Dean Phillips ll - Musician, Artist, and Playwright. Dean began writing in 2012 during sophomore year of high school. Attended Texas Wesleyan University from 2014 to 2017, graduating early with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre. During this time in college, "Fallen Goldfish" was developed and won the Playmarket contest. With this honor, "Fallen Goldfish" received a staged reading at Texas Wesleyan and then at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre both in May 2017. "Fallen Goldfish" was then fully produced by the Claremont High School Theatre Program in San Diego, California in May 2019.

Jeff Zimmer was born in Oak Park, Illinois and raised in Schaumburg. He wrote his first play "The Secret of the Underground Tunnel" in 5th grade with Michael Harper. Despite the title, the play featured no secret nor any tunnels. 

He wrote a weekly humor column "Hellzapoppin' " for the Long Beach Union Daily and was awarded second place for Best Column of Opinion by the California State College Press Association in 1981. 

Jeff was named Outstanding Graduate of the Radio-TV-Film Department at California State University at Long Beach and then became a contributor to the late-night ABC show "Fridays." He then worked as a staff writer for such TV shows as "Not Necessarily the News," "The Dom DeLuise Show," "D.C. Follies," "The Mickey Mouse Club," "Candid Camera," "Histeria," and "America's Funniest Home Videos." He also worked as field producer/director/writer and puppet wrangler on "Talk Soup" with Senor Sock, the Toast of Argentina. 

In recent years he has worked as a post producer for the syndicated TV series "ElimiDATE!" and "The Doctors." Along the way he has been nominated for 7 Daytime Emmy Awards and 4 Cable Ace Awards. He hasn't won any but has enjoyed the award ceremonies' dinner entrees.

Jeff has been associated with ELATE (Emmanuel Lutheran Actors Theatre Ensemble) for many years, acting, directing and writing a number of plays including "Law & Elvis," "Five Days in the Carter County Jail," "Who Wants to Be a Disciple?" "BB-48" and of course "The Golgotha Project."

Jeff is a member of the National Honor Society, International Thespian Society, National Forensics League, the Writers Guild of America West and for some inexplicable reason is a lifelong fan of the Chicago White Sox.

After a career in publishing, law, and commercial real estate, Rob Crisell is now a writer, actor, teacher, and amateur winemaker located in Temecula wine country. In addition to writing dozens of articles for Sunset, Highlights for Children, Outside, and other magazines and newspapers, Rob has written five books for adults and children, including The Zoo of Impossible Animals (2016), Shakespeare’s Book of Wisdom (2018), Temecula Valley Wineries (2023), and California Avocados: A Delicious History (2024). He has written and performed several one-man plays featuring Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Shakespeare in America.  Since 2012, he has acted with Shakespeare in the Vines, performing in The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Tempest, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, and others. His 2016 TED Talk about his experiences teaching the Bard to young people is called “How NOT to Hate Shakespeare.” As a winemaker, he has made seven vintages, including Sangiovese, Syrah, Pinot Noir, and various red blends. Rob, his wife Monisha, and their two children live in Southern California. 

Christie Perfetti Williams is an NYIT-nominated and award-winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist.

She's the founding producing artistic director of NYC-based Carnival Girls Productions, celebrating 20 years of creating and producing art by and about women. Over 30 productions of her work have been performed internationally. She's a volunteer with resettled refugees, a PTO parent, churchgoer, and Taekwon-Do enthusiast. Occasionally, she reads a palm.

Born and raised in Oswego, NY and a graduate of Wells College, Christie lives on the Jersey Shore with her partner and husband, Greg, their three children, Luke, Eve, Ruby, sponsor son, Mir, and rescue pup, Memphis.

Julia Romano is a writer and educator based in Columbus, OH. She teaches Honors English and World History at her local public high school, where she also founded the school’s Drama Club in 2022. Romano started her career in US foreign policy with a specialty in Middle Eastern Affairs before making her transition to education. She earned BA from Wellesley College and an MA from the George Washington University, both in Middle Eastern Studies. She is currently working on her second play and a novel, in addition to her biweekly Substack "Outfits, Ohio, and Other Things I Like." While originally from Long Island, she now enjoys life in the Midwest with her husband and young son.

In 1992 Sean was one of the founding members of the Factory Theater in Chicago (celebrating its 16th anniversary as of this writing). While there, he adapted several films for the stage, wrote commissioned plays, contributed to numerous ensemble-created works, and wrote his own original plays as well. He now makes his home in Los Angeles. As a screenwriter for both TV and film, Sean has written for the shows "So Weird" (Disney Channel), "Sabrina" the Animated Series (ABC), "Digimon" (Fox Family) as well as several pilots. Three of his screenplays have been produced. He also wrote all the video material for Rip Torn in the "Men in Black: Alien Attack" park attraction at Universal Studios, Florida.

Jim Adolf is the Development Writer and Director of Stewardship at Bowdoin College. His play, "I Cannot Tell a Lie at George Washington School," has been performed at schools and theaters across the country, from Lakeland, Florida to Heartland, Michigan to Wahaiwa, Hawaii. Jim Lives in Brunswick, Maine with his wife, Michele, and daughters Josie and Maggie.  

Laurie Allen was drawn to the theatre by performing in plays under the legendary drama instructor, Jerry P. Worsham at Snyder High School. In this small West Texas town, students advancing to the State UIL One-Act Competition in Austin, Texas was the norm and hugely supported by the community. After graduating, she decided to try her hand at writing plays for the theatre. Her first play, "Gutter Girl," won the Indian River Players One-Act Play Competition. Now, more than 25 of her plays have been published. Her plays for teens have enjoyed wide success and several of her high school competition pieces have gone all the way to national speech and forensics competitions. Laurie lives in Odessa with her teenage daughter, Melanie, and has another grown daughter, Brooke, who lives nearby. When not writing, she’s busy working as a process server, which gives her more opportunities to discover those unique characters and situations for her plays.

Rollie Tom Anderson has been an author, musician and lyricist for over 40 years. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, he studied journalism at Dallas Baptist University and the University of North Texas. In the 1970s he was part of the musical group “Daniel,” that recorded for Paramount Records, and “Texas Rose,” a band that released an album on the STA label. After relocating to further pursue a recording career in Los Angeles for three years, he moved back to Texas in the early ‘80s and began to concentrate on his writing. Since then he has penned a novel, two full-length screenplays, multiple television scripts for an animated children’s series, and three stage plays. His illustrated book that helps children deal with grief entitled “Tears to Rainbows” was published in 2006 and is currently available on Amazon.com. He resides in Forney, Texas with his wife, Debra.

James Armstrong grew up in Pensacola, Florida (right outside Chumuckla). A former English teacher, he has had plays performed nationwide, but will always have a special place in his heart for the children's theater he has been involved with at historic Snug Harbor on Staten Island. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and currently resides in New York City.

Elliott Barry Baker changed directions from business to writing in 1992. While attending a performance of Gershwin’s “Crazy For You” in New York, he realized as the orchestra began the overture, that he was never as excited as when he was seated in a theatre with a play about to begin. Changing gears, Baker was accepted by the BMI Lehman Engle musical theatre workshop in New York where he would spend the next four years driving from New Hampshire to New York every Monday to study and perform with many talented writers. He now has several family musicals published as well as one dark musical based on Poe, more appropriate for adults than children. A member of the Dramatists Guild, Baker lives in Durham, New Hampshire with his wife Sally Ann. Their three children, Jason, Stacy, and Eric, are out making their way in the world.

Regina M. Ballard is the author of five plays with Eldridge Publishing and a professional freelance writer. Prior to beginning her freelance career in 1994, Regina was the senior advertising copywriter at a full service advertising agency. In addition to feature writing for a number of magazines, newspapers and other publications, Regina has directed numerous plays but best enjoys acting and regularly performs in professional theatre productions.

Kimberly Barger is a writer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A lover of all things theatre, she began writing for the theatre in 2018, and her plays have since been performed internationally. She has completed the Core Curriculum program with Los Angeles-based New Musicals Inc. as a bookwriter, and she is also an alumna of the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive in NYC and a member of The Dramatists Guild. Kimberly holds a degree in Journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Prior to writing for the theatre, she worked for over 10 years in public relations, writing everything from news releases to feature stories. She also created the blog Mommy's Always Write, where she was featured on popular parenting sites such as Scary Mommy and BabyCenter. When she isn't writing, Kimberly enjoys going to see plays and musicals, spending time with her husband and two sons, and eating ice cream straight out of the carton. Instagram: @theatrekim

Kelly Barrett-Gibson has been writing plays for as long as she can remember. As a child in upstate New York, she regularly created shows to perform with her siblings and cousins for the rest of the family. This love of creating continued into adulthood when she moved to NYC to pursue a career in theater. After years working in the off and off-off Broadway world, she created her own theater company “Endangered Artist Sanctuary” along with her husband, Carl Gibson, and a few close collaborators, where she serves as Artistic Director. Two of her plays, Reading Between the Lies and The Sutherby Triplets, have been featured in the New York International Fringe Festival. She continues to write, act, direct, and coach. Kelly could not do any of this without the support (and willingness to be exploited for creative fodder) of her friends and family throughout her life.

Shirley Barrie: I love engaging the minds and enthusiasm of young audiences. I delight in mining golden nuggets from women's history - fashioning from them stories that still speak to us today. I enjoy the challenge of painting with the audio palette for radio, and I continue to savour all the shades of grey that give the issues of our time such fascination. I was a member of the 1998 Playwrights Unit at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto. In 1972 I co-founded the Wakefield Tricycle Company in London, England with Ken Chubb.

Kate Bauer is a high school English teacher and Director of the Caledonia High School theater program located in Michigan. Bauer first became interested in theater as a high schooler in the CHS Players - the very program she herself now directs. Bauer holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from Valparaiso University. After graduating from college, she fell in love with working with teen actors. She continued her training at Calvin University and became licensed to teach high school English. Today Kate works to inspire her students to express themselves through literature and the performing arts.

T. James Belich is an author and playwright who has written more than two dozen plays, which have seen hundreds of productions across the United States and around the world. A longtime actor, his favorite roles include Father Flynn in "Doubt, a Parable" and Sergeant Trotter in "The Mousetrap." He premiered his one-man physics show "Schrödinger's Cat Must Die!" at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. In addition to his career as a writer, James has a background in the sciences, having studied physics at Bethel University and the University of Minnesota. Outside of writing, he loves a good cup of tea, reading, and traveling. His favorite destinations include Great Britain, Italy, and Costa Rica. Originally from Saint Paul, MN, James lives in Florida with his wife and son. 

Linda Berry's published credits include short fiction for children and adults, craft articles, poetry, plays, a newspaper entertainment column, preschool curriculum, and six novels in the Trudy Roundtree mystery series. She's a member of the Denver Woman's Press Club, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Colorado Dramatists, and presents writing workshops at conferences and area schools. She lives in Aurora, Colorado, and tries to arrange her life around theatre tickets.

Brian Billings is a professor of English and Creative Writing specializing in libretti. His written and performed numerous musicals and many children’s shows. One of them, "Adventures With Pinocchio," is also published by Eldridge. He has served as a reading editor for "Iron Horse Literary Review" and as a managing editor for "BordeRevolución." He has also performed freelance work as an actor, a composer, a librettist, a lyricist, a storyteller, and a transcriber.

BRIAN BILLINGS is a professor of English and Creative Writing specializing in libretti. In addition to his numerous musicals and many children’s shows, he also writes for adults as demonstrated by his dramatic one-act adaptation, "Storm-Breeder," published by Eldridge. He has served as a reading editor for "Iron Horse Literary Review" and as a managing editor for "BordeRevolución." He has also performed freelance work as an actor, a composer, a librettist, a lyricist, a storyteller, and a transcriber.

TAMMY K. FRAZIER is the artistic director for The Vexler Children’s Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. She also co-produces the Sheldon Vexler Theatre in San Antonio with her husband Ken Frazier. Together they were just awarded the Jasmina Wellinghoff Award for Artistic Contribution for Theatre. Tammy has also received numerous Globe Awards for excellence in direction and costuming design. Prior to her work at the Vexler Theatre, she was a speech and theatre teacher for fifteen years. She says her two wonderful teenage boys, Kailyr and Konnor, are her greatest accomplishments.

Vincent Bonvissuto is a musical theater composer and songwriter whose stage works have been performed in New York (Black and White and Read All Over), Chicago (Flowershop, That's Life!, Progress) and Nashville (The Curious Tale of Rip Van Winkle). A native of New York, Mr. Bonvissuto studied at the Westchester Conservatory of Music and New York University, moving to the Nashville area in 2004. In addition to his musical theater works, Mr. Bonvissuto has written numerous songs on Music Row which have generated over 2,000,000 radio spins on over 2,500 radio stations in 32 countries around the globe. He has registered an international #1 song, "Behind Your Back," on the indie country chart (Ramgatie), and two Top-5 singles, "Scotland" and "Let Your Country Out," on the European indie chart (HotDisc). In 2016, his co-written single, "Wayward Rose," garnered a Country Song of the Year nomination from the International Music and Entertainment Association (IMEA).

Billy W. Boone, a native of West Texas, received his B.A. in Theatre and M.Ed. in Secondary Education from Wayland Baptist University. He taught high school theatre for five years before becoming an elementary principal. Billy, who has written numerous other plays, lives with his wife and daughters in the panhandle of Texas.

In addition to stage plays, Dan Borengasser has written science fiction stories, screenplays, radio plays and children’s fiction, and was a syndicated humor columnist. He blushes to admit that one of his science fiction stories was nominated for a Hugo and that he’s won numerous awards for stage plays and screenplays. Borengasser, who enjoys speaking of himself in the third person, lives in Springdale, AR with his wife Sally. Other members of the household include Kitty Cobweb, who can magically teleport her cat fur onto your clothes from a distance of fifteen to twenty feet. Rounding out the family are Chuck and Lyle, two gentlemen rats who enjoy strawberry yogurt drops and the music of the Pet Shop Boys, and who think that Borengasser is quite the guy. And who’s to say they’re not right? Borengasser is quite confident that he has other notable accomplishments, but, for the moment, they escape him.

Analyn Boydston is a 21-year-old playwright who’s been acting since she was still in the womb and her mother played the role of Frenchy in "Destry Rides Again." Analyn adored acting with other kids her age every summer, but as she grew into her teen years, she found that her true passion was writing the stories that the actors brought to life. You can almost always find her writing: during her free time, she writes parodies of popular songs, short animated skits for YouTube, and elaborate tabletop campaigns to play with her friends. Non-writing-related interests include weight lifting, listening to the same song on repeat for several days straight, and dancing alone in the living room. 

Wade and Christopher met on stage acting in plays together. They chose to transition their onstage chemistry into play form. Wade and Christopher co-wrote "Change the Station," published by Eldridge Plays and Musicals. Wade, already an accomplished children’s book author from Washington, has several published plays, many of which he has directed himself. Christopher, a trained SAG actor originally from Chicagoland, has spent almost two decades in audio description with WGBH. Currently, when they are not huddled over their next script, Wade teaches at the college level and Christopher works as a voice actor. They hope to produce at least half a dozen plays together and combine them into one hefty volume.

Wade Bradford says... I grew up in Washington state, but I moved to California in the early '90s. That's when I got the opportunity to write my first children's play, "Sahara Nights." After writing and directing my own show, I was hooked on theater. Today, I write plays, children's books, and the occasional graphic novel. My first picture book, "Why Do I Have to Make My Bed?" was published by Tricycle Press / Random House. My next book "Around the World in a Bathtub" comes out June 2017. I currently teach literature and writing classes at Moorpark College. I am currently a board member at my local playhouse, the Canyon Theatre Guild.

