The John Milton Project

• The John Milton Project
• The Play
  • About the Artists
  • Preview Reading (video)
• The Opera
  • About the Composer, John Eaton
• About John Milton
• About Regina M. Schwartz
• Press Release
• Contribute to the Project
• Contact Information

About the Artists

Bradley Armacost (The Poet) Just finished an extended run at Northlight in A Life with John Mahoney. Chicago credits include The Seafarer, Maria Arndt, Playboy of the Western World and Faith Healer (Steppenwolf); The Trip to Bountiful, Oedipus Complex, Zoo Story, A Christmas Carol and A Touch of the Poet (Goodman); Cymbeline, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Antony and Cleopatra, Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice and Timon of Athens (Chicago Shakespeare). He is an Artistic Associate with Provision Theatre. He was the narrator for The Rite of Spring and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Chicago Symphony Orchestra). Television and film credits include Untouchables, Early Edition, Missing Persons, Angel Street, Repetition, The Company, Eight Men Out, Backwoods and Barbershop II.

Melissa Carlson (Eve) most recently was seen as Cleopatra in The Project’s Antony and Cleopatra. In addition to being The Shakespeare Project’s Director of Education, Melissa has appeared recently as Hippolyta, Titania and Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and has also played Marina in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Cecily Cardew in the Importance of Being Earnest, Joan of Arc and Lady Grey inHenry VI, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Katharine in Love’s LaboursLost and Helen of Troy and Covetousness in Faust. Other credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Short Shakespeare! (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, Antigone (First Folio), Berlin ’45, Pyretown, The Action Against Sol Schumann (Victory Gardens), How I Learned to Drive, All My Sons (Illinois Theatre Center), Dylan (Seanachai Theatre), Edward II (Red Hen), Richard III, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare on the Green), Titus Andronicus, (Shakespeare’s Motley Crew), Six Degrees of Separation (Raven Theater), Tattoo (Trap Door Theater) and A Yard of Sun (Famous Door Theater). She has also worked with Court Theatre, The Lyric Opera, and CollaborAction among others. Television credits include numerous commercials and the CBS series Early Edition.

Jeff Christian (Director, Satan, Artistic Director) concludes his eighth season as Artistic Director having adapted and directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry VIII, the gender-swapped The Comedy of Errors, In Medea Res (from Euripides’ Medea), Henry VI (from Shakespeare’s trilogy), Faust (from Marlowe and Goethe), The Parvenu (from Moliere’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme), Ibsen’s Ghosts, Dickens’s The Cricket on the Hearth, the outreach program 50 Minute Hamlet, as well as having staged King Lear, Love’s Labours Lost, As You Like It and Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife. Other directing credits include Mojo Mickybo, A Whistle in the Dark and Our Father (Seanachai Theatre Company), The Skin of Our Teeth (The Artistic Home), Proof and Driving Miss Daisy (New American Theater), A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love’s Labours Lost (Lakeside Shakespeare; Michigan), the short film Still Live, both parts of Angels in America (The Journeymen; co-director and actor, sharing in three Jeff Awards and an After Dark Award), and James Krag’s one-man show According to Mark. Acting credits with The Project include Richard III, Brutus, Proteus, Mercutio, Enobarbus, Oberson/Bottom/Theseus, Bassanio, Hortensio, Buckingham, Oliver, Amiens, Antonio (Twelfth Night), Richard (Henry VI), Aegeus (In Medea Res), Hamlet in 50 Minute Hamlet, and one of the four actor/singers in My Name is Will. Other acting credits include work with Syracuse Stage, Indiana Rep, Writers’ Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, Milwaukee Rep, Madison Rep, The Women’s Project of New York, Chicago Dramatists, Lakeside Shakespeare, New American Theater, Artists’ Ensemble Theater, Illinois Theatre Center, Oak Park Festival, Artistic Home, Bernie Sahlins’ production of Murder in the Cathedral and Tennessee Williams’ recently discovered The Day on Which a Man Dies (in Chicago, East Hampton and Cape Cod). He is a member of the Seanachai ensemble, co-fronts the rock band Ingenious Whittler, is a creative consultant for Tessera Publishing, and writes and directs live action and animated sequences for the Emmy Award winning Digital Kitchen. Film work includes Batman Begins, Witches’ Night, The Express, The Poker House, Pickman’s Muse, Helix, Cyrus and Good People.

Sean Cooper (Moloch/Michael) most recently appeared with The Project in Antony and Cleopatra as Octavius Caesar. Sean has been acting in Chicago for over fifteen years. Theatre credits include The Crowd You’re in With (Goodman Theatre), These Shining Lives (Rivendell Theatre) The Final Toast (International Mystery Writers Festival), Wedding Play (About Face Theatre), Honus and Me, Dandelion Wine (Chicago Children’s Theatre), Cradle of Man (Victory Gardens), Red Herring (Northlight Theatre), Mojo (Mary- Arrchie) Eurydice, Melancholy Play, Mad Forest, Book of Days (Piven Theatre), Merchant of Venice (Strawdog Theatre), A Lesson Before Dying (Steppenwolf Theatre), Lysistrata (Running With Scissors), H2O, and K. (The Neo-Futurists), and a slew of shows with The Shakespeare Project of Chicago. His film and television work includes Whirlybird, A Pirate’s Life, The Malcontents, and a guest starring role on The Beast.

