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Aaron Galligan-Stierle puts in his third season with the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Aaron's father, Michael, heads the office of higher education for the USCCB. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

CEDAR CITY, Utah — What do the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Utah Shakespearean Festival have in common? A talented young actor named Aaron Galligan-Stierle. Galligan-Stierle is the son of Dr. Michael Galligan-Stierle, the USCCB assistant secretary for higher education and campus ministry. The younger Galligan-Stierle is spending the summer moving from day to day between a slightly seedy hotel, circa 1920s, and Elizabethan England – all of this without one airline ticket.

Galligan-Stearle is good at what he does. Last summer he found himself in Elizabethan England and the court of King Arthur, and the year before that, he sang in a band caught in the misty world between life and death in "Forever Plaid," and sang and danced his way through Eliza Doolittle’s London.

Such is the life of a repertory actor, and Galligan-Stierle is what they call "a triple threat" – he acts, he sings, and he dances. This year he is preparing to play Leo Davis, a character in a hilarious play about producing a theatrical play in a hotel in the 1920s, and Master Abraham Slender in William Shakespeare’s "The Merry Wives of Windsor."

The Utah Shakespearean Festival’s summer season, their 45th, runs June 22 to Sept. 2, with three plays by William Shakespeare, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "Antony and Cleopatra," and "Hamlet," "H.M.S. Pinafore," "On Golden Pond," and "Room Service." The plays, run in repertory, are performed on two stages, the outdoor Adams Memorial Theatre, and the Randall L. Jones Theatre, both on the campus of Southern Utah University.

In last season’s production of "Camelot," Galligan-Stearle’s portrayal of King Arthur’s evil son, Mordred, stunned audiences. He brought to the stage a man so drenched in anger and so intent on bringing down King Arthur’s beloved round table, that audience members booed and hissed at him during curtain calls. He took it all in the manner in which it was intended – a tribute to his work.

"My character in ‘Room Service’ is going to be lots of fun," Galligan-Stierle said. "Leo’s a playwright, and he’s innocent and naïve. He has no idea the play he’s been writing for this group of theater folks is rapidly going down the drain. We end up going through all kinds of shenanigans to save it. But Leo sees the best in everyone, so he’s ready to do almost anything for the play."

An alumnus of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va., where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in musical theater, Galligan-Stierle went on to earn his Master’s of Fine Arts at Penn State.

In addition to his work at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, Galligan-Stierle has been seen in plays at Pennsylvania Center Stage Theatre and Shenandoah Summer Music Theater. With interests branching out into film, Galligan-Stierle is co-owner of Lonely Planet Productions Film Company.

Living in New York City, Galligan-Stierle is surrounded by theater and film, and says his growth in the arts and acting is best fostered there and in regional repertory companies like the Utah Shakespearean Festival.

After three years working intensely in musical theater, Galligan-Stierle said he is quite ready for comedic and dramatic theatrical parts. "I like to live by the motto: ‘No part left behind,’" he said with a laugh. "But I’ve found I’m not really a chorus guy. I enjoy good supporting roles and leads, and really interesting characters, like Leo and Slender. I’m about to say I’m an actor first, more than a singer or a dancer, but I still want to keep my fingers in everything."

From his days as a child when he put on neighborhood plays (he once did a production of "The Wizard of Oz" in which he played all the characters), his parents have been supportive, putting him in acting classes when he was just 6 years old. He speaks of Leo Davis and Master Abraham Slender as if they’re real people with whom he’s just shared a pleasant lunch.

"Leo Davis in on a journey, and he’s learning the ways of the world," Galligan-Searle said. "He comes up against some obstacles to reality, and he has to find ways to rise above them without being counter-productive. It’s the humanity in Leo that makes him solid."

Abraham Slender, he describes as "both funny and genuine. He’s a poor fool who really wants to be important, and I think there’s a little of that in all of us. Slender puts on airs and is a walking malaprop."

Galligan-Searle is looking forward to the physical comedy aspects of both characters.

"I see real growth for me as an actor with theses characters. They’re stretching me."

But he isn’t putting music or singing too far behind him. This season he plans to re-open a small cabaret act he put together last year with Festival actor Vanessa Ballam.

The Utah Shakespearean Festival has been supportive of their after-hour work, even lending them chairs, he said.

"It’s just a little something we like to do with and for each other," Galligan-Searle said. "After all, we’re all here, working together for four months, then, when it’s over, we leave, and we could lose contact. What we won’t lose are the memories, the support."