MEET THE CAST AND CREW:
CAST:
JAMES RANKIN (Ben Harcourt) is very ecstatic to be again working with Ensemble, and with such a great cast & crew. Some of James’s past roles include Robert Mayo in Beyond The Horizon, and Don Parrit in The Iceman Cometh with Ensemble, Malvolio in Twelf Night for Tri-C West, Benedick in Double Heart at Great Lakes Theater Festival, which also took part in the New York International Theater Festival. He has also worked for CPT, CVLT, Clague Playhouse, and other theaters through out the Ohio area. He would like to thank, Eva B, Ian H, Celeste C, Robert E, Frank P, Doug F, Bronwyn H, andl his family. He will also be playing Nick Carraway in Ensemble's The Great Gatsby this fall.
CELESTE COSENTINO (Abby Prescott) has served in one "role" or the other at Ensemble for most of her life. She has also worked with The Cleveland Play House, Dobama Theatre, Cain Park, Bang and Clatter, The Illusion Factory, Karamu House, and has worked as a theatre teacher for Willoughby Fine Arts and Weathervane Playhouse. She is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Theatre and recently returned to Cleveland, after three years in New York City. Some favorite roles include Elizabeth in Pride & Prejudice, Katherine in The Secret Rapture, Marela in Anna in the Tropics, Alice in Closer, Desdemona in Othello, Donna in The Colorado Catechism, and Kayleen in Gruesome Playground Injuries. This will be her third 2 hander in a row! Celeste is the daughter of Ensemble Founder, Lucia Colombi and has returned home to support her mother's mission. She was raised by Ensemble Theatre and has a special dedication to it's continuation for many years to come. She will be directing the season finale, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo which opens in April. She dedicates her every step into a theatre space, and in life, to her mom.
CREW:
Doulas Farren, Director was the co-founder and Producing/Artistic Director of the Loaves & Fish Theatre Company (LFTC) in Jersey City, New Jersey, a non-profit, professional theatre company working under the Small Professional Theatre contract of Actors’ Equity Association. World premieres include As The Wind Rocks The Wagon which was also presented at Lincoln Center, The Smithsonian Institute and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Up From Slavery which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was also presented at the Amsterdam Stage Door Festival; Years of Struggle, Years of Freedom which premiered in Edinburgh and was presented at the Constitution Bicentennial Celebration in Philadelphia; and The King of Dominoes which was performed at the New Jersey International Festival of the Arts. Other Regional work includes Blood Knot and Alphabetical Order at Princeton Repertory Company, and Lead Birds and As You Like It at the American Theater of Actors. Off-Broadway credits include I'll Be Seeing You and the AUDELCO award winning play, Return to the River. Locally, Mr. Farren has directed A, My Name Will Always Be Alice at the Halle Theatre and Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lysistrata and As You Like It for Cuyahoga community college where he teaches theater.
Kyle Huff, Stage Manger is an actor and director who just moved into the area. He is a recent graduate from Hiram College, getting his BA in Dramatic Arts, and is excited to be working with such a talented group of people. His past productions include Ensemble Theatre’s The Iceman Cometh as Moran; Cleveland Shakespeare Festival’s Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Lucius in Measure for Measure and the last production he directed was Doubt by John Patrick Shanley at Hiram College.
Ian Hinz, Projections/Set is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Theatre holding a B.A. with an emphasis in playwriting. He has studied under Charles Smith, David McClendon, Robert Winters and Vince Cardinal. Ian’s most recent directing credits for Ensemble include The Iceman Cometh,The Colorado Catechism, Waiting for Lefty, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, & Miracle and Wonder. He has designed projections for Wating for Lefty, Lower Ninth, Song for Coretta, The Normal Heart, The Gospel According to James, Animals out of Paper, Prelude to A Kiss, Beyond the Hoizon, and Voodoo Macbeth at Ensemble as well as Pitmen Painters, 33 Variations, Carrie, and Young Frankenstein at Beck Center. He would like to thank his family and friends for their love. He is the newest Artistic Director for Cain Park in Cleveland Heights, as well as Facilities Coordinator and Stage Production Specialist for the Cleveland State University School of Music. For his family.
Steven Barton, Lighting Design coming from Vienna, Austria, is a recent Hiram graduate in Theatre. He is excited to start his first season here at Ensemble Theatre. He has worked on shows here in Cleveland Heights at Cain Park, as crew for The Frogs, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Avenue Q. He would like to thanks Carl Skorepa, for putting up with me long enough for this to become a reality.
