Celeste Santamassino,
Associate Producing Director, is in her fourth season with the Festival. Ms. Santamassino acts as general office manager and serves as the staff’s primary board liaison. Ms. Santamassino executes year–round Fundraising and Marketing, acts as Production Manager for the summer season, an occasionally conducts outreach workshops. Ms. Santamassino holds a B.A. in English/Theatre from Centre College in Danville, KY. She has directed for Bill Troupe in Frankfort, KY, and Kentucky Shakespeare Fesitval, The Bunbury Theatre, The Necessary Theatre and The Pleiades in Louisville. She also served as Assistant Director for Kentucky Opera’s 1998 production of Tosca.
Doug Sumey
has been the Director of Education for Kentucky Shakespeare Festival since the summer of 2000. Doug received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Communications from William Jewell College (Liberty, MO) in 1992. In addition, Doug has a Secondary Teaching Certificate with a Theatre emphasis from Avila College in Kansas City, MO. Doug enjoyed six years of professional theatre experience as an actor, director, and an educator in Kansas City, MO. He has worked for Missouri Repertory Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Coterie Children's Theatre, Theatre for Young America, Alpha/Omega Theatre and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Doug came to Kentucky Shakespeare Festival after completing three successful years as Camp Shakespeare Director for the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.
Holly lyn-heather Johnson, Michael Kenneth McNeil, Theodore B. Strange, Sue Batman Kathleen T. Breen Brenda Johnson Marcia Tarbis Tofteland
Design and Outreach Coordinator, is in her third season with the Festival after a hiatus of seven years. During those years, she has spent two seasons as an apprentice, one as Concessions Manager and the past three seasons in administration. In the office, she spends most of the year working with Shakespeare Alive!, and doing design and layout for brochures, playbills and the Festival website. Locally, she has worked with The Pleiades Theatre Company, Stage One, University of Louisville, Music Theatre Louisville and attended Youth Performing Arts School. In Ohio, she has worked with Wright State University and Dayton Theatre Guild, where she also served on their Board of Directors.
Artistic Associate, first came to the Festival in the summer of 1999 as an acting company member and fight director for the Festival’s production of The Taming of the Shrew. He would then become an Artistic Associate for the Festival’s yearly educational outreach tour Shakespeare Alive!. For the Festival’s fortieth summer season anniversary, McNeil was cast and played the roles of Malvolio in Twelfth Night and Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet. Presently Mike continues to plug away with the Festival’s education programs and performs a one–man show entitled Shakespeare’s Kings: Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown., which he performs for students and adult audiences alike.
P.R./Education Outreach Coordinator, is currently in his first season with the Festival. Prior, he served as the Production Manager of The Louisville Orchestra. Mr. Strange returns to his hometown, Louisville, after he spent 15 years in New York City where he studied acting at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Herbert Bergoff Studios and with Robert Lewis. He has performed in Off–Broadway productions such as The Naked Enemy at The Grove Street Playhouse and The Celebration Reclaimed, at The American Theatre of Actors. He has also worked in film productions such as She’s Having a Baby and Billy Bathgate. He is an aspiring film director/writer and is currently writing his first screenplay entitled Canned Goods with his writing partner Jim Davis, a Louisville native. Mr. Strange also owned an entertainment firm in New York, Strange Productions, where he managed the careers of various acts in the performing arts, the likes of which include the legendary Eartha Kitt.
Administrative Accountant, has been with the Festival since 1995. Ms. Batman coordinates all aspects of the Festival’s accounting and financial reporting. For the past five years, Ms. Batman has provided data management services through her company, DataPlus.
Education Consultant, has worked extensively with the Festival since 1990. For the last ten years, she has been the Associate Producer of the summer institute, FROM THE PAGE TO THE STAGE: Teaching Shakespeare in the Classroom. Her other contributions include planning Student Scene Festivals, writing study guides for BOY MEETS GIRL MEETS SHAKESPEARE, working on the playbill and publicity, and managing front of house. During the academic year she is the English Department Chair and a full–time teacher at Sacred Heart Academy.
Gift Sales Manager and Volunteer Coordinator, is thrilled to be in the park again for her sixth season as Gift Sales Manager. Brenda has spent many years in the audience and as a volunteer along with her daughter, Holly. Her greatest joy has been to see Holly grow up and do something that she loves while dedicated to working for the Festival. As Volunteer Coordinator, she hopes that when you come to visit the gift booth you will sign up to volunteer. Brenda would like to thank those dedicated people who come back year after year to help make her and the rest of the staff’s jobs easier. They know who they are, THANK YOU!!!
Administrative Consultant, began her association with the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in 1971, when she played Charmian in Anthony and Cleopatra and continued it in the 1981 production of Much Ado About Nothing Ms. Tofteland worked at Actors Theater of Louisville from 1978 to 1986, where she served as ticket sales director, festival coordinator, and director of community relations consecutively. Now a freelance writer, Ms. Tofteland has a monthly column which appears in the national journal, Real Living with Multiple Sclerosis. She was a Forum Fellow with the editorial board of the Courier–Journal, in which several of her articles have appeared.