Lindsay Cowdin
Festival Manager
Lindsay Cowdin is a lifelong resident of Fort Worth. She has a background in accounting and office management that spans almost 20 years in the fields of construction, urban redevelopment, and education. She joined the Theatre TCU staff as an Administrative Assistant in fall of 2005. Lindsay enjoys being surrounded by creativity in motion and is grateful to have found a home in theatre where she can put her problem-solving and accounting skills to good use and also wear black every day. Lindsay has served as the Festival Manager for the annual Trinity Shakespeare Festival since its inception in 2009.
As a poet, Lindsay has presented her work in Fort Worth with Sawgrass & Friends, been published in several local publications, and read as a featured poet at the monthly poetry program at Barnes & Noble and the Benbrook Public Library. While both studying and working at TCU, she received the Chair’s Award for Poetry at the Undergraduate Creativity Festival at TCU in 2008, the Nancy P. Evans Memorial Award for Texas Writing in 2014, and a Live Theatre League award for her work with the Trinity Shakespeare Festival in 2012.
Harry Parker
Founding Managing Director
Harry is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at TCU. He has directed more than 100 professional and university plays and musicals, including productions at the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Stages Repertory Theatre (Houston), American Heartland Theatre (Kansas City), and Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and CityRep (both Oklahoma City). In Fort Worth, his professional directing credits include Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Stage West, Hunting and Gathering for Amphibian Stage Productions, Thurgood, Company, and Permanent Collection for Jubilee Theatre, Ellis Island: The Dream of America for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at Bass Performance Hall, and fifteen shows at Circle Theatre including the currently running King O’ The Moon, as well as Over the Tavern, The Whipping Man, Hope and Gravity, and My Name is Asher Lev. At TCU, his directing credits include Sweeney Todd, Everyman, Oklahoma!, You Can’t Take It With You, Little Women, and No, No, Nanette. Originally from Oklahoma City, Harry received his B.F.A. in Theatre from TCU, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. He is a two-time winner of the Kennedy Center Medallion of Excellence, and was named Tarrant County Theatre Educator of the Year in 2009. He has served as the National Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and served on the Board of Directors for Circle Theatre and the Live Theatre League of Tarrant County. In 2013, he was named the winner of the TCU Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Creative Teacher and Scholar. Before joining TCU, he previously served for 11 years as the Director of Theatre at Emporia State University in Kansas. He is an associate member of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
T.J. Walsh
Founding Artistic Director
T.J. is a Professor of Theatre at Texas Christian University. Last year for the Festival he directed the award winning production of The Winter’s Tale. In 2014 he directed the box office record breaking production of The Tempest. His 2013 production of The Taming of the Shrew at Trinity was selected as the top production of the year on several top ten lists. For Trinity he has also directed Twelfth Night, Hamlet, As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and King Lear. Other favorite professional productions are Metamorphoses at Theatre Three in Dallas, The Retreat from Moscow at Circle Theatre in Fort Worth and performing in his solo play Pleading Infinity at the New York International Fringe Festival. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the recipient of four Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum awards for Outstanding Direction. His book: Playwrights and Power: The Making of the Dramatists Guild was published in 2016 by Smith and Kraus. t.walsh@tcu.edu
J. Brent Alford (Acting) Brent was a member of our Year One Company with a memorable performance as Sir Toby in Twelfth Night (2009). Brent, one of the most versatile actors in Texas, has played for us some of Shakespeare’s most endearing and enduring characters including: Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (2012), Prospero in The Tempest (2014), Leontes in The Winter’s Tale (2016), and Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream among many others. brent.alford@me.com
Jeremy M. Bernardoni (Production) Jeremy has worked with Trinity Shakespeare since year one as a cutter and draper and valued mentor to our interns in Trinity’s costume studio. Regular Trinity theatre goers have become familiar with the beautiful period dresses and men’s suits that find their way onto our stages. Jeremy is the guiding hand behind the building of those award winning designs. Jeremy is currently Professor of Costume Design at Oklahoma State University.
Brian Clinnin (Design) Brian is an Associate Professor of Design in the Theatre Department at Texas Christian University. Brian was a “year-oner” and helped build the design aesthetic that is Trinity Shakespeare. His award winning designs run from the set and costumes for Romeo and Juliet (2009), to the sets for Hamlet (2010), Macbeth (2011), Merchant of Venice (2012), Julius Caesar (2013) and King Lear (2015).
