Having grown up in Flagstaff, Dawn’s lifelong dream has been to bring her passion for Shakespeare to her beautiful hometown. Dawn has a Master’s Degree in Shakespeare in Performance from the American Shakespeare Center in partnership with Mary Baldwin College and a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Wisconsin. She worked for five years as an actor and the Director of Education for Southwest Shakespeare Company in Mesa, Arizona. Dawn is thrilled to see her dream realized with the help of Jesse James Kamps, our talented Artistic Director; Christine Schmidle, our hardworking Director of Development; and the overwhelming support and enthusiasm of the Flagstaff arts community, without which this dream could never have come to fruition. She thanks most especially the audiences who make Flagstaff Shakespeare Festival not only possible, but meaningful.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Jesse has been working in classical theater for over twenty years and currently works as an Associate Artist with Southwest Shakespeare Company, having performed in over twenty productions for the company in the Phoenix area. He was a founding company member with Cleveland Shakespeare Festival for four seasons and a member of Great Lakes Theater’s acting company for two seasons before settling in Arizona. As an actor, he has performed in twenty-four of Shakespeare’s thirty-seven plays and has worked with Ensemble Theatre, Signstage, Deaf West Theatre, and Borderlands Theater. Favorite credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom), Hotspur in Henry IV Part 1(Hotspur), and King John (Hubert), as well as Amadeus (Mozart), The Seagull (Treplev), She Stoops to Conquer (Tony Lumpkin), and Uncle Vanya (Vanya). Jesse is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Shakespeare to the beautiful city of Flagstaff.

Christine Schmidle is working as Deputy Text Associate at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. She received her MFA at Mary Baldwin College. Christine’s acting experience includes various roles at the American Shakespeare Center, the Pocket Theater in Stony Brook, and the Airport Playhouse. In Germany, she worked at the Shakespeare Festival in Neuss and the Theatre of Krefeld as Assistant Director. She has been published in the Shakespeare Bulletin with “Bilingual Hamlet: Der Bestrafte Brudermord in the 21st century,” and she translated “Der Bestrafte Brudermord” into English for Hidden Room’s puppet show, which is currently touring Europe.

Sara has been helping to make FlagShakes a staple of Arizona performance art since the very genesis of the organization. She’s thrilled to continue that mission with each passing season. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Arizona State University in Journalism and Mass Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. She’s been working in theatre communications and marketing for her entire career, including major regional theatres such as Phoenix Theatre and Southwest Shakespeare Company. She even spent a bit of time on the stage herself, but these days you’ll find her behind the scenes, usually with a camera in hand. Not profit is in her blood as she’s also the Senior Copywriter for a large humanitarian organization and runs an advocacy platform for women called Chicks Who Give a Hoot.

Born and raised a Flagstaff native, Cameron has always had a serious passion for his community and the theatrical arts. Briefly leaving his hometown, Cameron graduated with a BA in Theater from Castleton University in Castleton, Vermont, and, upon returning home, he began acting with FlagShakes. He has performed in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Slender), All’s Well That Ends Well (Bertram), and Fool for Love (Martin). Cameron is thrilled to be not only living his dream of doing theater in Flagstaff, but also having the opportunity to work with the talented, amazing people that make up FlagShakes’s staff, board, and volunteers. As a Community Liaison, Cameron strives to cultivate new opportunities for the festival and create meaningful experiences for our wonderful community.

Board of Directors

President

Vice President

Treasurer

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member

Board Member (on leave of absence)