James Brady is the author of numerous plays which have been produced Off-Broadway and around the country. He has a M.A. in mathematics from the University of Alabama and a MFA in playwriting from Rutgers University. In 1999 Mr. Brady was a recipient of a State of Florida playwriting fellowship. Originally from Mississippi, he now lives in upstate New York and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Marilyn Brown is co-founder with her husband Bill of the Villa Institute of the Performing Arts in Springville, UT. From 1996 to 2006 the Browns operated their own Villa Playhouse in Springville where Marilyn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Musical,” was picked up by Encore. It has been preformed as far away as Australia. With BA and MA degrees in creative writing from BYU, and a MFA from University of Utah, Marilyn is primarily a novelist (fifteen novels published). She has won numerous literary awards, and now an award in her name, the Marilyn Brown Novel Award, presents a thousand dollars to the best unpublished novel submitted to Orem’s Utah Valley University English Department each October.

Rachel Bublitz is an award winning and internationally produced playwright. Her full-length play “Cheerleaders VS. Aliens” was commissioned and produced by the Egyptian Youtheatre in Park City, Utah. Other published theater for young audiences works include “Clever Catherine” and “No Talking Allowed.” Rachel was awarded the June Anne Baker Prize from PlayGround, which honors the top female playwright in the Bay Area annually. Her play “Ripped” won the Detroit New Works Festival and was a finalist for for ATHE’s Excellence In Playwriting Award. Her ten-minute play “Really Adult” was a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award. Rachel has also worked with San Francisco Playhouse, 20% Theatre Company Chicago, This Is Water Theatre, Custom Made Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, the Wyoming Theater Festival, and Plan-B Theatre. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and has a Masters in English and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. When she isn’t writing, she’s chasing after her two viking-like kids.

I was born and raised by my grandparents on a farm in Southern Kentucky. With no brothers or sisters in my early childhood, and few children my age nearby, I filled my time alone pretending and making up characters, stories, and situations to act out. I would often pray as I walked the farm, that God would send me a special friend. One day He did, and has sent many others since. My writings will most always be about the value of having a friend and beginning a friend, and how faithfulness, love, and loyalty are at the heart of true friendship. My experiences have since gone far beyond the farm. Majoring in design and another degree in marketing, I went from college advertising intern at a footwear company to being their shoe designer . For the next 25 years I would work for other footwear brands which carried me to several countries around the world creating shoes and boots. I have cherished these experiences and the friendships I made along the way. I now live on the farm I grew up on. I spend my time recollecting and writing about these experiences, personalities, and journeys in the form of plays and children's books.

Burton Bumgarner grew up in North Carolina, where he now lives and works as a musician. He earned an undergraduate degree in music from Greensboro College, and a Master of Music degree from Southern Methodist University. He began writing plays in 1994. He is a four-time winner of the Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting from the Coldwater (MI) Community Theater, and in 2004 he won the McLaren Memorial Comedy Playwriting Award from the Midland (TX) Community Theater. A member of the Dramatist Guild of America, Burton has over 80 scripts (comedies, dramas, one acts and 10 minute scripts ) in publication.

I have lived in rural Westmoreland County, Virginia all of my life. My husband and I are retired and we have two grown children and five grandchildren.  One of my fondest memories from childhood was when I was able to be part of the Christmas play at our tiny church in Baynesville, VA. I don't remember the plot or even the title of the play but I do remember that the father in the play was played by my dad and he also appeared as Santa Claus. I think this is when I fell in love with Christmas plays. When I was a kid, my cousin and I would write short skits and perform them for our family. I joined a community theatre group in the late 1980's where I had a few on-stage roles and also worked back stage. My favorite on-stage role was that of Sister Hubert, a singing, tap-dancing nun in the musical, Nunsense. That was quite a challenge to my alto voice and my slow moving feet. I've had the privilege of directing Christmas plays at our church for the last 18 years. My best friend, Donna, and I have worked backstage every year. We started out small but our group has grown to about twenty-five members. We have produced full length Christmas plays every year since 2005 and we have a very talented and dedicated group. My favorite playwrights are Andrew Frodahl, Pat Cook and Cheryl Harrison.

Dennis Bush's plays have been performed in New York and throughout the United States and Canada, and elsewhere around the world. He has extensive credits as a writer, coach, and consultant. He has written commissioned theatrical texts for numerous clients and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Cameron Kent is a journalist and writer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has published five novels: The Road to Devotion, When the Ravens Die, Make Me Disappear, The Sea is Silent, and Mayor Molly. His screenwriting credits include four films which have aired on NBC, HBO, Lifetime, and at the American Film Institute.

As a reporter and news anchor for WXII-12 News in Winston-Salem, Kent was nominated for 14 Emmy Awards, and won an Emmy for his reporting on the Pentagon after 9/11. In 2018 he was inducted into the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

He is originally from Alexandria, Virginia, and a graduate of Wake Forest University. His entire family is very active with Habitat for Humanity. 

Barbara Campbell has written more than a dozen musicals for children and families, a cantata, and various choral pieces. Her full-length musicals – Far from the Madding Crowd and The Awakening – have been presented in the U.S., Great Britain, and New Zealand in such venues as the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, and the International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff, Wales. A graduate of the Lehman Engel-BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, and the Odyssey Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop, Barbara is the author of the fantasy trilogy Trickster’s Game (Heartwood, Bloodstone, and Foxfire) published by DAW Books.

Patrick Campbell is a middle school teacher and theatre director from Pennsylvania. His school puts on a fall comedy and spring musical each year. Over the years, he has written several of the fall comedies. He received a BA in Theatre (along with a BS in Math) from Lehigh University. He and his beautiful wife have two lovely daughters.

Charles Caratti is multiple award-winning author who has written more than two thousand stories, articles, and columns for many of the nation's biggest print and online outlets St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Learning. Charles' noted background in the world of journalism has created an excellent basis for dozens of stage plays and scripts, all of which have an historical or classical literature footing. Caratti's theatrical works have been produced at many prestigious venues and been attended by thousands. His works include "Passage Into Fear," "Mark Twain's A Christmas Carol," "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Angels," and "All the Time in the World. "

Con Chapman is a lawyer and writer in Boston. He is a former news and sports reporter and is the author of "The Year of the Gerbil," a history of the 1978 Red Sox-Yankee pennant race. He has also written a novel and other plays in addition to "The Little Theatre." Like one of the characters in the play, he stuttered as a youth.

Joey A. Chavez was born and reared in Santa Fe, NM. He holds a BFA from the University of New Mexico and an MFA from the University of Oklahoma. The author of over twenty plays, his works have been produced at the Alliance Theater, ART Station, HBO, the Public Theater, the Open Eye, Actors Ensemble Theater, the Mission Cultural Center, Clemson University, the University of Oklahoma, Santa Fe Theater Company, and numerous high schools. One of his plays was featured at the 2004 Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. He also works as a professional actor.

Jessica Chipman is a high school theatre arts teacher, director, and playwright. Her short play "The Braves One" earned a staged reading at Central Washington University, was a 2010 Heideman Award Finalist, and saw productions in the US and Canada. Her adaptation of Medea has been performed by high schools across the United States and earned accolades at the Iowa High School Speech Association's All-State Festival. Most recently, her retelling of the myth of Icarus received a star rating at the Minnesota State High School League State One Act Play Festival in 2017, as well as the Wells Fargo Award of Excellence. Under her direction, her school’s productions have earned Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre from the Hennepin Theatre Trust Spotlight Education Program and four consecutive performances at the Minnesota State High School League One Act Play State Festival. Ms. Chipman lives with her daughters and husband, where she has earned the title of Chipman Family Laundress.

A working education professional and administrator with over twenty years of experience in Fine Arts including: Theater, Public Speaking, English, and Technical and Artistic Design. He currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Old Dominion University, Regent University, and Tidewater Community College, as well as being the theater teacher at Great Bridge High School. He held the position of Administrative Director at the Barry Robinson Fine Arts Center over a decade. As a graduate of both James Madison University and Regent University, he was conferred degrees in English, Theater, and Secondary Education. He has completed a postgraduate Master’s degree in Theater, Philosophy, and Film. As an advocate for theater and because of his appreciation for the proliferation of the arts, he is also a local director, an actor, and a published playwright.

Frumi Cohen is a playwright, composer and lyricist. Her writing career started by accident. She was a first year music teacher in Pennsylvania one Spring and she was supposed to put on a choral concert with her fifth and sixth grade students. She envisioned those boring concerts of her childhood where they would all dress alike, stand on shaky risers, and sing songs about trees and robins while the music teacher stood up front and waved her arms around. She would rather have had her teeth drilled than do that. A sympathetic colleague suggested she write a musical. Frumi had written many songs, but never a musical. She went home that night and began to write. It took about a week and she had a short musical for her students to present. They were a big hit. Twenty some years, two grants and several national playwriting prizes later, she is still writing musicals for her students. Many are published now and Frumi is delighted that they have been produced all over the U.S. and even overseas. Kids inspire Frumi and so does musical theater. Using a measure of both, she writes musicals that tell stories of unlikely, unsung heroes. She aims to write stories that are honest, fast-moving and believable, yet full of magic. And she doesn't write happy endings, just satisfying ones. She says, "I want to see young people and their families as both actors and audience for my work. I want to show them that musical theater is every bit as gripping and in many ways more alive than an action film."

Robert Cohen is the Claire Trevor Professor of Drama at the University of California, Irvine. A director by training (DFA, Yale Drama School), he regularly stages classical works at the Utah and Colorado Shakespeare Festivals, and has directed over a hundred productions at other venues, professional and academic, around the world, including premieres of new plays in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Prague, Wroclaw, Bucharest, and Brisbane, and 75 productions at his UC Irvine campus. His twelve books include Acting Power, Acting One, Acting Two, Acting in Shakespeare, Acting Professionally and Theatre his plays include Machiavelli: the Art of Terror and The Möbius Strip, and his translations include Molière’s The Misanthrope and The Bourgeois Gentleman, Giraudoux’s Ondine and The Apollo of Bellac, Jean Verdun’s Tibi’s Law, Machiavelli’s Clizia, and the operas Carmen and The Magic Flute. He is also the author of essays in over a dozen theatre journals and more than 500 play reviews for Plays International and Contemporary Literary Criticism, and has lectured and given acting workshops in fifteen countries. In 1999 he received the Career Achievement Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

Robert Cole is a dramatic writer, critic, and essayist from Walker County, Alabama. He is the author of the Walstone/Walbridge County plays. He also composed a translation of Henrik Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, which is available from Eldridge Plays and Musicals. He is a contributing critic to Moon Beach Island, an entertainment website, and co-hosts the podcast THE OLD MILL with R. Daniel Walker. His scripts have been performed throughout the United States, including Minnesota and Vermont as well as the Martha Moore Sykes Studio at the Virginia Samford Theatre, the Actor’s Studio at the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center, the Bell Theatre at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and the Library Theatre at the Hoover Public Library, among others. He won the 1999 Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award in Playwriting and his plays have been honored as finalists or honorable mentions in prize contests awarded by the University of Arkansas, Northern Michigan University, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Alabama Writers’ Forum, and the Horizon Theatre. After training as an actor, he studied playwriting with David Henry Hwang (Tony Award, M. BUTTERFLY; Obie Awards, FOB, GOLDEN CHILD, and YELLOW FACE), Gladden Schrock (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, LETTERS FROM ALF; first Playwright-in-Residence, Yale School of Drama), and Lee Eric Shackleford (Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award, HOLMES AND WATSON; Playwright-in-Residence, UAB). He is a graduate of Athens State University (B. A., English; Kappa Delta Pi and Cum Laude honors), Bennington College (B. A., Drama/ Theatre), and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. He lives in Sumiton, Alabama.

Co-founder of Trilogy Repertory, Inc., Reid Conrad transplanted from New Jersey to Florida 27 years ago where he became a theatre educator and continued as writer, director and occasional actor. A University of Central Florida graduate in Language Arts Education, Reid offers workshop to students and educators on the craft of playwriting.

Pat Cook got his first taste of seeing his work in print while still in high school in Frankston, Texas, writing for the school paper. Then, during the summers, he wrote a column for his hometown newspaper. It wasn't until college, however, when he saw the movie version of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" that he decided to try his hand at writing plays. His first one-act, "The Boys in the Halls," a play about dorm life, was produced at Lon Morris Junior College in 1968 and has since vanished in some forgotten trash can. After moving to Houston he soon found other writing assignments at AstroWorld and in educational radio, night clubs and local television. His first play was published six years later. Still, writing was only a sideline along with several other odd jobs, which included playing piano in pizza parlors, acting in local commercials, industrial films and on stage, building scenery and selling pianos and organs. However, more plays got published and along the way, his wife, Rose Ann, taught him the joys of using a computer. This, coupled with his conviction to everything else and write full time, proved to be a turning point in his life. He has more than a hundred plays published by seven publishers. Many of these plays have been translated into Dutch and German. Further, he is also published in Eldridge's religious drama catalog (www.95church.com). He firmly believes that old saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get," and that everyone has a story to tell, a dream to pursue. "And, believe me, if I can do it, anybody can!"

KEVIN COOK (far left) earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Richmond in Virginia and his M.A. in Theatre from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Kevin spent many years touring as a professional actor before settling down to teach acting as well as to create and manage theatre productions. Kevin wrote the book for GET HAPPY one of the definitive works on the songwriter Harold Arlen and won Winter Haven’s National Playwriting Award for Best Musical for the children’s fantasy A DRAGON’S TALE! Kevin’s management includes productions with Penn and Teller, Kathy Bates, Farrah Fawcett, Gary Sinese, Lynn Redgrave, John Mahoney and Holly Hunter (all NYC), Sheena Easton (Las Vegas), David Cassidy (Las Vegas, National and International Tours) as well as one of the largest production shows in the world MGM Grand’s EFX (Las Vegas). As Director of Education for Dallas Summer Musicals Academy of Performing Arts, Kevin oversees curriculum and manages the expansion of the school.

DENIS KASHOID comes to Dallas Summer Musicals by way of Russia. Denis first picked up a violin at the age of six. Following ten years of studying the art of music, Mr. Kashoid continued his education by completing a master's degree in music performance and education awarded by Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Denis is a teacher accredited on the college level, a performance artist in piano and trumpet, musical director for the theatre and an orchestrator. In the United States, Denis has most recently been the conductor and musical director for numerous large productions. He is scheduled to be the music director, vocal coach and conductor for upcoming Dallas Summer Musicals student productions.

Ken Cooper received his graduate degree from Pittsburg State University in Kansas. His 35 years of teaching instruction include instrumental music in the public school and twelve years at Graceland University in Iowa. He is presently retired and lives in Tucson, Arizona with his wife, Shelly, who is on the music faculty at the University of Arizona. While teaching, he composed a large number of instrumental, choral and keyboard compositions. Now retired, he has more time to arrange and compose, so has added many more pieces to his repertoire. He enjoys visiting elementary band programs to demonstrate the process of composing. He often uses a student's phone number for a theme and then explains how to manipulate the theme and add harmony. He then arranges the ion for the band to perform on their next concert. His commissioned works include writing for many churches, the Kansas City Symphony, and Adventureland Amusement Park (Des Moines, Iowa). He also has written over 80 hymn arrangements that are distributed to a worldwide church piano club. The most satisfying compositions he has written are in the musical Joseph's Son, with author Bil Rodgers.

Joe Cosentino has acted in featured roles on film, television and theatre opposite Bruce Willis, Nathan Lane, Rosie O’Donnell and Jason Robards. His plays for young audiences have performed at hundreds of theatres and schools across the northeastern United States by Encore Performing Arts and Interborough Repertory Theatre, including Candlewood Playhouse, Westbury Music Fair, the Harold Clurman Theatre, and Lincoln Center Library. His plays for adult audiences have been performed Off-Broadway and in regional theatre. Mr. Cosentino holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting and a Masters Degree in Education. He is a recipient of the American College Theatre Festival Award. Currently he is Head of the Department of Performing, Visual Arts, and Communications at SUNY Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Colin Speer Crowley is a playwright-lyricist who has written a variety of dramatic works, including four musicals, twelve straight plays, a rock opera, and a few screenplays. His work has been performed throughout the United States, including California, Washington, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Louisiana, Colorado, Kentucky, Texas, and New Jersey. Plays and screenplays by Crowley have been winners or finalists in over 50 national and international contests since 2010 and songs to which he’s written the lyrics have been performed in musical revues in London. Additionally, Crowley has had the pleasure of seeing his work performed in theatrical capitals on both sides of the Atlantic, including Off-Off-Broadway and London’s Covent Garden. Crowley is a member of the Dramatists Guild, The Lambs of New York, the Playwright’s Center, the New Play Exchange, and Phi Beta Kappa and also served as founder and President of the theatrical group Speerhead Theatricals. He lives in Westport, CT with his wife, Dianne, and has three children – Chloe, Callen, and Canaan.

