Now in its seventh season, the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble has continued to grow and reach larger audiences. Featuring works by the Bard, stage classics, clever reinventions of texts and musicals from Broadway’s Golden Age, bringing new life to these stage works and making them relevant to contemporary audiences is the Ensemble’s mission. Among the creative team guiding each season of the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble are Gia Battista, a founding Artistic Director, and Richard Chowenhill, Associate Artistic Director and Resident Composer, UC Davis alumni. Battista stars as the comically meddlesome answering service heroine in the musical Bells Are Ringing. 

Battista and Chowenhill along with the Ensemble’s directors, performers and technical team have enriched the Davis community and with 2016 the company expands its season — running from June to October at Veteran’s Memorial Theatre. This summer the company also produces Edmond Rostand’s romantic masterpiece Cyrano de Bergerac along with the delightful musical comedy Bells Are Ringing with music by Jules Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The summer repertory season runs June 23 through July 31 at the Veterans Memorial Theatre in Davis. The season continues in the fall when the company presents William Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet.

In Bells Are Ringing, Battista plays the well-meaning Ella Peterson who works for her cousin’s telephone answering service. Ella cannot stop herself when it comes to the clients’ lives and feels she must do whatever she can to help them — especially handsome but struggling playwright Jeffrey Moss. In the role, Battista sings such classic songs as “The Party’s Over,” “It’s a Perfect Relationship,” and “Just in Time.” 

Gia Battista received her B.A. in English and Dramatic Art from UC Davis and is currently pursuing an M.M. in Vocal Performance at Sacramento State University. Gia is a founding Artistic Director of Davis Shakespeare Ensemble (DSE) as well as an actor, director, vocalist, and playwright. Her DSE acting credits include: Eurydice in Relapse, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Beloved in The Sonnet Project, Viola in Twelfth Night, and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. While at UC Davis, Battista’s credits included Gallethea in Gallethea, Isabella in Measure for Measure, Perdita in A Winter’s Tale and Sheila in Hair (Studio 301). Ms. Battista’s directing credits include: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, She Loves Me, Nightingale, Macbeth: The Radio Play, Relapse, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, The Sonnet Project (DSE), Fuddy Meers, Macbeth (Studio 301), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (North Coast Repertory Theatre). Battista’s Nightingale won the Best of Fringe Award at the San Francisco Fringe Festival in 2013. She is currently stage directing for Sacramento State’s Opera Theatre program.

Richard Chowenhill is an award-winning composer and guitarist. Recent credits include original scores for the DSE’s productions of Twelfth Night, The Sonnet Project, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Relapse, Henry V, Macbeth: The Radio Play, Nightingale, As You Like It, andMuch Ado About Nothing as well as sound design for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. A graduate of UC Davis, Mr. Chowenhill holds a degree in Music (emphases in Composition and Classical Guitar Performance), and is the recipient of the Olga Brose Valente Memorial Prize for Excellence in Musical Composition, a Departmental Citation for Outstanding Undergraduate Accomplishment in Music, and the Department of Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Musical Performance. Chowenhill is currently a PhD candidate in music composition and theory at Brandeis University.

For more information about the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, visit www.shakespearedavis.org