The Book of Will Cast

Natalie Lisnet (Alice Heminges/Susannah Shakespeare) is excited to be in another Ten Bucks show! Previous roles with the company include Nina (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike), Borachio (Much Ado About Nothing), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), Oliver/1st Lord of Arden (As You Like It), and Bianca (Taming of the Shrew). She’s also acted in theatre productions at the University of Maine including Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Myrna/Ensemble (The Mineola Twins), and has also played bassoon in various music ensembles. She’d like to thank all her family and friends for the support, and she hopes you enjoy the show!

Caitlin Hession (Ralph Crane/Barman/Francisco/Compositor) has loved acting since the first time she ever experienced it in first grade. Since then, she has been in as many performances as she could be, growing up with Penobscot Theatre's Dramatic Academy program and going off to perform in college and beyond. Caitlin is beyond excited to continue working with Ten Bucks Theatre. Today, Caitlin is portraying Ralph Crane/Barman/Francisco/Compositor. Previously, she has been in Much Ado About Nothing twice as Borachio and Ursula, Romeo and Juliet twice as the Nurse and Abraham/Lady Montague, Shuddersome: Tales of Poe as an ensemble member, and The Secret Garden as Ms. Medlock. When not acting, Caitlin works as a high school English teacher at Ellsworth High School, spreading her love of Shakespeare to many an unenthusiastic teen.

Julie Arnold Lisnet (Rebecca Heminges / Anne Hathaway Shakespeare) is an actor, director, producer and educator and teaches Fundamentals of Acting and Survey of Dramatic Literature at UMaine. She received her BA in Theater and MA in Acting from UMaine and has worked for Penobscot Theatre, Maine Theatre, Theatre of the Enchanted Forest, The Assembled Players, Marsh Island Stage, Shakespeare on the River, Maine Shakespeare Festival, Northern Lights Theatre and True North Theatre. She is a founding member/actor/director for Ten Bucks Theatre Co. and has directed TBT’s productions of The Bald Soprano, Terra Nova (2003), The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet (2010), Hamlet, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (co-directed with Ben Layman), The Tempest, Death of a Salesman, The Comedy of Errors, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Elephant Man, Spoon River Anthology, (co-directed with Angela Bonacasa), As You Like It and most recently Romeo and Juliet (2022). For UMaine she has directed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Curious Savage, Rumors, The Mineola Twins, Twelfth Night,Terra Nova (2022), and Rabbit Hole. Directing credits also include The Odd Couple and Arsenic and Old Lace for The Grand in Ellsworth. Favorite roles include Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Sister Mary in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Nat in Rabbit Hole, Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, Sybil in Fawlty Towers, Louise in Always…Patsy Cline, Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Van Helsing in Dracula, Mrs.Webb in Our Town, Mattie Fae in August Osage County, Annie in Calendar Girls and Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter. She was most recently seen in Penobscot Theatre’s productions of Safety Net and Flyin’ Solo and in 2022 was honored to make her directorial debut for Penobscot Theatre with PTC’s production of Becoming Dr. Ruth. This past fall Julie was thrilled to direct Crimes of the Heart for Penobscot’s 50th season opener. Julie lives in Bangor with her husband Ron and their daughter, Natalie Acadia.

Jared earned a BFA in Theatre and Performance from Hofstra University and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. Acting and singing played an enormous role in his formative years, appearing with the The Warner Stage Company in musicals such as Pippin, The Man of La Mancha, Lil’ Abner and many more before focusing on non-musical theatre and directing at Hofstra University. Memorable roles include Pale in Burn This, Delmount Williams in The Miss Firecracker Contest, and Jerry in the The Zoo Story, as well as numerous roles in some wonderful Shakespearean productions - including All's Well That Ends Well, Macbeth, and The Taming of the Shrew - And yes, Pericles is on that list! Sidetracked by life, the stage called again in the early 2010s, this time as a guitar player and song writer in his band Regular 87. Jared moved to the area with his wife and son in 2019 and now owns Southside Strength and Fitness, a weight training gym in Bangor. After a too-long hiatus, Jared is delighted to be back at it with this production at Ten Bucks. Once more, unto the breach, dear friends…

Last seen as the Friar/Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, Joe Fisher (William Jaggard) returned to community theatre in 2019 after a long hiatus. He is delighted to be part of the Company and board of Ten Bucks Theater. He has performed with Ten Bucks Theater, True North Theater, Winterport Open Stage, Raymond Arts, and the Exeter Players. He recently directed *The Woman in Black* for TBT.

