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Paul Newman responds to plea for theater funds
Friday, January 13, 2006
Tony Brown, Plain Dealer Theater Critic

Licia Colombi wrote a letter to a movie star, asking for an autograph. Seventeen months later, long after she had given up hope of ever hearing from him, she opened her mail two weeks ago and found the signature she had dreamed of.

Here's the kicker: Paul Newman's loopy scrawl did not grace a black-and-white glossy but the $10,000 check Colombi had so boldly requested.

Colombi's job at Ensemble Theatre, one of Cleveland's smallest professional troupes, includes writing and calling people to raise money for the arts, a task that has grown more difficult in recent years as the economy has sputtered and foundations have foundered
 
So she took a chance on Newman, a Shaker Heights native known almost as well for his philanthropic work as his starring roles.

"What's so wonderful is that I wrote my letter a year ago last August," said Colombi, whose twin sister, Lucia, founded Ensemble 26 years ago and still serves as its artistic director.

"I saw in [The Plain Dealer] that he had given money to a playground in Shaker Heights. And I thought, if he cares enough to give money to a playground, maybe he would help support a theater."

And not just any theater, but one with a direct connection to the start of Newman's career.

For the past three seasons, Ensemble has made its home in the Brooks Theatre, the oldest venue at the Cleveland Play House, a snug, 130-seat off-Broadway-style house with exposed brick walls and a clanky radiator.

As it happens, Newman made his theatrical debut in 1936 at the Brooks in the Play House's Curtain Pullers, a program that still exists today and that also counts Joel Grey and other luminaries among its alumni.

Newman's contribution, made from the foundation he funds through the sale of popular Newman's Own salad dressings and spaghetti sauces, can be used in any way the theater sees fit to help underwrite its $200,000 annual budget.

But was Colombi tempted to frame the check and its inherently valuable "Paul L. Newman?"

"No, that never crossed our minds. We need the support too much. But we did make copies - big copies - to hang all over the office.

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