The People Behind the Work
Founder · Executive Artistic Producer · Education Director
Josh Pohja
Josh Pohja is the Founder and Executive Artistic Producer of Wisconsin Classic Stage (est. 2025), bringing his distinctive creative vision to its launch with the critically acclaimed productions of Henry V, Ghosts and The Persians.
From 2022–2024, Pohja co-founded and served as Artistic Director of another local Milwaukee company, directing My Name is Rachel Corrie, Antigone, and three successive runs of All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, creating the foundation for which the company now thrives. Other notable productions directed in Milwaukee include Hamlet, An Enemy of the People, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Laramie Project, Blue Stockings, Endgame, Much Ado About Nothing, Golden Child, and She Kills Monsters, co-producing Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival ('23) and assistant directing its widely praised production of Great Expectations.
Earlier in his career, he founded Duende Collective in Los Angeles, developing actor training and contemporary classical approaches rooted in Viewpoints, Suzuki technique, Adler Technique, and Composition.
Pohja is a graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama for Acting during the residency of the Moscow Art Theatre: Anatoly Smeliansky, Andrei Șerban, Natalia Fedorova, as well as Bulgarian director Mladen Kiselov, Ibsen scholar Brian Johnston, Victoria Santa Cruz, Gregory Lehane, Don Marinelli, and Don Wadsworth. These scholars and teachers shaped his love for re-imagining classical theatre.
As a teacher, he has mentored nationwide and locally through his training lab WCS Actors Studio and APEX (Advanced Performance Experience) in Milwaukee.
As an actor, Pohja has performed nationally with, most notably, The Guthrie Theater, The Acting Company, Old Globe, Alley Theatre, Judson Church, HERE Arts Center, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, NYC Fringe Festival, and more.
Josh is also a proud alumnus of the Wisconsin Directors Lab, Saratoga International Theatre Institute (SITI) under the guidance of Anne Bogart and the SITI Company, and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. He is a 27-year member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.
Artistic Director
Cole Castine
Cole Castine is Wisconsin Classic Stage's Artistic Director, bringing a distinctive artistic mindset and approach to classical theatre. WCS audiences have seen his range onstage as well, from the commanding King Xerxes in The Persians to the anguished Pastor Manders in Ghosts. Cole thinks beyond conventional frameworks, bringing clarity, vision, and invention to every facet of the work, from acting to producing to direction. His approach unifies space and performance into a cohesive theatrical language shaped by purpose, guiding Wisconsin Classic Stage toward seasons that are urgent, embodied, and intellectually alive.
Associate Producer · Marketing Advisor
Marvin Hannah Jr.
Marvin brings depth of experience and a powerful presence to everything he touches — on stage and behind the scenes. As Associate Producer and Marketing Advisor, he shapes how Wisconsin Classic Stage connects with Milwaukee and beyond, ensuring this company's work reaches the audiences it deserves. A performer of remarkable range, he is also a vital member of the acting ensemble, lending his mystic voice as Chorus III in The Persians, where he brought a haunting gravitas that anchored the production.
Company Manager
Deborah Stencel
Deborah is the organizational heartbeat of Wisconsin Classic Stage — the person who ensures that ambitious vision becomes seamless reality. As Company Manager, she keeps the day-to-day life of the company running smoothly, all while maintaining an active performing career of her own: Deborah joined WCS in its inaugural production of Henry V as Bardolph, and in the summer of 2026 led the cast as Mrs. Alving in its critically acclaimed production of Ghosts. Her recent credits include Annette in God of Carnage at Sunset Playhouse and Mistress Quickly in Whirligig of Time (written by fellow cast-member Rick Bingen) at Sunstone Studios. Deborah also performs regularly at ComedySportz, the Interchange Theater Co-op, and with Boozy Bard Productions at Best Place, Milwaukee.
Casting & Costume Director
Katherine Ziemann
Katherine brings a discerning eye for texture, fabric, and silhouette to every Wisconsin Classic Stage production. As Casting & Costume Director, she designs costumes that translate each play's world into cloth and form, having designed the costumes for both The Persians and Ghosts, while also shaping the ensembles that bring each script to life. This summer, Katherine also worked as a seamstress at American Players Theatre, the very season the company was named recipient of the 2026 Regional Theatre Tony Award, so WCS can now claim a direct thread to Tony Award-winning craftsmanship.
Artistic Associate
Joel Berkowitz
Joel Berkowitz is Professor of English and Director of the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In the summer of 2026, he served as Assistant Director for Wisconsin Classic Stage's production of Ghosts. A historian of Yiddish theatre and a translator of Yiddish drama, Joel is the author of Shakespeare on the American Yiddish Stage and editor of Yiddish Theatre: New Approaches. He is also co-editor of Landmark Yiddish Plays: A Critical Anthology and Inventing the Modern Yiddish Stage. Together with Debra Caplan, he co-founded the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project.
