Tag Archives: University of Notre Dame

Meet Laura Gordon

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Laura Gordon

Laura Gordon

Our director for Richard III, Laura Gordon, is currently receiving rave reviews for her performance in Forward Theater’s Good People. Check out one of the reviews here. And here is some more information about Laura: Laura Gordon joins the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival for the first time this season.  An Associate Artist at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Laura works both as a director and an actor.  Her directing credits include: Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Winter’s Tale (Utah Shakespeare Festival); The Royal Family and Old Times (American Players Theater);  Twelfth Night (Optimist Theater); Well (Milwaukee Chamber Theater); Going to St. Ives (Forward Theater); Skin Tight (Renaissance Theaterworks); In the Next Room or the vibrator play (Actors Theater of Louisville); and Speaking In Tongues, Laurel and Hardy, Almost Maine, Seascape, and I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda (Milwaukee Rep). As a long time member of the Resident Acting Company at the Milwaukee Rep, Laura has appeared in over 75 productions including The Diary of Anne Frank (Edith Frank), Death of a Salesman (Linda Loman), Doubt (Sister Aloysius), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Maureen), Mary Stuart (Queen Elizabeth), Richard III (Elizabeth), Twelfth Night (Olivia), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Princess of France), Copenhagen (Margrethe) and The Crucible (Elizabeth).  She was honored with a Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship in 2010.

Jonathan Weir as Lord Stanley in Richard III

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Jonathan Weir

Jonathan Weir

Jonathan Weir makes his NDSF debut this summer in the role of Lord Stanley in Richard III. Chicago based, he recently appeared as Geronte in The Liar at Writers Theatre. Other Writers Theatre credits: Frederik Egerman in A Little Night Music, Arms and the Man, Misalliance, Bach at Leipzg, Doctors Dilemma, The Father and Booth. Chicago credits include The Governor in Candide, Ten seasons of A Christmas Carol, The Visit (Goodman Theatre) The Emperor’s New Clothes

(Chicago Shakespeare Theatre) Sunset Blvd. and Ragtime (Drury Lane Oakbrook) Stepping Out (Steppenwolf Theatre) The First, State Fair (Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre) Regional credits include performances at Shakespeare Theatre Co in DC., Skylight Opera Theatre and Next Act Theatre. National tours include; Mob Boss Gyp DeCarlo and other in Jersey Boys, Scar and Pumbaa in Disney’s The Lion King and Scrooge the Musical (US premier). Jonathan is an adjunct professor of theatre in the Dept. of Fine and Performing Arts at Loyola University Chicago.

Maureen Gallagher to Play The Duchess of York in Richard III

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Maureen Gallagher

Maureen Gallagher

Maureen Gallagher returns to the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival in the role of The Duchess of York. She has been a member of the companies of Cymbeline (Belaria), The Comedy of Errors (Emilia), and Romeo and Juliet (the Nurse). As a long-time Chicago actor, she has performed at many of the city’s theatres including Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Victory Gardens, Northlight, and Court Theatre. Roles include Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, Goneril in King Lear, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Peggotty in David Copperfield, Meg in The Birthday Party, Helen in The Infidel, and Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst, for which she received a Joseph Jefferson Award. Playwriting has become a big part of her work in the theatre. Her play Martin Furey’s Shot, about a photojournalist, was produced at TimeLine Theatre in Chicago. Her new play, Comrades Mine / Emma Edmonds of the Union Army premiered in April at City Lit Theate as part of their five year project marking the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

Saren Nofs-Snyder as Queen Elizabeth

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Saren Nofs-Snyder

Saren Nofs-Snyder

Saren Nofs-Snyder will be making her debut with the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival in the role of Queen Elizabeth. As as Jeff Nominated, Chicago based actor, Saren has worked with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass, Remy Bumppo, Piven Theatre, and many others. Regionally, she has appeared at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, Michigan Shakespeare, and Door Shakespeare, among many others. Favorite roles include Lady Croom in Arcadia, Masha in Three Sisters, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Mrs. Cheveley in An Ideal Husband, and May in Once in a Lifetime a role for which she received a Drammy Award (Portland, Oregon) for Actress in a Lead Role. Saren worked with Lanford Wilson on his 2006 revision of Sympathetic Magic, originating the role of Barbara. Saren holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

La Shawn Banks Returns to NDSF to Play the Duke of Buckingham

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La Shawn Banks

La Shawn Banks will play the role of the Duke of Buckingham in this season’s Richard III. La Shawn returns to Notre Dame for a third season where he was last seen in Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors. Chicago credits: The Liar, Travels With My Aunt, Old Glory, The Turn of the Screw, Othello, The Duchess of Malfi and To the Green Fields Beyond (Writers’ Theatre), The Island (Remy Bumppo Theatre) Edward II (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Execution of Justice (About Face Theatre), A Year With Frog and Toad (Chicago Children’s Theatre) and five seasons of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (Goodman Theatre). Regional credits: Twelfth Night, Richard III, Troilus & Cressida, The Liar, The Taming of the Shrew and Of Mice and Men (American Players Theatre). Around the World in 80 Days (Indiana Repertory) and the Amen Corner (Cleveland Playhouse).