Nelly E. Cuellar-Garcia is a 35-year award-winning veteran theatre teacher with four state appearances, over 15 regional appearances, and scores of district titles. Ms. Cuellar-Garcia’s experiences in the world of competitive theatre (UIL Texas Competitions) have not only helped hone her writing skills but also enabled her to produce and improve the quality of theatre in her school and community.

Dan D'Amario has been writing award-winning plays since early this century. He has been a finalist in the McLaren Memorial Comedy Play Writing Competition each year since 2002 winning the full-length division in 2003 with “Real Close to Broadway.” Born and reared in the Northeast, Dan, a systems analyst, and his wife Linda, spent seven years in Georgia before moving to Oregon.

Rick Davis has written 42 plays: six full lengths, 13 children’s musicals, 23 one-acts.  All except his full length, The Morphology of the Human Foot, have been performed, some in NYC, some in LA, a few in Europe, and all in theatres across the country. Ten have been published and more than half have won awards. Most recently his full-length, Behold a Pale Ryder; a 10 minute piece, “Joseph Receives Unsettling News;” and his one-acts, “The Naked Man on the Couch,” “The Audition,” and “Lucille flirts With the Space-Time Continuum” were published. Also, “Joseph Receives Unsettling News” was produced in NYC as part of the 2017 Midtown International Theatre Festival, and another ten-minute piece,  “Driver’s Side,” was work-shopped and given a staged reading at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference in Chicago the same year.  ATHE also produced another 10 minute piece –“Dancing with Johnny DeMarco” -- last summer (2019) at their conference in Tampa. His one-act with a rather inelegant title -- “Two Assholes on an Elephant” – just closed in the Black Box New Play Festival in NYC.  Another one-act, “Lucille Flirts With the Space-Time Continuum,” ran all summer in Atlanta as part of the Theatre-To-Go Summer Loving Festival.  A short play, “Kismet for Marshmallows,” was just accepted for production by Le Chat Noir.

Steph Deferie grew up on Cape Cod and lives there still. The many, many terrific hours she spent performing in, studying and attending shows at the Harwich Junior Theatre comprise the majority of her theatrical training. Although she also writes for adults, for the last eight years she has worked with the Chatham Middle School Drama Club because she loves introducing kids to the fun of performing. Her favorite part of writing for young audiences is incorporating audience participation into her work. She has published 13 scripts which have received countless productions in this country and abroad and won several awards.

Chip Deffaa is the author of fifteen published plays and eight published books. An expert on old-time show business, he has been “following his bliss” since he wrote his first report for school, at 10-page essay on George M. Cohan, at the age of nine. His other plays for Eldridge include Presenting Fanny Brice: The Original Funny Girl and George M. Cohan & Co. Deffaa has written eight books, including Swing Legacy, Voices of the Jazz Age, In the Mainstream, Traditionalists and Revivalists in Jazz, Jazz Veterans, F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Princeton Years (ed.), Blue Rhythms, and (with David Cassidy) C'Mon Get Happy. He has contributed chapters to the books Harlem Speaks and Roaring at One Hundred. For 18 years, Deffaa wrote for The New York Post, writing news, feature stories, and reviews dealing with jazz, cabaret, and theater. He was also a longtime writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine. Deffaa has written liner notes for many CD's, including those of such artists as Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Ray Brown, Diane Schuur, Ruth Brown, Tito Puente, Dick Hyman, Randy Sandke, Scott Hamilton, and the Count Basie Orchestra. Deffaa has won an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award, a New Jersey Press Association Award, and an IRNE Award (Independent Reviewers of New England). Deffaa is a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, NARAS, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, and the Drama Desk. Deffaa is a trustee of the Princeton Tiger magazine.

James Devita, a native of Long Island, NY, is a writer and actor. His original plays and new adaptations of classics for young audiences are widely produced around the country. In addition, his first novel, "Blue," was published recently. He's a member of the acting company of American Player's Theatre, a classical repertory theatre in Spring Green, WI.

Adriana Domínguez (she/ella) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at UT-El Paso and focuses on excluded and underrepresented groups in the performing arts. She has published with Chicana/Latina Studies, The Journal of Latina Critical Feminism, Camino Real,and Theatre Topics. Recent projects include: Heroes & Saints, And Then Came Tango, Real Women Have Curves, Luna, El Toro y La Nina, Lengua, and Cenicienta which received the Directors’ Choice Award at the Region VI Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Adriana is honored to live in El Paso, a vibrant community that knows no borders.

Patrick Rainville Dorn has a MA in Theatre from the University of Denver. He taught English and drama at Colorado Christian University, has written and directed plays for Colorado ACTS for many years, was a theatre critic for a daily newspaper, and has more than thirty published plays. He especially enjoys adapting well- and lesser-known folk and fairy tales for a whole new generation of young actors and audiences. More information at www.patrickdorn.com

Michael Druce earned a degree in Speech, Theatre and Journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma and has taught in Oklahoma, California and Alaska. He has directed more than a hundred productions and written and produced more than a dozen plays for high school and community theatre. He and his family make their home in Soldotna, Alaska.

As a child, Carol Duff often entertained her family with long, meandering tales that seldom came to a climax or a conclusion. Once she learned to rein in the plot lines, she began writing Christmas plays for her church. For more than 30 years, Carol has been a freelance writer in several additional forms—short stories, skits, articles, and Sunday school curriculum. She loves the ocean and enjoys the creativity of capturing nature in photography. One of her most thrilling moments was attending the release of a bald eagle back into the wild after its treatment and recovery from ingested toxins. She has one grown son, Nathan, and lives in Virginia with her husband Bill.

Nathan Duff has always been a writer at heart. In his spare time he enjoys well-used gerunds, embedded clauses, cumulative syntax, and long walks on the beach. He holds a master's degree in education and is a child and family therapist. Nathan lives in central Virginia with his cat Socrates, upon whose passing he intends to adopt Plato, followed by Aristotle. He hopes each cat will live at least twenty years. Otherwise he will run out of names for cats.

Dean L. Dyer is a play director and teacher at Western High School in Parma, Michigan. He and his wife, Jeanette, live on a small farm in nearby Springport, where they enjoy gardening, raising all kinds of animals, and spending time with their grandchildren. Dean directed his first play at 19 and has been involved with high school theatre programs for over thirty years. He began writing scripts to accommodate his very large and active theatre program at Western in 2007, and has since published several full-length comedies and one ten-minute play. In addition to his teaching and directing experience, Dean spent thirteen years working as a corrections officer, regional trainer, parole agent and master weapons trainer for the Michigan Department of Corrections, where he met a lifetime supply of interesting characters.

Noell Wolfgram Evans, a two-time winner of the Thurber Treat Award for humor writing, has had his plays produced in New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville, and Palm Springs. He is the Theatre Editor for Umbrella Publishing and an advisor for Group Creativity Improv Projects. He has been a consultant to several BBC productions and worked on film properties for Brickhouse Productions. A contributor to books on improv and an appreciation of Jack Benny, he is currently working on a book focusing on animation writers. The thing he enjoys most though, is laughing with his family.

Susan Evans lives in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia with her husband, Don, of 38 years. They have two sons, two daughters, two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, four grandsons and a granddaughter. She and her husband have pastored their current church for 30 years. She is the quintessential small church pastor’s wife who handles everything from children’s church to youth group to potluck dinners to directing the annual Christmas play. (The only thing she doesn’t do is play the piano.) She also works with preschool special needs children. Susan’s interest in writing began as a teenager, writing in a journal. Since those days she has written numerous plays and skits for her church over the years. These performances have given her and her congregation the opportunity to minister to people in their small community who never attend church at any other time. In her spare time she goes exploring with her grandsons; she is also an avid reader, loves to swim, and enjoys her horses.

Tracey Evans, an actress and playwright, earned her BFA in Theatre from the University of Southern California. She began her writing career penning sketches and monologues while studying at the famed Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. As a playwright, her works have been performed across the country, from the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles, CA to The Mill Mountain Playhouse of Roanoke, VA and The Just Off Broadway Playhouse in Kansas City, MO. She has been a finalist in several one-act play competitions, including the Kansas City Women's Playwriting Festival, the Lakeshore Players 10-Minute Play Contest and New York’s prestigious Ensemble Studio Theatre One-Act Festival. TAMING ROMEO is her first full-length play.

Mark Fauser began his writing career as a student at the University of Missouri where he wrote a lot of sketch comedy, including three huge variety shows featuring two virtually unknown (at the time) talents: Brad Pitt and Sheryl Crow. Since then he has become an actor, producer and director as well. He has starred in over 40 different stage plays, and has had roles in a number of films and television shows. He has co-written several movies, including the critically acclaimed Showtime original movie, "The Right to Remain Silent," which was derived from his play, published by Eldridge. Mark was also a writer for the CBS hit series, "Evening Shade" and has several film projects in development.

Dean Feldmeyer is a United Methodist minister living in Columbus, OH, where he also teaches drama at an area high school. He is active in community and church theater and has written several liturgical dramas for church productions in addition to his regular plays. Dean has also written books on youth ministry and parenting teenagers, as well as a novel for young readers on substance abuse.

Julian Felice is a drama teacher and playwright from the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. He gained a Masters degree in Drama at the University of Kent and trained as a drama teacher at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama before returning to Gibraltar in 2008. He has four plays published by Eldridge Plays and has had two other plays performed professionally in London. He has won Best Original Play at the Gibraltar Drama Festival on five occasions and has given talks on his plays at British universities. Last year, Julian received a For Excellence token from the Governor of Gibraltar in recognition of his achievements in playwriting. Julian lives in Gibraltar with his wife Sylvana and his children William and Natalie.

Michael Ferrell is a writer, filmmaker, and actor. His debut feature film, "Twenty Million People," has recently been selected to over 15 film festivals, including Raindance Film Festival in London, Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, and Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA. The film has won three Best Feature awards and Michael earned a Best Directing award. His full-length play "Jersey Shore House" was given full staged readings in L.A. starring Don Stark from "That 70's Show" and in NYC starring Tony Award winner Beth Leavel. Other plays produced in NYC include "The Blue Martini" (off-Broadway/NY Fringe Festival '06), "Spring and Jake" (Firework Theater), and "Life is Short" (Center Stage NY). The web series he wrote/created/starred in, "Stoop Sale," was selected for the Independent Television Festival in L.A. and released by koldcast.tv. He trained at I.O. (Chicago), The Barrow Group (NYC), and University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Joel Fishbane writes fiction and plays. His plays have been honored in numerous contests and festivals throughout both Canada and the United States, including the Samuel French New Canadian Play Contest, the Dayton Playhouse Futurefest, Alive Theatre’s Long Beach Play Poppin’ Contest and the NAAA Playreading Festival. His fiction has appeared in several literary journals both in North America and across the pond. He has a diabetic cat and sometimes plays the clarinet.

Julia Flood currently serves as Artistic Director of Eckerd Theater Company, a professional touring theatre for young audiences based at Ruth Eckerd Hall, a performing arts center in Clearwater, Florida. Half a dozen of Julia's plays and adaptations have debuted there, including two musicals written with Lee Ahlin, the composer of THE SNOW QUEEN. Julia has over 20 years of experience in the professional theatre as playwright, teacher, actor and director. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and has done post-graduate study with famed teachers Robert Lewis and Alvina Krause. Julia was a resident member of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble in Pennsylvania for the first seven years of the ensemble's existence. A native of the Boston area, Julia's life in the theatre has taken her to NYC, Los Angeles, and many points in between. She has worked extensively in Florida, the state she has called home for the past five years.

Steve Flowers has been a middle school music teacher at River Trails Middle School in Mount Prospect, Illinois since 1995. He teaches general music and also directs the choirs, steel band and bucket band. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and his Masters Degree from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Steve's musicals, and his compositions for jazz ensemble and steel band, have been performed all across the country including a performance at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in 2005, and at the Illinois Music Educators Association Jazz Festival in 2013. Steve received the Who's Who Among America's Teachers Award in 2002 and The Village of Mount Prospect Shining Star Champion For Youth Award in 2009. He is a member of Pan Go, a professional steel drum band, a member of the Harper College Steel Band, and plays in a rock band named Otherwise Civilized. Steve lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and daughter.

Steven Fogell is the Artistic and Theatre School Director for Bainbridge Performing Arts on Bainbridge Island in Washington state. Steven has an extensive background in fine art as well as theater. His training has taken him into areas of stage, costume, and puppetry design as well as teaching, directing, and acting in over 30 productions in the last twelve years. Steven works also on a state level developing the EALRS program for incorporating the arts into the public school system. In the Seattle area Steven created the children's theatre company, "Oh Dear!...Not Shakespeare!" He wrote and produced eight different Shakespeare plays for children that were performed in several Seattle theater houses. Currently Steven is working on creating theatre, dance and movement books for teachers and educators as well as working on a new television arts show and turning several of his plays into animated videos. Steven lives in Seattle with his partner and their four cats.

Rob attended the University of Michigan where he studied acting, but graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science. An avid professional actor for over 30 years, he has spent the last 20 writing. He has written over thirty published plays, and is most at home writing wild comedy with lots of verbal wit. His comedy has been influenced by such comedians as Woody Allen and Steve Martin. He uses his computer background to spice his plays with very topical themes, and also enjoys exploring what happens when plays become "aware of themselves"! A native Chicagoan, he now resides in Rochester, Minnesota. He enjoys fatherhood with his sons Andrew and Tommy, and daughter Lizzie. Other "lifetime roles" have included radio d.j., ranch hand, singing telegram messenger, folk guitarist, magician, and bridge player. He is very open to discussing his plays and makes every effort to attend productions he is aware of that are near his home.

Squire Fridell holds a master's degree in acting/directing and for over thirty years has taught and directed professionally, in colleges, high schools and elementary schools. He is also a professional actor and may hold the distinction of being the only actor around to have never drawn unemployment benefits. He has performed as principal on-camera talent in over 2,500 commercials and has appeared in some living room, somewhere in America, on the average of once a night selling something to someone. He is the author of two published plays, "The Bard!" and "Greek to Me!" and wrote the definitive commercial acting text, "Acting in Television Commercials for Fun and Profit" (now in its 22nd printing). He has starred in twelve television pilots, five big screen features, and starred/guest-starred in any number of television series and shows over the years. In 1998, he completed his third Equity tour as Professor Harold Hill in "The Music Man" for Musical Theatre West in Southern California, and in 1999 reprised the role at the Lesher Theatre in Walnut Creek for Center Repertory Company. He has been on the cover of "TV Guide" and photo-featured in "Newsweek Magazine." Squire and his wife Suzy live in the heart of Northern California's Sonoma Valley, where they grow and sell Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah wine grapes. They have a 19 year-old daughter, Lexy, who is a first year acting/musical theatre double major at Carnegie Mellon University.

Andrew currently serves as the Director of Drama ministries at Zion Pentecostal Church in Maine. He has over fifteen years of live theatre industry experience where he has served as a Stage manager, Production Manager, Producer, Puppet coach, Designer, and Director for over 90 productions. Throughout high school, Andrew traveled across the country with his family as a troupe of Puppeteers. He wrote puppet skits and routines for the productions. Since high school, Andrew has published fourteen stage plays including, ‘Chapter Seven Christmas’ and ‘Christmas in Juneberry’ with Eldridge Publishing. Produced stage plays include an adaptation of Margery Williams’s classic 'The Velveteen Rabbit', which in 2012 was chosen to be produced off Broadway at the first annual New York Children’s Theater Festival (NYCTF) in New York City. NYCTF is a play festival with board members/adjudicator’s including Thomas Schumacher of Disney Theatrical, Cheryl Henson of the Jim Henson foundation, and Carol Demas of the Magic Garden to name a few. Original works produced include 'Liferaft' (Penobscot Theatre Company 2011), and 'The Blueberry Balladeer' (Penobscot Theatre Company 2012)

Andrew’s passion is to use writing, drama, and puppets to further the ministry to which God has called him. Andrew is currently working towards his Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Kingsway University and Theological Seminary. Andrew lives in Mattawamkeag, Maine with his wife Ashley and their three sons, Axel, Hans, and Finn.

