Who’s Who: Between Riverside and Crazy Cast

TYREES ALLEN* (Pops). SpeakEasy: Debut. Broadway credits include: Amonasro in the original Broadway Company of Aida, and Westmoreland in the revival of Henry IV at Lincoln Center. Regional credits include: Colin Powell in the American Premiere of David Hare’s Stuff Happens at the Mark Taper Forum, the title role in Othello at The Old Globe and more recently for Second Thought Theatre, Northumberland in Richard III at the Goodman Theatre; and Christian in Ruined for Echo Theatre. He played Mr. Chuck in the world premiere of Jonathan Norton’s Mississippi Goddamn. His more recent roles at Dallas Theater Center were Pastor Jay in The Christians and Aegisthus in Electra. Tyree’s TV work includes over 50 guest star spots, along with series regular roles on “Women’s Murder Club” and “Dark Blue,” and recurring roles in “Alias,” “Close to Home,” and “The Practice.”

OCTAVIA CHAVEZ-RICHMOND (Lulu) is excited to make her Boston debut at SpeakEasy! Select Theatre: Cannibal Queen, Airness; Touchstone, As You Like It; Masha, Neva; Marie, This Wide Night; Desdemona, Othello; Laurencia, Fuente Ovejuna; Mag, The Beauty Queen of Leenane; Hermione, The Winter’s Tale; Gremio, The Taming of the Shrew; Karen, The Children’s Hour; Jawaad, There is No One Between You and Me; Film: Sonya, Who We Are Now (2018); Sophie, From Nowhere (2016); Christine, Estate Sale; Veronica, Tales From the Couch. MFA Brown/Trinity Rep.

MAUREEN KEILLER* (Detective O’Connor) is glad to be back. SpeakEasy credits: The Whale, Reckless, Nine, Almost Maine, The Little Dog Laughed, The Women, The Wild Party. Other area credits include: 33 Variations, Big River, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Speech and Debate, Epic Proportions, Inspecting Carol (Lyric Stage); Come Back, Little Sheba (Huntington Theatre); The Snow Queen, A Streetcar Named Desire (New Repertory Theatre); Oh God (Israeli Stage); The Honey Trap, Faithless (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre). Film and Television:  Spotlight, My Best Friend’s Girl, Fever Pitch, Olive Kitteridge, Brotherhood. Maureen is an Elliot Norton Award-winner for Outstanding Performance by an Actress and a three-time IRNE Award winner for Best Supporting Actress.

CELESTE OLIVA* (Church Lady). SpeakEasy: Debut. Select theatre credits: Barbara DeMarco, Shear Madness (Off Broadway/Boston); Abigail 1702/It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, (Merrimack Rep); The Revolutionists, Arcadia, Grounded (Nora Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Stage Kiss, Becky’s New Car, Rich Girl, Chinglish, (Lyric Stage); Reconsidering Hanna(h) (Boston Playwright’s Theatre). TV: “Thoroughbreds,” “November Criminals,” “Bleed for This,” “Olive Kitteridge” and the upcoming “Burning Woman.” Film:  The Company Men, Sex Tape, 21, Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River. Celeste received the 2013 Best Actress Award from Boston Magazine for her role in Chinglish, a role for which she also won an IRNE Award and Elliot Norton nomination.  She also received a Best Actress IRNE in 2016 for Arcadia. Check out her website here.

ALEJANDRO SIMOES (Oswaldo) returns to SpeakEasy having previously appeared in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Grand Concourse, and The Motherf**ker with the Hat (IRNE Award – Best Supporting Actor). Recent credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), The Gift Horse (New Repertory Theatre), Marjorie Prime (Central Square Theatre), Peter and the Starcatcher, Light up the Sky (IRNE nomination), and One Man, Two Guvnors (Lyric Stage), as well as productions with Commonwealth Shakespeare, Shakespeare & Company, A.R.T., New Exhibition Room, Whistler in the Dark, and The Publick Theatre. Alex trained at Shakespeare & Company and Northeastern University.

STEWART EVAN SMITH (Junior) is pleased to be making his SpeakEasy debut.  Local credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Edge of Peace (Central Square Theater); To Kill A Mockingbird (Gloucester Stage);  Edward II (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Murph (Open Theatre Project), Lucky Stiff (Greater Boston Stage Company);  Noises Off (Priscilla Beach Theatre); and Dog Act (Theatre on Fire).  Stewart is also a regular ensemble performer with Mystery Cafe and Shit-Faced Shakespeare.

LEWIS D. WHEELER* (Lieutenant Caro) is excited to return to SpeakEasy where he previously appeared in Shakespeare in Love and Hand to God. Recent credits include Ideation, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (New Rep); Richard II (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Finish Line (Boston Theater Company); Blood on the Snow (Bostonian Society); To Kill a Mockingbird, Doubt (Gloucester Stage). Lewis has also appeared in productions with American Repertory Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Lyric Stage, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Nora Theatre, Underground Railway Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Huntington Theatre, American Stage (FL), Publick Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Vineyard Playhouse, Cape Rep, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre. Film/TV: Manchester by the Sea, Black Mass, Live by Night, The Company Men, Pink Panther 2, Louisa May Alcott (PBS), Brotherhood, and the upcoming Showtime pilot City on a Hill. BA: Cornell University; MFA:  American Film Institute.