Peter Garino (Voice of God, Belial, Associate Artistic Director) is a founding member of The Shakespeare Project of Chicago and has contributed to over 40 theatrical readings as an actor and director since 1995. This season, he directed Antony and Cleopatra and appeared as Thomas and David in The Rivals and as Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII. On behalf of The Shakespeare Project, he has recently facilitated his Sonnet Workshop and Page to the Stage Macbeth for local public and private schools and colleges. Last season, he appeared as Lord Stanley in Richard III, Creon in Jeff Christian's adaptation, In Medea Res and directed Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Previously he directed Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and appeared as Duke Senior and Duke Frederick in As You Like It, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Mortimer in The Constant Wife, Rev. Manders in Ghosts, multiple roles in Henry V, Boyet in Love’s Labour’s Lost, the title role in Jeff Christian’s adaptation of Faust, Leontes in A Winter’s Tale and Duncan in Macbeth. Peter has worked with the Steppenwolf and Organic Theatre companies and with the Oak Park Festival Theatre and Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Additionally, he has directed readings of A Woman of No Importance, Pericles, The Taming of the Shrew, 2 Henry IV, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his own adaptation of Shakespeare’s sonnets and songs, My Name Is Will, and The Rape of Lucrece. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Illinois State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts from Hofstra University, New York. Peter is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild.

James Krag (Beelzebub) was last seen at the Shakespeare Project as Scarus in Antony and Cleopatra and previously as Buckingham in Richard III and as Adriano in the gender-switched Comedy of Errors. Other recent Project appearances include Jaques in As You Like It and the title role of Pericles directed by Mr. Garino. Jim most recently understudied and appeared as Elyot in Private Lives at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Last year, he appeared at Victory Gardens as EKO in the Pulitzer Prize nominated play, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. Other Chicago credits include Well at the Next Theatre and The Trip to Bountiful at the Goodman, The Best Man at Remy Bumppo, Thyestes at Court Theatre, and Pacific at Steppenwolf. New York credits include the original Broadway production of Burn This, Mill Fire at the Women’s Project, and Phedre at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Film and TV credits include While You Were Sleeping, Mercury Rising, Molly, Prison Break, Early Edition, ER, Ellen, Dharma & Greg and a recurring role on Missing Persons. Jim continues to perform According to Mark, his solo show of the Gospel of Mark, directed by Jeff Christian. (www.accordingtomark.org)

Stephen Spencer (Adam) is pleased to be back on the boards with The Shakespeare Project where he was seen most recently as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra. As a Founding Member, he’s been involved in over 30 plays including Henry VIII (Henry), Macbeth (Macbeth), Othello (Iago), Twelfth Night (Orsino), The Winter’s Tale (Autolycus), King Lear (Kent to Ray Wild’s Lear), Timon of Athens (Timon), and The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Thurio). He directed Henry V and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Recent stage work includes Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Wait Until Dark at Chicago's Court Theatre, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Congo Square/Goodman) and Oak Park Festival Theatre’s Comedy of Errors. Steve does voiceovers, commercials and industrials and has appeared in over a dozen independent features and shorts in the Chicago market. Recent film: Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp; Son of America; Greg’s Leg; and Morning Due (Cannes 2008). Look for Steve this summer as Don Armado in Love’s Labour’s Lost at Oak Park Festival Theatre.

Fredric Stone (Raphael, Mammon) appeared most recently with The Project as Lepidus, Thyreus, and the Clown in Antony and Cleopatra and previously this past season as Sir Anthony Absolute in The Rivals. At the Utah Shakespearean Festival this past summer he appeared in Henry V and As You Like It, and at Writers' Theatre in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Fred is a founding member of The Shakespeare Project and has appeared As You Like It, The Importance of Being Earnest, Much Ado About Nothing, in addition to appearing in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Faust, Ghosts, The Cricket on the Hearth and many others. He performed in The Chosen at Steppenwolf Theatre and as Agamemnon in Trojan Women at the Goodman Theatre. At Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, he’s performed Love’s Labour’s Lost (Boyet), The Tempest (Alonso), Richard II (Northumberland), Henry IV Parts I and II (multiple roles); Henry V (multiple roles), The Winter’s Tale (Camillo) and The Taming of the Shrew. Other Chicago credits include Fires in the Mirror (Northlight), Beau Jest (Victory Gardens), Isn’t It Romantic (Ivanhoe), and work at the Court Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, and Illinois Theatre Center.