Megan Gerbi (Ed Knight/Isaac Jaggard) is thrilled to be making her onstage debut with Ten Bucks Theater! Previous theater experience includes Annie (Annie), Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (Veruca Salt), The Sound of Music (Liesl Von Trapp), Charlotte's Web (Wilbur), and Little Women (Amy March). When not performing, you can find her adding to her vast collection of random historical facts, buried under a pile of yarn, or on a mountain somewhere. She would like to thank the cast and crew for being so amazing, and her mother for being a daily inspiration. (See how much I love you? I put it in.)

Ron Lisnet (John Heminges) last appeared on stage as Vanya in Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike. He also portrayed Leonato in Ten Bucks Theatre's production of Much Ado About Nothing.. Previous to that he appeared as The Friar in Romeo & Juliet (for the second time) and as Charles the Wrestler in TBT's production of As You Like it. Ron also appeared as Al Lewis in Ten Bucks Theatre's production of The Sunshine Boys. Prior to that, he played multiple roles in TBT's production of Shakespeare's Richard III. He also had multiple roles in Ten Buck's production of The Elephant Man (Carr Gomm, Belgian Conductor, English Conductor). Previous to that he appeared on stage as Sam in Penobscot Theatre Company's production of Wait Until Dark. Other recent roles include Master Ford in Ten Bucks Theatre's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Joseph in Tigers Be Still, Richard in TBT's production Time Stands Still, Reverend Chausable in The Importance of Being Earnest, Dale Harding in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Claudius in Hamlet, George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers Meets Monty Python. Ron has also been seen at Penobscot Theatre as John in Calendar Girls, Joe in Becky's New Car and Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird. He has appeared in several other PTC productions including Amadeus, The Foreigner, A Flea in Her Ear, The Illusion as well as numerous roles in the Maine Shakespeare Festival. Ron works as manager of visual media at UMaine. He also serves as the play-by-play voice of UMaine Men's Basketball. He'd like to thank his wife Julie and daughter Natalie for all their support.

Micah is a member of Ten Bucks Theatre—and holds a BA in English and Medieval Studies from the University of Maine and has studied at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. Micah has previously appeared with Ten Bucks in Much Ado About Nothing (Messenger/Watch), The Secret Garden (Dickon), Shuddersome: Tales of Poe (various roles), and Romeo & Juliet (Balthasar), and in the University of Maine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theseus).

Svea-Linnea Ashe is a middle school special education teacher with a love of acting, drawing, crafts and hikes. She enjoys using her theater background to get students excited about reading through Reader’ Theater. She first became involved in Ten Bucks Theater Company in 2010 during their production of Fawlty Towers Meets Monty Python, playing various characters. She joined them again for a reading of The Crucible, and was cast as Nurse Flynn in their 2012 production of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Svea-Linnea has also worked with Marsh River Theater for their production of Wit. After several successful runs of 24 Hour Play Festivals at their high school, Nokomis Regional High, Svea’s acting teacher Greg Mihalik introduced the festival to Ten Bucks Theater, where it is now a yearly tradition. Svea is a frequent contributor to the 24 Hour Play Festival as a writer and actor. While she took a few year hiatus to start her teaching career, Svea is very excited to be involved in a full length production again, and looks forward to collaborating with Ten Bucks in the future!

