Paddy Swanson began his career in London as an actor at the Arts Theatre in the West End. In 1969, he toured Europe with La MaMa Plexus and subsequently got his world theater education from Ellen Stewart at La MaMa E.T.C. in New York. His numerous directing projects include opera, ensemble, music theater and circus.  He was a founding stage director of Circus Flora.

Paddy taught acting and improvisation at the London Academy of Dramatic Art (L.A.M.D.A.), the London Drama Centre, and New York University. He served as artistic director of the Castle Hill Festival at Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts, directing and co-producing opera and theater works, including the premiere of Julie Taymor’s Liberty’s Taken and Peter Sellars’ production of Cosi fan Tutte. Other directing credits include Tristan and Iseult with the Boston Camerata at the Spoleto USA festival; Shirley Valentine by Willy Russell at Houston’s Alley Theatre and Boston’s Charles Playhouse;  Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, and two stage premieres at Gloucester Stage Company; Talking Heads by Alan Bennett; and Fighting Over Beverley by Israel Horowitz . His Actors’ Shakespeare Project (A.S.P.) production of  Shakespeare’s King Lear with Alvin Epstein was nominated for three 2006 Elliot Norton awards. For A.S.P. he subsequently directed The Tempest, The Coveted Crown  (Henry IV Parts One and Two) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His most recent acting performance was for Gloucester Stage in their 20th anniversary production of Fighting over Beverley.

For Revels, Paddy has directed a contemporary version of the medieval mystery plays, The Mysteries by Tony Harrison, co-produced by Revels and Shakespeare & Company, and Britten’s opera Noye’s Fludde. He writes and directs all Cambridge Revels scripts, and with music director George Emlen, serves as consultant to the other eight Revels production companies.

Elijah Botkin, 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 bachelors 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 Renaissonics at New England Conservatory’s First Mondays concert series, with Chorus pro Musica for their Boston premiere of David Lang’s the little match girl passion, and with the Nightingale Vocal Ensemble for their upcoming concert, Magic.

Carolyn Saxon is so excited to be back with Revels! She is a lifelong performer who tells stories and sings all over the world. Her theatrical credits include Broadway, Off-Broadway, Broadway National Tours, film and regional theatres throughout the United States including Papermill Playhouse (NJ), Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Actors Theatre of Louisville, North Shore Musical Theatre, Forestburgh Playhouse and Connecticut Repertory. Now based in Boston, she’s worked with Greater Boston Stage, New Repertory Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, Central Square Theater, Lyric Stage Company, Front Porch Arts Collective, American Classics, Moonbox Productions, Queen Mab Micro-Theatre, Starlight Square in Cambridge, Boston Opera Collaborative, the Outside the Box Festival and the Emerson Paramount. Her orchestral work includes the Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall, Teatro Colon, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic. She is a member of the Boston Pops Gospel Choir, NEC Millennium Choir, Sharing a New Song and the One City Chorus. She is a standing Guest Soloist at Historic Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. An avid traveler who believes in the power of music to unite, she’s entertained audiences throughout Japan, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Jamaica and the United States. Film credits include ‘Sweet & Lowdown’, ‘Small Time Crooks’ and ‘The Curse of the Jade Scorpion’.  Happy to have stayed busy during the pandemic, Carolyn created and performed in 4 different cabarets, ‘Songs I Might Have Missed’, ‘There & Back Again’, ‘Songs From Center Stage’ and ‘Carolyn Saxon and Friends: Singing In the New Year!’

In 2019, David celebrated 40 years of performing with Revels by releasing a compilation 2 CD set, David Coffin Live from the Revels Stage, representing his favorite songs with various guest artists, the Revels Choruses, and most importantly, you, the Revels audience. During the pandemic he took to creating virtual content not only in producing the #RevelsConnects series but also on TikTok since the “Sea Chantey Craze” took the world by storm winter of 2021. As a result he has just released a 12-song digital album (The Sound of Time) of all single take performances of a variety of genres. He has also released a digital version of the Easter Hymn Sing he produced as part of the #RevelsConnects Series.

Widely known for his rich baritone voice, David performs on an impressive array of musical instruments, including concertinas, recorders, penny whistles, bombardes, gemshorns, shawms, rauschpfieffes, or, as he explains, “Generally anything that requires a lot of hot air.” At the heart of David’s work is his extensive collection of songs from the Maritime Tradition.

When he’s not on the Revels stage David is presenting his signature Enrichment Programs (a program covering the history of wind instruments and an imaginary 18th-century whaling program) in New England schools as the Revels-Artist-in-Residence. For the past 22 summers you would have found David on a boat in the Boston Harbor, either taking over 10,000 inner-city kids out to a harbor island through Save the Harbor Save the Bay or narrating harbor history tours through Boston Harbor City Cruises. He is also the featured Singing Fisherman in Amazon Prime’s feature film, Blow the Man Down. www.davidcoffin.com

Stephanie Clayman has been acting professionally for over 25 years, working in Off Broadway and regional theaters. She has endured harrowing assaults – but lived to collect a paycheck – on various television shows, and can be seen putting her Deaf Studies degree to good use in What’s the Worst That Could Happen? as her character gleefully interprets a string of invective into American Sign Language. She is an experienced voice over artist, able to pronounce terrifying medical terms with ease, although with scant knowledge of their meaning. She is delighted to be a part of Revels this year, and to share her own beloved Bubbe (who immigrated to NYC in 1921) with the wider world. More information at StephanieClayman.com.

