Thomas Pierce: Together
Thomas Pierce is Instructor Emeritus in Philosophy at South Seattle College, Seattle, WA. His plays have been produced around the US, and in Europe and Asia. Thomas developed Together from his one-act, Genesis, which is archived at LabLit.com, a site devoted to fiction and nonfiction about science. Thomas is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Jean Ciampi: A Very Holly Moosemas
Jean Ciampi is a playwright, columnist, Dramatists Guild of America member, passport holder, scuba diver, actress, baseball fan, director, Texan, humorist, dog lover and cilantro hater. She is a member of the 2022 Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive and would like to play roller derby. Her first play, Potato Gumbo, written in Saudi Arabia, won a Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence but did not win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She still has sour grapes with Hamilton about that. Her short comedy, Genie-ology will be part of Toronto’s 2023 New Works Festival and her 10-minute play Devil in the Details was a winner in the 2022 ARTfactory 10×10 Original Play Festival.
Ed Friedman: Let It Rain
Ed’s short plays have been staged throughout the NY metropolitan area and around the country. His anthology Short Plays for Long Lives is published by Blue Moon Publishing. His monologues are contained in the anthologies of Mother/Daughter Monologues: Mid-life Catharsis and Urgent Maturity published by the International Centre for Women Playwrights. Ed’s monologue Hannah from Secret Dreamers was included in Best Women’s Monologues of 2019 published by Smith & Krauss
Jason Hull: The Most Distinguished Citizen of Ledbetter Gap
Jason is an accomplished martial artist, director, & singer, the author of Sand Drawings–A Novel, a dozen stage plays & numerous comedy sketches, and a veteran actor of more than 70 stage productions and multiple films from Intriguism Moving Pictures including The Last Thing You See, The Diabolical Doctor X, The Color of Midnight (a personal favorite), & Curse of the Swine Beast. He lives happily in Palm Springs, California and is currently at work on his second novel, Desert Skies. He is grateful to have enjoyed a theatrical home with S2S2S since 2011.
Shelley Chester: LIFE, LOVE, AND THE PURSUIT
Shelley has spent her entire life in theatre. Backstage, on stage, in front of the stage, over the stage, and all points in between. From itty bitty (yeah, at almost 6’ tall, itty bitty was a lifetime ago)! Early on Shelley decided her desire was not to be the star, but to hone her skills as a character actress. She mastered multiple dialects and created unforgettable characters. Her greatest achievement was playing Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. After a performance, she received an honor and a threat wrapped in a handshake. Staring into the eyes of a large man who had my hand in his, he proclaimed, “If I had a gun, I would blow your head off.” A death threat! Now THAT’s a review! Her greatest theatre learning experience came at the age of 16 working eight jobs over five years at the Historic Elitch Theatre in Denver. The first was as a dresser to the stars. Elitch Theatre hosted multiple movie stars such as Ginger Rogers, Patty Duke, Mickey Rooney, Shelley Winters, and Sid Cesar, and her first assignment was dressing Karen Grassle (Ma on Little House on the Prairie). She is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, with majors in playwriting and acting. Upon graduation, she became a member of Denver’s Comedy Connection, an Improv troupe where she performed and wrote sketch comedies over three years. She taught acting at ACT Studio and owned an acting workshop – Actors for Actors. After the age of forty, she was kicked to the curb by her agent because she was too old. Floundering to find SOMETHING theatre or film-related, she worked for a division of Warner Brothers, followed by producing all the print, billboards, bus sides, and posters onsite for Paramount Studios. In 2015 she was asked to reprise her role as Head Usher for the Historic Elitch Theatre’s 125th anniversary. That summer, the theatre hosted five staged play readings. The spark was lit! Then hearing a VERY familiar voice on TV, she realized it was Karen Grassle doing a senior tub commercial! Where had she been? Where are all the TV moms after the age of forty? Shelley began to write. And write, and write, and write! Her plays, musicals, and films have three things in common. 1) God is in every play. 2) The lead must be a female over sixty. 3) No one is dying from any age-related illnesses. She is a multiple award-winning playwright whose credits include the Neil Simon Award-winning play, I LEFT MY DIGNITY IN MY OTHER PURSE. Dignity has received numerous awards and has been performed in Utah featuring Clarence Gilyard as Roy and in New Jersey starring the ever-funny Joyce DeWitt as Ruth. Audiences in Texas and Iowa have also enjoyed the play. THE MARRIAGE PICKLE: UNTYING THE NOT received the coveted Robert J. Pickering / J.R. Colbeck Award for Playwriting Excellence and was produced at the historic Tibbits Opera House in Michigan. To date, Shelley has written eleven full-length plays and two musicals. She has written an award-winning screenplay entitled A MIRACLE FOR CHRISTMAS, a heartwarming film that brings back the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Her newest movie, SECRET IN THE TRIANGLE, solves the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle – ET style. She is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. Writing for women, especially those over 60, is her passion!
