Nashville Shakespeare Festival Staff Members
Jason Spelbring
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Jason is a graduate of the two-year professional actor training program at Pacific Conservatory
Theatre (PCPA) and holds a BFA from Webster University Conservatory of Theatre Arts and an MFA from UC Irvine. Spelbring is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Directing credits include the Lincoln Center Theatre national tour of My Fair Lady (assistant director); Amadeus, Cleveland Play House (movement, intimacy, & fight director); An Iliad (director), Romeo and Juliet (director), Pericles (movement director), Henry VIII, The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (intimacy & fight director), Utah Shakespeare Festival; Macbeth (fight director), Lyric Repertory Company; Sunday in the Park with George (director), Nashville Repertory Theatre.
Educational directing credits include Illyria, University of Utah; Twelfth Night, Webster University Conservatory of Theater Arts; Twelfth Night, Utah State University; Pride and Prejudice, Belmont University.
Isabel Tipton-Krispin is an arts administrator and nonprofit leader with more than a decade of experience in the performing arts sector. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and previously held roles with Nashville Ballet and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Her work focuses on strengthening arts organizations through strategic planning, fundraising, board engagement, and community-centered programming, with a commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the arts.
Isabel is a graduate of the Racial Equity in Arts Leadership program and has been active in local arts advocacy, serving on the Metro Arts Committee for Antiracism and Equity and as a former board member of the Nashville Arts Coalition. She was a finalist for the Nashville Emerging Leader Awards in the Arts, Music, and Entertainment category in 2022 and 2025, and is a member of the Volunteer 40 Under 40 Class of 2024 and the Nashville Emerging Leaders 2024 Cohort.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a focus in sound design from the University of Tennessee and a Graduate Certificate in Arts Administration from the University of Connecticut.
Robert Marigza-Yeo
FINANCE AND OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Robert first became involved with NSF as an actor in the 1994 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Over these 31 years, he has served The Festival as an interim managing director, actor, stage manager, designer, technical director, crew, teacher, and IT person. Since 2005, he has been the full-time Operations Manager of the company and was Producer of all NSF shows from 2006 through 2020. As an actor, Robert has also worked with Nashville Children’s Theatre, People’s Branch Theatre, Mockingbird Theatre, Nashville Repertory Theatre, Green Room Projects, and Actors’ Bridge Ensemble, as well as in commercials and independent films. He holds a BS in Mathematics from Mary Washington University.
Katie Bruno
EDUCATION DIRECTOR
Katie has been a member of the NSF staff since 2018; that same year, she worked as an apprentice and actor in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Katie is honored to serve as the Director of Education and loves sharing the gifts of Shakespeare and live theater with the Nashville community. She directs and manages the annual Summer Conservatory training program and develops and leads summer camps and enrichment classes. Katie is a professional actor and has played on stage most recently with Nashville Repertory Theater, Studio Tenn, NSF, and Street Theatre Company.
Taryn Pray
MARKETING DIRECTOR
Taryn Pray is grateful for the opportunity to combine her passion for the stage with her PR and marketing expertise at The Nashville Shakespeare Festival! Taryn’s background includes over 18 years of experience as publicist in the music and entertainment business, having worked with Sony Music, Capitol Records, Universal Music Group, and Monarch Publicity, as well as her own independent PR firm. Taryn is also a professional actor, having most recently performed with Studio Tenn, Street Theatre Company, NSF and Backlight Productions.
Bob Roberts
GRANTS MANAGER
Bob Roberts has been working in nonprofits since 2006, serving a number of roles across a myriad of organizations. Past work includes The Middle TN Association of Realtors, The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, Belcourt Theater, and Nashville Children's Theater. Bob is also a local actor and director, having performed or worked for nearly every professional theatre company (and most non-professional theatres) in Nashville over the past 20 years. He received a bachelor's in Theatre Performance from MTSU and a master's in Non-profit Leadership from Belmont University. In his spare time, he enjoys researching and documenting the rich history of Nashville's theatre community.
Meggan Utech
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Meggan has been a member of the acting community in Nashville since 2015. Starting at Street Theatre (In the Heights) and Chaffin’s Barn (Sister Act), and most recently working at Studio Tenn (Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors), Nashville Children’s Theatre (SpongeBob, Charlotte’s Web), and Nashville Rep (Elf, The Color Purple, Waitress, 9 to 5) and the filmed version of Romeo and Juliet for NSF.
Meggan has a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and is the newest member of the NSF team.
"What’s past is prologue."
— The Tempest
Jan Morrison
COMPANY MANAGER
Jan was a volunteer for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival in the early 1990s and is thrilled to be back promoting the Bard! After earning degrees from Belmont University and Vanderbilt University, she worked in the academic world for many years. She also enjoys choral singing, travel and writing.