MISF Team
Curious about the incredible talent behind the 2021 Mackinac Island Shakespeare Festival? Check back across May as we introduce our team!
Kate Eastwood Norris
Director, Much Ado About Nothing
Kate Eastwood Norris (she/her) is an Equity actor, director, and educator for theaters, universities, and institutions all across the United States. Highlights of her over 25-year professional career include shows at Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage, the Humana Festival, Portland Center Stage, company membership with Woolly Mammoth Theater, and over 15 productions with The Folger Shakespeare Library. She is also an educator for Georgetown University, Mary Baldwin University from where she received her MFA and Pacifica Graduate Institute from where she completed her MA. Her directing credits include a recent socially distanced and masked King Lear at MBU and productions for The Little Globe Theater, which she co-founded. Her creative and academic specialties include Shakespeare, Cross Gender Casting, Comic Theory and Practice, and Depth Psychology and Creativity. She has performed in special appearances for the Alaskan, Baltimore, and Naples Symphony Orchestras as an actor/narrator, arranged and performed a one -person Hamlet and received Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Outstanding Performance of a Leading Actress as well as two Helen Hayes awards and five nominations for her work in DC. Kate lives by the Chesapeake Bay in Edgewater, MD.
Matt Radford Davies
Director, Romeo and Juliet
Matt Radford Davies (he/him) is delighted to join SSC’s inaugural season to direct Romeo and Juliet. A professional actor and director for over thirty years, first in the UK and then the US, Matt has performed widely throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Notable credits include playing Kent in King Lear and Shylock in Merchant of Venice (Best Actor, Richmond Critics Circle) for Quill Theatre, Antony for Chesapeake Shakespeare, and Enobarbus for Virginia Shakespeare, in separate productions of Antony and Cleopatra, and (somewhat further afield) Bolingbroke in Richard II for Prague Shakespeare, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing for Austin Shakespeare (Best Actor in a Comedy, B. Iden Payne Awards). Last year, he played Brabantio in Othello and Fabian in Twelfth Night for the American Shakespeare Center, where, in 2017, he also directed Love’s Labour’s Lost. He has directed over thirty productions, from Shakespeare to world premieres, from high drama to very low comedy, from Texas to Glasgow and many points in between. Matt has a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin, and teaches in Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance graduate program.
Mili Koncelik
Stage Manager
As a recent MFA student at Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance program, Mili Koncelik (she/her) has spent the past 3 years working closely with Shakespeare on the page and stage. During the completion of her MLitt between 2018-2020, she worked with MFA companies, Bards Ablaze and Steadfast Shakespeare, on various productions ranging from Stage Manager for the Tempest to actor in Troilus and Cressida. As part of the MFA company Fireside Shakespeare, she served as a production manager, actor, and director, completing 5 full productions throughout the 2020-2021 academic year. Mili’s favorite roles include the Fool in King Lear, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Jack Cade in Jack and Joan. She is excited to work again with Shakespeare enthusiasts and friends she met during her time as a student in a new setting.
Ryan Wilson
Actor/Assistant Director
Ryan Wilson (he/him) graduated from Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance MFA program in 2019 with a concentration in directing. Since graduating, Ryan has worked with the Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival and the American Shakespeare Center as an assistant director; he also returned to Mary Baldwin for assistant director positions in their undergraduate and graduate theatre programs. As a performer, Ryan’s favorite roles include Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Charles the Dauphin in The Lark, and Lucio in Measure for Measure. Most recently, Ryan has been delighted to serve as an adjunct professor at James Madison University’s School of Theatre and Dance. Ryan’s areas of interest include devising, ensemble building, interactive theatre, and the horror genre. Ryan is deeply grateful to perform in front of a live audience, and would like to thank his friends and family for their continued support.
Naivell Steib
Actor
A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Naivell Steib (all pronouns) developed a passion for art of all forms from a young age, particularly theatre and music. They are a recent BFA graduate from the University of Memphis with a concentration in Theatre Performance, and currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. They're represented by The Avenue Agency in Atlanta, Georgia. Naivell aspires to follow a path of continual artistic growth, collaboration, activism, and passion. There are stories that need to be told, voices that need to be heard, and their deepest desire is to make their mark in that movement. naivellsteib.com
Heron Kennedy
Actor
Heron Kennedy (she/her) is an actor and educator from Foster, Rhode Island, and co-founder and artistic director of Starling Shakespeare Company. She began work on SSC in 2020 after graduating with her MFA from Mary Baldwin University's MLitt/MFA Shakespeare and Performance program. During her time at MBU, Heron performed in numerous Shakespeare and other early modern plays, in addition to designing props, crafting workshops, and teaching two undergraduate courses. Prior to pursuing her master's degrees, Heron worked as an actor and educator in New England, and is a graduate of Rhode Island college. Favorite roles have included Imogen in Cymbeline, Hamlet in Q1 Hamlet, Miranda in The Tempest, and Third Witch in Macbeth. She is deeply grateful for the chance to perform again, as well as the opportunity to work with this incredible team.
Amberlin McCormick
Actor
Amberlin McCormick (she/her) is so excited to be making her Starling Shakespeare debut in the first ever Mackinac Island Shakespeare Festival! She is a second year graduate acting student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Her most recent credits include: Viola in Twelfth Night (National Black Theatre Festival), Eurydice in Eurydice (Warehouse Performing Arts Center), and Avigail in The Unusual Tale of Mary and Joseph (River and Rail Theatre). Amberlin would like to thank her wonderful instructors, family, and classmates! You can also follow her on Instagram: @theundercoverratchet
Jessie Lillis
Actor
Jessie Lillis (she/her) is an actor, director, and co-founder of Starling Shakespeare Company. She graduated in 2020 from Mary Baldwin University’s Shakespeare and Performance MFA program with a concentration in directing. Past roles include Troilus in Troilus and Cressida, Face in The Alchemist, Leartes/Guilderstone in Q1 Hamlet, and Moll in The Roaring Girl. A Coldwater, Michigan native, Jessie is thrilled to be returning to her home state for the 2021 Mackinac Island Shakespeare Festival.