Get To Know The Cast of Much Ado About Nothing

Jessica Golden (Balthasar/Conrade/Ursula)

Jessica is delighted to be making her Hub Theatre debut!  Some of her recent credits include The Tempest (Ceres), My Fascination with Creepy Ladies (Edgar Allan Poe), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), and Heathers (Martha Dunstock). Jessica is a proud graduate of NYU’s New Studio on Broadway, and alumna of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s apprentice program. Here’s to finding new and creative ways to make theater!​

Nettie Chickering (Don Pedro/ Watchmen)

Nettie Chickering is elated to make her Hub Theatre debut!  A New  Hampshire native Nettie is located in Brooklyn, NY. Nettie is a recent alum of Commonwealth  Shakespeare Company’s Acting Apprenticeship Program. Nettie studied at The Neighborhood  Playhouse School of the Theatre. She is a member of Hamlet Isn’t Dead’s Resident Acting  Company. Nettie sings with free jazz/poetry group Heroes Are Gang Leaders. Recent credits  include: Gower/Philemon in Pericles (Shakespeare Sports), Duchess of York/Lord Mayor in Richard III (Fools & Kings), and Capulet/Prince/Sampson in Romeo & Juliet (Fair Shakespeare)  in which she composed and sung a jazz/blues score. Nettie is grateful for this opportunity to  explore her love of Shakespeare in a new fashion.

Lauren Elias (Beatrice)

Lauren's area acting credits include Hub Theatre's The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Steel Magnolias, Peter and the Starcatcher (IRNE Award nominee-Best Play/Best Ensemble), Wit (IRNE Award nominee-Best Supporting Actress), Waiting for Waiting for Godot, Laughing Wild, Love, Loss and What I Wore, and Lebensraum; The Gold Dust Orphans' Murder on the Polar Express; Body and Sold (staged reading) with Central Square Theatre; Happy Medium's Romeo and Juliet, (Juliet); Heart and Dagger's Polaroid Stories (IRNE Award nominee- Best Ensemble); SpeakEasy Stage's workshop production of The Blue Room (The Married Woman); Amazing Things' The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Lin-EMACT DASH award nominee); and Commonwealth Shakespeare's Othello (u/s Emilia). Regional credits include Connecticut Free Shakespeare, Act 2 Theater and AlphaNYC Theatre Co. Lauren also directed Hub's 2014 production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).  Look for Lauren being confused by grocery shopping and failing at meditation in advertisements for Hannaford Supermarkets and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Much love to my family, friends and endless gratitude to amazing team for all their dedication and support in exploring this new medium.

Regine Vital (Leonata)

Regine is an actor/scholar/educator/writer/theatremaker/ storyteller from Somerville, MA. As an actor, she has appeared in many projects with several Boston area theatre companies, including Central Square Theatre, Asian American Playwright’s Collective, Fresh Ink Theatre,  TC Squared, Flat Earth Theatre, Open Theatre Project, and Also Known As Theatre. At HUB Theatre Company, she has been featured in The Good Body (2016) and Coyote on a Fence (2017); she was due to appear in Wittenberg this past spring, but the production was canceled due to the current pandemic. Previous Shakespeare roles include Sir Walter Blunt, Gadshill, and the Archbishop of York in Henry IV (1 & 2) with Praxis Stage (2018). Regine received her BA in English and History from Boston University and her MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from UMass Boston. She recently spent time in the UK studying Early Modern English Drama and Texts, focusing on Shakespeare, at King’s College, London and Shakespeare’s Globe. Currently, she is the Manager of Curriculum and Instruction in the Education department at the Huntington Theatre Company. When she isn’t telling stories on stage or talking too much about Shakespeare, Regine loves a good book, a good dance, and/or a great chat with great friends. Thanks to friends and family for continued support, especially in these Corona times. To my Much Ado Zoommates: Merde, folks! ;)

Jaime Hernàndez (Claudio)

​​Jaime Hernàndez (Claudio) is thrilled to be returning to Hub Theatre Company of Boston as he was most recently seen in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Other acting credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Chelsea People (Apollinaire Theatre Company) Vicuña (Zeitgeist Stage Company) SLAM BOSTON (Open Theatre Project) Childhood is Fun, Power Play, and Miss Reflection (Emerson Theatre Playmaking Group) at Emerson College, Spanish Folk Tales (Apollinaire Play Lab), Sadman (Laugh Harder Productions), as well as many short films written and directed by himself. Jaime is a company member of Teatro Chelsea, a new Latinx theatre company based in Chelsea, MA.