Rebecca Frohling has, at various times, been an adorable child, a whiny teenager, an overwhelmed student, a happy wife, an overwhelmed but also happy mother- sometimes all these things within the same day. In 1997, she attended Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts and obtained her film degree- which totally explains why she now works in an office. While at film school, her script, The Death of Joe Keenan, was chosen for the class final film project. Not so interested in writing at the time, her writing might have died too had she not been inspired by a chance circumstance to write The Family Fruitcake in 2009. This experience flipped the long dormant switch, and made her realize who she is (on top of everything listed previously): a writer. Following Fruitcake, she promptly penned a massive epic web radio series (like you do) entitled The Threads of Time- new episodes monthly! Who knows what she will write next? Certainly not Rebecca. But one thing she does know: she's more than ready to find out. Bring on the next adventure!

Terry Gabbard has been  a public school theatre teacher since 2003 and has worked at both middle and high schools levels in Florida and North Carolina. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Education from the University of Florida and Master of Arts in School Leadership for Queens University of Charlotte. He is an award winning director and playwright and has received the prestigious  “Excellence in Directing Award” three separate  times from the North Carolina Theatre Conference.  One of his plays, Our Place was named the “Best New Play” by the Southeastern Theatre Conference and was also named the second most produced short play among high schools in the United States in 2015. Terry lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Erika and two children Kiera and Ryan. 

My books have won awards in many different non-fiction categories. My work translating ancient Chinese was recognized as the best multicultural book of the year when it was published. My works have been translated into over a dozen languages and sold all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of people have read my work. I was an author on technology before I was a CEO of a software company that we grew into an INC. 500 company. 

I have spent fifteen years on studying Jesus's words in the ancient Greek. This time has been very narrowly focused on Jesus’s words in the Gospels. I have written a detailed article on almost every verse Jesus speaks in the Gospels. I write or update these articles daily at the website, ChristsWords.com.

Whitney Ryan Garrity wrote and directed his first musical at the age of 21. Since then he has created numerous plays, revues and musicals, a dozen of which are published. He has worked with various theatre organizations in both New Jersey and Texas as a performer, director, and artistic director. He has also founded several youth theatre programs. He currently resides in Texas where he continues to write.

Jeffery Goodson (pictured left) is a transplanted Floridian living in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the last couple of decades. He has worked in theater as an actor, singer, musician and writer the whole time. Writing for the stage started while earning a theater degree from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia and continued at various venues including a 3 year stint in Minneapolis as part of the performance/writing company at Dudley Riggs’ Brave New Workshop and original works for various summer-stock companies. "Shakespeare Ate My Brain" (co-written with Barry Shay) is his first published play.

Jeffery Goodson is a transplanted Floridian living in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the last couple of decades. He has worked in theater as an actor, singer, musician and writer the whole time. Writing for the stage started while earning a theater degree from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia and continued at various venues including a 3 year stint in Minneapolis as part of the performance/writing company at Dudley Riggs’ Brave New Workshop and original works for various summer-stock companies . Shakespeare Ate My Brain (co-written with Barry Shay) is his first published play.

Evan Guilford-Blake has had about 35 different plays mounted in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Israel, and won 29 playwriting competitions. His children’s scripts have won such honors as the Jackie White Memorial Playwriting Award and the Aurand Harris/New England Theatre Conference competition. He’s also had numerous short stories and poems, for adults and children, published in magazines, online and anthologies and won several awards for prose as well. Evan is member of the Dramatists Guild and the advisory Board of Chicago Dramatists, where most of his work has been developed. He and his wife Roxanna, a freelance writer and jewelry designer, live in the Atlanta area with their two lovable, dumb-as-dirt doves, Quill and Gabriella.

Gwendolyn J. Kandt has been involved with various drama ministries for about twenty-five years, including three churches and two homeschool theatre groups. She has written five full-length plays, nine one-acts, and scads of sketches for Sunday morning services, Christmas programs, classroom vocabulary reviews, and more ... with more scripts to come for this year’s students! Currently, she teaches middle school English and Drama at a Crestmont Christian Preparatory School in San Antonio, Texas, and teaches and directs at Crystal Sea Drama Company in San Antonio, as well. Although she misses performing on-stage herself, she thoroughly enjoys the young people whom she connects with in her various capacities and is grateful to God for these opportunities.   

Scott Haan has been a fixture in theatre in Indiana his entire life, from performing in children’s productions to high school musicals to community theatre as an "adult" (to use the term loosely). He has participated in dozens of productions as an actor, stage manager and director. Scott graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in creative writing. In 2006, he finally achieved a long-time goal by trying his hand at playwriting for the first time, and found immediate encouragement when his first three scripts were chosen for production by three different local theatre groups and subsequently published. Since then, he has written over two dozen plays, and his work has been performed by more than 750 schools and theatre groups in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Germany, Japan and the U.K. Scott and his wife and two kids still reside in Indiana...at least until the extradition goes through.

Claudia Haas has devoted over twenty years to writing plays for youth and young performers. Honors include winner in the University of Central Missouri Children’s Playwriting Contest, finalist/winner in the Bonderman Symposium, first place in the Aurand Harris Children's Playwriting Contest, winner of the Anna Zornio Memorial Playwriting Contest, two-time winner in the Prince George's Children's Theatre Contest. Other honors include the Playwrights in our Schools Grant administered by the American Alliance for Theatre Education, one of three winners in the recent Unpublished Play Reading Project (also administered by AATE), winner at the East Valley Children's Theatre Playwrighting Contest, two-time winner of the Jackie White Memorial Play Writing Contest, and 2nd place in the Marilyn Hall Awards, and the Nantucket Short Play Contest. Her short plays have received five honors and over 400 productions and are featured in six anthologies. Her youth plays have seen over 1000 productions in every state in the U.S. as well as on five continents. Ms. Haas lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota with a hugely supportive family.

Claudia Haas says she was born with a theatre gene. She explains, “My theatrical journey has taken me through gigs as an actress, director and teacher but my most satisfying work has been creating a story and seeing it come to life. Sometimes it is exactly as I saw it in my head and other times it is wildly different, more imaginative as if it has taken a life of its own. But the very fact that a group of people have devoted weeks of their life to bringing my play to life always brings joy.” She makes her home in Minnesota with Paul, Matthew and Kirsten as well as four furry creatures. Richard M. Cash, Ed.D. is the Director of Gifted and Talented Programs, K-12, for the Bloomington Minnesota Public Schools, and serves as an Adjunct Professor at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN. Prior to this he taught first and sixth grade in an urban elementary school for gifted children and worked for many years as a children's theater director. He has co-author of four highly acclaimed children's plays with Claudia Haas. Richard is widely known for his theatrical and engaging presentation style.

Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is the published author of 17 books, 100 plays and musicals, and several hundred magazine and newspaper articles that appear regularly throughout the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Her latest book, "ScreenTEENwriters," is the only one on the market which teaches the craft of screenwriting to young people and provides insights on how to break into the film industry. In addition to her work as a script coverage consultant in Southern California, she is an online screenwriting instructor and has an international clientele whom she mentors in works of fiction and nonfiction through workshops and one-on-one critique. Her degree in Communications from California State University led to stints in all aspects of media, an expertise that continues to be applied to PR assignments and volunteerism in the public sector. Recently married in Scotland, she and her husband are currently collaborating on several book and film projects.

CHRISTINA HAMLETT (left photo) Former actress/director Christina Hamlett is an award winning author, professional ghostwriter, media relations expert, and script consultant for the film industry (which means she stops a lot of really bad movies from coming to theaters near you). She resides in Pasadena, California with her gourmet chef husband and Lucy, the world's cutest dog. (http://www.authorhamlett.com)

JAMIE DARE (right photo) Along with Christina Hamlett, freelance writer Jamie Dare has co-authored three Shakespearean parodies: one-act plays written not in iambic pentameter, but Dr. Seuss rhyme. Ms. Dare has also developed marketing materials and brochures, provided script coverage for independent film companies, and written corporate training manuals. “Cliffhanger Abbey” is a welcome departure from the latter endeavor in that people will actually read the material voluntarily. Ms. Dare lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

Gwen Hansen has a B.S. degree in Professional Writing from The University of Houston. As Artistic Director for The Forum Players, The Woodlands, Texas, she wrote and directed plays specific to that community setting. She was featured in the State Lines section of the "Houston Chronicle" and was the 2010 winner of the Henry Weidemeyer Memoir Award. She is working on what she wants to be when she grows up.

Nikki Harmon’s plays range from Theatre for Young Audiences to Murder Mysteries to Social/Political Satire and have been produced in China, Australia, Singapore, India, Thailand, Romania, the Channel Islands, South Africa, and throughout the U.S. and Canada.  She’s been a Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and three times chosen for the University of Central Missouri’s National Theatre for Young Audiences Competition.  Her play “Snowflake’s Story” was read at the Kennedy Center as part of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education Project.  Along with her writing, she’s also an artist and worked for many years as a stage manager, lighting designer and as a TV Location Casting Director.  To fill her Bucket List, she’s volunteered on digs in Thailand, Peru and Arizona, on wildlife conservancies in Kenya with the Grévy’s zebras and Namibia with cheetahs, in D.C. Illustrating mole beetles for the Smithsonian, and in Italy at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma with 2^nd century Herbals (books illustrated by monks).  Nikki studied at the Sorbonne, the Université de Montpellier, Institut Britannique; Carnegie Institute of Technology, University of Miami, Pasadena Playhouse of Theatre Arts, and is a long-time member of Actors Equity and the Dramatists Guild.  https://www.nikkiharmon.com/ (Pictured: Nikki with a rescued giraffe on an Earthwatch Project at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, in Kenya.)

Sam Havens is Professor Emeritus at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He founded the Drama Department where he teaches playwriting and screenwriting. He has written twenty-four plays with productions in the USA, Canada and Australia. His plays have been selected for showcase productions in New York City, Westport, Connecticut, Amherst, Massachusetts, Dayton, Ohio, and East Hampton, New York. He has received playwriting grants from the Ford Foundation and from the Texas Commission on Arts and Humanities. Mr. Havens taught playwriting and screenwriting for ten years for Rice University's School of Continuing Studies. In addition to writing, painting and teaching, Mr. Havens performs voice-over narration for radio and TV commercials and industrial films. He is also an abstract artist and a consultant in presentation skills. Sam Havens and wife Gretchen live in Houston.

Bradley Hayward grew up in the extremely small Canadian town of Oxbow, Saskatchewan, where the overall lack of things to do left him plenty of time to write his first play. Since that time, he has written more than 30 plays, and has seen them produced in over 20 countries around the world. Two of his short plays have been produced Off-Broadway. His one-acts geared toward high school students have been presented at thespian festivals across the United States and Canada.

Alan Heckner is an actor and playwright residing in Atlanta, Georgia. He has appeared on stage for nearly ten years now, most recently appearing in a production at Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, and is a proud graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Acting. His previous plays, "The Best Show Never Seen" and "America's Next Top Model Student!" have been performed in middle schools and high schools all across the country...and once or twice in Canada, too.

Jill Henson has been an educator since 2002. She has a M.S. in History and teaches history, theatre, and speech at a small public school in Texas. She has been fortunate enough to have directed two state-level plays and coached numerous state and national-level speakers in interpretation, extemporaneous, and debate. She is passionate about her students, world travel, Duke basketball, and forgotten historical events. She considers among her greatest achievements her three children Wesley, Abigail, and Joel, seeing an original cast performance of "Hamilton," and marrying the man of her dreams.

Jill Henson has been an educator since 2002. She has a M.S. in History and teaches history, theatre, and speech at a small public school in Texas. She has been fortunate enough to have directed two state-level plays and coached numerous state and national-level speakers in interpretation, extemporaneous, and debate. She is passionate about her students, world travel, Duke basketball, and forgotten historical events. She considers among her greatest achievements her three children Wesley, Abigail, and Joel, seeing an original cast performance of "Hamilton," and marrying the man of her dreams.

Melonie Menefee has been in education since 1994 and currently teaches journalism and competitive speech. She is an assistant theatre director and has been blessed enough to have been a part of two state-qualifying OAP performances. She has published articles on yearbook production, but this is her first piece of drama. In her spare time, Melonie enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with her family, including husband Carl, Sons CJ and Colby, and granddaughter Kynlee.

Brother and sister team Adam and Amber Herring grew up in a small town in northwest Alabama. They have starred, co-written, and co-directed the past three Christmas plays at their church where Amber serves as drama director. She just finished writing her fourth play. Amber is also the children’s director at her church. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, scrapbooking, and watching Alabama football. Adam, a high school English teacher and football coach at Colbert Heights High School in Alabama, has been involved in theater throughout high school and college. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, cycling, and spending time with loved ones. He is also an avid Crimson Tide and Boston Celtics follower.

Rand Higbee grew up in Spearfish, SD, and holds a theatre degree from South Dakota State University and an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Currently living in Hager City, WI, Rand won a 2009 Wisconsin Wrights Award for Playwriting. In recent years he has become a fixture at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference held every June in Valdez, Alaska.

Patricia (Pat) is from a small town in southeastern Michigan. She grew up listening to songs (on vinyl LPs) from shows like The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, Camelot, Oliver! and Brigadoon. She and her friends learned the songs, put on variety shows, and played the Broadway characters, in costume, in games of “dress-up.” She wrote stories and poetry, drew comic books, took piano lessons and ballet, and loved school, sailing and going to camp. She learned the fun of singing harmonies in church choir and around a campfire. High school developed strengths in English, art and music. In her senior year, she joined the concert choir and was pianist for Balladiers, a “show choir” of the early 70s (theme song: “Consider Yourself” from Oliver!). She fell in love with Melzor, choir president. When they graduated, she was co-valedictorian of their class. Patricia and Melzor married and moved to Iowa (echoes of The Music Man!). They started a family. They attended college and graduated together, twelve years after high school graduation. Their commencement speaker was actress Helen Hayes. Pat majored in English and Art. Graduating summa cum laude, with an award for superior accomplishment in English, she was one of two nominees for a fellowship. Not selected for the award, Pat took II Timothy 2:15 to heart: “Study to show thyself approved unto God…” and determined to use her gifts and talents in her church family. During thirty-seven years in Iowa, she directed church choir, led worship, taught Sunday School and midweek children’s ministries and directed summer Bible camps. She served as state-level secretary, wrote Bible studies and arranged choir music. She wrote a few songs, then a cantata, and then a full musical. This was followed by another musical, and another; to a total of eight, over a twenty-three-year span. She also became a writer for Dr. Wonder’s Workshop, a Christian TV series for the Deaf. Two years after her husband retired, Pat and Mel left children and grandchildren in Iowa and moved to Florida. She continues to write plays, music and lyrics, in between salt water fishing, canoeing, tandem bicycling and recumbent tricycling. Sailing is on the near horizon, too. Pat says, “If God says ‘Yes,’ don’t let anyone say you can’t. And trust His timing.”

Marc has lived his life in the theater, settling into the thriving arts scene in Ann Arbor, Michigan, his home for the last twenty years. With the release of "Code Five," he marks twenty-five years as a published playwright in 2018. He and his wife, Kathy are the proud parents of two grown children. Together they enjoy reading, antiquing and Detroit Tiger baseball.

I have been teaching theatre at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina since 2011, having spent the previous 8 years teaching physical education.  (Weird combo, right?)  When not at work I like to go out adventuring with my son Rhett and our two dogs (Delilah and Jezebel). 

