David Coffin (Master of Ceremonies) is a firm believer in not doing anything full-time. While he’s been on the Revels stage since 1980 and performed as Master of Ceremonies since 1990, he also presents two very interactive School Enrichment Programs: The History of the Recorder and A Maritime Voyage in Song. March through November, David can also be found on Boston Harbor, narrating harbor history and running the crew onboard the high-speed stunt boat, Codzilla. Working with kids is a passion for David, so taking over 10,000 inner-city kids out to the Harbor Islands every summer since 2000 through Save the Harbor/Save the Bay has been a nice way to round out his year.

During the pandemic, David created over 600 videos on TikTok trying to teach young people what a real sea chantey is (i.e. NOT THE WELLERMAN SONG!) A byproduct of these videos is the digital album The Sound of Time, a series of “one take” songs requested by followers on the app. David has produced a series of virtual concerts, two of which became a digital album; A Revels Hymn Sing and A Virtual Maritime Concert. David has several other solo CDs to his credit and was also featured in the Amazon Prime movie Blow the Man Down as the Singing Fisherman.

In his years with Revels, including 10 years standing behind Jack Langstaff and 36 years spent trying to fill his enormous shoes, David learned an awful lot about performing from Jack. He also owes a huge debt of gratitude to Paddy Swanson for giving him his various onstage roles and for preserving and honoring “the part that Jack built.”

Kristian Espiritu (Mother/Queen) (they/she) – The Public Theater: Here Lies Love. 1st National Tour: School of Rock. A.R.T.: The Odyssey, Romeo & Juliet. The Huntington Theatre: The Heart Sellers. Lyric Stage: Hello, Dolly!, The Drowsy Chaperone, Assassins. Wheelock Family Theatre: A Year With Frog and Toad, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Merrimack Repertory Theater: The Rise and Fall of Holly Fudge. East West Players: Interstate. Pioneer Theater Company: Once On This Island. Music Theatre of Connecticut: Little Shop of Horrors. TV: Love Life, Ray Donovan, Hunters, Younger. Kristian is also a Broadway Guest Artist on Disney Cruise Line, as well as an intimacy director, pole dancer, and fiber artist. IG: @kriscendo. website: www.kristianespiritu.com

Eliza Fichter (Match Girl/Neighbor) Regional: How to Not Save the World With Mr. Bezos (Great Barrington Public Theater); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Noises Off (Lyric Stage Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Servant of Two Masters (Lanes Coven Theater); Morning, Noon and Night (Company One); The Minutes (Umbrella Stage Company); The Crucible (Nora Theatre/Bedlam); The Revolutionists (Central Square Theater); Matchless & The Happy Prince (Underground Railway Theater). A multidisciplinary artist from Massachusetts, Eliza also works as a printmaker. elizafichter.com

David Keohane (Father/Coachman) is a theatre practitioner, actor, educator, and dramaturg currently living in Northampton, MA. His acting credits include productions with Lanes Coven Theater, Huntington Theatre, Silverthorne Theater, Great Barrington Public Theatre, BEDLAM, Central Square Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Opera House Arts, and Oak Park Festival Theatre. He holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University and is currently a Dramaturgy MFA candidate at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Debra Wise (Interim Artistic Director) acted with Revels 2004-07, returning in 2023 to help Revels transition to new leadership. Wise’s career began in 1978, when she co-founded Underground Railway Theater, touring original works in the collaborative spirit of its namesake to venues ranging from Lincoln Center to schools (titles included Sanctuary-The Spirit of Harriet Tubman, Home is Where, Christopher Columbus Follies) and concert halls (with the Boston Symphony: Firebird, Creation of the World, Tempest). As URT’s Artistic Director, she also created performances for non-traditional venues, including MFA and MIT Museum. After founding Central Square Theater with Nora Theatre Company in 2008, Wise co-founded CST’s science theater partnership, Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, and led partnerships with Mount Auburn Cemetery (Our Town) and the National Park Service (Roots of Liberty–The Haitian Revolution and the American Civil War). Productions Wise helmed have won Elliot Norton awards, including Vanity Fair, black odyssey boston, The Convert, and Constellations. Acting appearances at CST have included Angels in America, Half-Life of Marie Curie, Homebody, Copenhagen, Einstein’s Dreams, Arabian Nights; other stages include Commonwealth Shakespeare, Speakeasy, Boston Playwrights, Greater Boston Stage, Lanes Coven, and The Public (Haggadah, with Julie Taymor). She has adapted and directed works by Dickens, Grace Paley, Lewis Carroll, and Gregory Maguire. She left her CST Artistic Director position in 2022 to invite increasingly diverse leadership, continuing as CC@MIT Advisory Committee CoChair. She co-authored a digital book on URT’s history (URTheaterEbook.com); and is narrator for Gregory Maguire’s Another Day series, returning to his epic Wicked narrative. In the new year, Wise will support Revels’ new artistic director, return to freelance acting/directing, and rehearse a new role as grandmother.

