About Us
Starting with a performance alongside the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska in 1992, the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre has grown into a year-round producing and international-touring theatre company. In 2004, FST performed for more than 10,000 people in Fairbanks, Juneau, Haines, Anchorage, Kenai, Homer and Healy (in Alaska), Atlin, BC and Haines Junction, YT (both in Canada).
The founders of the company wanted to share their passion for Shakespeare with the community. Since 1992 that desire has grown beyond outdoor performances each summer to include outreach to Boys' and Girls' clubs, assisted-living residences, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, youth detention centers, and countless in-school performances for students and teachers throughout Alaska. The cornerstone of FST's strong education and outreach program is the Bard-a-thon: a 24-hour-a-day, weeklong reading of the complete works of Shakespeare. Since 2000, this free event has drawn hundreds of people together during a cold, Alaskan winter to give voice to Shakespeare's words with friends, local officials, school groups and actors from all over the world. In 2003 FST also introduced an under-18-free-admission policy that furthers our mission of 'educating through performance.' We believe in cultivating a love for the arts at an early age, and we are doing everything in our power to make the words of Shakespeare accessible to our youth.
Critics have described FST performances as 'remarkable,' 'theatrical ingenuity,' 'masterful' and 'fun.' In July of 2003 FST returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland with Hamlet. Originally performed by the company in the summer of 2002, Hamlet featured the company's core members working in true ensemble fashion. Together the cast and crew dramatized an innovative, powerful, ritualistic telling of one of the world's most well-known tragedies. "The Shakespeare Bulletin" named our production one of the 'unexpected delights' and 'Shakespearian successes' of the world's largest performing arts festival.
We are excited to share our work with others and thank our community for their steadfast support of this truly unique company.
Contact FST at:
Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre
PO Box 73447
Fairbanks, AK 99712
Empress Theatre
Downtown, 2nd floor of the Co-op Building, entrance on 3rd Ave.
Phone: (907) 457-7638
Fax: (907) 457-4511
Managing Director steve@fstalaska.org
Production Manager claudia@fstalaska.org
Education Manager stageboy7@yahoo.com
Board of Directors (Incorporated April 14, 1994)
Susan Stitham, President
Alison York, Vice President
Jan Dawe, Secretary
Helen Burrell, Treasurer
Greg Hill
David Burrell
Ronan Short
Steve Mitchell, Managing Director
Bruce Rogers, Artistic Director
Claudia Lively, Production Manager
Jeremy Thompson, Education Coordinator
Renate Lively, Costume Manager
John Mayer, Techincal Director
John Bartlett, Master Carpenter
Steve Mitchell (Managing Director)
Bruce Rogers (Founder/Artistic Director/Director/Actor)
Jeremy Thompson (Education Coordinato)
Claudia Lively (Production Manager/Costume Designer/Director)
Graham Watts (Director)
Janis Lull, Ph. D. (Dramaturge)
John Mayer (Camp Cook/Lighting and Set Designer)
John Bartlett (Master Carpenter)
Shannon Luster (Actor/Director)
Andrew Cassel (Actor/Publicist)
Jake Waid (Actor)
Kit Mayer (Set Designer)
Steve Mitchell (Managing Director/) - Email Steve
Bruce Rogers (Founder/Artistic Director/Director/Actor) - Email Bruce
was a founding member of FST in 1992 and since then has been its visionary. As a performer in nearly every FST production, he receives well deserved critical praise and has worked professionally statewide. As a director he has created some of FST’s most memorable summer shows including Richard III and Hamlet (mainstage and international tour). Bruce’s vision and dedication to the company has brought together the incredible community of artists in the boreal forests of interior Alaska.
Jeremy Thompson (Education Coordinator/Actor) - Email Jeremy
Claudia Lively (Production Manager/Costume Designer/Director) - Email Claudia
Graham Watts (Director)
directed Love’s Labor’s Lost (2001), Julius Caesar (2003), The Winter’s Tale (2004), Much Ado about Nothing (2005), and Henry V (2006). For five years he was a director at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon, spent a year as Staff Director at the National Theatre of Great Britain, and was a Resident Director on a world tour of Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and Corialanus with the English Shakespeare Company. He has directed several times at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and also at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. His direction of A Woman is a Weathercock, a Elizabethan play left unperformed for 325 years, earned the Pentameters Theatre a nomination for a ‘Time Out’ Best Production Award. He has written and directed two short films Just A Minute and Prey for the Future which can be viewed on the web at www.streetsahead.com/shorts.htm. Graham also regularly teaches workshops and classes on acting, directing and Shakespeare studies. His website is www.grahamwattsdirector.com.
Janis Lull, Ph. D. (Dramaturge)
currently teaches Advanced Shakespeare for US Open University and is a Professor Emerita of English at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She has been the dramaturge for many FST productions and will return this summer for The Winter’s Tale. As an author, she has published many works including non-fiction, chapters, articles, and essays. She is also the editor the New Cambridge Edition of King Richard III, which made it’s world premiere at FST in 1999.
John Mayer (Camp Cook/Lighting and Set Designer)
originally hails from Key West, and has been with the company since 1998’s As You Like It. He cooks, he cleans, he designs and builds sets (and theatres!), operates our sound and lighting systems, and does whatever he can however he can. He is one of the hardest working guys in show business.
Shannon Luster (Actor/Director)
has been an Alaskan resident for most of his life. Born in Anchorage, Shannon has performed as an actor in over 50 productions in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Seattle. Previous directing credits include: The Santaland Diaries, Tartuffe, and The Devil & Billy Markham. As Production Manager, Shannon has previously served as props master, stage manager, and/or actor in numerous FST productions. He is an alumnus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks theatre program and currently serves on Fairbanks Drama Association’s Board of Directors, where he chairs the Artistic Directions Committee.
Andrew Cassel (Actor/Publicist)
has been a part of the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre since 1999. While continuing his studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks he worked closely with the local theatre community. Since 1999 he has been a part of more than 25 productions. Andrew has served on the board of the Fairbanks Drama Association (FDA) and has been a part of the FST and FDA administration. In 2002 he took over as the head of the drama department at Monroe Catholic High School in Fairbanks.
Jake Waid (Actor)
has been acting in the Pacific Northwest since 1992. He began with FST as a teenager and has become a leading player and respected actor throughout the state. Jake played the title role in Hamlet for both the FST Mainstage production of 2002 and the FST international tour in 2003. He also regularly appears on stage at the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska. His favorite roles include Chili/Jabber in West Coast premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks’ In the Blood, Tom in The Glass Menagerie, and Ensemble in the World Premiere and state-wide tour of Moby Dick.
Kit Mayer (Set Designer)
is a founding member of FST and has designed the sets since the beginning of the company. Kit is a freelance designer/technical director who works in La Crosse, WI. He teaches at Saint Mary’s University and Technical Directs for the La Crosse Community Theatre. Kit has designed sets and lights for hundreds of shows.
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