I’m a 6^th degree black belt in Isshin-Ryu Karate, and along with my older brother Byron, I own and operate a commercial dojo here in Wilmington. As I write this, I have more than two dozen shows published, and I have really grown to love writing for my kids and now getting to share it with a much larger audience!

MARC is a healthy, employed middle-aged man with vibrant parents, a loving wife of twenty years and two bright, funny kids. That he has been able to last nearly four decades on and around the stage is a blessing and a miracle. As a performer he has recently portrayed both Atticus Finch and Willy Loman, having acted in front of over 100,000 ticket holders through the course of his career. With Mike Davis, Marc is the co-author of three plays (available from Eldridge Publishing) that have been produced from Seattle to South Africa, as well as twenty-six episodes of radio comedy on “The Moosehead Comedies Theatre of the Air.” In the future, Marc hopes to laugh more, worry less and find the cure for male pattern baldness.

Also known as “Miss Kitty,” KATHY is consistently surprised by the things her husband has succeeded in encouraging her to try. The first time she ever stepped on a stage, voiced a radio character (or two) and yes, contributed to the writing of Warren’s Peace is all due to her association with Marc “Danger Boy” Holland. And wow, what a ride it has been! After twenty years of marriage and two sparkling children, she is looking forward to what comes next. Kathy works full time, gardens, goes bowling and dabbles in photography. She also is looking for a new gig, now that Ray Charles has left this mortal coil and left her with no one to sing back-up for. (She can dream, can’t she?)

Rev. Craig Howard -- Much to his surprise God called him to the ministry and he became a pastor full time in Petersburg, WV in 1981. He has a loving wife, Camille, whom he met in Bible College; a caring, talented son Ryan who is a police officer; and a beautiful daughter Erin who is a high school student. Craig loves the outdoors and working with teenagers, a role he has filled in his community and denomination as a coach and director of various youth ministries for over 30 years. He has taken youth on mission trips all over the world and plans to continue that activity well into his retirement someday. Craig has always loved theater and has worked with actors in one form or another since his high school days. He understands that words are a tool that when used properly, can encourage and uplift. As God gives him a story he tries to wrap it in words that will do just that.

Kory Howard was born in Utah but grew up in many parts of the USA because of his father's military career. His experiences from living in different regions of the country and meeting a variety of people have shaped him as a person and a writer. He earned his BA degree in English teaching from the University of Utah and his M.Ed. from Southern Utah University. He currently teaches English and Theatre at a small high school in rural Utah. He has a wonderful wife and three beautiful daughters. In his rare spare time, he enjoys playing the guitar and piano.

Will Huddleston is an actor, director and playwright who lives with his family in San Francisco. His experience includes work with five different Shakespeare festivals, including six years with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as both an actor and Resident Director. He has worked as a professional actor at the American Conservatory Theatre, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, and the Intiman Theatre Company among others. Currently, Mr. Huddleston is Resident Director with the California Theatre Center. He has written numerous plays including adaptations of THE JUNGLE BOOK, and GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, along with free-wheeling adaptations of LYSISTRATA and THE BIRDS by Aristophanes. Original plays include THE ADVENTURES OF PERSEUS, A NEW AGE IS DAWNING (a Ragtime Play), THE JOURNEY OF LEWIS AND CLARK, THE KABUKI WIZARD OF OZ, and AMELIA EARHART. These plays have been seen in productions at the Commonweal Theatre in Minnesota, the Seattle Children's Theatre, South Coast Rep, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the Alaska Youth Theatre, and at schools and theatre programs for young people across the United States.

Christie Hudon loves to read and write about adventures in both real and imagined worlds. She writes YA novels as well as dramatic pieces, teaches middle school English, and writes copy for a small marketing firm she and her husband helped found. She is the proud mother of a vivacious young daughter and the wife of her high school sweetheart. After years of performing on stage in plays and musicals, she began writing skits for church services and co-authoring a few musical reviews. Finally, she decided to try her hand at a full-length play, which began very humbly during a long road trip. She is also a big sci-fi/fantasy geek. Chat with her on Twitter @chthewriter or on Facebook at Christie Hudon Author.

Chuck Hudson is a stage director at major international opera and theatre companies. His 2002 off-Broadway production of "She Stoops to Conquer" received one of the Joe A. Callaway Awards from The Actors Equity Association. Chuck also uses his enormous experience as a performer, director, and coach in his many master classes and private coachings at various professional artist training programs for singers and actors. Chuck’s specialty in movement comes from a background in gymnastics as well as being one of three Americans to have received a diploma from the Marcel Marceau International School of Mimedrama in Paris. He is the only American to be appointed to teach at Marceau's School, and he performed with Marceau on his 1991 European Tour and in Klaus Kinski’s film "Paganini." Chuck also studied at the Paris School for Theatrical Fencing and was awarded an Honorary Diploma from the French Academy of Arms.

Scott Icenhower works, writes, and acts, (In that order), in and around Greensboro, NC. His plays are being performed around the country now thanks in part to Eldridge Publishing.

R. Eugene Jackson is a professor, play director, and chairman of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of South Alabama. He has been writing stories, skits and plays since he learned what crayons could do to walls. At college he was encouraged to continue playwriting and scripts made up most of his thesis at Kent State University and his dissertation at Southern Illinois University. He has won numerous playwriting competitions while having over fifty plays published. "I carry a notebook with me everywhere I go," Jackson says, "because my mind is always plotting new storieseven if the rest of me is doing something else. I feel like I can't get to the computer fast enough to get everything down. Sometimes I can't type fast enough to catch up." In his leisure time (other than writing, which is both leisure and therapy), Gene enjoys traveling, playing the violin and ballroom dancing.

Deborah Jacobson, a veteran English and Drama teacher in the New Jersey school system, began her writing career when her students began complaining about preparing for college auditions. Their frustration at finding overused, inappropriate, or unsuitable material motivated Deborah to write monologue and other drama books for teens. When not teaching, directing, or writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and focusing on an unusual hobby, collecting cookie jars! Deborah is thrilled to share her writing with teens beyond the walls of her classroom.

Michal Jacot’s twelve published plays include romantic comedies, suspense, and farces. He has been presented with the Excellence in Playwriting Award by the Community Theatre Association of Michigan. His books include Dwaible, Confessions of an Overactive Imagination, and Stages of Insanity. Michal has traveled to schools and libraries teaching a writing workshop for twenty years, as well as being a staff instructor at Author Quest, a writing camp for kids. He is also a commercial illustrator, having created hundreds of art pieces, logos, and comic strips. He is the illustrator for the children’s book series Dollar Store Danny. Michal and his wife Laurie live in northern Michigan.

Will Jefferies was born outside of Los Angeles and was “discovered” as a child actor and model while his parents were strolling along in a mall. After his brief stint in Hollywood, Will moved with his parents to Henderson, Nevada where he spent the remainder of his childhood. Only performing in church plays and one musical in high school his senior year, Will’s real interest in the theatre took hold his freshman year of college in Idaho, thanks to a roommate who convinced him to run a spotlight for a college production. After serving a full time mission abroad for his church, Will resumed his theatre studies and began acting in various roles in college and at a summer stock theatre in Montana. Having fallen in love with the beauty of that area of the country, Will took an opportunity to continue an abandoned summer stock dinner theatre and has been involved with productions there as a director and designer for twelve seasons. Will hopes to continue to broaden his theatrical experience by writing, teaching, and taking other opportunities to direct and perform. Will’s makes his home with his wife and three children.

Jane and Jim Jeffries -- We have been writing plays together since 1995. Our scripts have been performed in all 50 states and in 20 foreign countries. Together, we have produced and directed over 50 shows for elementary, middle, and high schools, community theater, and Renaissance Faires. Jane holds a B.A. and M.A. in English. Jane taught English at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, writes marketing materials for various nonprofits, judges at the sectional and state One-Act Festivals, and writes a blog called “The Odd Christian.” Jim earned his B.A. in Education and his MEPD in American Studies. He has been teaching since 1990, first at North High School, then at Eau Claire County Jail, and currently at Regis Catholic School.

Paul H. Johnson is a theatre instructor, playwright, director, and high school teacher. Originally from North Dakota, he now lives in Minnesota near the twin cities. He has written five plays and directed 50 productions. His awards include "Recognition as Teacher of the Year" in Graton, ND 1997, "Optimist Club Teacher of the Year 1997," ND, and "Class A Drama Director of the Year 1996. Married to Valoriewith three children, Lori, Sarah, and Emily, his family also has a dog, cats, and fish as pets. He loves camping, reading, and writing full-time. He has a Master of Arts degree in theatre from the University of North Dakota with an emphasis on children's theatre and recreational drama. He is the director of a theatre program where he teaches and writes about what he knows û children and high school students

Married writers Deborah Ann Percy and Arnold Johnston live in Kalamazoo and South Haven, MI.  Their individually and collaboratively written plays have won some 200 productions, as well as numerous awards and publications across the country and internationally; and they’ve written, co-written, edited, or translated some twenty books.  

Debby earned the MFA in Creative Writing at Western Michigan University.  A book of her short fiction, Cool Front: Stories from Lake Michigan, appeared in 2010 from March Street Press; in fall 2014 One Wet Shoe Press published her full-length collection, Invisible Traffic, which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and an Independent Publishers Award. 

Arnie’s poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and translations have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies.  His books include two poetry chapbooks—Sonnets: Signs and Portents and What the Earth Taught Us—The Witching Voice: A Play about Robert Burns; and The Witching Voice: A Novel from the Life of Robert Burns.  His translations of Jacques Brel’s songs have appeared in numerous musical revues nationwide, and are also featured on his CD, Jacques Brel: I’m Here!  A full-length collection of Arnie’s poems—Where We’re Going, Where We’ve Been—will appear soon from FutureCycle Press, and his new novel—Swept Away—is forthcoming from Caffeinated Press.

Karen Jones lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia with her husband of 40 some years.  Being in charge of directing the Christmas play each year at her church for almost as long, a lot of money was spent on scripts that couldn't be used.  They just didn't fit the church's need.  So one Christmas she decided to write her own tailor-made script for her small church.  No one was privy to the change and to her surprise the play was well-received.  After several years, her secret came out and she was encouraged to submit one for publication.  To her delight it was accepted and thus launched her new writing career which has enabled her to help share the Gospel in her own small way. 

Kerry Kazmierowicztrimm (he/him) has had over 400 productions of his plays and musicals staged in 12 countries. His Off-Broadway credits include having his play WOUNDED featured in The Soho Playhouse's "Fringe Encore Series," and writing for Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre's "Village Song Project.” His work was featured in Lincoln Center’s “Broadway’s Future Songbook” and at The Other Palace (UK). His play E-SCAPE was commissioned by CLIMB Theatre and toured schools throughout Minnesota, while his musical podcast APART TOGETHER was commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse. His play WOUNDED is under option to be adapted into a feature film. He has won and placed in over three dozen play- and screenwriting competitions, including being a Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Studio recordings of his musicals GIANTS IN THE SKY, SALLY SELLS SEASHELLS (AND YOU CAN, TOO!), and THE CLAW are available on all music streaming platforms. He has a B.F.A. in Acting from Syracuse University and an M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing from N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts. For more information, visit www.kerrykaz.com

Dan Kehde is a playwright, librettist and director who, for the past 15 years, has served as co-founder and managing director for The Contemporary Youth Arts Company of Charleston,WV, an organization dedicated to giving young artists hands-on opportunities to bring new works to the American stage. A nearly unfunded, for-profit theater company, CYAC has produced over 50 new works in the past 15 years including 15 new Scarpelli-Kehde musicals, more than thirty new plays and eight touring social action one-acts. Together with his persevering wife, Penny, Dan continues to work with the young people of CYAC while constantly striving to challenge the ever-changing lists of new actors that come into the company. Dan is currently working on new pieces of musical theater with composer/collaborator Mark Scarpelli, as well as continuing to create and produce three or four new plays of his own each year.

Kandie S. Kelley received her MFA from the University of California, Riverside, and has successfully pursued a career as a director, educator, and author (Closet Drama, Bear Star Press, 2001). Committed to teaching theatre, she owned her own company for eight years while also serving as department chair of drama at a private school in Orange County before founding the Inland Edge Players in Riverside, an ensemble group devoted to fostering the energy of local performers, directors, and writers. In addition to being a theatre instructor at the University of California, she also teaches classical acting and Shakespeare as performance at Idyllwild Arts Academy while also working with the Riverside Metropolitan Museum’s Youth Diversity Project, educating youth via improvisational and playmaking workshops, which focus on social change.

Josephine Kelly is a graduate of Missouri's Truman University with a degree in theatre and holds a master’s degree from Adams State University. She has taught Theatre Appreciation as an adjunct instructor, has been the director of a high school theatre program in Colorado and she was named H.S. Theatre Educator of The Year for the State of Colorado. In 2001, the program earned the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education’s Outstanding Achievement Award. Having directed over 75 productions, Kelly finds something new and wonderful in the creative process. Serving as the director of the LJ Children’s Theatre Program and consulting with the One Act Competition held at the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado has kept her busy. She also served as English Department Chair and is a past board member of the Picketwire Center. She served on the Colorado Department of Education’s Commissioner Cabinet and is a member of the National Educational Association as well as a member of the Colorado Theatre Guild. Currently, she has formed her own Theatrical Arts Company, and is actively writing and directing theatrical projects. She makes her home in Colorado with her daughter, Hannah.

Bobby Keniston was born and grew up in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. He had the karmic good fortune to have Lakewood Theater, the country's oldest still-operating summer theater, as a summer home. His love for acting and for reading plays started there, and he was encouraged by a very theatrical set of parents. He studied acting at Boston University and playwriting and literature at Bennington College. He has over thirty plays published and is relieved that people seem to like them. He would like to thank his parents, his different community theater families, and his friends for all of their support of his creative endeavors. If you would like to read Bobby's blog, it is called “Theater is a Sport” (because theater IS a sport), and you can find it at theaterisasport@blogspot.com. If you would like to contact him, feel free to drop him a line at theater.is.a.sport@gmail.com, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Kevin P. Kern is currently a member of the Theatre faculty at The University of Mount Union. Other original work includes Oceans Apart, which tells the stories of families separated by war through their correspondence, and a Commedia del' Arte entitled Isabella Met A Fella. Also a director, he has worked with the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in Los Angeles, the Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Montana, the Hackmatack Playhouse in Maine, and Shakespeare At The Castle in Alliance, OH for whom he serves as Artistic Director. He lives in northeast Ohio with his wife Natalie and sons Sander and Aidan.

Robert Kinerk is the author of seven picture books including the popular Clorinda series and the well-received "Bear’s First Christmas." The first play he wrote, a musical melodrama for his hometown in Alaska, Ketchikan, has been produced every summer since 1966. He was born in Seattle, grew up in Alaska, and has lived in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. From the home in Cambridge, he shares with his wife Anne Warner, he travels to visit children and grandchildren and to keep up on the doings of his six brothers and sisters.

ROBERT KINERK (far left) is the author of seven picture books including the popular Clorinda series and the well-received "Bear’s First Christmas." The first play he wrote, a musical melodrama for his hometown in Alaska, Ketchikan, has been produced every summer since 1966. He was born in Seattle, grew up in Alaska, and has lived in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. From the home in Cambridge, he shares with his wife Anne Warner, he travels to visit children and grandchildren and to keep up on the doings of his six brothers and sisters.

STEPHEN MURRAY is a composer, lyricist and playwright who has been a Performing Arts Educator since 1985. Steve's plays and musicals have been produced throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Germany, South Africa, Malta, The Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and China. Some of his award-winning titles can be found in the Eldridge catalog. "Musical! The Bard is Back!" was the 2000 winner of the Columbia Entertainment Company National Playwriting Contest, the first musical ever to win the award. Two other Eldridge titles have also been recognized by the CEC Contest, "Mother Goose, Inc." and "The Universe and Other Stuff." Steve has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University. By day he is a humble music teacher, but by night, you may find him performing on various stages in Massachusetts.

