Meet the Playwrights for the 2024 Colombi New Plays Festival!
(In Alphabetical Order)
Cindy Dettelbach (“Set in Stone” & “Keepers of the Flame”) After a brief stint as a high school English teacher and a seeming “lifetime” as editor of The Cleveland Jewish News, Cindy began writing plays in her retirement. She signed up for Ensemble’s first writing workshop, then held at the Lee Road Public Library in Cleveland Heights, and has been an active participant in Stagewrights ever since. Several of her plays have enjoyed productions as part of Ensemble’s Colombi New Plays Festival. She also serves on Ensemble’s Board of Trustees.
Kitty Dubin (“Split Decision” & “It’s My Party”) is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed across the country. Her most recent production, “Rights of Passage”, was her sixth world premiere and seventh play to be produced at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre in suburban Detroit where she was playwright in Residence from 2004 until the theater’s closing two years ago. Kitty has also received productions at The Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, MI, the BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing, MI., and the Live Oak Theatre in Austin, Texas. Her one acts have been performed in numerous festivals and competitions including The American Globe Festival, (NYC) Heartlande Theatre’s Play-by-Play, (Detroit) Tipping Point’s Sandbox Festival, (Northville MI) StageIt, (Bonita Springs, Fla) Vitality Festival, (Chicago) and the Samuel French Play Competition. (NYC) She has received two individual artist grants from the Michigan Council for the Arts as well as a Jewish Woman in the Arts Award for her body of work. Her most recent play, “The Marriage Spectrum”, received a virtual staged reading sponsored by Oakland University's School of Music, Theatre and Dance. In addition, she has been a Lecturer in Playwriting for the past twenty-seven years at Oakland University where she teaches classes in beginning and advanced playwriting.
Agnes Herrmann (“Nudity Required” & “Katydids”) is an actor and playwright. She is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She began her career in dinner theater, appeared in summer stock and Off-Off Broadway theater venues and worked for more than twenty years as a voice actress in New York. Her VO credits range from national commercials (Thompson's Water Seal) to industrials (Bristol Myers Squibb), broadcast TV (60 Minutes), radio drama (The Ring Lardner Playhouse), cartoons (Yu-Gi-Oh), audio books, and singing and voicing characters in the Richard Scarry video series. Since living in Cleveland, she has performed at Ensemble Theater, Cleveland Public Theater, Theatre in the Circle, Dobama, Playwrights Local and has been active in film (Archer's Woman in "The Road," with Viggo Mortensen) and many others. Her film, “The Assassin’s Code” premiered at the 2018 Cleveland International Film Festival. Her most recent film was “The Pale Blue Eye” on Netflix. Agnes is a member of Ensemble Theatre’s Stagewrights Workshop, in Cleveland, Ohio. She’s written many 10-minute plays, and a full-length comedy, “Makin’ Sawce," all of which had readings at Ensemble Theatre. “Makin’ Sawce” was also read at Kent State Trumbull’s Sips & Scripts Play series. Her short play, “Nudity Required,” was chosen as part of the 4th Annual Cleveland Playwrights Festival at Playwrights Local in Cleveland. Her one-act radio play, “Limbo,” produced by Playwrights Local, is available for listening on many platforms, as well as Playwrights Local’s website. Her 10-minute play, “No Returns” was produced as part of Playwrights Local’s Short Play Festival in May 2022.Agnes is currently working on a full-length play with music, “The Storm,” about asylum seekers.
