My guest this week was Stephan Wolfert.

Stephan left a career in the military for a life in the theatre after seeing Shakespeare’s Richard III. Stephan Received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Trinity Repertory Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. On Broadway, Stephan created and directed the military segments for Twyla Tharp & Billy Joel’s Tony-Award winning production Movin’ Out and a character coach for Cirque du Soleil’s, Mystere. He also co-created a touring Shakespeare Company for Trinity Rep Company, directed and taught acting Shakespeare at Cornell University and at Antelope Valley College.

Currently, Stephan is based out of NYC where he is an actor and the Director of Veterans Outreach for the critically-acclaimed, award-winning off-Broadway company Bedlam. He is also the creator of DE-CRUIT®–a program to reintegrate military Veterans using Shakespeare, psychology and classical actor training.

For more than a decade Stephan has worked with two Native American theater companies: Native Voices in Los Angeles and Native Earth in Toronto, Canada. Stephan was also the Founding Artistic Director for: Shakespeare & Veterans, and the Veterans Center for the Performing Arts (V.C.P.A.) in Los Angeles. For his work with Shakespeare & Veterans, Stephan has received a certificate of appreciation from the City Council of Los Angeles, presented by fellow veteran and councilman the late Bill Rosendahl. He has been published in the fields of art and science for his work, and is also a member of the NYU think tank PACH (Project for the Advancement of our Common Humanity).

As an actor Stephan continues to perform his critically-acclaimed, award-winning, one-man show CRY HAVOC off-Broadway, nationally and internationally. His most recent off-Broadway productions for Bedlam were The Seagull, Sense & Sensibility, Hamlet and Saint Joan. His favorite Shakespeare roles performed include: Richard III, Richard III; Pericles, Pericles; Petruchio, Taming of the Shrew; Antony, Antony & Cleopatra; Cassio, Iago, Othello; Leontes, Polixenes, The Winter’s Tale; Antonio, Measure for Measure; Cassius, Julius Caesar; Mercutio, Paris, Friar Lawrence, Romeo & Juliet; Andrew Aguecheek, Orsino, Twelfth Night. His favorite Shakespeare plays he has directed are: Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, and an all-female production of Henry V.

Follow Stephan here.

Learn more about De-Cruit here.