Kamron Klitgaard is a high school theatre teacher in Utah. He believes that theatre can be exciting to everyone. Therefore, he writes plays with a lot of action and humor in them to appeal to those who claim they “do not like plays.” Kamron lives with his beautiful wife, Kathy and his three charming daughters, Kortney, Katelynn and Karlee. He claims that everyone’s name starting with a “K” is a huge coincidence. He tries to sneak his young daughters into all the high school plays. He also enjoys, juggling, magic, swing dancing and plays several instruments.

Alexis Kozak holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and in English from Rutgers University and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Boston University. He is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor, whose plays, The Black Bird Returns (co-authored with wife Barbara Panas) and Babel Tower, have been produced off-Broadway by the Roundtable Ensemble. His short play, “Girls Pray, or The Ketchup Stigmata,” was included in Smith & Kraus’ Best 10-Minute Plays of 2014. His the author of the full-length plays 0 Days Since Last Miracle, Toms River Anthology, and Tango 105, a solo play about gun control and school shootings. His short works, “Shakespeare Gets and MFA” and “The Sexy Indians Dump the Tea,” can be found online. He is an avid soccer player (striker!) and would cut off his left arm to have more time to read. He loves making art projects and shooting basketball with his six year old son. He teaches Theatre Arts at Middletown HS South in Middletown, NJ.

Kendall Krueger is a Florida based actress, screenwriter, and playwright. She attended Indian River State College and University of Central Florida, where she earned her degrees in Acting and Theatre History. Since graduating, she has pursued acting and writing professionally. “A Little Misunderstanding” is her first published play, with more to come! Her acting credits include “The Dreamfactory” (Rudy), “Glitche” (The Catalyst), and “Portrait of a Murder” (Emily). Recently, she and her fellow screenwriter, Joseph Baribault, co-wrote and starred in the short film, “Should’ve Called It…”. This short film received the first-place title at the Florida Central Film Slam and was nominated for multiple awards at the Los Angeles International Film Festival, including Best Acting Duo.

Sam Kuglen is a writer, director and actor from Southern California. In addition to this play he has written adaptations of "A Wrinkle in Time" and "Amazing Grace" for Serendipity Theatre Company and "Rapunzel and the Witch" for California Theatre Center in Sunnyvale. His original play "The Royal Baby," based on the lazzi of Commedia D'ell Arts, was mounted by Stages Theatre Center in Hollywood. He has directed productions of "Androcles and the Lion," "The Ransom of Red Chief" and his own version of "Pinochio" for Serendipity Theatre Company and many plays at other theatres in the Los Angeles area. He has also played a wide variety of roles for Serendipity Theatre Company. On television he has been seen on "America's Funniest People," "Days of Our Lives," "General Hospital," and "Homefront," among others. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, The American Alliance for Theatre and Education and also works as a teacher in Burbank.

After growing up in Michigan and Florida, Dirk Kuiper attended the University of Central Florida and received degrees in both film and theatre. During his education, he worked a variety of jobs and served in the Naval Reserve. After graduation, he worked as a director and scriptwriter of educational videos before pursuing a career in education. He has taught and directed in high school since 1991. He has also written a number of plays for his students, two of which have been published by Eldridge. He is married and has a son.

Vicki’s creative passion is to share the good news of Jesus Christ in any possible mode. While she directed the Potpourri Players at Community Church of Greenwood (IN) for several years, she wrote more than fifteen full-length dramas, multiple vignettes, and a series of vignettes for Moody Radio. Some of the musicals contained a cast of more than 200 people, including the choir. Some of her vignettes were published by Chapel of the Air’s 50-Day Adventure. With a BA in English/Education and an MA in Journalism, Vicki taught English and communication skills from junior high to university levels. She served a few years as the editor of One Mission Society, formerly OMS International, an organization with work in more than 50 countries. She wrote four books; two published by Victor Books/Scripture Press, one published by Zondervan, and another published by OMS Int’l. Other ministry interests have included: teaching Bible studies to women, directing women’s ministries, disciplining new believers, editing the church newsletter, and speaking in various venues. She has traveled in more than 25 countries. Vicki is married to Charles, a pastor, and they have two married daughters and two grandsons.

Christopher Landrigan is a Western New York native, graduate of Cornell University and The George Washington Law School, attorney, and a person who really enjoyed acting in his high school one-act plays. He gave writing a play a try while in college. He is not a professional writer but hopes to write another play or two in the future to supplement the less (but only slightly less) fictional works of a lawyer.

Stacey Lane’s plays have been performed at hundreds of theatres from coast to coast in the U.S., as well as in Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand. She is the recipient of the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency Grant, the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District’s Literary Artist Fellowship, the Charlie Award, and a nominee for “Outstanding Playwriting for a New Script” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Lane produces SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day Dayton.

Anita Larsen has served organizations and businesses as writer and consultant for over 25 years, working in the areas of promotional copy, scripting, speechwriting, editorial, and public relations. She has published 21 books (several more languish in drawers) and numerous articles for both young and adult readers. Also, she’s written monthly book review columns for several leading newspapers’ Sunday arts sections nationwide, as well as Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. But her first love is live theatre, whether acting, writing for the stage or teaching others to do those things. This is also likely to be her last love. Why? She says, “If you can get out of your own way and have a little luck—you may sense theater’s ancient roots, which are both spiritual and sustaining.” Several of her plays have been published, but “Anne of Green Gables” is her first play with Eldridge.

The late Gary LaVigne was a New York native. His love of theatre had taken him from Off-Broadway to the Dallas Theatre Center, to The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, and to many summer stock companies. His theatrical career included hundreds of performances in the U.S. and Europe, appearing on stage, television and in films, encompassing plays, musicals, soap operas, cabaret and even playing with marionettes at Lincoln Center. With degrees in theater, he had taught speech and drama from the elementary grades to the college level, and had directed plays and musicals at the University of Dallas, the Naples Players, the Children’s Academy and at the Community School of Naples. When he was not writing and composing, you would find him appearing as MC and vocalist with the Music Makers Big Show Band, or touring with his solo act, featuring a repertoire of more than 3,000 songs.

Lindsey Schneider grew up in Homer, Alaska, a beautiful rural fishing town with a dynamic artistic community. Her passion for theatre began at age six, when she made her first stage appearance in The Nutcracker. She is a three-time winner of the Kenai Peninsula Writer’s Contest, a recipient of the Homer Foundation’s Beluga Tail Writing Award, Homer Council on the Arts’ 2015 Youth Artist of the Year, as well as the recipient of Pier One Theatre’s 2017 Original Work Award. She is the Director of Pier One Theatre’s Youth and Teen Theatre Program and has directed and designed eight youth theatre productions to date. Honor Among Thieves was written for her students, inspired by a need for fresh, complex characters in a family-friendly play. Lindsey currently resides in British Columbia, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in theatre at the University of Victoria.

Linda Livingston, Artistic Director of Transport Theatre, is an award-winning actress who has appeared on stages across the country, from a staged reading of “Marie Antoinette” at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, to touring with Seattle’s Shakespearean Bellevue Rep. She has performed in “Master Class” (Maria Callas); Rubicon’s world premiere of “Murder in the First” (Blanche) with Ted Neeley and the late Larry Hagman; “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (Nurse Ratched); and “Diary of Anne Frank” (Edith Frank) to name a few. Her turn as Vivien Bearing in “W;t” won her an LA Stage Alliance Ovation Nomination during its run at the Victory Theatre in Burbank. Linda has also acted in two plays for National Public Radio, hosted a television show on California’s central coast, and appeared in the short film, “Brightness,” featuring Eric Idle, which ran on the Independent Film Channel. Linda has directed shows at a half dozen theatres, and has written two stage plays as well as a dozen monologues for Santa Paula California’s wildly popular annual GhostWalk. She has co-written two radio plays that were produced live: “Tales to Tremble By - Play Within a Play,” and “The Shadow, 1940’s Re-creation,” both by Grand Guignol Players. She holds a Master’s in Theatre Education from UNCO and has taught acting at a number of schools and theatres.

Rachel Lopez, was born and raised in San Diego where she received classical training at The Old Globe Theatre until moving to Chicago to study improvisation at The Second City. During her three years at Second City, she performed and wrote for two sketch comedy revues. Rachel also performed with The Free Associates comedy troupe and toured Chicago schools with Urban Gateways as a teaching artist and improviser. She served as Youth Theatre Director for Lafayette Civic Theatre in Lafayette, Indiana and at South Bend Civic Theatre in South Bend, Indiana. Upon moving to Reno in 2012, Rachel founded Spotlight Youth Theatre at Good Luck Macbeth Theatre. As the Artist in Residence at Sage Ridge High School she co-wrote and co-directed an original piece called “Nevada – It Ain’t Just Vegas, Baby" for performance at the 2014 Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Rachel currently resides in Reno, Nevada with her husband and daughter.

Jacqueline T. Lynch’s plays have been produced around the United States and in Europe. Her novels, short stories, and non-fiction books on New England history and film criticism are available from many online shops as eBooks, audiobook, and paperback.  She writes Another Old Movie Blog on classic films, and the syndicated newspaper column Silver Screen, Golden Memories. She is featured in the Power of Women book on the history of women's achievements in western and central Massachusetts published by the Springfield Republican. 

Website: www.JacquelineTLynch.com

Hilary Mackelden was born in Coventry, UK, and has lived all her adult life on the edge of Ashdown Forest in Sussex. She has three grownup children and six grandchildren. When she's not writing, she works for World In Need, a Christian charity that helps people in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Through them, she has spent time building a school in Kenya, and driven to Morocco with a consignment of wheelchairs. Her other interests include reading, swimming, watching her grandchildren play soccer, and history. She is a member of the National Trust and loves to visit historic sites and stately homes. 

I currently live in Southwest Florida, but I am originally from a small town in the mountains of North Carolina. I am a high school and college English and Drama teacher, and I love it. In addition to teaching, I have been working in theater for many years. I had my first lead in a play when I was 9 years old. I began directing and writing plays when I was 14, and Eldridge published my first play when I was 27. I am also a published short-story writer and journalist. I have a wonderful, patient husband, Raymond; two sons, T.J. and Tyler, and a stepdaughter, Reanna. My favorite “drama” experience so far has been a summer I spent in London in residence at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.

Jared Mallard is an international award-winning playwright and teacher from Bishop’s Falls, Newfoundland, Canada. He resides in Fredericton, New Brunswick with his wife Gina and two kids, Jonah and Juliana.

Marcus Yi is an award-winning theatre writer/composer/director and performer based in New York. Marcus was an inaugural member of the 92nd Street Y Musical Theater Development Lab Collective, a 2021-2022 New Victory LabWorks Artist, and a Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater. He has been commissioned by The Kennedy Center, Queens Council on the Arts, American Lyric Theater, Atlanta Opera, Really Spicy Opera, First Stage, and New York City Children’s Theater.

BOB MARSHALL Bob Marshall is professional musician (woodwind specialist), arranger and orchestrator and teacher with over forty-five years of experience. His background includes performance of and writing for most musical genre from classical to jazz. In addition to performing and writing, he also served as a performing arts consultant to the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Western States Arts Federation. For over 15 years he taught elementary school classroom music, band and choir and just recently retired. However, he continues full-time work in his music publishing/production company Snowflower Music where he arranges, orchestrates, and produces CD rehearsal tracks for music composers and playwrights around the country.

JJ LEWIS-NICHOLS Born and raised in NYC, JJ’s passion for the theatre started by seeing the original Mary Martin “South Pacific” at age 2 ½. Her theatre education included attending all the major Broadway shows from the 50’s through 2010. After attending Denison University, she graduated the first year of the Tisch School of the Arts in “acting”. Her Broadway credits include the French maid in “Private Lives” in 1969 and as Frances Hunter in “No Sex Please, We’re British” in 1973. Based in NYC, her 17-year professional career included national tours, the Cleveland Playhouse, and the Mark Taper Lab. Television credits include appearances in many soap operas, the sit-com “The Madhouse Brigade”, numerous TV commercials, and over 400 radio ads. Her film work includes “Dead Ringer” with Meatloaf and “Dreamchaser” with Harold Gould and Jeff Tambor. In 1981, she moved to Northern California where she is artistic director of the Siskiyou Performing Arts Center and currently working on her 112th show as director. She has taught “acting/directing/playwrighting” for College of the Siskiyous as adjunct faculty for 25 years. In addition to “Little Women – A Merry Christmas” (the musical), she has written and produced other musical adaptations including “The Littlest Angel” and “Christmas Carol”.

MELINDA FIELD Melinda Field is an award winning writer/poet/playwright who lives in the mountains of Northern California. A version of her short story The Ledge, excerpted from True, was an award winner in the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Competition. She has authored three sets of wisdom cards with photographic artist Lani Phillips, that were created to inspire and empower women of all ages on a daily basis. They are Wisdom of the Crone, Wonder of the Mother and The Journey. Melinda is currently working on a sequel to True.

Joey Martineck is a Catholic seminarian in formation to be a priest for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. He graduated from Georgia Tech and worked for a few years as an account manager for Texas Instruments. He has been in a number of plays including Prince Dauntless in "Once Upon a Mattress" out of ACT1 Theater Alpharetta GA and Officer Lockstock in "Urinetown the Musical" at Dramatech Theater Atlanta GA. He is currently studying at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, LA.

Robert Mattson, a Boston-based playwright, has been writing since 1990. Creating smart comedies that rely on quick, quirky dialog, his shows have been performed all over the country and in Canada, make him internationally infamous. When not writing plays, Rob lives in Upton, MA with his wife Jen and his precocious cats Gordon and Rhoda.

Laura Mazzuca Toops is an actor and playwright with more than 40 years of experience as a writer of fact and fiction. Book credits include Growing Up with Manos: The Hands of Fate: How I was the Child Star of the Worst Movie Ever Made and Lived to Tell the Story (co-authored with Jackey Neyman Jones). Acting credits include Fanny in Man of the People (u/s, Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, 2022); the short film Leaving Michiana (Sofia Lynch, dir., 2021); and Sue Bayliss in All My Sons (4th Street Theater, Chesterton, Ind., 2019). Three of Laura’s short plays were performed in August 2023 at The Secret Theatre in New York. She lives in the greater Chicago area.

London-based writer Catherine McDonald writes plays, musical theatre and short stories. After completing David Edgar's Playwriting Master’s Degree at Birmingham University, Catherine was commissioned by The Bronte Society to write an adaptation of Jane Eyre and is currently adapting a musical version Wuthering Heights. In 2011 she was short-listed for the BBC Writer's Academy for her play The Kittens in the Bag. This was followed in 2012 by London’s Theatre 503 programming her play What Sam Told Me as part of their Rapid Write Rewind night, celebrating the best of their Rapid Response evenings over the past few years.   Catherine received critical acclaim for her musical adaptation of Peter Pan Never Land at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which went on to be performed outdoors in Kensington Gardens, and was then featured on ITV1's Fortune, winning £15,000 to donate to St. Ormond St Children's Hospital.  

Trevin McLaughlin is a high school theatre teacher in North Richland Hills, Texas, and a graduate of Texas Tech University. He has been teaching middle and high school theatre for eight years, and he also performs and directs at community theatres in the DFW area. In his spare time, Trevin enjoys watching competition reality TV and Mavericks basketball with his cocker spaniel, Jessie. 

The late Eddie McPherson has published over 60 children's shows, fractured fairy tales, murder mystery and rural comedies in one-act, full-length and reader's theatre formats. He earned his undergraduate degree in Broadcast Writing, a Master’s in English Literature, and a Specialist in Educational Leadership. Before entering the world of administration, Eddie taught high school and middle school theatre. His drama students won first place in one-act play competitions, best actor awards, all-star cast awards, and attend/attended acting schools in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. He is still very proud of his students. Eddie works with publishers to develop scripts for the educational, community theatre, and religious markets. Many of his plays have become best-sellers. Eddie lives in Atlanta. He writes in his favorite coffee house in the heart of the city or in his childhood home the mountains of Northeast Alabama, where he made up plays as a child and performed them for anyone who would watch.

