The November Bard Bulletin

Lorenzo Pugliese, a beloved SSF star who played Roger in last season’s acclaimed

production of Rent, will be appearing as Sonny Bono in the new national tour of The

Cher Show ---which will play at the Scranton Cultural Center March 1-3. Lorenzo also

starred in the title role in the national tour of the Spongebob Musical, and in a lovely

coincidence, Henry Howland, who costarred with Lorenzo as Mark in Rent, and who

also showed his immense versatility playing the title character in You’re a Good Man,

Charlie Brown, is now appearing in the Spongebob Musical at the Children’s Theater of

Cincinnati.

Marissa Anthony Duricko will be heading south to Roanoke, VA., for the month of

November to costume design Elf, The Musical for Mill Mountain Theatre. Elf runs from

Nov. 11-Dec. 23, and will be Marissa’s third show in the past year at MMT. She has

previously costumed Holiday Inn and Jersey Boys for MMT, both of which were directed

by SSF alum, Kristen Brooks Sandler! Marissa most recently appeared here in

Strange America, SSF’s entry in the 2023 Scranton Fringe Festival… And Kristen has

produced another movement production in conjunction with the New York City lLbrary at

the Jefferson Market. It was a spooky seasonal Halloween exploration of the seven

deadly sins.

Tierney Violet Joyce, who is a member of the Youth Ensemble of the Scranton

Shakespeare Festival, had her own one (young) woman Cabaret in October at Scranton

Fringe Festival. This was a huge accomplishment for a 16-year-old! Tierney’s music

director was SSF’s mega-talented Stephen Murphy, and her show featured a guest

appearance by Latoya Martin, who directed SSF’s 2021 production of Ragtime, while

appearing the following year in Sweet Charity…In the meantime, Stephen Murphy is

directing the musical Sweeney Todd, which will be presented by the Scranton Prep

Players Nov. 15-19.

Kailin Brown, who appeared with SSF for Season 11 in Sweet Charity, We Will Rock

You, and Sinderella is playing a leading role as Velma Kelly in the upcoming touring

production of Chicago. In another SSF coincidence, past company member Mollie

Downes, who played the seductive Lola in our production of Damn Yankees at PNC

Field, portrayed Roxie Hart in the previous Chicago tour which was cut short during the

COVID pandemic and is now appearing in The Cher Show tour with Lorenzo…Sam

Morales Mercado, remembered as an outstanding Lady Macbeth at SSF, is appearing

in a workshop production of a new play called Come Here To Me Nov. 1-5 at Theater

Lab in NYC… Ashley Morton is rejoining the national tour of How the Grinch Stole

Christmas- she was last seen in Scranton on the Legally Blonde tour and in SSF’s 10th

season---and she will always be remembered as the very first performer at the

ShakesSpace when she did a cabaret and brought along her fellow tour members!

Matteo Scammell is performing in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins at the Arden

Theater in Philly. He is a past Barrymore Award winner who appeared with Scranton

Shakespeare Festival in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Much Ado

About Nothing, and A Tale for Winter…. Also appearing in Philadelphia at The Lantern

Theater is SSF alumn Lee Minora as Dorine in Moliere’s Tartuffe. The play has

received triumphant reviews and Lee was singled out as follows: “As the saucy maid

Dorine, Lee Minora has all the sass one expects from a long-time family retainer….” and

another critic wrote: “Minora is perfection as the prototypical meddling maid, and her

unvoiced, onstage reactions to (the) squabbling lovers were proof that you don’t have to

be a lead to enthrall your audience…”

Darin F. Earl II recently wrapped up a season at the Utah Shakespeare Festival where

he appeared in Timon of Athens and Coriolanus. He was a member of our 2022.

company where he was seen in Sweet Charity and Love’s Labour’s Lost… Lawryn

Lacroix is resident producer for The Shubert Organizations “Artistic Circle” and is also a

new member of the Broadway League…John Roman Vachino, who has appeared in

numerous SSF and Youth Ensemble shows will be featured as the lead Spanish dancer

and lead Chinese dancer in the upcoming production of The Nutcracker by Ballet

Theatre of Scranton. Most recently, John Roman was Feste in Twelfth Night and the

head puppeteer in The Lightning Thief with our Youth Ensemble…He began his career

with Scranton Shakespeare Festival as the Boy in our 10 th season production of

Ragtime.

Love is in the air for two of our SSF actors: Isabella Snyder recently became engaged

to Jason Lin and they have set the date for Aug.16 of next year. Isabella just appeared

as Rosemary in Strange America, our entry in the 2023 Scranton Fringe Festival, and

runs her own successful “Princess” business for children’s parties…Quinn Hemphill,

who is carving out a successful acting career in Hollywood, has also announced her

engagement to Jake MacDonald. The couple will tie the knot next June. Quinn made

her talents evident to SSF audiences with her title performance in Troilus & Cressida

some years back….

UPCOMING EVENTS at The Shakes Space:

Nov. 3: First Friday art exhibit by Sam Kuchwara at the ShakesSpace at the

Marketplace at Steamtown.

Dec. 1: An appearance by Elsa and Anna from Frozen; a visit from Santa, treats, and kiddie activities including an opportunity to plant your own beanstalk in advance of December’s Jack & the Beanstalk Panto!

Dec. 8-10 and 15-17: Jack & the Beanstalk Panto for the whole family. Tickets are

available now at scrantonshakes.com. Don’t miss it—everyone will have so much fun!

Note: If you have any updates about SSF favorites, please send an email to

mhart@scrantonshakes.com.