Free
Shakespeare
for Everyone
Staff & Board
Artistic Staff
Rachel Gold is committed to creating evocative and accessible art. She is a teacher, director, fight choreographer, and actor from Columbus, OH. Rachel earned her BFA in acting from Baldwin Wallace University. She is thrilled to be on the CSF team, bringing classic works to the communities of Northeast Ohio!
She has directed KING RICHARD III and KING LEAR for CSF, and has directed at The Beck Center for the Arts (THE TEMPEST, RADIUM GIRLS), Baldwin Wallace University (GOOD KIDS, STOP KISS, ATROPOS), as well as several projects with Radio on the Lake. She has grown CSF's Education Program and has implemented programs that go into schools and prisons. Other teaching credits include Great Lakes Theater, Dobama Theatre, Beck Center for the Arts, and Baldwin Wallace University. Rachel is an Intermediate Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and serves as the Resident Fight Director for Dobama Theatre (THE HOBBIT, DAPHNE'S DIVE, SHERLOCK CAROL, NETTA & RU) and French Creek Theatre (MISERY, WAIT UNTIL DARK). As an actor, she has been on the CSF stage in HAMLET, MEASURE FOR MEAURE, and KidShake's inaugural season of MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. She has also been on stage with Great Lakes Theater, Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Seat of the Pants, and Convergence Continuum.
Board of Trustees
ROGER M. GOVEA
President/Chair
Rodger is the Board Chair of CSF. He is Chair of the Department of Political Science at Cleveland State University. He received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University in 1979. His acting experience at the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival includes roles in Richard III and in All’s Well that Ends Well . He has also performed at Dobama, Cleveland State University , Solon Community Theater, and in Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan.
KEITH KORNAJCIK
Vice Chair
Keith, the board Vice-Chair, is a veteran performer with CSF. Keith has performed in CSF productions of “The Merchant of Venice”, “Henry IV”, “Twelfth Night”, “The Tempest”, “All’s Well That Ends Well”, “Richard III”, “Anthony & Cleopatra”, “Titus Andronicus”, “Henry VIII”, and probably one or two that have slipped his mind. Around town, he has played with Bad Epitaph, Beck Center, Charenton, Clague Playhouse, Cleveland Public Theatre, CSU’s late-lamented Factory Theatre, Karamu, and others. When not treading the boards spouting verse, Keith fronts storied CLE avant-rock band Home and Garden.
LYNN MCLAUGHLIN MURRAY
Treasurer
The Honorable Magistrate Lynn McLaughlin Murray has served as a Magistrate with Cleveland Municipal Court from 1999 to the present.
Magistrate McLaughlin Murray is a 1986 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace University and a 1989 graduate of Case Western Reserve School of Law. She is the current Treasurer of the Board for Tremont West and serves on the Board of the Cleveland Veterans Court Advisory Committee, Greater Cleveland Drug Court Advisory Committee, the Cleveland Mental Health Specialized Docket Advisory Committee and on the Flats Forward Board as Chair of the Economic Development Committee. She has served since 1997 as the Chapter Advisor for the Delta Upsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Fraternity at Baldwin Wallace University.
AUSTIN BARNES
Member
Austin is an attorney with the law firm of Morris I. Hardwick and Schneider. He has over 17 years of legal experience in foreclosure, bankruptcy, eviction, tax and real estate. He is an Ohio University graduate with a BBA in Finance. He received his JD from the University of Akron Law School and Masters in Tax degrees from the University of Akron School of Accountancy. He has served on the board of CSF for five years. He is also President of the Goodfriendship Chapter #63 of the AHEPA in Akron , Ohio .
AMELIA BLONSKY
Member
Bio to come...
CELESTE COSENTINO
Member
Celeste Cosentino has served on the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival board for over three years now. She is currently the Executive Artistic Director for Ensemble Theatre. She has served in one capacity or another for local Cleveland theatre's her entire life, spending many formative years "in the house" while her mother, Lucia Colombi, was interim Artistic Director for Karamu in the early to mid 80's, the same years her mother spent founding Ensemble Theatre. She has worked with The Cleveland Play House, Dobama Theatre, Clague Play House, Cain Park, Bang & Clatter, Willoughby Fine Arts, The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival and Weathervane Playhouse. She is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Theatre and returned to Cleveland in 2008, after living and working in New York City. Some of her favorite acting credits are Marela in Anna in the Tropics, Alice in Closer, Desdemona in Othello, and Kayleen in Gruesome Playgound Injuries. Favorite directing credits include The Gospel According to James, Death of a Salesman, Lower Ninth, Animals out of Paper, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and both part of Angels in America. Celeste is the daughter of Ensemble Founder, Lucia Colombi and has returned home to support her mother's mission by providing a fresh perspective as the next Artistic Director. She has a great fondness for the classics and thinks FREE Shakespeare for Northeast Ohio is a very noble cause.
