SHORT HISTORY
Having worked for several summers with students attending speech and drama camps, founder Jeffrey Stegall decided that the students he was coaching would benefit from seeing a live stage production during their week at camp. Pooling the talents of colleagues and former students, he directed Love’s Labor’s Lost in 1995, and Summer Shakespeare was born.
For the next three summers, two more of the Bard’s comedies and The Importance of Being Earnest were presented. After taking a few summers off, Summer Shakespeare was reborn in 2004 and has been growing ever since. Their shortened Shakespeare adaptations have become the highlight of the summer season for many Greenville residents.
In 2008 and 2009, the Brave New World Theatre Workshops were held in downtown Greenville, SC. This and future educational endeavors led to Summer Shakespeare’s incorporation as The Greenville Shakespeare Company, a nonprofit organization.
Summer Shakespeare’s preferred venue is Performance Hall, the cozy black box theater on the campus of Bob Jones University. The 2009 production of Two Gentlemen of Verona was Summer Shakespeare’s tenth production.
CURRENT CREATIVE TEAM
Jeffrey Stegall, Artistic Director
Jeffrey Stegall, Director/Designer
Jeffrey has been directing, designing, and acting for over twenty years. After earning a master’s degree in Performance Studies at Bob Jones University, he studied design at the University of Oklahoma and acting at the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City. He has played over thirty of Shakespeare’s roles including Hamlet, Henry V, Malvolio, Richard II, Touchstone, Caliban, Costard, and Don Armado. Summer Shakespeare audiences saw him most recently as dog-loving, cupcake-eating, quick-witted servant Launce in the 2009 production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. His directing and design credits include nearly forty plays and operas. Jeffrey is founder of The Greenville Shakespeare Company, a non-profit organization in the Upstate of South Carolina and surrounding areas.
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Elizabeth Sowers, Scene Designer
Elizabeth Sowers, Scene Designer
Elizabeth Sowers has a bachelor’s degree in two-dimensional studio art and is currently working on a master’s degree in dramatic production at Bob Jones University. She has designed costumes for Chekov’s The Proposal as well as a number of pieces for a large-scale production of Great Expectations. Last year, audiences at Summer Shakespeare enjoyed Elizabeth’s stagecraft skills in her realization of Laurie Wilson’s scene design for the production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Elizabeth loves watercolor and acrylic painting and hopes to find time to do more of that soon. She often designs hair and make-up for student productions and is looking at further education in wig making and hair styling.
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Ron Pyle, Lighting Designer
Ron Pyle, Lighting Designer
Ron has been acting and designing for thirty-five years in educational theatre. He has played numerous Shakespearean roles including the title role in Hamlet, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Claudius in Hamlet, and Gloucester in King Lear. Ron is currently Artistic Director for student productions in the Dramatic Arts Department at Bob Jones University where he teaches acting and stage lighting. He has performed his one-man show, The Seed of the Woman, at over twenty churches and schools. Ron has been the resident lighting designer for Summer Shakespeare for six years.
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Paul Keew, Sound Designer
Paul Keew, Sound Designer
Composer, singer, and music teacher Paul Keew works extensively in the Greenville and Spartanburg (SC) areas. He has created sound design and original compositions for five of the last six Summer Shakespeare productions. His original music for the 2004 production of As You Like It debuted to rave reviews and is available by contacting us. Paul is adjunct faculty at USC Upstate and sings with the Greenville Chorale as well as with his local church. His most recent project is Watchsong, a website dedicated to sharing new Christian music.
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Kim Stegall, Adaptor
Kim Stegall, Adaptor
Kim has worked as an author of secondary English grammar, writing, and literature textbooks for fifteen years. Her love of words and meaningful language makes cutting plays a natural fit for her work as chief adaptor for Summer Shakespeare’s scripts. She enjoys the challenge of analyzing theme and structure and paring the plays down to their basic components while attempting to retain the beauty of Shakespeare’s artistry. She has worked with her husband Jeff on all eleven Summer Shakespeare productions as well as several plays in other venues. Her children’s book, Mumsi Meets a Lion, was published in November 2008. Her new book, Rodney Robbins and the Rainy-day Pond, has just been released. (There’s even a book trailer!)
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Laura Beth Kirsop, Intern
Laura Beth Kirsop, Intern
Laura Beth is a senior communications major from Greenville, SC. Previous theatre experience includes the role of Lady Gertrude in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband (2009) and assistant directing for A. A. Milne’s The Ugly Duckling (2008) and Camille Saint Saen’s Samson et Dalila (2010). Her design credits include scene design for And Some Fell Among Thorns by David Schwingle (2010). Laura Beth also enjoys playing the cello and is involved in several musical groups. She hopes to pursue graduate work in theatre arts and/or communications.
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PAST PRODUCTIONS
Two Gentlemen of Verona ‘09
Tempest ‘08
Midsummer Night’s Dream ‘07
Love’s Labor’s Lost ‘06
Comedy of Errors ‘05
As You Like It ‘04
Two Gentlemen of Verona ‘98
The Importance of Being Earnest ‘97
As You Like It ‘96
Love’s Labor’s Lost ‘95