David Coffee (Acting) David has acted for Trinity Shakespeare in every show of every season. David’s critically acclaimed roles include Feste in Twelfth Night (2009); Polonius in Hamlet (2010); Touchstone in As You Like It (2011); Sir John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (2012); Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar (2013) and Aegeon in The Comedy of Errors (2014), and Caliban in The Tempest (2014) and his award-winning portrayal of Lear in King Lear (2015). David has become, in many ways, the face of The Trinity Shakespeare Festival and for that we could not be more pleased.
Tristan Decker (Design) Tristan is a faculty member in production at Texas Christian University where he is the Technical Director for TCU’s scenic studio. He has worked as a designer and technical director for Trinity Shakespeare. Among his award-winning designs at Trinity are the lights for Twelfth Night (2009), the set for The Taming of the Shrew and the set and lights for The Comedy of Errors (2014).
Aaron Patrick DeClerk (Design) Aaron has designed costumes for Trinity Shakespeare since year one. His vision has set the aesthetic of Trinity’s award-winning costume designs. We are thankful for Aaron’s hard work, artistry and dedication to the Trinity Shakespeare Festival. Some of his many designs at Trinity include Twelfth Night (2009), Macbeth and As You Like It (2010), The Tempest (2014) and King Lear (2015).
Stephen Brown-Fried (Directing) Stephen came to Trinity in 2010 and has directed some of our most popular productions including Much Ado About Nothing (2010), Macbeth (2011), The Merchant of Venice (2012) and Julius Caesar (2013). Stephen’s productions for Trinity have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards. Stephen mixes his work between Trinity and New York City where he makes his home.
Bonnie Hanvey (Stage Management) Bonnie began her work with Trinity as a stage management student intern (TCU) in our 2011 season of Macbeth and As Your Like It. She joined us as a full-fledged Equity Union Assistant Stage Manager the next year with our productions of The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Merchant of Venice (2012). The next year, in 2013, with our productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar she moved up to become Trinity’s Equity Production Stage Manager as well as the following year (2014) leading our productions of The Tempest and The Comedy of Errors. From student intern to Artistic Associate tells you of the competence and capabilities of Bonnie.
Richard Haratine (Acting) Richie joined Trinity in Year Two (2010) playing Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing and the Gravedigger in Hamlet. In subsequent seasons his roles grew by playing Macbeth in Macbeth (2011), Ford in the Merry Wives of Windsor and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, both in our 2012 Season. He played Brutus in our 2013 production of Julius Caesar, Antipolus in The Comedy of Errors (2014), Ferdinand in Love’s Labour’s Lost (2015), and Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016) among many others.
Kelsey Milbourn (Acting/Choreography) Kelsey made her debut with Trinity in year one as a sophomore in TCU’s Musical Theatre program playing Juliet in our inaugural production of Romeo and Juliet (2009). Kelsey is a versatile artist in that she has also contributed to the Festival as a skilled choreographer for many of our productions. Some of Kelsey’s roles at Trinity include, of course, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Phoebe in As You Like It (2011), one of the memorable Witches in Macbeth (2011), and her remarkable performance as Ariel in The Tempest (2014), among many others.
Trisha Miller (Acting) Trisha has been with Trinity since year one playing such roles as Olivia in Twelfth Night (2009), Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (2010), Rosalind in As You Like It (2011), Portia in The Merchant of Venice (2012) and Kate in The Taming of the Shrew (2013) among many others. Trisha now juggles her work with Trinity between Fort Worth and her home in Los Angeles with her growing family.
Michael Skinner (Design) Michael is an Associate Professor of Lighting Design at Texas Christian University. He has designed for Trinity from year one. His award winning designs include the lights for Romeo and Juliet (2009), Macbeth (2010), The Merchant of Venice (2011), The Taming of the Shrew (2013) and The Tempest (2014) among many others. Michael also acts as the Production Manager for the festival.
Alan Shorter (Composer/Music/Supervision) Alan is an Associate Professor of Music Theatre Performance at Texas Christian University. He has composed original music and or supervised the music for the festival since Twelfth Night in 2009 and every year since, including Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Taming of the Shrew. Alan works closely with the singers and musicians in performance. In 2014, his original music for The Tempest received great critical acclaim. Alan is a director, composer, accompanist and musical director. His work is invaluable to the Festival and has left a signature sound on our work.
Philip Zielke (Production) Philip is the Scenic Studio Manager at TCU and has worked in scenic production for Trinity as Technical Director or Studio Manager since the beginning. Philip has overseen the building of our award winning designs for productions such as Much Ado About Nothing (2010), Macbeth (2011), The Merry Wives of Windsor (2012) and Julius Caesar (2013) among many others.