Berenice Kleiman (“Heaven’s Gate” & “Powerball”) My muse is chocolate. A big bag of M&Ms or chocolate kisses will go a long way toward inspiring my creativity, especially when bolstered by my very talented actor and playwright friends in Ensemble Theatre’s Stagewrights’ Group. I’ve been a member for ten years and love the camaraderie. As a professional writer over the span of a long career, I’ve spun high tech and business marketing strategies and didn’t even consider playwriting until after my master’s thesis when I struggled with a story I felt compelled to share (GRIM VERDICT). I knew nothing about play or book writing but chose the former, thinking it might be easier. But what a struggle that was! Now that I’ve done both, I feel free to move back and forth. Playwriting has given me an opportunity to embellish, yet still tell real stories in full length plays, including a murder in Shaker Heights (MURDER ON THE INTERNET), a facial transplant resulting from a terrorist bombing (ABOUT FACE), my criticism of healthcare today (FROM HELL AND BACK), and much more. And as I’ve grown closer to creative writing, I’ve learned that I can have fun with current issues (HEAVEN’S GATE, POWERBALL, and REUNITED AGAIN). Somehow, I don’t get into as much political trouble when I write about heaven and hell. Both are comfortable places to hide. And yes, I’ve learned how to write books, too and am working on my fifth one. I am a graduate of Syracuse University (political science and education), attended the Maryland School of Law, and hold a masters degree (history) from The Ohio State University. There’s a lot more I look forward to writing about.
Jeanne Madison (“Every Year Til Now”) Playwright/Actor. Jeanne, a member of the Dramatist Guild, is the 2021-22 Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT). She is the recipient of the Room in the House Fellowship at Karamu where her play “Black Coffee” was selected for their corporate diversity program. Her plays have been featured at CPT, Station Hope, the National Black Theatre Festival, and the Ensemble Theatre of Cleveland where she is a member of the Stagewrights Unit. Acting credits include: Cleveland Scene Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Comedy for “Sassy Mamas”, the PBS broadcast of “Greenwood, An American Dream Destroyed”, and on Netflix in “White Noise” with Adam Driver. Jeanne holds a BA and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
Visit her at www.jeannemadison.com
Brian McFadden (“Dead Man’s Clothes”) is America’s oldest up and coming young playwright. His plays have been performed Off Off Broadway and in Regional Theaters around the country. Two of his plays were selected for performances at The National Playwright’s Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Brian recently completed his memoir entitled TALES I SHOULDN’T TELL MY DAUGHTER, which is available on Amazon.com. Besides today’s reading of DEAD MAN’S CLOTHES, he is also writing a new play entitled THE QUEEN AND THE MARINE and updating his Vietnam play CHINA BEACH for the upcoming 50th anniversary of the end of that war. Last month Brian turned 79 and is looking forward to becoming an octogenarian and beyond. He hopes you enjoy today’s reading as much as he did putting it to paper.
Mollly McFadden (“Just You Wait”) Versatility is Molly’s trademark. She holds an MFA from Florida State University at the Asolo Repertory Theater. As an actress she had worked in theater in NYC and numerous Equity theaters throughout the country, as well as doing commercials and film turning to playwriting. She wrote and performed her one woman show based on Tennessee William’s women “Waiting in the Dark” at Circle Rep. in New York, followed by working at the Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Symposium where she was one of the original organizers writing and performing for the first workshop alongside Julie Wilson, Sylvia Syms and Margaret Whiting. She also worked with Jim Henson and other artists writing and collaborating on the HBO special celebrating the magic of puppetry. While living in New York she studied acting with Theatrical Coach Allen Savage; performing in numerous theatrical productions and singing at avariety of clubs and concerts. Molly is a stylist of note and was featured in the New York Times "As an up-and-coming performer with a stunning voice in a disappearing genre". Some of her favorite roles she has performed throughout her career: Maggie and then later Big Mama in "Cat in a Hot Tin Roof", Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey into Night", Roxanne in "Cyrano”, Caitlin Thomas in "Dylan", Martha in "Who’s Afraid of Virgina Wolf", and Rose in "Gypsy" . To date her plays also include “SCRATCH” musical based on the “Devil and Daniel Webster” she composed the music, and her husband Brian McFadden wrote the book. “Living on the Moon” was her one-woman show about her journey with her Mother’s Alzheimer’s which was written and performed by Molly and receiving funding from the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. It was produced in Cleveland at the Ensemble Theatre as well as being featured at Cleveland Public Theater and then going on to the York Theater in New York. She wrote “The Man and the Myth” about John Malvin for Station Hope at Cleveland Public Theater as well as composing the music. Other plays in progress are “In the Still of the Night”, “Cease Not to Think of Me” and “The Downside” which was awarded the OUTERCIRCLE Award and finally “Just You Wait”. Molly currently lives in Cleveland, OH with her husband Brian McFadden who is an O’Neill National Playwright recipient and together they participate in playwriting groups where they continue to write and develop new works. Molly also continues to perform as an actress and cabaret performer.
