Who we are
Robert Bryn
Co-Founder
Robert Bryn has had a deep interest in the spoken word and stories his entire life and has always, as long as he can remember, written poetry. He acted in plays in high school, had a poem published, and got shoehorned into the National Honor Society after he placed second in a speech contest with a speech he wrote and delivered. He went to Kenyon College, Paul Newman’s alma mater, for one year where he performed in Romeo and Juliet with Josh Radnor from How I met your Mother. Josh played Romeo and Rob was an unnamed Montague servant and a guardsman. After Kenyon Rob spent 3 years studying filmmaking at the Academy of Art in San Francisco before leaving without a degree to go spend six months in Los Angeles broke, going to parties, and couch surfing, before finally coming back East. He moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2000 and started making short films with the older brother that would go on to start Roberta’s Pizza and name it after their mother. From the short films and Royal Oak bar he met Bonnie Pipkin who produced and acted in 3 feature length plays that Rob wrote and directed. Including the Shakespearean, Hamlet inspired epic, Eagle the Terrorizer, which they spent 3 months on, had a cast of almost 20, was 3 hours long, and sold out every time it was ever performed. For some reason he stopped writing plays and started a band called Wild Yaks, where he wrote all the songs and was the lead singer and band leader. Wild Yaks was the main focus of his artistic life for 20 years. Fame and fortune alluded them but they did get to play in London and Rob did gaze upon the Globe Theater walking by it down the street. 2 years ago he was immensely pleased to play Bottom in a production of, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented at the amphitheater in Rockaway Beach. Romeo and Juliet is the first Shakespeare play he’s directing and it feels like everything he’s ever worked on has lead him to this moment. Oh and he did make a short movie two years ago that premiered at the Rockaway Film Festival, called “Kook Mike goes Surfing” watch it on YouTube
Elwin Cuevas
Co-Founder and Artistic Director
Elwin Cuevas is a New York-based SAG-AFTRA actor, director, and founder of Shakespeare on the Rocks. His work spans television, film, classical theatre, and immersive performance, with screen credits including FBI, Law & Order: SVU, and The Blacklist. Stage credits include Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, Chorus in Romeo and Juliet, Lenny Ganz in Neil Simon's Rumors, Voltaire in Émilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight, and Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
A student of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Elwin believes theatre has the power to transform not only audiences but the spaces they inhabit. His recent work in Seeds Under Nuclear Winter: An Earth Opera crated by artist Elizabeth Clark exemplifies this vision, using site-specific performance to merge mythology, environmental urgency, and spiritual reflection. Portraying multiple roles including Hanuman, a prophetic preacher, and a tormented drunk he explored the emotional extremes of a world confronting collapse while inviting audiences into an immersive communal experience.
That philosophy is at the heart of Shakespeare on the Rocks. Co-founded with musician and director Rob Bryn, the company transforms public spaces into vibrant theatrical landscapes where professional artists, local performers, and audiences gather in celebration of storytelling. Whether staging Shakespeare beside the Atlantic Ocean or creating new immersive works in unconventional settings, Elwin is driven by the belief that theatre can bridge differences, cultivate empathy, and remind us of our shared humanity. His work seeks to create spaces where people from all backgrounds come together to experience the profound interconnectedness that unites us all.
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