Illinois Shakespeare Festival (ISF) Artistic Director John C. Stark named Jordan Coughtry as the 41st actor selected for ISF’s “Actor Honor Roll.” The announcement was made on Saturday, August 11 at the Bard Bash & Cabaret. This is the first year that the Festival hosted this season-ending celebration, which featured entertainment by the members of the acting company.
In the 2018 season, Coughtry played the title role in Henry V and Marlowe in Shakespeare in Love. His other ISF credits include Puck in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, as well as roles in The Amazing Cymbeline, Failure: A Love Story, Macbeth and A Comedy of Errors.
Coughtry recently received his Master of Fine Arts in acting degree from the University of Illinois. His professional credits include extensive work with The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and New York productions of Murder in the Cathedral, Be Story Free, and Very Very (J.J. and Z). Regionally, he has performed at the Westport Country Playhouse, TheatreWorks, Pioneer Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and Two River Theater. He is also an artistic collective member of the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, where he has appeared in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Coughtry joins a select group of actors whom have performed at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival since its inception in 1978. Other honorees include Gary Cole, Yetide Badaki, Ian Barford, Tom Irwin, Phillip Earl Johnson, Tandy Cronyn, William Peterson, The Q Brothers -JQ/GQ, and Coughtry’s wife, Nisi Sturgis, who appeared with him in the acting companies of ISF’s 2013 and 2017 seasons. The initial group of 40 actors were named at last year’s 40th anniversary celebration.