Brooklyn Rutledge: Main Character
My name is Brooklyn Rutledge and I’m currently a junior at Paloma Valley High School. I’m a varsity and club volleyball player, I love spending time with my friends, and I love surfing when the water is calm and the weather is nice. Most of all though, I’ve always loved stories. Whether written, told, or shown on stage, hearing other people tell stories has always inspired me to think up my own. For as much time as I spend daydreaming and thinking up characters I had never even considered playwriting until two years ago when a teacher recommended it to me, and I’m so happy I got the chance to try it. Writing “Main Character” was one of the most fun experiences of my life. It’s amazing to see something you thought up come to life in front of you and I’m so excited to share this play with you all.
Mike Byham: Southlake
Mike Byham is a Pittsburgh native currently living in North Texas, where he works as an engineer for a major airline. He has recently returned to the theatre scene as a playwright following a 20+ year hiatus (primarily spent as a soccer dad). Recent productions include SASSY OLD BROADS (Resolute Theatre Company), THE UNICORN HORN (Old Opera House), THE FLAT EARTH (Theatre Off the Square), A SAFE PLACE (Big Idea Theater Company), LENNY AND JENNY (Theatre Workshop of Owensboro) and THE UP AND DOWN DETECTIVE AGENCY (Red Barn Theatre). Mike’s plays have won multiple awards including the Little Theatre of Alexandria National One-Act Play contest, Theatre Off the Square Aspiring Playwrights’ New Works, Crafton Hills New Works, Pittsburgh New Works, ThinkTank TYA Playwrights Festival, Old Opera House New Voices, Long Beach Playhouse New Works, New Works of Merit, TWO: Summer Shorts, Brewster Theatre Company Playwrights’ Festival, Big Idea Theatre One-Act Festival, The SAUK: Plays in Development, SE Texas Festival of New Plays, Garry Marshall Theatre, Southwest Theatre Production, and Market House Theatre, among others. Mike’s full-length comedy THE UP AND DOWN DETECTIVE AGENCY is available online via Stage-Write Plays publishing. Mike is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Rich Orloff: Engagement Rules
Rich Orloff is the author of 18 full-length plays, mostly comedies and mostly award-winning, and over 80 short plays. His comedy FUNNY AS A CRUTCH was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick, and his two-person comedy ROMANTIC FOOLS has had over 120 productions on four continents, including two productions in Madrid, where apparently, they’re no better at romance than we are. His full-length plays have won, among other awards, the Festival of Emerging American Theatre Prize, the Playwrights First Award, the Goody Fellowship, and the Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence, and they’ve had over 300 productions at such theaters as Dayton Playhouse, Detroit Rep, Florida Studio Theatre, New Jersey Rep, Phoenix Theatre Company, West Coast Ensemble, and Vienna’s English Theatre. Rich’s short plays have received over 2000 productions on six continents (and a staged reading in Antarctica). More at www.richorloff.com