Jonathon Morgan (“I Can’t Even Hear What You Are Saying to Me Right Now!”) is a director, playwright, and actor, who has staged over 20 new works in London, Liverpool, New York, and Austin, including the critically acclaimed I Am Not Tartuffe, and Come Home, a new musical the Austin Chronicle called “a trendsetter on the Austin theatre scene.” Morgan is the former co-Artistic Director of the Yellow Tape Construction Company, which received Austin Critics Table awards for its physical theater piece, a thumping raging explosion of marvelous light and texture, originally workshopped at Studio Air in Brooklyn, NY and I Love My Dead Gay Son: The Musical!, a devised musical adaptation of the 80s cult classic, Heathers, that premiered at the Fusebox Festival. Morgan earned his BFA from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts conservatory of acting, with a focus on directing for the stage. He produced his first show in 2001 at a Tremont art gallery that’s now the Bourbon Street Barrel Room, and recently moved back to Cleveland with his wife and daughter. Outside of his career in the arts, Morgan founded and sold a tech startup, produced and co-hosted an iTunes top 25 podcast, and contributed editorials to The Atlantic and The Guardian.
Ife-Gail Young (“In The Dance of Stars”) was born, raised, and educated in Cleveland, OH. She began writing at a very young age, focusing on playwriting after studying drama at Karamu House. Years later she attended Cleveland State University, where she earned a B.A. in Dramatic Arts. On the road to receiving her degree, she won two creative writing contests and was presented with an Outstanding Writer’s Award. Ife (Gail) has performed and/or has had her original plays, stories, songs, and poetry presented throughout Greater Cleveland and in various locations throughout the country, including Philadelphia, NYC, North Carolina, and VA. As a former employee of Cleveland Public Libraries and Cleveland Metropolitan School District, she was able to share her works with the community, helping to promote empowerment and literacy. Ife (Gail) has authored adult’s and children’s books, the latter of which she also illustrates. She presents several original one woman shows, including, ‘This Woman Can,’ an ongoing presentation (with original songs) that depicts the life and times of Maggie Lena Walker, who was an African American pioneer banker. Ife (Gail) can be contacted at ifethestoryteller@gmail.com.
Ed Walsh (“Beached & Goodnuf”) has worn many different hats in his long writing career, but his favorite is that of playwright. Laboring as a lone wolf, or at other times as a collaborator, he has had plays performed at venues that range from off-off-Broadway on the East Coast to Seattle on the West Coast. In Northeast Ohio, his work has been produced at many venues, including Ensemble Theatre. Two of his plays were staged there as part of the Colombi New Play Festival. Walsh resides in Bainbridge Township, where he spends some of each day playing with his dog Olivia, and many of the remaining hours working on his next play.
Rannigan Walsh (“Reunion” & “Gold Steamer”) has been a member of Stagewrights, the playwright workshop at Ensemble Theatre since 2012. Her full-length play, A Kind of Courage, was part of the Colombi New Plays Festival in 2016. She currently serves on the board of Ensemble Theatre. Her love of theater began at an early age when she acted out the tv soap operas in the back yard for the neighbor kids. After retiring from teaching as a Reading Specialist and then later retiring from corporate life, she decided to try playwriting. Thanks to Ensemble Theatre she is enjoying all that theater has to offer..
