OKLAHOMA SHAKESPEARE STAFF
TYLER WOODS
EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Tyler Woods has worked with Oklahoma Shakespeare since 1998, having produced, directed, choreographed, or acted in nearly 60 titles by Shakespeare. He has worked regionally with The American Shakespeare Center, Virginia Stage Company, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and The Pearl Theatre. He holds a B.A. in English from The University of Oklahoma, a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Central Oklahoma and has completed coursework towards his master’s degree in English literature at Columbia University. He is a graduate of The Public Theater Shakespeare Lab, NYC. He has served as Teaching Artist with The Town Hall Foundation, NYC, and regularly works with the Oklahoma State Arts Institute (OSAI) as educator & acting coach and is a member of their Advisory Board. Mr. Woods is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity Association. He received the Governor’s Arts Award in 2015 and is honored to be only the second Artistic Director of Oklahoma Shakespeare in its 40-year history.
D. LANCE MARSH
ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
D. Lance Marsh (he/him/his) is proud to be serving in his fifteenth year as the Associate Artistic Director for Oklahoma Shakespeare and just finished his eighteenth year at TheatreOCU, where he serves as a Professor and Head of Performance. For OS, he has acted in Hamlet, Emma and Blythe Spirit and directed Misalliance, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Merchant of Venice, A Comedy of Errors, The Seagull, Othello, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, Blythe Spirit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, GB Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, and Much Ado About Nothing. As an actor, he has appeared at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Western Stage, the California Shakespeare Festival, the Okoboji Summer Theatre, Next Act Theatre, First Stage Children’s Theatre, the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, the Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival, the Milwaukee Shakespeare Company, the Texas Shakespeare Festival, and the Arizona Repertory Theatre and was a company member for 5 years at American Players Theatre. A proud member of Actors Equity and an Associate Artist at Oklahoma City Rep, he has performed in the City Rep productions of Our Town, Hay Fever, Moonlight and Magnolias, August: Osage County, Much Ado About Nothing and as Mark Rothko in Red and in Peter and the Starcatcher. His most recent projects include playing the role of Sam Byck in Assassins, Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, and Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at Lyric Theatre.
ALISSA BRANCH
ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Alissa Branch is a theatrical, voice-over, and visual artist. Favorite directing credits include Oklahoma Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (2024), Pride and Prejudice (2022) The Taming of the Shrew; Phoenix Theatre: The Circumference of a Squirrel; Butler University: The Dreaming of The Bones (with subsequent tour of Southern Ireland). OU University Theatre: Twelfth Night, Arcadia, Summer and Smoke, Clybourne Park, Miss Evers’ Boys (KCACTF Region 6 Director’s Choice Award 2014, and 2014 Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa); Mary Stuart; Anna in the Tropics; Julius Caesar; 9 Parts of Desire (KCACTF Region 6 Director’s Choice Award 2011). Alissa also directed the regional premiere of the new play, Shakespeare’s Other Women, which received Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 6 awards for Outstanding Work with Heightened Text, and Excellence in Ensemble Acting. Favorite regional acting credits: Titania / Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oklahoma Shakespeare); Emily in Bluff (Phoenix Theatre); Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing; Lady Percy in Henry IV, Part I; Hermione in The Winter’s Tale; Catherine in Proof (Phoenix Theatre), and Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Alissa serves as Associate Professor of Acting in the Helmerich School of Drama at the University of Oklahoma and her voice can be heard on hundreds of commercials for radio and television. She recently created and released a 12-episode video master class for The Great Courses Plus called “Shakespeare: From Page to Stage” which can be streamed on their website. Alissa is based in Norman, OK, where she lives with her teenage sons and her partner, singer-songwriter / actor Tim Grimm, with whom she hosts acoustic house concerts for their music series Red Dirt Folk Salon and shares a small art gallery called Black Chalk Studio. www.alissabranch.com
KRIS KUSS
ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE
Kris Kuss (he/him) is a director, fight director, intimacy choreographer, actor, and educator based in Bethany, OK. He holds his MFA in Directing from the University of Southern Mississippi and is the Associate Professor of Movement at Oklahoma City University. He is a Recognized Senior Instructor and Governing Body President of Dueling Arts International. He has worked with Oklahoma Shakespeare in several capacities: as an actor in Twelfth Night and The Tempest, as director for Romeo & Juliet and the touring company of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and fight director for numerous productions including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo & Juliet. A proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, he has served as fight director and intimacy choreographer at Lyric Theatre for A Play That Goes Wrong, The Sound of Music, and Newsies, at OKC Rep for Vietgone, at Painter Sky Opera for Carmen and Pagliacci, at 3rd Act Theatre Co for Medusa Undone, Hamlet, and The Wonder, and most frequently at OCU—directing Dracula: a Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Ada & the Engine, Enron, and staging fights and intimacy for such productions as Marisol, In the Heights, and She Kills Monsters. He is honored to be joining the team at Oklahoma Shakespeare and looks forward to sharing in the creative development with the community of Oklahoma City.
DAVID WEBER
ARTISTIC ASSOCIATE
David Weber is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers and has an MFA in Acting and Theatre Pedagogy from California State University Long Beach where he studied acting pedagogy under the direction of Alexandra Billings, Hugh O’Gorman, Ezra LeBank, Dr. Shanti Pillai, and Andrea Caban. He has worked as an education artist since 2002 with many Equity playhouses, but his longest relationships are with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company and Lookingglass Theater Company. He has been recognized by Bert Osborne, critic at AJC as one of the Top Ten Actors in Atlanta, for his work in Terrence McNally’s A Perfect Ganesh. David recently played Sir Toby Belch with the Atlanta Shakespeare company and performed his one-man Christmas Carol, “An Actor’s Carol: One clown’s Dickensian marathon towards redemption” at the Denver Fringe Festival and Underground Atlanta last year. An Actor’s Carol will debut in Los Angeles this December 2022. He has played Capulet in Romeo & Juliet and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night for Oklahoma Shakespeare. David is currently pursuing MICHA's certificate of completion in the Michael Chekhov technique and his research is in non-trauma based acting pedagogy, playing actions, and event/active analysis. He is currently at Oklahoma State University as an Assistant Professor of Performance.
HENRI BAILEY
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Henri Bailey is an Oklahoma City based restauranteur with over 25 years experience in the hospitality industry. Home restoration, landscaping, and facilities upkeep are among his many skillsets, and Oklahoma Shakespeare is thrilled to have his expertise. He is comfortable behind the bar mixing delicious cocktails in the Mermaid Tavern, or maintaining some of the many idiosyncracies of our historic home in the Paseo Arts District.
KATHRYN MCGILL
FOUNDING EXECUTIVE & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Kathryn McGill holds both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting and directing from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from New York University. She co-founded Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park with the late Jack O'Meara in 1985. She has directed over 40 productions including Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Macbeth, As You Like It, Cyrano de Bergerac and Much Ado About Nothing. She also directed The Rivals for Oklahoma City University and co-founded the Detroit Women's Shakespeare Project and played the title role in their production of Henry V. In 1990 she was a recipient of a Governor’s Arts award from the State of Oklahoma.