Artists & Leadership

Resident Artists

Charlene V. Smith

Producing Artistic Director

Charlene V. Smith is an actor, director, and scholar, who has worked in the DC metropolitan area since 2006. She co-founded Brave Spirits Theatre in 2011 and became Artistic Director in 2014. For BST, she has directed The Changeling, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Richard III and The Two Noble Kinsmen and co-directed The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Bloody Banquet. Charlene completed her BA in English and Theatre at the College of William and Mary and studied at the London Dramatic Academy. She has an MLitt and an MFA in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin College (now University) in partnership with the American Shakespeare Center. She is the head editor of Rogue Shakespeare: Stagecraft and Scholarship in an Ensemble-Based MFA Company and her article “Margaret of Anjou: Shakespeare’s Adapted Heroine” appears in The Palgrave Handbook of Shakespeare’s Queens.

Jessica Aimone

Resident Graphic Designer

Jessica is an actor, director, graphic designer, and mother to the best little man ever. For BST she has performed in Romeo and Juliet and The Bloody Banquet and directed As You Like Itand A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has performed across the country and with the American Shakespeare Center (Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Love’s Labours Lost); The Theater at Monmouth (Antony and Cleopatra, The Liar, As You Like It); 1st Stage (The Violet Hour, Holiday). She works as a graphic designer at Signature Theatre. She is proud to be a part of BST and its incredible mission.

Jason Aufdem-Brinke

Resident Lighting Designer

For BST: As You Like It, Doctor Faustus, Antony and Cleopatra, Henri IV, The Bloody Banquet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Contemporary American Theater Festival, and Shrunken Shakespeare. He is also on the Board of Visitors for the University of Maryland TDPS department. He has recently started Set The Stage, a non-profit to help public schools modernize their spaces and practices. For more updates: www.facebook.com/JbrinkeLighting/

Casey Kaleba

Resident Fight Director

Casey staged violence for BST’s Coriolanus, The Changeling, As You Like It, The Maid’s Tragedy, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, directed The Duchess of Malfi and co-directed The Bloody Banquet. A Certified Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors, Casey has arranged fights for more than four hundred productions throughout the country, including extensive work with the Folger, Round House, Signature, and Rorschach Theatres. He designed blood effects for Faction of Fools’ Titus Andronicus and Constellation Theatre’s Lieutenant of Inishmore, as well as the Men at Arms: Reforged web series, and he serves as an audition choreographer for Marvel Universe Live. Casey has been an instructor at Catholic University, the University of Mary Washington, University of Maryland – Baltimore County, as well as a guest artist for Fight Directors Canada and the Nordic Stagefight Society. He founded and fostered Tooth & Claw Combat Arts into the largest stage combat training program in the DC area: www.toothandclawcombat.com

Claire Kimball

Resident Dramaturg & Photographer

Claire is a dramaturg, theatre practitioner, and scholar of early modern drama whose performance-based research focuses on staging and gesture. Her dramaturgy credits with BST include The Changeling, The Duchess of Malfi, Doctor Faustus, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, A King and No King, and The Bloody Banquet. She has also served as a dramaturg at the American Shakespeare Center, as an education editor for “The Shakespeare Standard”, and previously taught high school theater arts. Claire has an MLitt in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University. Her work on staging dismemberment in early modern drama appeared in Renaissance Papers 2008.

Zach Roberts

Resident Music Director

Music direction for BST includes: As You Like It, Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Maid’s Tragedy. Zach recently performed in The Lady with the Little Dog (Quotidian), War of the Worlds (SCENA), Friendship Betrayed (WSC Avant Bard), and Madwoman of Chaillot (WSC Avant Bard). He also directed Family Portrait for the DC Music Theatre Workshop.

Victoria Reinsel

Co-Founder

Victoria is a classically-trained actor, teaching artist, and director, and a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association. For BST: Aspatia (The Maid’s Tragedy); Julia, Co-Director (The Two Gentlemen of Verona); Lady Anne, etc. (Richard III); Director (Romeo and Juliet). Other credits include: American Shakespeare Center, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare East, and Marina in Pericles at Mary Baldwin University (MFA production directed by Tina Packer). Victoria holds a MFA and MLitt in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance with a concentration in acting from MBU in partnership with the ASC, and a BA with High Honors in Theatre/Literature from Marlboro College. She has trained at Shakespeare & Company, OST, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and the British American Drama Academy in London. Visit her website at www.victoriareinsel.com

Board of Directors