North Star Players including Shakespeare's As You Like It, and her original adaptation of Dr. Seuss' s The Lorax. In 2015 she wrote and directed Peter & Wesley: Adventure in Neverland for the North Star Players. She also loves dance in all its forms, and has choreographed dances for many NSP productions including As You Like It, The Skriker, and The Lion and the Clown, as well as for RLT’s debut production The Tragedy of Othello, in which she also played the role of Bianca. She played Sarah in RLT’s 2014 production of The Lion & the Clown: A Rumi Lovesong for Beauty & the Beast. To support her artistic habit she is a baker at Hungry Ghost Bread. Nia felt so blessed to be part of Real Live Theatre, and is honored to have shared this experience with such a gifted group of artists before moving on to her current occupation as full-time mom of two.

CYNTHIA ZAITZ, Ph.D

Cynthia Zaitz is an author and political activist, as well as a painter, director, playwright, choreographer, and composer. She holds a BA in Drama from the University of California, Irvine; an MA in Consciousness Studies (Philosophy) from John F. Kennedy University; and a Ph.D. from Florida Atlantic University in Comparative Studies: Interdisciplinary Music, Theatre, Art, and Dance. She has been a teacher of music, theatre, English, and dance since 2003 - which she taught in Beijing, China from 2012 to 2013. Her new anti-Trump political satire book, The Art of the Steal, is available on Amazon. Help her make trouble – buy a copy, or three, today! Check out her website: www.theburningquestions.com Cynthia has relocated to Colorado.

LIZ DIAMOND -- Stage Manager for Pussy Sludge, 2023

JULIA DE AVILEZ ROCHA -- Pussy Sludge in Pussy Sludge, 2023

LENA VANI -- Courtney in Pussy Sludge, 2023

ANNE ZAGER-- Rachel in Pussy Sludge, 2023

CYNTHIA CLAUDIO -- Josephine in Pussy Sludge, 2023

MATT CRAWFORD -- Sebastian in Pussy Sludge, 2023

TOM REYNOLDS -- RJ in Pussy Sludge, 2023

MADELINE CHOINIERE BARR -- Becca in Pussy Sludge, 2023

STEVE FOLMAR, Jr -- Paul in When Last We Flew, 2018 (staged reading & full production)

TOSH FOERSTER -- Ian/The Man in When Last We Flew, 2018 (full production)

GABRIEL CIFUENTES -- Ian in When Last We Flew, 2018 (staged reading)

NICOLE YOUNG -- Marian in When Last We Flew, 2018 (full production)

KALIIS SMITH -- Marian in When Last We Flew, 2018 (staged reading)

JACOB WEST -- Ford in When Last We Flew, 2018 (staged reading & full production)

LIA RUSSELL-SELF -- Priscilla in When Last We Flew, 2018 (full production)

ROBYN SUTTON-FERNANDEZ -- Priscilla in When Last We Flew, 2018 (staged reading)

STICKII QUEST -- Fresh in When Last We Flew, 2018 (full production)

JHAYDEN SHEFTALL -- Fresh/The Man in When Last We Flew, 2018 (staged reading)

ANGELICA POLK -- Dance Choreographer for She Kills Monsters, 2017 & 2018

JOE CARDOZO -- Miles in She Kills Monsters, 2018

CALLUM LAFRANCE -- Miles in She Kills Monsters, 2017

GABRIEL CIFUENTES -- Steve in She Kills Monsters, 2017 & 2018

NANETTE MENDIETA -- Narrator and Evil Gabbi in She Kills Monsters, 2018

LILY FILIPPATOS -- Evil Gabbi in She Kills Monsters, 2017

BOBBY MORSE -- Chuck in She Kills Monsters, 2018

TANNER GOLDBERG -- Chuck in She Kills Monsters, 2017

JORDAN REED -- Lilith in She Kills Monsters, 2018

DANIELLE LESSARD -- Lilith in She Kills Monsters, 2017

TOMAS ROCHE -- Orcus in She Kills Monsters, 2017 & 2018

FAOLAIN BOBERSKY -- Evil Tina in She Kills Monsters, 2017; Evil Tina and Farrah the Fairy in She Kills Monsters 2018

BEN MAY -- Musical Director & Guitarist for She Kills Monsters, 2017; Drummer for She Kills Monsters, 2018

CHRIS “FIZZ” FONTE -- Guitarist for She Kills Monsters, 2018

ANNELISE NIELSEN-- Choreographer for The Life and Death of Queen Margaret, 2016; Choreographer for and Duchess Eleanor/King Edward IV in The Life & Death of Queen Margaret 2017

RICH VADEN -- Assistant Costume Designer for The Life & Death of Queen Margaret, 2016 & 2017

LISA ABEND-- Duke of Suffolk/Prince Edward in The Life and Death of Queen Margaret, 2017

FAOLAIN BOBERSKY -- Duchess Eleanor/King Edward IV in The Life & Death of Queen Margaret, 2016

JULIANNE McGOURTY--Queen Margaret Artist-In-Residence 2016

MEGAN McGRATH--Queen Margaret Artist-In-Residence 2016

DEBORAH BANKS McINTOSH--Stage Manager, Queen Margaret reading 2016

SARA BERLINER -- Stage Manager for The Lion & The Clown, 2014

JAZ BLAIN -- Intern for The Lion & the Clown, 2015