Most of Trish Black Melehan's 20 years as an educator have been devoted to grades K - 8. Always looking for ways to excite her students with lasting educational experiences, her teaching career has been filled with field trips to faraway places. She says, "I've taken my students to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and England's Royal Shakespeare Theater. We've learned about Renaissance Art and Medieval History while touring Europe. I've traveled with students to Washington, D.C. to get a glimpse of our country's rich history and to New York City to taste live theater on Broadway." She explains, "Adapting Shakespeare for younger minds arose from a love of classical literature and poetry coupled with a desire to nurture critical thinking skills, self-confident demeanor, and true literacy among my students. Hearing them speak Shakespearean language on the playground has brought many a smile to my face as well as appreciative comments from amazed parents." She and her husband have been happily married for 30 years and have reared three children, each of whom has successfully pursued a higher education. In 2003 Trish left her middle school teaching position to spend more time caring for her aging mother. This has also given her an opportunity to pursue her writing and to enjoy visits with her first grandchild.

Melonie Menefee has been in education since 1994 and currently teaches journalism and competitive speech. She is an assistant theatre director and has been blessed enough to have been a part of two state-qualifying OAP performances. She has published articles on yearbook production, but this is her first piece of drama. In her spare time, Melonie enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with her family, including husband Carl, Sons CJ and Colby, and granddaughter Kynlee.

Lisa is a multi-platform writer, who works both solo and with her husband, Todd Messegee. As a solo writer, Lisa wrote Just So, Mr. Kipling and Fierce Creatures, published by Eldridge Plays and Musicals. Other produced plays include The Hamlet Murders and Freeborn Lehman’s Last Day on Earth. Lisa co-wrote The Value of x and Carol vs. Christmas with Todd. Both plays are published by Eldridge. She also co-wrote the play, An American House, available on Amazon. Lisa and Todd work together exclusively as screenwriters. Their made for TV movie, Christmas Homecoming debuted on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (2017). The military drama stars Julie Benz and Michael Shanks. Lisa and Todd also wrote the made for TV movie, Romantically Speaking, starring Heather Morris, which aired on both PiXL (2015) and The Hallmark Channel (2017). Lisa is a member of the Writers Guild of America, Writers Guild of Canada, and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Lisa and Todd are a multi-platform writing team who are published playwrights and produced screenwriters. Lisa and Todd plays include Carol vs. Christmas, The Value of x, and Fierce Creatures and Just So, Mr. Kipling, all published by Eldridge.  Other plays include An American House, available on Amazon and their newest play, The Tour, based on Konstantin Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theatre’s tours to America,which received its world premiere in 2018. Lisa and Todd are also produced screenwriters. Their made for TV movie, Christmas Homecoming debuted on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (2017.) The military drama stars Julie Benz and Michael Shanks. Lisa and Todd also wrote the made for TV movie, Romantically Speaking, starring Heather Morris, which premiered on PiXL (2015) and is now airing on The Hallmark Channel. Currently, Lisa and Todd are on contract, writing a new Christmas movie for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. They’re both members of the Writers Guild of Canada and the Writers Guild of America.

Judy Millar was born and raised in Pennsylvania. She received a B.S. Education Degree in English and Communication Arts from Clarion State University. She lived in Southern California for eight years where she worked as a professional actress, a member of Actor's Equity. She received her Master's Equivalent from Cal State San Bernardino. She relocated to Pennsylvania to raise her family, teach and work in community theatre. She is listed in Who's Who Among Teachers, 1996 Edition. She is presently teaching English and is the drama director at Titusville High School.

Stephen Keep Mills was born in South Carolina in 1947. He attended Columbia University in New York and received his MFA from The Yale Drama School. In the spring of 1969, he joined the Guthrie Theatre and, over the next seventeen years, appeared with many regional theatre companies in both the US and Canada. He has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway and as a guest star on over thirty television shows. A sample of his film and television work can be found on IMDb. In the late 1990s, Mills began directing and producing his own written works on stage, gaining critical notice with SquareOne in LA as well as his adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE GHOST STORY OF CHRISTMAS. In 2003, Mills produced a film of his play "Hotel Lobby" and made his debut as a filmmaker in 2005 with his short film, "A Cigar at the Beach," which screened world-wide in 166 festivals, winning 47 awards. His second short film, "Liminal," (2008) has accumulated a festival run of 94 screenings garnering 38 awards. Mills has a book, unpublished, "Stop Acting!," a collection of 66 original monologues and is in pre-production for a feature film, "A Beautiful Dream," a romance / fantasy which takes a modern look at the Eternal Quest for the Feminine.

Patricia Milton's plays have been produced in New York, San Francisco, and places in between. Her vision is to write plays that celebrate the experiences of women and feature great roles for women of all ages. She is the President of the Playwrights Center of San Francisco, which helps Bay Area playwrights develop their work. "The Only Virgin in Jubilee County" won the 2007 Hill Country Playwrights Festival and had its premiere at the Hill Country Community Theatre, Marble Falls, TX.

Michael Mish relates that several years ago he set out to record a children's CD about the environment. An Emmy and Parent's Choice Awards later, he decided to see what teenagers thought aboutàwell, being a teenager. "In what must have been an utterly unorthodox approach, I cast the show before writing it," he says. The cast's first assignment? Come to the next rehearsal and bring with you your three biggest issues about being a teenager. Be honest and respect the confidentiality of the other actors. "I distilled their concerns down to the most shared ones, then wrote the play and songs about what was real for them," says Michael. Thus the musical "teensomething" was created. "I found the material wrote itself and became probably one of the most passionate creations I've ever been involved with. Then again, what could be a more passionate period than the teen years," he adds. Michael makes his home in Oregon and his upbeat and thoughtful songs for his own Cds, films and books on tape have earned him numerous awards. His songs have been recorded by Marilyn McCoo, John Denver, Shari Lewis and Glenn Yarbrough. The LA TIMES calls Michael the "Pied Piper of the Environment."

Brian Mitchell has been involved in theater for over thirty years as an actor, director, and playwright.  His written work has been performed throughout the United States and Canada.  Brian grew up in Minnesota, and currently lives in Iowa with his beautiful wife, Ramona.  They have two adult children. Aside from theater, Brian is passionate about reading, mental health care and advocacy, and kindness.  He currently works as the Course Materials Specialist at Grinnell College.  When you see him, he will be reading.  Feel free to interrupt him and say hello.

Tim Mogford grew up in England, where he studied at the Universities of York and Nottingham, earning degrees in Literature, Theatre and Education. He has worked in the amateur and professional theatre for over twenty years as actor, director, producer and now writer. He has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Times Literary Arts Festival, and as a semi-finalist at the American College Theatre Festival. He has taught in the school and university systems of both the UK and the USA, and holds an M.Ed from Kutztown University of PA. Tim’s plays have garnered praise and won awards in schools, colleges and theatre festivals all over the USA, Canada and in Europe. In addition to teaching English, Shakespeare and Speech Communications in the Pennsylvania high school system, Tim also works privately as a consultant and acting coach, preparing young people for auditions in theatre, film and television, and most especially for application to college performing arts programs. He lives in Reading, PA.

Chris is a playwright, novelist, essayist, actor, rare book dealer, and several other things. He resides in the arts-oriented mountain community of Idyllwild, California, where his troupe, Stratford Players, has been entertaining audiences for more than a decade. He is the author of nearly twenty plays and adaptations, most or which have won awards and/or been produced in venues around the country and abroad.

Daniel Munson has been involved in nearly every aspect of theatre after performing, for the first time, in the fifth grade. He has been an actor in the Midwest, Los Angeles, and New York an Actor's Equity Association stage manager on and Off-Broadway the founding member and director of the Midwest based Quotidian Mime and Dance Troupe a theatre reviewer and award-winning arts columnist. As a writer, he has written for theatre, film, television, radio, and theme parks (yes, theme parks!). He is a member of The Dramatists Guild and The Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and is dedicated to providing quality theatre for young audiences. He currently lives in upstate New York with his wife and three children.

Gerald P. Murphy is a retired high school English teacher, a playwright, composer, songwriter, singer, banjo, guitar and mandolin player, and very poor actor who has the worst memory for lines in the galaxy. He has had more than thirty plays and musicals published and has had his shows performed in over twenty countries. In his leisure time he plays in a music group called “The Celtic Cats" in Yreka, California. He has a lovely wife, three grown children, and four grandchildren. “I just might be the luckiest and happiest man I know,” reports Murphy.

Stephen Murray is a composer, lyricist and playwright who has been a Performing Arts Educator since 1985. Steve's plays and musicals have been produced throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Germany, South Africa, Malta, The Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and China. Some of his award-winning titles can be found in the Eldridge catalog. "Musical! The Bard is Back!" was the 2000 winner of the Columbia Entertainment Company National Playwriting Contest, the first musical ever to win the award. Two other Eldridge titles have also been recognized by the CEC Contest, "Mother Goose, Inc." and "The Universe and Other Stuff." Steve has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University. By day he is a humble music teacher, but by night, you may find him performing on various stages in Massachusetts.

STEPHEN MURRAY is a composer, lyricist and playwright who has been a Performing Arts Educator since 1985. Steve's plays and musicals have been produced throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Germany, South Africa, Malta, The Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and China. Some of his award-winning titles can be found in the Eldridge catalog. "Musical! The Bard is Back!" was the 2000 winner of the Columbia Entertainment Company National Playwriting Contest, the first musical ever to win the award. Two other Eldridge titles have also been recognized by the CEC Contest, "Mother Goose, Inc." and "The Universe and Other Stuff." Steve has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University. By day he is a humble music teacher, but by night, you may find him performing on various stages in Massachusetts.

TOM LARGE has directed more than 65 community theater, university, and school productions in the greater Philadelphia and Boston areas. He received his B.S. in English Education from Temple University, and his A.L.M. in English and American Literature from Harvard University. The creation of the musical adaptation of "Twelfth Night" brings together his twin passions for Shakespeare and musical theater.

Matt Myers is a drama instructor at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia, Illinois, where he’s taught and directed for 8 years. " Truck Stop Chili" is his third play, and the first he’s published with Eldridge Publishing. In addition to writing and directing, Matt enjoys running marathons (as much as someone can enjoy running a marathon), live music, traveling and the occasional hearty laugh. He and his beautiful new bride Kellie live in North Aurora, Illinois.

FLORENCE NOVELLI, poet and playwright (1931-2014) She was born in Liverpool and raised in Shropshire. She immigrated to Canada in 1951. In 1972 at Toronto’s Colonnade Theatre, Florence co-founded her children’s theatre, specializing in the writing and staging of her ten all-original plays with music by Bernard Aaron (co-founder). Consistent public acclaim made these musicals an attraction in schools, libraries, hotels, business promotions, as travelling shows and at theatre festivals including the Canadian National Exhibition (1973 and 1974) and for Toronto’s North York Centenary, 1971. Florence’s entry appears in the first edition of “Who’s Who in Canadian Literature” and in many British and American international biographical publications. Returning to England with Bernard Aaron in 1984, the couple married in 1999. They moved to the South coast in 2010 and to Dorchester in 2012 where Florence died peacefully, Jan 30th, 2014.

Bernard A. Aaron: Visual artist, teacher, performer, composer (classical guitar). Born: 1939 Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. Emigrated: Canada 1967. Returned UK 1984. Entire wild life sculptures presented to the World Wildlife Fund during a reception in London attended by wild life film personalities, Armand and Michaela Denis. Honours Guitar, Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, 1982. Guitar instructor for colleges and boards of ed. (1972- 2010). Co-founder (with Florence Novelli) of Renaissance Theatre, Toronto, specializing in the writing and staging of Florence’s ten all-original children’s plays with music by Aaron (1972-1984.) Original composition published by Waterloo Music (Canada), Doberman (Quebec), Tayborn Publishing (UK). Several pieces printed in Classical Guitar and other International guitar magazines. Aaron’s guitar accompanies French Canadian singer Jean Cavall on 15 LP discs “Chants Pour Les Jeunes”. Biographical entries appear in the “International Who’s Who in Music” (I.B.C. UK) and in many other British and American international biographical publications. His all-original orchestral works for guitar and orchestra include “Una Princesa en la Corte del Califa” (“A Princess in the Court of the Caliph)”) © 2016, a historical essay based on the conquest of Granada, Spain by Queen Isabella, January 1492, and “Mightier than the Sword” © 2015, (the only ballet ever written for guitar and orchestra.)

Director, teacher, playwright, and performer Katie Bufithis Oberlander has a bachelor's degree in voice performance from Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree in arts administration from American University. Katie has authored and directed numerous plays and musicals for professional theatres, including Imagination Stage in Bethesda, Maryland, Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, ME. An experienced drama and music teacher, Katie has worked at Norwood School in Bethesda, MD, The Peabody Essex Museum, North Shore YMCA Theatre Company and Marblehead Community Charter Public School. She is currently Director of Performing Arts at Harborlight-Stoneridge Montessori School. Katie lives in Beverly, Massachusetts with her husband Eric and their two sons, Thomas and James.

Daniel O'Donnell has been the drama director for the Freeport (PA) Junior High School for 25 years. An award-winning playwright, he has written and directed over 30 plays. His entire family including his wife Linda of 45 years, his sons Kerry and Sean, along with his daughter Casey have also been deeply involved in theater. "Theatre has been a very large part of our family life".

Mark Ogle is a Denver native and has been active as a playwright in Colorado since the late '80s. He has written more than 30 plays, and has enjoyed many productions of his work on Denver stages and across Colorado. His plays have also been seen in Utah, California and Florida. He is a past president of Colorado Dramatists, a local playwrights' organization and a founding member of Write Angle Productions (www.writeangle.org) which co-produced the annual Colorado Quickies ten minute play festival for more than 10 years. Most recently, he helped to spearhead the Colorado Theatre Guild's New Venture Play Reading Series. Mark resides in Denver where he spends his day providing personal care and community support for his son, Ben, who has multiple disabilities. Mark is currently writing a book about Ben's life journey.

Rebecca Gorman O’Neill was born in Akron, Ohio; she escaped at age 17 to attend Dartmouth College, where she majored in Drama and English. While studying acting in London, Rebecca won her first playwriting contest, and happily jumped off the stage. Rebecca went on to earn her M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Rebecca’s original plays have been produced in Denver, Boston, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Boulder, Spokane, Racine, and Hanover. Awards include the Panowski Playwriting Award ("Tell-Tale") and the Rocky Mountain Theatre Association’s Full-length Play Award ("The Greater Good"). Rebecca is an Associate Professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where she teaches playwriting, screenwriting, cinema studies, and the graphic novel. She is a company member of the LIDA Project Theatre in Denver.

With a passion for singing all styles of music, from operatic to Gospel, Shana Oshiro has an eclectic performance background. She currently sings in contemporary soprano trio, Bella Diva, and also as the bass of the new international women’s barbershop champions of Harmony, Inc.—Epic. Shana has also performed with the Baltimore Symphony, Opera Philadelphia, and in summer opera festival programs in the United States and abroad. Also known under her maiden name, Shana Powell, she was Miss Maryland 2007 and competed in the Miss America Pageant. With the scholarship money she earned competing, she was able to study abroad with Florida State University in Florence, where she studied Renaissance art and creative writing. She will presently receive her Master’s Certificate in music therapy and certification from the American Music Therapy Association as a Music Therapist, Board-Certified. She is glad to have this opportunity to share her love and gift for writing and theatre with ministries all over the country as she continues to nurture and develop her other talents for a life devoted to God’s glory.

Mollie Ottenhoff is a freelance writer and lover of books, food, and joy raising her two kids in the suburbs of Chicago (with her husband, who does everything for her because she is a total wreck most of the time). Her work has been featured on Scary Mommy, MamaLode, and Listen to Your Mother, and she is the author of a children’s book about cement trucks called Spinning, Spinning, Spinning. She takes an honest look at the beautifully ugly, terribly awesome, sufferingly joyous ride called life at MeetTheOtts.com

Chase Owen is the Theatre director for Caldwell High School. He graduated from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre. In 2016 he completed his student teaching at Woodville High School with Gem White as his mentor teacher. A highlight of this experience was when WHS was fortunate to advance to the UIL OAP state meet, placing 5th in division 3A, with "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In 2022 he graduated from Texas A&M Commerce with a Master of Arts degree in Theatre. When Mr. Owen is not at school; he is at home with his dog Marlowe, drinking coffee and playing video games.