Deanna Rice has performed in plays and musicals since her early days as nursery rhyme characters in her Kindergarten play. Yes, there are videos. No, you may not see them. In following years she played Duffy in Annie, and was part of the ensemble in Guys and Dolls, Godspell, Annie Get Your Gun and Oliver!, all while performing with the Presque Isle Community Players. Recent roles with TBT have included: Cassandra in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a reader in Inside Man, and various characters in Shuddersome: Tales of Poe. This is her second time in the director’s seat. She currently serves as President for Ten Bucks Theatre and hopes you enjoy the show!

Alex the Kearns (Ben Johnson, Barman, Horatio, Sir Edward Dearing) was last seen playing Inspector Bungler in Dinner by Eight Dead by Nine and Mellersh Wilkins for BCT's Enchanted April and performed for BCT the dual roles of Dr. Purgon and Dr. Diaforus in The Imaginary Invalid, Dr. Lyman Sanderson in Harvey, and Mr. Hyde in I Remember Mama. He portrayed the Boatswain in Ten Bucks The Tempest and ensemble in Julius Caesar, Dracula, Merry Wives of Windsor and A Comedy of Errors. Some of Kearns's favorite parts he played was Dr. von Scott in the Musical Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as, Beauty and the Beast where he portrayed Cogsworth the tightly wound clock. A three-time graduate of EMCC he was one of the student speakers at his first graduation, and is well-known for singing throughout the hallways and general tomfoolery. He currently goes to college at Husson for Business Management.

Will Barry (Stage Manager) has been working backstage for theater shows since high school. His love of technical theater led him to his current job as a Scenic Carpenter for the University of Maine. Previously, Will was the Stage Manager for UMaine’s production of Rabbit Hole. Other UMaine credits include Melancholy Play (Assistant Stage Manager), A Pirate's Life for She (Light Board Operator), and the World Premiere of Face Value by Devin Daigneault (Run Crew). Will’s high school experiences with the Thornton Academy Players include Fiddler On The Roof (Run Crew) and BIG: The Musical (Run Crew, canceled due to COVID-19). Once in college, he had the opportunity to return to Thornton Academy, to assist with set construction for Newsies, and teach current students about the scenic construction techniques he learned at his job. Will wants to thank Deanna, Jen, the cast, and Ten Bucks Theater for welcoming him in on this AMAZING show; his high school theater director, David Hanright, for getting him involved in theater; his boss MJ Sedlock and supervisor JP Sedlock on their willingness to teach him all about technical theater; and his ASM Nate for always providing a helping hand whenever needed. Finally, Will wants to thank YOU for coming, and hopes you enjoy the show!

When I read the script for The Book of Will, I knew I needed to tell this story. The entire piece reads like a love letter to Shakespeare, theatre, and stories in general. As a lover of all three of those things, I felt a special connection to the script. Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, it gives us a look at the lives of people who knew and loved the Bard. We’ve seen the plays, read the sonnets, and seen his portraits, but the words are all we get to experience of him. Gunderson’s play imagines what it must have been like for The King’s Men and their families, dealing with the loss of such a great man. She shows us the pain of mourning, but also the beauty of love, friendship, and hope. It’s these ideas and emotions that drive John Heminges and Henry Condell to publish the plays written by their dear friend, Will. Did they know they, themselves, would be the subject of a play hundreds of years in the future? Highly unlikely. Did they know that teenagers would sit together in rooms filled with tables and desks, reading Romeo and Juliet aloud as their English teacher explained the colorful jokes hidden in a swordfight? Doubtful. While we can’t know exactly what went through their minds, we can imagine they wanted to ensure that the words of a talented playwright, one of their dearest friends, were made available to anyone who wanted to read them. Thankfully, because a few people wanted to honor and remember someone they knew and loved, we get to sit in this theatre together and hear Will’s words today. And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Thank you to the following organizations: University of Maine School of Performing arts for generously allowing us to borrow props, costume pieces and furniture. Thank you to Mossy Ledge Spirits for the use of their barrels. Thank you Rebecca Wright at Ellsworth High School for the use of a costume Thank you to H&R Block for being our season sponsor.

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