ADEOYE, AEA
Artistic Director
Adeoye lives life as a Bard – a Jack of all trades, steadily accumulating mastery in them all. In addition to creating art, he teaches yoga and pilates and practices Thai bodywork. He frequently appears as an actor on stage at Lookingglass Theatre (2011 Tony Award Recipient for Outstanding Regional Theatre), where he also serves as a Teaching Artist. In Chicago he has worked at Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theatre and The House Theatre of Chicago. Regionally, he has played at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arizona Theatre Company, Clarence Brown Theatre, Spooky Action Theatre, and the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. He attended The School at Steppenwolf, and earned an MFA at The Academy for Classical Acting at The Shakespeare Theatre and The George Washington University in DC. Inspired by the rich formation in Ensemble Process he has enjoyed professionally, as well as by his time spent working with The Backroom Shakespeare Project, he conceived of Quicksilver as his contribution to American Theatre.
MARCELLUS BURT
Artistic Associate
Marcellus Burt is a Chicago native and a proud graduate of Northwestern University. He is a well-rounded artist that has experience in performance and theatre management. In the summer of 2020, he joined Quicksilver Shakespeare Company and started the BIPOC Reading Series that focuses on the development and advancement of BIPOC, queer, and trans artists. The series enables for these artists to take up and demand space in classical work as well as creates opportunities for these artists to have agency to tell their own story. Marcellus works in the series as a casting director, producer and stage manager. Some of his performance credits include Moby Dick (Chicago Opera Theatre), Sunset Boulevard (Porchlight Music Theatre), Fun Home(Victory Gardens), and Ragtime (Griffin Theatre).
ANNIE CONSIDINE
Artistic Associate
Annie Considine is a Chicago-based director, actor, playwright, and education artist. She has been a member of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts since 2012. Most recently, she assistant directed The Hamlet Project with Riggs Theatre 37, an in-house branch of the Austen Riggs Center psychiatric hospital. Other directing credits include Othello (Hampshire Shakespeare Company), Romeo i Julija (Youth Bridge Global – Mostar), Twelfth Night (University of Chicago), and over 20 educational productions with Shakespeare & Company. Annie holds a B.A. in Theater and Performance Studies from the University of Chicago, and has trained with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Shakespeare & Company, and Black Box Acting Studio. Find out more at her website, www.annieconsidine.com.
RYAN ALAN JONES
Artistic Associate
Ryan Alan Jones is an actor, yogi, and sometimes nomad living and working in Chicago with his best friends; Elizabeth Tuazon, his wife, and Adeoye, his partner and cohort. He believes that Shakespeare’s works are alive with potential for the modern audience and that a return to the original tone and intent of these pieces, as entertainment for all, is a way to renew their power and relevance. He is the founder of Wild Atlas Theatre Co., a Wicker Park-based company focused on featuring local artists and underrepresented voices. Before moving to Chicago in the early Spring of 2016, he was an actor in Washington D.C. who had the pleasure to work with such companies as Synetic Theatre, Spooky Action, Flying V, Studio Theatre, and at The Kennedy Center. He trained in the BFA Acting program at California State University, Fullerton.
SAMIE JO JOHNSON
ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE
Samie Jo Johnson is so grateful to have fallen in with the Quicksilver crew, this method of madness is an absolute dream project. Prior to landing in Chicago, Samie Jo has lived and worked in Seattle, Denver, Southern Indiana, and the many highways in between. She is an actor, writer, tarot reader, and director. In Chicago she has worked with Stone Soup Shakespeare, Opera-Matic, The Cuckoo’s Theater Project, Nox Arca, and continues to develop her own work. Samie Jo has trained in various theatre making techniques domestically and abroad and has a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Evansville. www.samiejojohnson.com
SHEA LEE
Artistic Associate
Shea Lee is a graduate of Northwestern University, where her focuses included musical theatre, theatre for young audiences, and Asian American studies. Her favorite credits include Anon(ymous) (NU Purple Crayon Players), Giggle Giggle Quack (Lifeline Theatre national tour), and Mr. Kotomoto is Definitely Not White (NoMads Art Collective). She is the company manager of Laughing Stock Theatre, Chicago’s premiere Commedia dell’Arte theatre company. Shea is represented by Shirley Hamilton Talent.
EVIN MCQUISTION
Artistic Associate
Evin McQuistion is an actor, director, and journeyman human who really lucked out when it came to joining Quicksilver after he wandered out of college and into Chicago during the Fall of 2018. He’s been on stage doing Shakespeare and improv in Tennessee and North Carolina, and now he mostly does the same in Chicago. He has a framed copy of his BA in Theatre from East Tennessee State University in his childhood bedroom in Wisconsin.
