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PJ Escobio (he/him) – Director, Adam
PJ has directed for the English Theatre Frankfurt Girl with a Book, Huck Finn, and Shockheaded Peter (Covid cancelled). He is also a house director at the ITF, where he will direct their season premiere Sweat by Lynn Nottage for Shakespeare Frankfurt. As the Artistic Director of Shakespeare Frankfurt, he has directed the film Spiritus Vitae,The Breath of Life, and for the 2021-22 season directed Travelers, Fools and Thieves, and Antony and Cleopatra. Other plays he has directed for SF include, Trojan Women by Euripides, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors (Covid cancelled) and An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen. His production of The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh was at the Internationales Theater Frankfurt (ITF) in the Fall of 2019. From 2015-18 he was the Director in Residence at The LOFT, where he directed Shakespeare in the Garden: Hortus Inclusus, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Grounded by George Brandt and was the co-creator of Where. For 10 years he was the Artistic Director of Shakespeare Anyone? founded in New York City in 2005, where he directed, produced and/or performed roles from all but 5 of Shakespeare’s plays. He was the Associate Artistic Director of WordBRIDGE Playwright’s Laboratory. He also cast and directed BFA playwriting thesis projects for NYU’s Tisch school of the arts. He has taught Acting, Scene Study, Stage Combat and Shakespeare courses at the collegiate level as well as high schools and private institutions for over 20 years. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Missouri-KC in Acting and Directing.
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Jim Phetterplace Jr. (he/him) - Production Manager
Jim has been performing and directing since the late 1980s. With Shakespeare Frankfurt, in its various guises, he has performed Stephano and Alonso in The Tempest, Orsino in Twelfth Night, Rodorigo in O and Macduff in Macbeth. He was in the company’s first film, Spiritus Vitae – The Breath of Life, as Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. He had four roles in Travellers, Fools and Thieves and six in Antony and Cleopatra. In Germany, he has additionally performed for Oper Frankfurt, Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre and the Interkulturelle Bühne (in German), and directed for FEST, the English Theatre Frankfurt, and the European Central Bank Theatre Ensemble. He has appeared in two German-language short films and one music video. Over his career, he has been stage manager, sound designer and props designer on multiple occasions. As a playwright, he is completing his adaptation of three works by Native American poet Beth Brant, an homage to his Cree Nations mother.
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Vera Mark (she/her) – Assistant Director & Front of House Manager
Vera has been involved with the theatre since she was a teenager. She participated in numerous productions of FEST, the Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre, acting, crewing and directing. In 2016, Vera joined Shakespeare Frankfurt as Adrian in ‘The Tempest’; a small role in the 2018 production of ‘Enemy of the People’ was followed by that of stage manager for the 2019 production of ‘Othello’. In February 2020, Vera played the part of Andromache in Euripides’ ‘Trojan Women’ and in the summer of 2021 served as front of house manager for ‘King Lear’. In the recent production of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, she once again assumed the role of stage manager and now, for ‘As You Like It’, serves as assistant director and of front of house manager.
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Christina Paraschiv (she/her) – Stage Manager/Props Master
Christina has trained in several directing and theatre related workshops offered in UK, U.S., Australia, and Germany. Also, numerous productions with FEST as director, assistant director, costume assistant, light & sound designer/operator and producer count to her theatre experience. Christina was an intern at the English Theatre Frankfurt and Schauspiel Frankfurt. She's delighted to count As You Like as her third production with Shakespeare Frankfurt.
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Tom Freischläger (he/him) – Composer & Music Director, Amiens
Tom trained at HfMDK Frankfurt and regularly appears in classical concerts as an oboist, orchestra conductor, presenter, and narrator. His interest in theatre was sparked during productions of the Chaincourt Theatre Company at Goethe University. As You Like It is his second production with Shakespeare Frankfurt as actor, composer, and music director.
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Lena Langenkamp (they/them) - Costume Designer
Lena (they/them) is the costume designer for this production. They are 25 years old and just finished their degree in English Studies and Sociology. During their time at university, they worked on several productions of the Chaincourt Theatre Company as costume and production designer, and this is their third time working with Shakespeare Frankfurt. In their costume design Lena likes to play with colour, shape, and gender to create unique worlds for each play. They try to be as sustainable as possible and source most materials second hand. In their free time they create art and their dream is to one day have a big garden with bunnies and chickens.
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Varvara Pomoni (she/her) – Intimacy Director, Charles & William
Varvara comes from Athens, Greece. She works as an actor and as theatre pedagogue for The English Theatre Frankfurt. She has trained in various theatre institutions in Germany and in England on Meisner Technique, Theatre Improvisation, Shakespeare's Text and on Meyerhold's Biomechanics & Physical Theatre. This is her tenth production with Shakespeare Frankfurt having played the roles of Cleopatra (Antony & Cleopatra), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) and Emilia (Othello). She also acted in Shakespeare Frankfurt's film Spiritus Vitae - The Breath of Life and she is the company’s resident intimacy director. Currently she performs in Huck Finn for The English Theatre Frankfurt and in BAAL for Megalomania Theater.