Lauren Ash-Morgan most recently appeared in Richard II by The Show Must Go Online, one of the pandemic era's most groundbreaking and innovative Zoom theatre series, broadcast live in 2020. Pre-pandemic, she directed The Orderly and played Susan in Garage, two productions which she produced in rep as a co-production between Seoul Shakespeare Company and Speech of Fire in 2019. That year she also directed, designed, and produced Seoul Shakespeare Company's production of King Lear. She was Seoul Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director, producer, and costume designer from 2014 to 2019, having served as a leading actor and board member with SSC since 2011. Lauren's acting credits include Prague Shakespeare Company's The Two Gentlemen of Verona directed by Ben Crystal at the Estates Theatre (Silvia/Ensemble); Seoul Shakespeare Company’s The Merchant of Venice (Portia), Garage (Susan), The Winter’s Tale (Paulina/Time/Bohemian), Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice), Titus Andronicus (Tamora), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Hamlet (Gertrude), The Tempest (Alonsa), Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), Shakespeare's Love and Despair (Lady Macbeth, Trinculo, Gertrude, Tamora, Desdemona) and Shakespeare's Gore and Madness (Portia, Queen Margaret, Gertrude); Probationary Theatre Company’s Popcorn (Farrah), Betrayal (Emma), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Martha);  Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard III (Queen Elizabeth) at the National Theater of Korea; and the independent feature film Amiss.  She also directed the 2013 Seoul run of The Orderly and the short play Best Interests for Seoul Players' 10-Minute Play festival, and served as movement/ensemble coach for SSC's King Lear and the 10-minute play Trumpus Rex. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education (Voice) from Ithaca College and an M.A. in Ethnomusicology, specializing in Korean traditional music and dance, and has studied and performed pansori, Korean traditional dance, and gayageum, in various capacities, since 2005, often using these techniques in theatre performance. Lauren is now Founding Co-Artistic Director of Speech of Fire.

Michael Downey most recently appeared in Julius Caesar by The Show Must Go Online, one of the pandemic era's most groundbreaking and innovative Zoom theatre series, broadcast live in 2020. Pre-pandemic, he played the title role in Seoul Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear in 2019 and in that same year directed Garage and performed his solo play, The Orderly, two productions in rep co-produced by Seoul Shakespeare Company and Speech of Fire. He served as Seoul Shakespeare Company’s regular stage director in 2016-2019, directing The Merchant of Venice, Garage, The Winter's Tale and Much Ado About Nothing, and also wrote and directed the short play Trumpus Rex for Seoul Players’ 10-Minute Play Festival. Other directing credits include A Circular Play by Gertrude Stein and New Year’s Eve by Dave MacGregor. He first joined SSC as an actor in 2010, appearing in Macbeth (Macbeth), The Tempest (Prospero), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Peter Quince), Titus Andronicus (Titus Andronicus), and Shakespeare's Love and Despair (Macbeth, Claudius, Titus Andronicus). In 2018 he appeared as Octavius Caesar and the Soothsayer in Prague Shakespeare Company's Julius Caesar at the Estates Theatre in Prague. Other acting credits in Seoul include Betrayal (Jerry), The Importance of Being Earnest (Algernon), The Real Inspector Hound (Magnus), and Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Richard III (Clarence) at the National Theater of Korea. Michael trained as an actor at the Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts and holds an M.A. in Drama Studies from the University of Auckland. In New Zealand, his theatre credits include Coriolanus, Oedipus the King, and Attempts on Her Life. Onscreen, he has appeared in Power Rangers, Shortland Street, and Xena: Warrior Princess. He co-founded The Rebel Alliance Theatre Company in 2006, their debut production being his solo play The Orderly, which toured New Zealand, was adapted for radio by Radio New Zealand, was revived in Seoul in 2013 and 2019, and is now in Speech of Fire's performance repertoire. In 2007, his play Aroha won the SmackBang PlayRight award and enjoyed a two-week season at the Herald Theatre. Michael is now Founding Co-Artistic Director of Speech of Fire.