LA GRANDE — Professional actor Macy-Jacob Seelochan is making a whirlwind trip from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to Eastern Oregon this month as a special guest at Eastern Oregon’s Summer Shakespeare Festival.

Seelochan is a graduate of The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama and has performed across England, including at the 2023 Brighton Festival and as The Nottingham Playhouse’s Associate Artist for 2022. Their screen credits include “Shadow & Bone,” “Plaggy Bag” and two self-produced short films: “Mundane Living” and “A Casting Room.”

“I come from a family of theater people,” Seelochan said. “I’ve been an actor since I was a kid, I trained in London, and I have done two or three Shakespeare plays since graduating. I’m currently filming a TV show for the BBC, which I can’t say anything about.”

Summer Shakespeare Festival Director Grant Turner said he first encountered Seelochan in London performing in “As You Like It” at the Globe Theater in 2023. Turner said he and his group of Eastern Oregon actors were blown away by the performance and contacted Seelochan’s agent to pitch bringing the actor to La Grande. Despite their acting resume, Seelochan is modest and wasn’t sure the La Grande visitors had the right actor.

“I think because it was my Globe debut, I think I had a bit of imposter syndrome when I first got the email,” Seelochan said. “In my head, I thought they would probably like a legendary performer in their 50s or 60s who has been doing Shakespeare their whole life.”

Turner said that was not the case.

“MJ was fantastic in ‘As You Like It’ and really blew us away,” Turner said. “They are a tremendous Shakespearean actor.”

While in Union County, Seelochan will participate in two Shakespeare Festival events: the evening gala and a special meet-and-greet Q&A.

This year’s gala, a tradition for the Summer Shakespeare Festival, is “an evening soiree” at HQ, 112 Depot St., in La Grande, on Monday, July 15. The event begins with a social hour with Seelochan and the casts of this year’s two Shakespeare Festival shows — “Julius Caesar” and “Coriolanus” — followed by group members presenting selections of Shakespeare’s works.

Seelochan’s presentation will be one of their favorite Shakespearean speeches.

“It’s a character that I love that is not thought of much. She’s not the lead character in the show she’s in. She’s not a focus character, but she is a very powerful character, so I’m very excited to do that,” Seelochan said.

Admission to the soiree is by donation. HQ will have beer, wine and soda available to purchase throughout the event. Find more information at lagrandehq.com

On Tuesday, July 16, Seelochan will participate in a special artist sharing and Q&A that are free and open to the public. The Q&A is at the Schwarz Theatre in Loso Hall on the Eastern Oregon University campus.

Seelochan is also going to be facilitating an actor workshop that focuses on two elements of acting: truth and beauty.

“Essentially, I would like to share my approach to working on Shakespeare and kind of scripts in general or acting in general by splitting it up into two big parts of acting, which is truth and beauty,” Seelochan said. “Truth, I want to talk and work on, what would it be like to really be in these situations? To be a king or queen or hopelessly in love or poisoned with a love potion? Beauty is looking at Shakespeare is not modern English, it’s written in a poetic way. How do we pretend to not be speaking poetry?”

Turner said he hopes Seelochan will also give actors a look into what it takes to be a modern professional actor.

“When I went to school decades ago, one graduated college and used that to get into graduate school, then used that to get their foot in the door with regional theater, and that’s not necessarily the same anymore,” Turner said. “I’m really excited to have a younger voice describe their process. I think that information can be really, really informative.”

More information about Seelochan and all the events at the Summer Shakespeare Festival is available at theatreintheronde.square.site.