Elijah Botkin (Music Director, Revels Music Director), a Boston-based conductor, arranger, choral educator, and performer, was named Revels’ Music Director in December of 2021. He graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with bachelor’s degrees in Music History & Analysis and Mathematics. While at Northeastern, Elijah founded and directed the Northeastern Madrigal Singers, served as President and Assistant Conductor for the NU Choral Society, and sang with and arranged for the award-winning a cappella group Distilled Harmony.

Elijah’s work on Distilled Harmony’s quarterfinal-winning performance set won the distinction of Outstanding Arrangement from the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. His arrangement of “Nothing Feels Like You” by Little Mix also won a CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) for Best Mixed Collegiate Song. In 2014, Elijah was granted the Gideon Klein Award in order to write his composition The Closed Town, which was premiered by the Northeastern University Chamber Choir in April 2015.

In addition to his role with Revels, Elijah continues to direct the NU Madrigal Singers and was recently named the Interim Music Director of the Reading Community Singers for Spring 2023. He is also a frequent performer with a variety of professional ensembles in the Boston area, with recent and upcoming performances including appearances with Carduus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel, the NU Madrigal Singers’ 10th Anniversary Concert, the Nightingale Vocal Ensemble’s recent concerts SALONMUSIK and BLUE SUN, and Nightingale’s season gala, Renaissance Reimagined. He is passionate about using choir and the power of singing together to bring joy to anyone and everyone willing to lend their voice.

Austin Comerford (Tuba) is an active freelancer, a member of the Back Bay Brass Quintet, and has appeared with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Cape Ann Symphony, Lexington Symphony, and Vista Philharmonic, among many other large and small ensembles in the New England area. 

A passionate educator, active private teacher,  and former faculty member at Bridgewater State University, Austin has presented master classes and clinics at schools and colleges across New England and Minnesota. His students frequently achieve high honors in district and state solo and ensemble competitions, and he finds great joy in supporting their personal and artistic growth.

Outside of music, he has held administrative roles at the New England Conservatory and in the Department of Music at Northeastern University, where he now works while pursuing his master’s degree in Computer Science.

Tom Duprey (Trumpet) has been freelancing as a trumpet player in the Boston area since the mid-1980s. His jazz friends say he’s a classical player, and his classical friends say he’s a jazzer with a good tone. Tom feels that he’s a “generalist” –  a Jack of all Trades – who noodles his way through the trumpet!

Tom has performed and recorded with pit orchestras; jazz bands; symphony orchestras; and rock, Latin and R&B bands, playing with the likes of Johnny Mathis, Dionne Warwick, Tommy Tune, Robert Goulet, Serj Tankian, Madeleine Peyroux, Amanda Palmer, the Scottish indie-pop band Belle & Sebastian, and with his buddy David Hawthorne’s band Time Ghost on their release Reading For Cigar Makers. His longest-running gig has been playing with the band TickleJuice, led by friend and fellow NEC grad James Merenda, for over fifteen years. And near and dear to his heart, Tom has been blessed to play on many Revels productions and recordings, starting around 1999 as the sub for the now-defunct descant trumpet part up in the balcony of the amazing Sanders Theatre.

Abe Finch (Percussion) is a Boston-area freelance percussionist and music educator. In 2025, he was appointed the principal percussionist and timpanist of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston. 

Abe was the featured percussionist in the world premier of James Kallembach’s “Audubon” at  Jordan Hall, performing with Chorus Pro Musica under the direction of Jamie Kirsch, making  “salient work of Kallembach’s involved percussion writing.” (Jonathan Blumhofer, Boston Classical Review)  

Abe provided percussion for Chorus Pro Musica’s performance of “The Little Match Girl  Passion” by David Lang, creating a tapestry of sound using iOS integration and Ableton Live  software to capture, process, and transform acoustic sound with ethereal effects. Abe also  played the solo percussion role in the world premiere of “Songs for the Earth” by Rebecca  Sachs at Tufts University.  

Abe has performed with Revels since 2003, appearing in numerous Christmas Revels and on  seven Revels CD releases, while also having coached a group of his own students in the  Revels production of Benjamin Britten’s “Noye’s Flood.”  