Rosalba Solis is the Founder of the Boston-based La Piñata – a nearly thirty-year-old Latin American cultural & performing arts community organization. Rosalba is a professional teacher, dancer, musician, 2019 Mayor Walsh Youth Advocate Award winner, 2013 Jubilation Foundation Fellow, 2005 Boston Fund For Teachers Fellow, 2001 Michael Griffin Humanities Award Honorable Mention recipient for “excellence and commitment in service to Boston’s youth,” and 1993 Massachusetts Arts in Education Award recipient for “being an outstanding educator in the arts.” What is truly amazing, however, is watching Rosalba engage with students and audiences. Rosalba sparks a love for the arts through her cultural and performing arts instruction; with the arts as a tool for transcending obstacles, Rosalba ignites a joy for learning and life in all students and audiences that she touches.

Ricardo “Ricky” Holguin was recently seen in SpeakEasy Stage Company’s The Inheritance. Boston credits include Willy Wonka, James and the Giant Peach (Wheelock Family Theater), 1776, Man of La Mancha, Fiddler on the Roof directed by Austin Pendleton (New Repertory Theatre), Altar Boyz (Greater Boston Stage Company), Kiss of the Spider Woman, LaChiusa’s The Wild Party (Moonbox Productions), and Guys and Dolls (Reagle Music Theatre). Ricky has been praised and workshopped by Richard Maltby, David Shire, Didi Conn, and Tony Award Winner, Adam Guettel. He obtained his M.F.A. in Musical Theater from The Boston Conservatory.

Clarinetist Glenn Dickson, has been performing his solo clarinet with electronics for almost 20 years.  in and around Boston and New York City. As leader of Naftule’s Dream and Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, he has toured North America and Europe, at venues as diverse as the Berlin Jazz Festival and the Philly Pops, and recorded 11 albums. He has collaborated with Maurice Sendak (Pincus & the Pig) and his music has been used by Woody Allen (in Deconstructing Harry).  As a composer he has won a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant for music composition. Glenn has performed his “Dreams & Meditations” in the Boston area, New York City and the Washington D.C. area. Glenn’s first solo album, “Wider Than the Sky.” was released to international acclaim from US & European reviewers.

Maeve Leahy is 12 years old (almost 13!) and lives in Mallow, Co. Cork in Ireland. Born into a long time Revels family, Maeve enjoys spending her summers and Christmases in the Boston area, visiting her grandparents, Tom and Deborah Kruskal with her parents and sister. Maeve fell in love with drama early in life and has been taking drama, musical theater, dance, and singing classes for several years at her local performing arts school, Centre Stage, in Mallow. She has been fortunate enough to work with Paddy Swanson in his Mummers Play class at CDSS run Family Week at Ogontz, NH for the last couple of summers and is delighted to have the opportunity to perform in Revels this year as a third generation Revels cast member.

Ewan Swanson is sixteen years old and has been involved in Revels since he was eight, when he performed with the Revels Children’s Chorus. This is his second time acting in the show, after having previously played the role of Sven in the 2018 Nordic Revels. Ewan is a junior at Lexington High School and is currently involved with his school’s theater department. His recent roles include Mr. Wormwood in Matilda the Musical as well as Ferdinand in The Tempest. Ewan is excited to be joining Revels once again for their midwinter celebration, and would like to thank all those who have supported him in his acting career up to this point.

Luke Olivier grew up on Revels – attending his first Christmas Revels at the age of eight months – and is now making his first appearance as an actor in The Midwinter Revels. He has appeared in numerous Revels productions as a member of child and adult choruses. His first performance with Revels was in Noye’s Fludde, followed by Spring, Christmas, and Summer Revels, as well as recordings. He has trained in piano, dance, and theater, but denies any relation to Laurence O. He performed, arranged music for, directed, and recording with a cappella groups throughout high school and college. In his alternated reality, he is an Assistant Director of Fitness at the MIT Recreation Department.

Nicole Galland has plied her dramaturgical skills for major theatre companies across the country, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where she served as Literary Manager. She’s put her time in as actor, director, writing mentor, screenwriter, and PhD fellow at UC Berkeley’s scholar/director program, of which she is a proud drop-out. Since 2008 she’s co-adapted/directed (with Chelsea McCarthy) Shakespeare for the Masses, an irreverent theatre troupe based on Martha’s Vineyard. Her debut novel, The Fool’s Tale, was a Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” pick in 2005; since then she has written historical, contemporary, and speculative novels, including the New York Times bestseller The Rise and Fall of DODO (with co-author Neal Stephenson). Nicole discovered Revels in 2014, singing in the chorus of the Victorian Christmas show, and has cherished the Revels community ever since. She is (in part) of both Jewish and Irish descent and as a child her father immigrated to the US by boat through Ellis Island, so singing in this year’s chorus is especially dear to her.

Kelli Edwards is happy to be back with Revels after choreographing their 2017, 2019 and 2021 Christmas shows. Professional theatre credits as choreographer or movement consultant include A Confederacy of Dunces, Come Back, Little Sheba, The Second Girl, Becoming Cuba, The Cherry Orchard, and How Shakespeare Won the West, Huntington Theatre Company; 1776 (co-director), Fiddler on the Roof, The Hot Mikado (IRNE Award for Best Choreography), The Snow Queen, The Wild Party, Cabaret, Ragtime, The Threepenny Opera, Passing Strange, and RENT, The New Repertory Theatre. Other Boston area credits in choreography are with the American Repertory Theatre, Actor’s Shakespeare Project, Stoneham Theatre, Whistler in the Dark, and Brandeis Theatre Company. Kelli is the co-director of and performs with Dances by Isadora Boston, a company dedicated to the work of one of the founders of American modern dance, Isadora Duncan. Kelli is on the performing arts faculty of Milton Academy.