Emily Gallagher (she/her) is a founding member, the Artistic Director, and President of Barefoot Shakespeare Company. In her third year of study at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Emily studied abroad at RADA in London where she spent the semester immersed in a Shakespeare Intensive. She believes that it is impossible to resist falling in love with Shakespeare when exposed to it by the right people. Emily has performed in many of Barefoot Shakespeare Company’s productions including: Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, and King Lear. She also enjoys directing. Recent credits include Barefoot’s Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Cymbeline, and Lady Capulet; as well as a stint in the contemporary world with Company of Fools’ Pizza Man and Preston Fox’s modern, queer, myth, Doubt That the Stars Are Fire.
Emily Thaler (she/her) serves as Production Manager and Volunteer Coordinator for Barefoot Shakespeare Company. She is an actor and stage manager based here in New York City. She studied at The University of Tampa were she received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, and was part of The Barrow Group Acting Apprenticeship program from 2016-2017. Her most recent acting credits include: Shayna at The Fear Festival in NYC, and The Widow in The Taming of the Shrew with Barefoot Shakespeare. Her most recent stage management credits include: Pizza Man with Company of Fools, Cymbeline, Macbeth and A Midsummer’s Night Dream with Barefoot Shakespeare Company, Orion with Ruddy Productions and Taking Shakespeare at Florida Studio Theatre.
Regina Renee Russell (she/her) serves as Barefoot Shakespeare Company’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Regina is a New York based actress, writer and director. Originally hailing from the Bronx and a graduate of Cornell University (B.A. Theatre Arts) and East 15 Acting School in London (M.F.A Acting), Regina’s favorite recent roles in theater and voiceover include: LCDR Talise Asherah: Primordial Deep (No Such Thing Productions), Trainee: Brimstone Valley Mall (Whisperforge), Evelyn Wesley: Unwell a Midwestern Gothic Mystery (HartLife NFP), Lysistrata: Lysistrata (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company), Lysander: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Barefoot Shakespeare Company), and Helena: A Midsummer Night’s Charity Stream (Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company). Instagram: @reggirenee, Twitter: @reginarenee594. Click here to view Regina’s Backstage profile.
Jillian Markowitz Musarskiy serves as a Vice President of Barefoot Shakespeare Company. She studied business, marketing and film at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU. This unique focus led her to accept a full scholarship to Hofstra Law, where she graduated cum laude and received an achievement award in intellectual property. She works as a Associate Attorney in midtown, New York where she represents purchasers, sellers and lenders in commercial and residential real estate transactions. She made her Assistant Directorial debut with Barefoot’s productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth in 2017.
Courtney Moors (she/her) is a founding member and the Managing Director of Barefoot Shakespeare Company. Regional credits include: Actors Theatre of Louisville (Dracula, HEIST!), Orlando Shakespeare Theater (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pride and Prejudice), Portland Stage Company (Hidden Tennessee, The Snow Queen, The Savannah Disputation, It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play), Triad Stage (VROOOMMM!), and Shakespeare Kennesaw (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). NYC: I, Horatio, Chains of Dew, and HAL: A live Radio Play. With Barefoot Shakes: Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Macbeth. Courtney received her BFA in acting from the University of Central Florida. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. www.courtneymoors.com
Arden Winant (she/her) serves as a Vice President of Barefoot Shakespeare Company, as well as an independent actor and choreographer. Previous Barefoot credits include: Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret), UNREHEARSED: Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), and choreographed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, All One Forest, and Lady Capulet. Regional theatre credits include: This Sinking Island (The Anthropologists), Measure for Measure (Mercury Glass Theatre Co.), 4.48 Psychosis (Wirehead Collective), House of Bernarda Alba (Theatre of WAR). Film/TV: Adventureland, Bee Season, A View From the Top, “Nurse Jackie”, “Blue Bloods”. Creator of Descendants of the Chalice, a devised dance-theatre piece based off of the fine art installation “The Dinner Party” by Judy Chicago. Training: Purchase College, SUNY. www.ardenwinant.com
Samantha Gronwoldt (she/her) serves as Secretary for Barefoot Shakespeare Company. She is an Early Childhood Educator based here in New York City at Columbus Pre-School . Samantha has her degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has served as Barefoot Shakespeare Company’s properties mistress since our 2016 season. Samantha has also recently worked with Company of Fools as props goddess on their production of Pizza Man and with RSTC as Youth Ensemble Coordinator of their production of Oliver!