Abe composes original works for percussion, including thematic pieces for children, advanced  percussion ensemble repertoire, and arrangements for steel drum ensemble. Abe currently  teaches percussion at Salem State University, where he is director of the small ensemble  program. His other teaching positions include Phillips Academy, Groton School, Groton Hill  Music and Northern Essex Community College.

Greg Gettel (Trumpet) is a versatile trumpet player and teacher who has spent over 25 years in the local music scene. After attending Oberlin Conservatory and New England Conservatory, he toured in South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, and performed at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Greg has also served as a guest coach at the SHOBI College of Music in Japan. Locally, he has appeared with many ensembles throughout New England including Boston Ballet, Emmanuel Music, Harvard Baroque, Portland Symphony, Plymouth Philharmonic, Opera Boston, Odyssey Opera, the American Repertory Theater, the Family Folk Chorale, and Midwinter Revels. Greg appears annually in A Merry Music Hall Christmas at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall. He has also played in the Trinity United Methodist’s Boar’s Head Festival in Springfield, MA for over 20 years. He was a student of Tim Morrison, Byron Pearson, and Louis Ranger. Currently, he teaches for Lexington Community Education and The Waldorf School of Lexington. Raised by musicians in rural Vermont, Greg can often be found outdoors with his wife, two kids, and their dog.

Laura Hummel (Nyckelharpa, Hardanger Fiddle) is an emerging voice in Nordic folk music. A classically trained violinist, she set out on a path of musical self-discovery that led her to the Swedish nyckelharpa—an instrument with ancient history and an otherworldly sound that continues to enthrall modern audiences. Drawn to the ways folk traditions evolve and find new expression, Laura explores how these musical lineages can speak to contemporary listeners while honoring their roots.

Laura deepened her artistry at the Eric Sahlström Institute in Tobo, Sweden, studying intensively with leading masters of the nyckelharpa and Swedish folk traditions. She has also immersed herself in the Hardanger fiddle tradition of Norway, studying with Ottar Kåsa and Jan Beitohaugen Granli in the inaugural Rauland International Hardingfele Intensive program. Her dedication to the instrument was recently recognized with a Maryland Folklife Apprenticeship grant, awarded jointly with her mentor, Loretta Kelley.

Laura shares the joy of folk music through her performances, dance sets, and teaching. Her performances have taken her to stages and festivals, including the Ashokan Center, Washington DC Folk Festival, Institute of Musical Traditions, Jammin’ Java (where she opened for Väsen Duo), Duluth-stämman, and the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America’s annual workshop at Folklore Village.

A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Laura weaves together her classical foundation and folk sensibility with both finesse and imagination. She has released recordings and original compositions as part of Nordensong (with Loretta Kelley, Andrea Hoag, and Karl Lundeberg) and Svalorna.

lydia ievins (Nyckelharpa, Five-Strong Fiddle) is a highly respected performer on nyckelharpa and five-string fiddle, deeply immersed in traditional Swedish music and dance. She is the only fiddler in the US who has earned both a bronze Zorn Medal and a “diplom efter brons” in Sweden, for her fiddling in the Uppland tradition. Her absolute favorite thing about fiddling is the opportunity to improvise rich harmonic lines, which she now does even in solo appearances, thanks to her expertise in using a looper pedal to layer multiple melodic and harmonic voices. She has appeared at the Newport Folk Festival and Kaustinen (Finland) Folk Music Festival, as well as at Scandinavian museums and cultural centers across the US. She has taught and/or played on staff at camps across the US including Nordic Fiddles and Feet, Scandia Camp Mendocino, Northern Week at Ashokan, Fiddle Hell, Northeast Heritage Music Camp, CDSS English Week at Pinewoods, CDSS Family Weeks at Pinewoods and Ogontz, Folklore Village, and Berea Christmas Country Dance School. lydia’s recordings include Koivu (2018) with Helsinki-based pianist and composer Juha Kujanpää, Fika (2013) and Trip to Tobo (2012 EP) with Andrea Larson, and Northlands (2010) with Bruce Sagan. This is her fourth Scandinavian Revels show. www.lydiamusic.org

Tom Pixton (Accordion) has been active in a variety of traditional music scenes for more than 30 years and is a dear friend of Revels. He has been a regular Revels performer since 1997, appearing on numerous stage and recording projects as accordionist, arranger, singer, and bandleader. He works regularly with many traditional dance camps and festivals around the US. Learn more about Tom at https://www.pixton.org/.

