This summer, the Shake on the Lake (SOTL) Summer Theatre Festival brings national theatrical talent to set up stage outdoors on the shores of Silver Lake, New York for its inaugural season. The company of Josh Rice, Chad Bradford, and Austin Blunk will perform The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer & Jess Winfield.
Josh Rice is a Theatre and Teaching Artist born and bred in Silver Lake, NY, and is a 1999 PCS graduate. While in college, he had the opportunity to study and work as an intern in the Education Dept of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London England. In 2003, he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Theatre from SUNY Brockport. Upon graduation, he became a founding member of Geva Comedy Improv at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY.
Since 2004, he has made Little Rock, AR his artistic home. For eight seasons he has been an actor, director, producer, playwright, fight choreographer, improviser, and teaching artist for the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre. He is the founder and director of ImprovLittleRock, a professional improv comedy troupe that has performed for the last seven years at The PUBLIC Theatre, having performed with the likes of the Second City and the National Symphony Orchestra.
He is the founder and director of the Armadillo Rodeo, a teen improv ensemble, who, for the past four years, have been accepted to perform and workshop at the Teen Comedy Fest in Chicago, IL. For the last five years, Josh has worked for the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, where he earned his AEA card as an actor. He has also served as a director, producer, playwright, and current Ed. & Outreach Coordinator.
Chad Bradford is thrilled to be a part of the inaugural Shake on the Lake Festival. Chad has worked across the country at such theatres as the American Shakespeare Center/Blackfriar's Playhouse, Pennsylvania Center Stage, Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival, the Renegade Players in Sonoma, California, and the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.
Chad is also a director and composer and is a co-founder of the Vagabond Theatre Company based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Austin Blunk is excited to be apart of Shake on the Lake and can not wait to spread excitement about the beautiful medium of theatre. He is currently going to Savannah College of Art and Design and is a junior Performing Arts major there.
He has played Jimmy/Chad in Almost, Maine, Matt in Dog Sees God, Yvan in ART, Hercules in Hercules, Laurie Laurence in Little Women, and Lead Narrator/Mr. Greenleaf in An Evening of Flannery O'Connor: Everything that Rises Must Converge and Greenleaf.
Austin has also been an active member of the improv group MOXIE headed by SCAD's performing arts department, made guest appearances in ImprovLittleRock events, most notably as Luke Skywalker in The Improv Strikes Back/Return of the Improv, and was an active member of a local Little Rock teen improv group Armadillo Rodeo for 3 seasons (2007-2010). He would like to thank his family for always supporting him and his passion, as well as the myriad of teachers, mentors, and professors he has gleaned invaluable wisdom from.