Enjoy our annual Halloween-inspired SDMA performance—virtually this year—combining art from the Museum’s collection and spooky poetry and selections from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Othello, and The Tempest.
Our Spooky Art Stops include:
- Gabriela Sosa performing William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1 (“Out, Out, Damn Spot”) paired with the Korean Rams in Art of East Asia galleries
- Nubia Monks performing William Shakespeare’s Othello, Act 2, Scene 3 (“And what’s he then that says I play the villain?”) paired with Theseus Slaying the Minotaur by Antoine-Louis Barye
- William Barstad performing William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act III, Scene 2 (“Be not afeared, the isle is full of noises.”) paired with The Germ of the Cosmos by André Masson
- Rob Crisell performing William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act II, Scene 1 (the “Dagger” speech) paired with The Avenger by Ernst Barlach (pictured in the thumbanil above)
- Alexis Park performing “I Felt a Funeral, In My Brain” by Emily Dickinson, paired with Flying Apsaras by Nancy Lorenz

Gabriela Sosa hails from Panama and was theatrically trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, after which she taught Acting at the Lee Strasburg Studio in Los Angeles. Gabriela is a Shakespearean alum from the LA Independent Shakespeare Company and the Knightsbridge Theatre. Every spring you can find her vociferating monologues as part of Street Corner Shakespeare at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire while avoiding turkey legs. Once COVID has a vaccine, she hopes to return to her undergraduate Alma Mater, the University of California at Santa Cruz, for their Summer Shakespeare Santa Cruz Program where performers and audience members travel back in time in the old-growth Redwood forests for top-notch 16th Century theater. Gabriela is delighted to have found other Shakespearean lovers in her new-found part of earthly paradise, San Diego.

Nubia Monks is an actress, emerging playwright, and educator. Her professional theatrical journey has allowed her to work at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, and The Guthrie Theater. In this new age of virtual theater, Nubia has been involved in many zoom readings and also feels that there is no better time than now to create her own content! Follow her journey @_onlynubia on Instagram.

William Barstad has recently returned to San Diego theater after a twenty-year hiatus from the stage. He was last seen in “Geography of a Horse Dreamer” with Joe Powers at the 10th Avenue Arts Center, as well as staged readings of “True West” and “The Cake” with San Diego Actors Theatre and Patricia Elmore Costa. He’s been in many different productions, including “Under Construction” (Sledgehammer Theatre), “Albanian Softshoe” (San Diego Repertory), “Woyzeck” and “Maria on East 94” (Plus Fire Performance Group, Bartlett Sher Director), “God’s Country” (The Fritz), Beau “Jeste” (Lamb’s Players Theatre) and “Hamlet” (Sledgehammer). He has directed and produced two productions of the “Factwino” series (San Francisco Mime Troupe), and wrote and directed a street theatre musical, “Big Yellow Bow,” with Paul Richards and Marta Zekan. Past productions at SDSU include “Lysistrata,” “Caucasian Chalk Circle,” and “Cloud 9.”

Rob Crisell is an author, actor, teacher, and Shakespearean in Temecula, CA. He is a member of the San Diego Shakespeare Society. He teaches poetry and Shakespeare with the Murrieta Valley Union School District as part of its Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) program. He is a Shakespeare lecturer with Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He has acted in The Merchant of Venice, Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), Baskerville, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest (Prospero), Macbeth, Othello (Iago), and others. Over the quarantine, he has acted in Much Ado About Nothing and Merry Wives of Windsor (with Nathan Agin’s “A Working Actor’s Journey production) and King Lear (Quarantine Players). He has written and performed several one-man plays featuring Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Shakespeare in America. He’s the author of Shakespeare’s Book of Wisdom: Advice on Living a Wiser, Happier Life from William Shakespeare & Friends (DePortola Press 2018). His 2016 TED Talk is “How NOT to Hate Shakespeare.” His verse adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra will be produced by Full Circle Players in Riverside, California in October 2020. He is a graduate of Yale University and George Mason University Law School. For details, visit robcrisell.com or facebook.com/robcrisellactor

Alexis Park is an actress and mental health activist based in Los Angeles! She is a graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in theatre with a performance emphasis. With SDSS, she has been part of the Mock Trials series as Miranda in “The Kingdom of Naples against Prospero” and as Ratcliffe in “Rex against Plantagenet”. Alexis is so excited to be back working with the Society!
Produced by John Tessmer and Patricia Elmore Costa for the Shakespeare Society, and by Bailey Cain for the Museum
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