Philip Swanson (Trombone) has had a wide-ranging career as a trombonist, pianist, composer, organist, and teacher. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts at New England Conservatory, received a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music, and did his undergraduate study at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Miami.

As a trombonist, he has performed with the Miami Philharmonic, where he served as principal for five years, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Opera Boston, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Ballet Orchestra, and numerous other orchestral and chamber ensembles. He has performed with many small groups and big band jazz ensembles, including Chamber Jazz, which he founded with guitarist Anthony Weller, and The Bob Nieske 10. He has also collaborated with the poet J.D. Scrimgeour, Director of Creative Writing at Salem State University, forming the group “Confluence,” which combines Scrimgeour’s poetry with Swanson’s music. Swanson is currently a Professor of Music at Salem State University, where he teaches music theory, composition, trombone, and piano. Since 1991, he has been Music Director of the First Congregational Church of Rockport, where he serves as organist and choir director. 

Swanson has written and published numerous works in both instrumental and vocal genres. He can be heard on a wide range of recordings, including several jazz group recordings, two solo piano recordings, an album with J.D. Scrimgeour of poetry and music, two CDs with brass and organ, seven CDs with the Cambridge Revels, and performances with larger ensembles, including the Boston Pops and John Williams. For more information on his compositions, recordings, and current performances, please visit www.swansonmusic.com.

Sammy Wetstein (Musician), multi instrumentalist, composer, and teacher, is inspired by bonds of kinship forged through music and found his love for music traveling between multigenerational folk music workshops and festivals in search of a musical community to call home.  His journey led him to pursue a degree in folk and jazz string performance at Berklee College of Music, where he became versed in a variety of styles, performing, recording, and teaching throughout the worlds of classical, jazz, and traditional Celtic, New England, Bluegrass and Old time fiddle music.

As a multi-instrumentalist fluent in playing accordion, guitar, mandolin, bass, violin, and viola, he has appeared at venues such as the Newport Folk Festival, Grey Fox Bluegrass festival, and The Smithsonian. He has served as faculty at camps and workshops such as Maine Fiddle Camp, The Swannanoa Gathering, The Ashokan Center, Fiddle Hell, Pinewoods, and the IBMA Kids on Bluegrass Program.

Sammy has appeared alongside artists such as the Grammy winning 8 Bit Big Band; jazz icons Joe Lovano and Kenny Barron; renowned string players including Eugene Friesen, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and Jason Anick; and has toured with trailblazing folk artists Jake Bount and Nic Gareiss. Advocating for furthering the role of the cello in traditional music, he has been featured on Bluegrass Today and Sirius XM Bluegrass Junction. In 2024 his new acoustic quartet Catfish in the Sky was a winner of the Freshgrass band competition, and his Celtic trio was voted one of the top 5 Celtic bands of 2022 by Irish and Celtic music podcast. 

Sammy plays music in hopes to bring others together, and in his teaching he works to encourage string players of all ages and backgrounds to find freedom in their music, explore global music styles, and play music as a means to exist in community while better understanding oneself.

Jeff Adelberg (Lighting Designer) celebrates his 15th year designing for The Midwinter Revels! A Boston-based designer, he is responsible for over 350 productions in New England and beyond. Recent work includes Our Class and The Dybbuk (Arlekin Players Theatre, Boston); Angels in America parts 1 and 2, Hamlet, and The Effect (The Gamm Theatre, RI); El Matrimonio Secreto (Florida Grand Opera), Mrs Warren’s Profession and Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Central Square Theatre); Frankenstein (Cincinnati Shakespeare Co. and Merrimack Repertory Theatre); Million Dollar Quartet Christmas (Capital Repertory Theatre, Albany NY). Jeff has won five Eliott Norton Awards and four Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards for his designs. He attended the University of Connecticut and is on the faculty at Harvard University and Boston College. A member of IATSE/USA-829, Jeff lives in Holliston, Massachusetts with wife Tess and daughter Jo. www.jeffadelberg.com Instagram: @jdadelberg

Jeremy Barnett (Scenic Designer) is a Detroit-based scenic designer with over two hundred credits in theatre, opera, and dance. Since 2007, Jeremy has been Revels’ resident scenic designer.  As a visual artist, Jeremy creates large-scale public art in the US and internationally.  He recently exhibited at the Cerdeira Home for Art (Portugal); The Art and Ground Cave Gallery (Spain); and the Krasl Art Center (Michigan). Jeremy is Chair of the Department of Theatre at Oakland University.  Find more of Jeremy’s work at www.jeremybarnett.com

