Acting and Design Associates
Acting Associates
Oge Agulué
Barbarossa and Don Riccardo in The Dwarf, Poseidon in The Odyssey
National Tour: The Book of Mormon. Off Broadway: Love’s Labour’s Lost. Regional: Chautauqua Theatre Company, Bay Street Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, B Street Theatre, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Atlanta Shakespeare Company. TV: “Little America,” “The Code.” MFA: University of California, Irvine. @iamoge
Xander de Angeles
William Harrison and clocks in Longitude, William Cavendish in Mad Madge
Xander is happy to be with CounterBalance Theatre. His credits include work in Richard III & Cymbeline produced at Marin Shakespeare Company; Colossal and Sunday in the Park with George at San Francisco Playhouse; Hunting Love with Soar Feet Studios, and The Merchant of Venice at Island Stage Left. He carries an MFA from UC, Irvine in Drama where he was seen on stage in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Bright Room Called Day, Plumas Negras, Venus in Fur, I Dream of Chang and Eng, and Coriolanus. He dedicates his craft to the many masters that shaped him along the way.
Nicole Cowans
Athena in The Iliad, Rosalind and others in She
Nicole Cowans is an international Afro-Latina performing artist and educator. Born in Virginia and raised in Puerto Rico and Alaska, her culturally unique upbringing fuels her desire to positively impact the world through art. She has a B.A. in Theatre, a B.A. in Psychology, and Minor in Music (vocal performance) from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Nicole became a Certified Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework in 2017 at Institut D’l Teatre in Spain, and earned her MFA in Drama from University of California Irvine in 2018. For more visit NicoleCowans.com and follow @NicoleCowans.
Jacob Dresch
Rochester in Jane Eyre, Piccolino the Dwarf in The Dwarf
Jacob Dresch is an NYC based actor and teaching artist. Counter Balance: The Dwarf, Jane Eyre, Orlando, A Christmas Carol. Off-Broadway: The School for Scandal (Red Bull Theater). Regional: Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Playboy of the Western World, The Foreigner, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Lend Me a Tenor (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare in Love, The Great Gatsby (Orlando Shakespeare Theater).
Megan Gainey
Madame in Elsewhere, Graham and Elizabeth Harrison and clocks in Longitude
Megan Gainey is a Los Angeles based actress. She holds a BA in Drama from UC Irvine, where she also received Honors in Acting in 2016. Since graduation, she has worked in film, television and live events with companies such as Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Legendary Pictures, and Oxygen Network. Other past theater credits include Babe in Crimes of the Heart at ICT Long Beach and Sybil in Private Lives at Theatreworks CO Springs. She is forever grateful to Annie and Counterbalance Theater for their incredible work! You can find additional career updates at www.megangainey.com
Tracy Hazas
Mother in Blue Light, developmental workshop Café le Monde
TRACY HAZAS (AEA) is an actor and movement director from Louisville, Kentucky. She made her feature debut in White Rabbit (Sundance ’18). In New York, she’s performed at the Bushwick Starr, New York City Center, Dixon Place, Abrons Art Center, Theater for the New City, HERE Arts Center and Punchdrunk’s McKittrick Hotel. Teaching: Stanford University and Queens College, CUNY. BA, Smith; MFA, UC Irvine. Collaborations with Annie Loui: Blue Light, Restoration Comedy, Café le Monde. tracyhazas.coma.
Zak Houston
Odysseus in The Odyssey, developmental workshop The Dwarf
Zak Houston is an actor, writer, and musician. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, he currently lives in New York city. He performs in traditional theatre as well as devising new work. He makes experimental pop music under the moniker Go Home (www.gohomeisaband.com). Favorite Roles include Odysseus (Counter-Balance), Hamlet (New Swan), and Clarence in Henry 6 Parts 2 and 3 (Utah Shakespeare Festival). M.F.A. UC Irvine 2015, B.A. The Ohio State University 2012.
Kayla Kearney
The Muse and clocks in Longitude, She in She, (upcoming – Mary Shelly in Reading Frankenstein)
Kayla Kearney is an actor and writer based in NYC. Regional: Longitude, SHE (CounterBalance Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, One Man Two Governors, Agent 355 (Chautauqua Theatre Company); S/he and Me (Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner’s Renberg Theatre); The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New Swan Shakespeare Festival) Education: B.A. Theatre Arts – Long Beach State University. M.F.A Acting – University of California, Irvine
Nick Manfredi
Hailey and clocks in Longitude, Zeus in The Iliad
Nick Manfredi was born in Las Vegas, NV and currently lives in NYC. He studied with Annie Loui in the MFA Acting program at UC Irvine where he was introduced to one of his great loves: physical theatre.
Anika Solveig
Founding Member, Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre
As an actress, Anika has performed regionally with Frank Theater at the Guthrie in Minneapolis, Shakespeare Orange County, New Swan Shakespeare Co., and with Counter-Balance Theater Co. In New York, she has performed with Barefoot Theatre, Brick-a-brack, Looking Glass, Amios, terraNOVA, and Panapoly Lab. As a director Anika has worked with The Flea Theater, Amios and San Fransisco Shakespeare Co as well as directing numerous projects at the New York Film Academy where she teaches. Member of AEA.
Thomas Varga
Mister Lucius in Elsewhere, John Harrison in Longitude, Paris and Diomedes in The Iliad
Thomas Steven Varga is an actor and acting teacher based in LA. Since completing his MFA in Acting at UCI, he has appeared in film, television, and theatre, including projects on/with: Lifetime Movies, SyFy Channel, Crypt TV, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, and Counter-Balance Theater. He also teaches acting, both with private clients and as a faculty member at the Actor’s Studio of Orange County. For more information, please visit https://www.tsvarga.com and/or https://www.imdb.me/tsvarga
Design Associates
Morgan Embry
lighting and projection design: SHE, Assistant Lighting Design The Iliad, (future) projection Reading Frankenstein