​Michael John Ciszewski (Don John/Sexton)

Michael John Ciszewski returns to Hub Theatre having last appeared as Smee in Peter and the Starcatcher.  Recent Boston-area credits include Ryan in The Usual Unusual (Podcast, SpeakEasy Stage) Rudy in Bent (Umbrella Stage), Hector MacQueen in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Leo Hubbard in The Little Foxes (Lyric Stage), Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tusenbach in Three Sisters (Apollinaire Theatre Company), Chorus in Antigone (Flat Earth Theatre), and Buddy in Holiday Memories (New Rep). His debut solo show Everyone is Dying and So Am I has played in Boston (Open Theatre Project) and New York City (United Solo Theatre Festival at Theatre Row). His self-produced second solo project The Sun is Sleeping—featuring fellow castmate Regine Vital—is screening online now through the end of 2020; visit micjcis.com for more. Michael trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and is a proud graduate of Boston University’s B.F.A. Theatre Arts program. @micjcis

Johnny Kinsman (Dogberry)

Johnny Kinsman is thrilled to be making  his debut with Hub Theatre Company!  When he's not captaining a WWII "Duck Boat" through the streets of Boston, Johnny offers socially-distanced walking tours of Charlestown, and gives history talks about the American Revolution.  Boston theatre credits (with Anthem Theatre Company) include: The Comedy of Errors, Romeo vs. Juliet: An Old-Timey Baseball Comedy of Love and Woe, The Merry Way, Twelfth Night of the Living Dead, My Fascination with Creepy Ladies, and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  Johnny dedicates his performance in this innovative show to his much better half, Lindsay, and to their two little boys, Oscar Ruffles and Sammy Pancakes.

Micheline Wu (Hero/Girl/2nd Watchman

Micheline Wu (Hero/Girl/2nd Watchman) is thrilled to be making her Hub Theatre Company debut!  She recently choreographed and performed in Lyric Stage Company’s production of Pacific Overtures, nominated for an Elliot Norton Award for “Outstanding Musical Production”.  Theater performance credits include: Allegiance (SpeakEasy Stage Company), My Fair Lady (New Bedford Festival Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Priscilla Beach Theatre).  A Boston native, she trained and performed with the American Chinese Arts Society’s Traditional Chinese Dance Troupe for ten years and comes to theater after many years as a contemporary dancer and choreographer. M.F.A. Musical Theater, Boston Conservatory. @michelinewu

Robert Orzalli (Antonio/Verges)

Robert Orzalli ​is excited to play with this cast on the virtual stage, where Previous credits with Hub include: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Peter and the Starcatcher (IRNE nomination, Best Ensemble), True West, Waiting for Waiting for Godot (IRNE nomination), Coyote on a Fence, Laughing Wild (IRNE nomination), Goodly Creatures and Sand Mountain. Robert is also a Producing Associate for Hub. Some recent acting credits include The Sound of Music and La Cage aux Folles (Reagle Music Theater), Caroline or Change (Moonbox Productions), Ragtime (Company Theatre) Three Sisters (Apollinaire); Faceless (Zeitgeist Stage); Fiddler on the Roof (IRNE nomination, Best Ensemble) (New Rep). He received a BA from Brandeis University.

Lorraine Kanyike (Borachio/Margaret)

Lorraine Kanyike is a local actor, playwright, and theatre artist whose work sits at the intersections of her life: being a young, Black, queer Ugandan-American woman. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and African Studies. Past credits include: The Three Musketeers (Greater Boston Stage Company), Puffs (FTLO Theater), Hamlet (Striving Artists Theater Company), Intermittent Dreams (Hub Theatre Company). She would like to thank Hub Theatre for inviting her back and the entire cast and crew of #MuchAdoAboutZooming for such a fun and creative experience! More of Lorraine’s work can be found on her website: https://lorrainevkan.wixsite.com/lorrainekanyike 
As always, ALL Black Lives Matter.

Jon Vellante (Benedick)

Jon Vellante is a Boston-based actor excited to be returning to the Hub having been seen most recently in their production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Favorite past credits include The Birch Prep Five (The Homesick Play Project); Fish Trees (Syracuse Summer Theater); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sh*t-faced Shakespeare); Heritage Hill Naturals (Fresh Ink Theatre Company); and Peter and the Starcatcher (Hackmatack Playhouse). Jon also currently works as an actor with IBIS consulting group for racial equity training at Google. For upcoming projects, or more info visit jonvellante.com 

Arthur Waldstein (Rabbi Francis)

Arthur Waldstein is delighted to be returning to Hub Theatre after having been in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.  His Boston Are credits include work with Lyric Stage, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Actors Shakespeare Project, Greater Boston Stage Company, Boston Children’s Theater, Happy Medium Theatre, Bad Habit Productions, Arts After Hours, Fiddlehead Theater, The Theater Offensive and Boston Playwrights Theater.  A retired lawyer, Arthur lives in Boston with his wife, Andrea.