Nicole Galland (Dramaturg) is honored to have helped craft this year’s Midwinter Revels script. As an undergrad at Harvard, Nicole spent all her time acting and directing, despite being a Comparative Religion student (focus: Buddhism). She began a PhD in Drama/Directing at UC Berkeley, but was seduced away from academia by the lively Bay Area theatre scene, which temporarily became a gateway to the Manhattan theatre scene. She survived a brief stint as a screenwriter in Los Angeles but doesn’t like to talk about it. Since leaving her staff job as Literary Manager/Dramaturg at Berkeley Repertory Theatre years ago, she’s made her living as a novelist, mostly of historical fiction. Her speculative-fiction romp, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (co-authored with Neal Stephenson) was a New York Times and Locus Magazine bestseller. She recently became the new managing features editor of the NENPA-award-winning Martha’s Vineyard Times, her hometown newspaper, for which she used to write.

But Nicole has never stopped making theatre. In January 2026, two of her plays will appear simultaneously in different festivals:  Last Call (co-writer, director), about traditional Irish music, will appear in Ireland’s Tradfest, and The Retreat (playwright) will premiere in the Playground Solo Fest in California.

Her 11th novel, BOY, is set in Shakespeare’s London; it came out this year from HarperCollins and will be available in paperback in February. She warmly encourages you to pre-order a copy.

Heidi Hermiller has designed Revels costumes for 30+ years. Along with the Revels, Heidi has designed the Harvard Hasty Pudding, but wherever she is in Cambridge, Heidi loves the craziness, research, and joy of designing – and is excited to be designing for Debra Wise this year! Fools, mummers, bobblehead costumes… whatever it takes.

Sarah Higginbotham (Assistant Music Director) finds joy in developing authentic ways to create multigenerational community through art. She’s been a songleader in schools, camps, churches, and children’s theaters. Sarah was the Revels Education Director from 2005-2009, establishing after-school workshops and in-school residencies around greater Boston, and she has assisted Revels music directors for over 20 years. Sarah currently serves as Director of Communications & Christian Formation at First Church in Cambridge, UCC.

Elizabeth Locke (Props Coordinator) is celebrating her 30th straight year on the Revels production crew, either as props coordinator, assistant stage manager, or in some years, both! Other credits include props coordination for the first four years of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, props for Central Square Theater and Concord Academy, stage management at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and helping to found Cornerstone Village Cohousing in Cambridge.

Revels is a family affair; all three of Elizabeth’s children, two of her grandchildren, two ex-husbands, and her current partner have appeared on the Revels stage. The opportunity to work with a multi-generational backstage team has been the most satisfying part of her Revels experience. She is energized and inspired by the cooperation and collaboration (and just plain fun) that gets the team to opening night!

David Stenlund (Tradition Bearer) is delighted to make his Midwinter Revels debut as a tradition bearer. Born and raised in Finland in a Swedish-speaking family, he has grown up singing many of the songs in this year’s production. David has sung in a choir for a large part of his life, most recently in YVR Pop Choir in Vancouver, BC. He is very excited about joining Midwinter Revels together with his wife and two children.

Patrick “Paddy” Swanson (Senior Artistic Advisor) began his career in London as an actor at the Arts Theatre in the West End. In 1969, following a European tour with the La MaMa Plexus Troupe, he moved to New York and received his world theater education as a resident actor at La MaMa E.T.C. His numerous directing projects include opera, ensemble pieces, music theater, and circus. He was a founding stage director of Circus Flora and the Artistic Director of Revels. Paddy taught acting and improvisation at the London Academy of Dramatic Art (L.A.M.D.A.), the London Drama Centre, and the Tisch School of the Arts at N.Y.U. He served as artistic director of the Castle Hill Festival in Ipswich, Massachusetts, directing and co-producing opera and theater works, including the premieres of Julie Taymor’s Liberty Taken and Peter Sellars’ production of Cosi fan tutte. He directed the Boston Camerata in Tristan and Iseult at the Spoleto USA festival and Shirley Valentine at the Alley Theatre, Houston, and the Charles Playhouse, as well as numerous other productions in the U.K. and Europe. His Actor’s Shakespeare Project production of Shakespeare’s King Lear with Alvin Epstein was nominated for three 2006 Elliot Norton awards and subsequently transferred Off-Broadway. Paddy’s most recent acting role was as Father Jack in Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa at Gloucester Stage. He was the Artistic Director of Revels for 34 years, and in his current role as Senior Artistic Advisor, serves as a consultant to the other eight Revels production companies performing throughout the United States.