Charles
Smith - Playwright - is Head of the Professional Playwriting Program at Ohio University where
he holds the title of Distinguished Professor. He is also a member of the
Playwrights Ensemble at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theater in
Chicago, and an alumnus playwright of the Tony Award-winning New Dramatists in
New York. A recipient of the 2008 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award,
his plays have been produced off-Broadway and from coast to coast by theaters
such as The Goodman Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, New Federal Theatre,
People’s Light & Theatre Company, Penumbra, Penguin Repertory Theatre, Ujima Theatre
Company, The Colony Theatre, The Acting Company, St. Louis Black Rep,
Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Berkeley Repertory Theater. His work has also been produced for the
HBO New Writers Project, the International Children's Theater Festival in
Seattle, and the North Carolina Black Arts Festival. His play, Denmark, was the inaugural production of
the newly renovation Victory Gardens at the Biograph Theater. His play Pudd’nhead Wilson enjoyed a twenty-two city national tour and his
plays Takunda and City of Gold enjoyed tours of the west
coast. His play Knock Me a Kiss was
recently produced off-Broadway featuring Broadway legend Andre De Shields. His
other plays include, Freefall, Les Trois Dumas, The Sutherland, Sister
Carrie, Black Star Line, Jelly Belly, Young Richard, Cane, and Free Man of Color which recently premiered in Australia after
being awarded a Joseph Jefferson Award and John W. Schmid Award, both for
Outstanding New Work. He is also author of two Emmy Award-winning
teleplays, Fast Break to Glory and Pequito. A graduate of the Iowa
Playwrights Workshop, Smith has received
commissions from Victory Gardens, The Goodman, Seattle Rep, Indiana Rep, The
Acting Company, and Ohio University.
His most recent work, The Gospel
According to James, received a Joyce Award. It was commissioned and will be
produced by Indiana Rep in March of 2011. The
Gospel According to James is also scheduled for production by Victory
Gardens Theatre in May of 2011. His plays may be obtained through Samuel
French, Dramatic Publishing, Northwestern University Press, Smith & Kraus, and
Meriwether Publishing Ltd.
Tony Sias - Director - began his career as an actor
and director and has evolved to an educator and arts administrator encompassing
all of his skills and talents.
Tony is the Director of Arts Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan
School District. His responsibilities include leadership and strategic direction
for all fine arts programs and instruction within the District. He produces in partnership with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum
the All-City Arts Festival: Rock Your
World: a day long celebration
of visual, creative and performing arts. He is the Artistic Director for Kaiser
Permanente’s Educational Theatre Program which uses theatre as the medium for
delivering health education to students. His directing credits
include In the Continuum, Summer Nights
and Fireflies, Dreamgirls, Guys and Dolls and Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, just
to name a few. His acting credits
include Summer Nights and Fireflies, On
The Road with Duke, Angels in America Parts 1 & 2, Black Eagles, Big River,
Oak and Ivy, Jazz Poet on Broadway, and the title role in the one man show Paul Robeson with Ensemble. Among the many awards and
recognitions Tony has received include the Ohio
House of Representatives, Tribute for Excellent Leadership, Cleveland Schools
All-City Arts Program-2009, Outstanding Direction for In the Continuum at Cleveland Public Theatre from Times
Newspaper-2008, Certificate
of Special Congressional Recognition for Contributions in Education and
Cultural Arts -2007, Most Interesting People presented by Cleveland Magazine-2007,
Marjorie Witt Johnson Diversity Award presented by Cleveland Contemporary Dance
Theatre-2006, and the Northern Ohio Live Award of Achievement for his
performance in The Jazz Poet on
Broadway-2002 . He is
the co-authored the article: Use of Live Theater to Increase Minority
Participation in Alzheimer’s Disease Research published in the Alzheimer Disease and Associates
Disorders: An International Journal. In 2008 and 2009 Tony traveled to
Istanbul, Turkey as a delegate representing the Council of International
Program USA in the Engaging Marginalized
Youth in Turkey (Arts for Peace) Program. Tony is a proud graduate of Jackson State
University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Dramatic Art and a Master of
Fine Arts in Acting from Ohio University.
 Jeffrey Grover - Robert Wilson - had the pleasure of working with both Lucia on Sideman and Licia on Nocturne, and now is delighted to be associated with Celeste and company in this production. Jeff earned his BA in Theater at CWRU, and has subsequently studied with Tom Fulton, Brian Zoldessy, Sarah Morton, Leslie Varnick, and numerous directors and artists from most of the area's professional theaters. Recent credits include Robert Chiltern in An Ideal Husband at Lakeland Theater, Peck in None Too Fragile's How I Learned to Drive, Graham in Bang and Clatter's Lady, and as Mark Rothko in Red at Tri C East's staged reading series. Other notable credits include Flan in Charenton's Six Degrees of Separation, Serge in Beck Center's Art, and Michael in Charenton/CPT's Two Rooms. Film credits include The War That Made America, Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho, and the soon to be released Take Shelter, which premieres at Sundance in January. He has worked at most of the area professional companies, and continues to work on interfaith theater/programming as a producer, writer and actor along with Jacqi Loewy with their company, Both Sides Now. Diane Mull - Jane Wilson - holds a BFA in theater performance from Ohio
University. Diane is excited to be
making her first appearance with Ensemble Theater. She was most recently seen onstage playing Lady Chiltern in An
Ideal Husband at Lakeland Civic Theater. Previous credits include Catherine in Proof
(Geauga Lyric Theatre Guild), Viola in Twelfth Night (Black River
Theater Company), Lenny in Crimes of the Heart (Actors’ Summit Theater),
Sooze in subUrbia (Cleveland Public Theatre), Egg in Safety
(Dobama Theater), Abigail in The Crucible (The Beck Center) and Ophelia
in Hamlet (Kitchen Dog Theater).
 Antuane Rogers - John Newton Templeton - most recently was
featured in the title role in Othello, at Case Western Reserve
University. He has also appeared
in the Cleveland Play House/CWRU PATP’s production of All’s Well that Ends Well as Younger Dumanine/1st Lord. Antuane has been featured in
Case Western Reserve University productions of The Zoo Story as Peter and Much
Ado about Nothing as Conrad. He was also in the Players Theater Group production
of Rumors as Ken Gorman. Antuane is an alumnus of the National
Theater Institute, where he studied at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and
was featured in the ensemble cast of the original work Want.Need.Feed. Antuane was also featured in a CWRU Cultural Dinner production. He has studied in London, England
with both Shakespeare’s Globe and members of the Royal Shakespeare
Company. Antuane was featured at
Shakespeare’s Globe in a production of William Shakespeare’s complete works as
an ensemble member with the University of Washington in St. Louis. He has a B.A. in Theater Arts from
Case Western Reserve University.
|