JILLIAN PATTERSON
Artistic Associate
Jillian is an actor, singer, dancer and movement artist native to California, who pretty much only does classical work, and is perfectly happy with that. For her third year in Chicago, she’s spent two or more nights a week dedicated to this crazy project with this hard working ensemble, and has no regrets. Chicago credits include The Madness of Edgar Allan Poe (upcoming this fall at Oak Park Festival Theatre), Cymbeline (Strawdog Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Shakespeare Project), The Roaring Ones (Rhino Fest) and Golden Pill (DDADIS Fest). Regional credits include: Peter and the Starcatcher, Man of La Mancha, My Fair Lady, Lend Me A Tenor the Musical and more (PCPA). Jillian has trained with The Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Green Room, Vagabond School and Walkabout Theatre.
AC RAKOTONIAINA
Artistic Associate
AC Rakotoniaina is excited to continue their work with Quicksilver after touring with Mercury Hamlet. Other Chicago credits include: The Tempest (Commission Theatre), Bicycle Thieves (Littlebrain Theatre) at RhinoFest, A Klingon Christmas Carol (EDGE of Orion) and Richard III (Muse of Fire Theatre Company). AC is a member of The Shrews Improvisation. Connect and keep up to date: acrakotoniana.com
MARY REGALADO, AEA
Artistic Associate
Mary is an actor, singer, and VO artist, making her directorial debut with Quicksilver’s BIPOC Mercury Comedy of Errors. She grew up in Southern California where she earned her BA in theatre at the University of Southern California, and she studied Shakespeare and classical theatre at the British American Drama Academy in London. Favorite acting credits include (but are not limited to): Fortinbras (USC, dir. Jen Chang), The Beaux Stratagem (A Noise Within), Macbeth ( BADA, dir. Kelly Hunter), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream ( Shakespeare Project of Chicago).
CORRIE RIEDL
Artistic Associate
Corrie is an actor, singer, and animal lover who could not be more pleased to be a part of the creative insanity that is Quicksilver Shakespeare. She is thrilled to have found an artistic home so full of artists so willing to take on this challenge. Corrie has been working with Quicksilver since it’s early development stages in 2017 and looks forward to sharing it with the rest of the world! In Chicago Corrie has worked with several companies including Collaboraction, On the Spot Theatre, and Invictus Theatre. When she is not with Quicksilver, Corrie can be found working in Audience Services at Lookingglass Theatre Company, at a law firm downtown, dog sitting, and enjoying wine and good cheese with friends.
NOELLE SIMPSON
Artistic Associate
Noelle moved to Chicago from Seattle last July. On the way across the country, she stopped in Lenox, MA to train with Shakespeare and Co. While deepening her love of the Bard, Hannah discovered the power of vulnerability while performing Shakespeare and how that vulnerability speaks to an intimate audience. A couple of weeks after training, she had the pleasure of watching her roommate AC perform in Mercury Hamlet. Hannah fell in love with the double accessibility of that performance–for both performers and audience. Now, her journey will come full circle as Hannah shares the stage in company with the actors she so admired.
CHRISTINA WARD
Artistic Associate
Christina Ward is so thrilled to have found an artistic home in Quicksilver Shakespeare where she can play absolutely anyone! She has loved Shakespeare since she did a wonderfully innocent middle school production of a Midsummer Nights Dream. She has performed with companies here in Chicago such as Pegasus Theatre, Dandelion Theatre, and Theatre Evolve. Christina holds her BFA in theatre performance from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
DANIEL WESTHEIMER
Artistic Associate
Daniel is excited to extend his role in the Quicksilver Family. He an actor, improvisor, writer and musician, who as been based in Chicago for the last three years. Prior to Chicago, he spent many years performing regionally, mainly in Cincinnati and St. Louis. In Chicago he performed in Chicken Little and The Reluctant Dragon in Improv Playhouse’s TYA educational tours, and is an ensemble member of The Crowd Theatre’s house team, Nevada. He also appears in The Crowds monthly show, Dubtitles, and in iO’s monthly show, This Year In Music. Daniel performs his music and on independent improvisation teams all throughout the city as well as at comedy festivals across the country. He is a proud member of The Open Concept. Daniel is excited to perform in Alice… Through the Looking Glass later this summer through Arrenmore Arts. He has training from the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s Groundings program for young actors, is a graduate of both iO and CIC programs for improvisation and received his BFA in acting from Webster University.
