Join Ruff Collective Member, Patricia Allison as she sits down for a joyous conversation with Julia Nish-Lapidus and James Wallis to chat about making Shakespeare in unconventional spaces, their move to the St lawrence Festival in Prescott, Ontario, and their upcoming production of Two Nobel Kinsmen presented by Shakespeare Bashed happening NOW at the Theatre Centre.
OUR GUESTS
Julia Nish-Lapidus (she/her) is a director, actor, and producer, as well as a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Toronto’s Shakespeare BASH’d (Best Site-Specific Theatre Company, NOW Magazine Readers’ Choice 2018, 2019) and Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. For Shakespeare BASH’d, Julia has directed Cymbeline, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, and The Duchess of Malfi (staged reading). She was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing at the Stratford Festival, acting as the Assistant Director on Private Lives and Associate Director on All’s Well That Ends Well, and as co-facilitator of the WordPlay series in the Forum. In the Festival’s 2021 season she was Co-Director and Co-Curator of Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mixtape. Selected Additional Credits: Romeo and Juliet(YES Theatre), 3Tempests (Shakespeare In Action), The Duchess of Malfi, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Co-Director, Toronto Metropolitan University), Romeo and Juliet and Joni (Workshop Production), The Tom & Gertie Letters Project (Co-Director), Modern Love (Co-Creator, Canadian Stage), As You Like It (Text Coach, Theatre By the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Text Coach, Hart House). Julia is a graduate of the joint acting program at UofT and Sheridan College.
James Wallis (he/him) is a director, educator, actor. He is Co-Founder & Co-Artistic Director of Shakespeare BASH’d and Co-Artistic Director of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival. With BASH’d, James directed over a dozen productions and staged readings. James spent four seasons at the Stratford Festival. He was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing in 2016/2017 assistant directing Macbeth with director Antoni Cimolino (2016), the world premiere of Bunny by Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Sarah Stanley (2016), Romeo and Juliet (2017) and Julius Caesar (2018) directed by Scott Wentworth. Additionally, James worked with the Birmingham Conservatory. For Stratford, James co-created and co-directed, with Julia Nish-Lapidus and Robert Markus, Play On! A Shakespeare-Inspired Mixtape outdoors for the Festival’s 2021 season. His other directing credits include: As You Like It (Theatre by the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Hart House Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (Secret Shakespeare Project), Scenes from The Tempest (Playing for Free), Henry IV Part 1 and 2 (Theatre Erindale), Romeo and Juliet and Joni (Workshop Production), Pygmalion, The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi (Toronto Metropolitan University).
The Two Noble Kinsmen
From January 25 to February 4, 2024
