Meet the Cast of The Nature Plays!

Lisa Tucker and Ed Hoopman looking through binoculars.

Lisa Tucker and Ed Hoopman in Cerulean Blue. Photo credit: Corinne Elicone.

Plays in Place is excited to introduce you to our cast for the first installment of Patrick’s Mount Auburn Plays, The Nature Plays! Immerse yourself in the lush environment and natural landscape of Mount Auburn Cemetery this June guided by our company of four actors: Jacob Oommen Athyal, Ed Hoopman, Theresa Nguyen, and Lisa Tucker.

Excited to make his Plays in Place debut, Jacob Oommen Athyal* plays a young spotted salamander new to the mating game; Lizzie Agassiz, wife to the well-known genealogist Louis Agassiz; an eager recruit to a secret society; an enthusiastic bird-watcher; and a sassafras tree in love. Jacob’s previous credits include Guards at the Taj (Underground Railway, Best Actor Elliot Norton), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Perseverance Theater, AK & Company One), Rhinoceros (Boston Playwrights/The Modern Theatre). He is a proud alumnus of Suffolk University and is currently getting his MFA in Theater from The Ohio State University.

In the Nature Plays, Ed Hoopman* plays an experienced “mac daddy” on the prowl; the famous Louis Agassiz; a cemetery employee with entrepreneurial ambitions; a lifelong lover of birdwatching; and a sassafras tree in love. He has recently been seen in Romeo and Juliet at Huntington Theatre Company, Macbeth and Equivocation for Actor’s Shakespeare Project, and Dancing at Lughnasa with Gloucester Stage. Other regional credits: Finish Line (Boston Theater Co./Boch Center); Old Money, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew (Comm Shakes); Camelot, Peter and the Starcatcher, City of Angels, Dear Elizabeth, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers (Lyric Stage); Ideation, Mister Roberts and Indulgences (New Rep); A Civil War Christmas (Huntington); Dog Paddle (Bridge Rep); and Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse). Mr. Hoopman is also an accomplished voiceover actor whose work can be heard both locally and nationally. www.edhoopman.com

Theresa Nguyen* is grateful to be able to share these stories with such a wonderful group of people, in such a beautiful place. In the Nature Plays, she plays a discerning salamander looking for the right amphibian to fertilize her eggs; Jane Gray, wife of renowned botanist Asa Gray; a curious cemetery employee seeking to uncover secret goings-on; a bright-eyed new bird watcher; and an expressive young woman in mourning. She received a B.F.A in Acting from Emerson College with previous credits including Stage Kiss (The Lyric Stage Company) & Sila (Underground Railway Theater).

Lisa Tucker (AEA, SAG-AFTRA) is very happy to be working with Pat and Courtney again, and plays theaccomplished botanist Asa Gray; the suspicious leader of a secret society; an experienced birdwatcher who sees beyond what her eyes show her; and an old beech tree jaded by time and pain. She is a founding member of Beau Jest Moving Theater (who is celebrating their 35th anniversary this year!), and has co-created and appeared in all their shows, including the title roles in their Elliot Norton-winning Krazy Kat and IRNE-winning The Remarkable Rooming-house of Madame Lemonde. Other credits include Next Door Theater, Aim Stage, Centastage, Fort Point Theatre Channel, New Century Theatre, Foothills Theatre, Stoneham Theater, Shear Madness, Lyric Stage, Tempest Productions, Wheelock Family Theatre, Durham Center Stage, Threshold Theatre, City Stage, and the Boston Theater Marathon, as well as voice over, commercial and industrial work.