Schuylkill Free Shakespeare

Gregor is the Narrator of this show. You may have seen him as Grumio in SFS’d Taming of the Shrew. or maybe you saw him as Snyder in Majestic Newsiesn, or in Theatre Junction’s Treasure Island as Blind Pew and Ben Gunn. Or maybe you didn’t. I don’t know what you see. Greg doesn’t dress up for Halloween, so here’s a picture of him on a loading dock looking surly. The most Puff thing about him is his unwarranted optimism and belief that what we do is relevant and important, even if it seems trivial.

Karlei Olmos (Helga, 1st Headmaster, Runes teacher) will be making her first time appearance in community theatre and with Schuylkill Free Shakespeare. Her last show was as Grandma Addams in the Addams family musical and Mrs. Peabody in Just Desserts at Tri-Valley JHSH in her senior year. Having never been part of community theater before she can say it has been a very lovely experience and cannot wait to do it again. The puffiest thing about Karlei is that she always brings food to rehearsals when she’s missed a practice or two (not that anyone was going to start complaining about free food) and that she also loves to bake and cook just like the founder of Puff House Helga!

Kelsie (Sally Perks) has been seen in past productions at the Majestic, including Clue, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Oliver!, and Clue! She's a Puff because she writes her lowercase e's incorrectly and always lost points on math tests for mixing up the numbers 4 and 5

Lyric Paskel (Prof. Turban, Prof. Sprouty, Ginny, Rita Skeeter, and Death Buddy) is excited to be making her community theater and Schuylkill Free Shakespeare debut. Having not acted on stage since high school, with the Cardinal Spotlight Theater in Pine Grove Area, this will be her first performance in 20 years! Previously, Lyric had worked with Mrs Emily Kraft and the Nativity BVM Drama Club as Assistant Director since 2022. The puffiest thing about Lyric, among many other weird quirks, is that now she works at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and spends her days taking care of Owls and large birds of prey (who unfortunately do not deliver letters to future wizards ). She also loves trees - just like Professor Sprouty - head of the Puff House!

Andi Cooper (Susie Bones/Harry) typically works behind the scenes as a choreographer for local productions as she enjoys sharing her passion for dance with others. Her most recent shows include: Ride the Cyclone (Majestic Theater, associate choreographer), Newsies (Majestic Theater, choreographer) and The Little Mermaid (PAHS Crimson Players, choreographer). She recently played Beth in Little Women and Fritzie in Cabaret. The most Puff thing about her is that she owns a lawn goose that she dresses up for each holiday (and once cried when the wind blew one of the costumes away). HI!

Megan (Leanne) has recently appeared as Mrs. White in Clue and Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, and she has not let anyone forget it. The most Puff thing about Megan is that her work's security detail caught her trying to pet squirrels on three separate occasions.

Erika (Hannah and lots of other characters) has recently re-entered the acting world after a 7 year hiatus and recently appeared as Lady Macbeth in The Scottish Play, The Lady in Schuylkill Free Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and Meg in Little Women. She is a Puff because she doesn't like when her food touches (except for the foods that have special permission to touch), will only drink specific drinks from specific cups, and has a habit of starting projects and finishing them a year later. Hi!!!

Dawson plays literally everyone in this show, I mean, like for real, just throw something at the stage, and you'll probably hit him. He's recently appeared as Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd, the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz , and Professor Harold Hill in the Music Man. Dawson's got some puffs qualities to him. He uses his own name as a secondary term for awesome (Dawsome), His favorite drink is milk (3 gallons a week), and he always has the best and most non controversial answers in Quiplash

Mayor Ben Wyatt (Cedric, The Dark Lord) has recently appeared as Wadsworth in Clue, and as Vincentio in Schuylkill Free Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. The most Puff thing about him is his love of blankets, he literally cannot have enough of them on him at all times, even in the summer. He’s that guy who’s always cold for some reason. His future plans involve watching football, eating soup, and hiding from the creeping existential dread, under blankets.

Nathan (right) who plays J. Finch has played Young Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, The Music Man in The Music Man, and somebody in King Lear who wasn’t King Lear. “The most Puff thing about me is I that I was never really the type to participate in sports…I was usually the mascot.”

Lily (Megan Jones) has recently appeared as Biondello in Taming of the Shrew, Fraulein Kost in Cabaret, Hunyak in Chicago, Scarlet in Clue, and Olivia in Twelfth Night. The most puff thing about her is she studies dirt. Yes, dirt, as she looks for cool germs that might be medicine. She once traveled to the top of the hill near the Walmart to get some dirt but got distracted by a a really colorful bird. She also is studying the effects of buildings on birds and cries whenever she sees a dead one even though that’s literally part of the study. Pictured here is a 9 year old Lily dressed as Ezio Auditore from Assassin’s Creed (which she really wants to name her future child.).

Ethan Harris (Oliver Rivers) has recently appeared as Professor Plum in Clue and Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret. The most puff thing about him is his wildly autistic fascination with swords and Star Wars. His future plans include but are not limited to picking up rocks, swinging the previously mentioned swords at air, and generally doing life.

Hey guys! It’s BIO TIME. To get into the Halloween spirit, we’re gonna be posting photos of our lovely cast in HALLOWEEN COSTUMES from YEARS PAST!

Donald Bogdonanwicz (Wayne Hopkins) was most recently seen in Theatre Junction’s ensemble version of Tell Tale Heart after taking a multi year break from theatre. He couldn’t be more happy to have finally found time to return to the stage and looks forward to many more performances to come. He wanted to type here that in his heart he feels he was mis-sorted, believing himself to belong more in the house with the house that rhymes with “maven-daw”, but while writing this he realized there are actually cute happy succulents on his bright blue underwear. So. Yeah. The hat probably made the right call on this one.

Be sure to see Puffs this October 25-27 at the Majestic Theater in Pottsville. This is a joint fundraiser for Schuylkill Free Shakespeare and the Majestic Theater Pottsville. It is directed by SFS founder, Emily Ehlinger, and features many SFS alumni.

Supporting events like this helps Schuylkill Free Shakespeare continue to provide free performances to the community.

This show features explicit language and may not be appropriate for younger audiences.

FALL/HOLIDAY COUNTDOWN DAY 1✨🎭
On October 25-27 join us for a hilarious satire of a "Certain Magical School"
Puffs is a joint fundraiser for Schuylkill Free Shakespeare and The Majestic theater.
Tickets are $15.00 and are available at majestictheater.net

If you were at this weekend's performance of The Taming of the Shrew and you did not get a chance to fill out the survey, please do so here. Thank you!

Schuylkill Free Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, 2024

SFS Shrew still has a few Tshirts left. If you missed a chance to buy these super- soft commemorative tees, send a message and we will get it to you. $20 each. XS-3XL
(No Med)

https://youtube.com/shorts/8CttooMN9kw?si=empU7J-kkhLBw1Kq

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in couples counseling #shorts

Happy 440th birthday to Juliet! 💐

Juliet is one of the few Shakespearean characters whose birthday we know precisely.

Shakespeare writes in a conversation between Lady Capulet and Juliet's Nurse in Act I, Scene 3: "On Lammas-Eve at night shall she be fourteen." Psst ... that's today!

To celebrate, here's a throwback to 2016 when the famous balcony scene was recreated in our Mitchell Library Reading Room.

Shakespeare is back in the building again with our free exhibition, For All Time: Shakespeare in Print.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/RofR50Pnbmf

Huge crowd for the last performance of Richard III