Rick Padden is a produced playwright, actor and former journalist living in Loveland, Colorado. He has acted on stages, on radio and in films throughout Northern Colorado since the turn of the century, and has written eight full-length plays, as well as several short scripts, fiction stories and a novel. Padden is a former Red Cross Public Affairs volunteer; currently volunteers at the Hearts and Horses Therapeutic Riding Center in Loveland and is retired. He and his wife, Rocky, live on acreage close to town, and particularly enjoy the elk, deer, coyotes, skunks, racoons, rabbits, owls, hawks and other critters that visit the property. Padden is also a rooky beekeeper.

Christopher L. Pankratz teaches, writes, directs, and acts in Tucson Arizona. Christopher graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona’s School of Theatre, Film and Television and a degree from the College of Education. Christopher’s playwriting encompasses a wide variety of scripts including classical adaptations, one acts, comedies, tragedies, and theatre for young audiences. 

Carol Lynn Pearson has been a professional writer, speaker and performer for many years. She has written many plays and musicals, including two commissioned by Robert Redford's Sundance Theater. She has also written and performed a one-woman play, "Mother Wove the Morning," in which she plays sixteen women throughout history in search of the feminine divine. The play was performed over 300 times internationally and is now available on a videotape that earned an award from "Booklist" as "one of the top 25 videos of the year." Her autobiography, “Goodbye, I Love You,” tells the story of her marriage to a homosexual man, their divorce, ongoing friendship, and her caring for him as he died of AIDS. This story made her a guest on such programs as "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and "Good Morning, America." She has written numerous educational motion pictures and a series of seven inspirational books. Her poems are widely reprinted. Ms. Pearson has an M.A. in theater, is the mother of four grown children, and lives in Walnut Creek, California. Gerald Niels Pearson received a BA degree in Theatre from Brigham Young University and performed in many plays there. "The Busy Signal" reflects his life-long commitment to the ideal that "we are all one."

Carlos Perez has a M.A. in English from the University of Missouri — Kansas City (a professional writing degree in playwriting and screenwriting) and a B.F.A. in Speech and Theatre from Avila University. He was a tenured college professor for 13 years, teaching classes in theatre, speech, English, creative writing, playwriting, and screenwriting. He formed a theatre company which operated seasonally for 15 years that entertained audiences throughout the United States. As a published playwright, he's a member of Dramatist Guild of America. His published stage plays include: The Terry Stinger Show, Caught Between Two Worlds, Native American Folktales for Fun, Folktales for Fun, The Adventures of Christina and Viperina, How the Beetle Got Her Colors, Room in the Forest, and Misadventures of a Frog-Girl. Carlos is also a screenwriter and his original stage play, Jeremy’s World, was adapted into a short screenplay that premiered at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase. And as a screenwriter-for-hire, ten of the scripts he’s been commissioned to write have gone on to be produced and distributed internationally, with two more of his commissioned works currently in the production process.

Brian C. Petti has been produced Off-Off Broadway and regionally. "Echoes of Ireland" was recently produced in County Cork, Ireland by the Skibbereen Theatre Society to benefit Gorta, an Irish famine relief charity working in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently a Texan but born in Illinois, Kate Emery Pogue did her undergraduate work in theatre at Northwestern University in her hometown of Evanston and then received her M.A. from the University of Minnesota where she had received a prestigious McKnight Fellowship in Acting. After working as a professional actress with the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Mrs. Pogue turned her interest to writing, directing and teaching. Studying with noted opera composer and librettist Carlisle Floyd led to membership in the Houston Opera Studio and a commission from Texas Opera Theatre to write the text for a children's opera: THE STARBIRD and to doing translations and text revisions for Houston Grand Opera. As Artistic Director of Opera-to-Go (a touring opera company for children) Mrs. Pogue has written and directed numerous pieces for the company, most notably YOUNG PEER GYNT, ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, and THE KING STAG.. She has received commissions for texts from the Houston Symphony, Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Houston Grand Opera and grants from the National Institute for Music Theatre and the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her enthusiasm for opera is matched by her love of classic theatre. For the Shakespeare by the Book Festival Mrs. Pogue has produced and directed TWELFTH NIGHT, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, MACBETH, RICHARD III and ROMEO AND JULIET, and for the Houston Shakespeare Festival JULIUS CAESAR and RICHARD II. As Head of the Drama and Dance Department of Houston Community College Central College, Mrs. Pogue teaches Acting, Shakespeare and Voice and Diction and is writing a series of plays for the department's New Theatre Project.

Robin Pond is a playwright who lives and works in Toronto, Canada. His first short plays were high school productions in 1970 and 1971. He received his MA in English literature in 1976, and spent four years in a doctoral program studying linguistics, since what interested him the most was the language itself, and how an author’s linguistic choices could achieve a particular effect. Then the need to earn a living intervened, and Robin spent the next quarter century working in systems, in finance, and in investments. Along the way, he also obtained an MBA, an accounting designation, and a financial analyst charter. In his spare time, he continued to write. Robin only began submitting plays to festivals at the end of 2007. Since then, his plays have received over 40 productions in schools and community theatres throughout the US, Canada, and the UK.

David John Preece is an artist, filmmaker, playwright, and screenwriter. Recently his play "Charles Dickens’ Ghost Stories" helped the Concord Community Players take top honors (Best Production of a Play) in the New Hampshire Community Theatre Awards, 2007. Many of his other plays have also won awards including "Tender" which was nominated for Best New Play by the Los Angeles Weekly 2004 and winner of Best New Play at the New Hampshire Professional Theatre Awards, 2007. His movie, "Lunch With Eddie," which he wrote, directed, and produced, was shown at over thirty international film festivals and won several awards including Best Short Film and Best Director. He has received theatre and film training at HB Studios, Playwrights Horizons, American Conservatory Theatre, and University of California-Los Angeles. A member of the Dramatist Guild, he currently resides in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Ken Preuss is a children’s magician, stage actor, wedding deejay, and improvisational comedian who became a teacher to guarantee himself an audience 5 days a week. Although his one-act plays and comedic shorts have been produced in Australia, Canada, China, England, Germany, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand, and all 50 States, Ken can usually be found rooted near Orlando, Florida with his wife, sons, and assorted pets.

Tom Quinn is the Director of Education at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia overseeing theatre education programs that reach over 180,000 people each year. A recipient of the Dorothy Haas Acting Fellowship and a former High School History Teacher, he has written plays on bullying, gun violence and civil rights. Quinn's plays have been performed at The National Constitution Center and across the country. He lives in Rose Valley, PA with his wife and two children.

James Rayfield has been a theatre educator, director, playwright, and occasional actor for many years. He taught at Blake High School for the Arts in Tampa, Florida and currently teaches Adult Acting at American Stage in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has directed with The Bokononist Players, Stage Works, Gorilla Theatre (where he was artistic director of the Young Dramatists Project for seven years), The New Stage in Largo and most recently at freeFall Theatre in St. Petersburg. He has published several plays for the high school theatre including “Ten Actors in Search of a Cell Phone” which has had over 100 productions, including a production in Dutch in Amsterdam. His plays and monologues have also been produced at Manhattan Class Company, Studio@620, Radio Theatre Project, Stage Works, New Stage Theatre, and Expanded Arts Theatre.

Emilio Regina is a retired English/Drama teacher.  He is presently working at the College of the Rockies as an auxiliary English instructor.  As well as being a playwright, Emilio is also a multi-instrumental and is a frontman for various blues bands.  He has also won many acting awards and continues to have some involvement in productions.

Jacque is an actress, writer, director and filmmaker with over 30 years of experience in theatre and film. From starring in local stage and commercial productions as a teen to launching her own film production company - Vocatus Productions – heartfelt storytelling has been central to the many productions she’s developed over the years. She has been an active player in the local Colorado Independent filmmaking community for the last five years. An accomplished set designer, builder, and costumer for the stage, she’s applied that visual passion to numerous film and stage projects that have been enjoyed by audiences nationwide and overseas. 

Kay Rhoads is a native Iowan who has spent her professional life as an administrator of programs and services at the state women’s prison. Much of her writing reflects the challenges and struggles of women who have not had the encouragement or opportunity develop a vision of their potential. Kay has had plays produced in many cities in the US including her home town of Des Moines and has publishing credits from several anthologies and play publishing companies.

Janice Rider lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She tells us the following about herself: I have been writing ever since I can remember. My dad has always kept a journal and written poetry. Early on, I started writing short stories, and keeping a journal, too. I wrote about the things I cared for - the natural world, family, friends, and pets. I grew up in a family which participated in many outdoor activities and adventures. Eventually, I wound up graduating with a major in the zoological sciences and a minor in English literature, prior to completing a Bachelor of Education After Degree. I worked at the Calgary Zoo each spring and summer while attending university, and often talked with children during interpretive sessions. When I began to teach children for the Calgary Board of Education, and at our church, I realized that drama was an effective way of presenting stories. A friend and I started to use dramatization on a regular basis for our Sunday school program. When my eldest son entered junior high school, he asked if I would consider creating a drama club at our church. I liked the idea, and that is how the St. David's United Church Drama Club officially began. This is the club's seventh year in existence, and I love every minute I spend writing plays and working with young people.

Lane Riosley currently has 15 plays in publication with productions by The Children's Theatre of Charlotte, The Actor's Company, The Little Top Theatre Company, The West Coast Ensemble, The Texas Renaissance Theatre, Stages Repertory Theatre, The Merry-Go-Round Theatre, Asolo Theatre and countless high schools and colleges across the nation. Formerly a script writer for the KUHT-TV/PBS television series CENTERSTAGE, Lane's work has been featured at the American Film Institute Festival in Los Angeles. Lane's science fiction theatre series "Lucky Hightops and the Cosmic Cat Patrol" played a six-year run at both EarlyStages of Houston and as a live show at Houston's Burke Baker Planetarium. Lane offers playwrighting workshops in schools and colleges and has been a featured speaker and presenter Theatrefest and the Texas Educational Theatre Association. A recipient of the 1992 Writer's Foundation Gold Award for screenplay writing Lane is a winner of the Roger L. Stevens Award in Playwrighting from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Fund for New American Plays. Most recently Lane served as a panel speaker for the 2013 Comicpalooza, a convention featuring some of the nation's leading artists, actors and writers.

Dan Roberts and his wife, Christina, are the owners of the Academy of Performing Arts in Grandview, Missouri. Dan also directs the school's choir and teaches drama, piano, and voice. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in music education and has been named "Outstanding Educator of the Year" and "Missouri Music Teacher of the Year." He has worked professionally as an actor, singer, and pianist since 1964 and has directed over 150 productions throughout the United States, including two years as the state director of the Miss Missouri Pre-teen Pageant. Many of his more than 4,000 past and current students are active professionally in the fields of stage and screen, and his choirs have been nationally recognized for their high quality and achievements.

Lavinia Roberts is a theatre teacher and award-winning playwright who’s passionate about arts education and creating zany, engaging, and meaningful plays for schools and community theaters.  She has been an arts educator for over 15 years, teaching playwriting, acting, directing, and puppetry. She’s worked with various organizations in New York City including Arts Connection, Project Art, and others.  Lavinia has more than 30 plays published and has had work performed in all 50 states, as well as, overseas in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and The United Kingdom.  She has a MA in Theatre Education for Colleges and Communities from New York University.  Lavinia currently teaches visual art and theatre in Lawrence, Kansas.

The late C. Warren Robertson was a retired theatre professor and director who had acted in numerous community and college productions, directed over 50 plays, and written a dozen original scripts. As a child growing up in Tennessee, Warren enjoyed dramatic play in a "jungle" on a vacant lot near his home. The lot was eventually cleared with the Carousel Theatre being constructed, and the young thespian continuing his acting there, this time with an audience. Warren acted while completing a B.S from The University of Tennessee, an M.F.A. from Tulane University, and a Ph.D. in Theatre from Florida State University. He had served as a professor and theatre director at The University of the South, Texas Woman's University, The University of Southern Mississippi, and East Tennessee State University.

Bil Rodgers has written the book for four musicals including Little Women The Musical, which won the Denver Drama Critics Circle Award for "Best New Play of 1998." He has authored several novels counting Cult Sunday and Be Thou Pleased to Dwell with Me, both finalists for the E.C.P.A's Gold Medallion Award. A well-known actor of stage and screen, he recently retired as Executive Director of Town Hall Arts Center, a Denver theatre.

Royce Roeswood is a playwright and actor originally from Denver, CO. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Acting. In 2011, he won the "Best Actor" award from the Rocky Mountain Theatre Association. In addition to writing and performing scripted theatre, he also performs, directs, and teaches improvisational theatre. He also enjoys board games and exploring the world with his wife. "Romeo and Juliet: Werewolves vs. Vampires" is his first published play.

MARY RYZUK, Ph.D., a published author, playwright, and lyricist, and REGAN RYZUK, an ASCAP composer, have written 11 musicals together. They co-founded The Enchanted Players Inc. over ten years ago in order to bring these productions to fruition. Over the years, The Enchanted Players have presented wholesome, live, original musicals for children that, most particularly, can be enjoyed equally by adults. Some of the hallmarks of Regan's compositions are strong lyrical, melodic content with a very rich harmonic and rhythmic sense. Mary and Regan believe children today are sophisticated enough to absorb good music, good stories and good lyrics. In having this kind of respect for children, they hope to enchant their parents as well. The classic tales of the Grimms Brothers have presented a wonderful foundation for their creative efforts.

Jack Sale, a native of Pleasant Hill, California, is currently studying musical theater at the UCLA school of Theater, Film, and Television. An aspiring actor, director, writer, and playwright he has worked with many companies including the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco – as well as various other regional theaters. He is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild and currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

   Terry Schwinge is a theater arts educator at Santa Ana High School.  In his teaching career, he has been awarded Teacher of the Year (2019-2020), he directed the Orange County MACY Show of the Year in 2018 (RENT), and his 2001 production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF was selected as one of the twelve episode’s of Disney+’s series, ENCORE!. UN AMOR PICANTE is the third show he has written for the stage and he continues to write plays designed specifically for middle schools and high schools.  He attended California State University, Fullerton and has been a theater arts educator for over twenty-five years. 

    He  also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua (2003-2005), worked in Honduras as an educational consultant in 2006.  During that time, he became fluent in Spanish and was first introduced to his wife and his very first telenovelas that would later inspire UN AMOR PICANTE.   

   He currently lives and works in Santa Ana, California with his wife and two daughters.  He very much enjoys being a part of this community and serving our youth to develop into more confident, more empathic, more empowered people through theater arts.  

Deni Fuson teaches high school English and theatre in Citrus Heights, California. She graduated from Sacramento State University with a bachelor's degree in English in 1991 and a master's degree in creative writing in 1998. Deni has written several plays for her high school students, however, her latest play, "Othello Undone," is her best work yet! The characters are even more vibrant and alive because they are fashioned after Shakespeare's very own. The whole idea of "know thyself" comes crashing down around this group of young people with force. Love, betrayal, and consequence encompass and undo even the best-made plans...besides, an audience loves a good villain and they get the best in "Othello Undone"!

R. James Scott began writing and performing as a teenager in the early ‘70s. He approaches each new project as a literary and performance adventure. For the past thirty years, he has been performing, directing, and writing for college, community and high school theatres. He lived through the Vietnam era, and drew on many of his memories of that time to complete "The Birthday Party" which was first produced for regional and state one-act play competitions in the spring of 2002. He has also created monologues for the collection "Multiplicity" with former student Bianca Cowan. "A Highland Requiem" was first produced in the spring of 2003 for regional and state one-act play festivals where it received several performance awards.

Colleen Shaddox's essays have appeared on National Public Radio and in The New York Times, The Washington Post and many other publications. She’s won a National Newspaper Association Award for humor writing and a JC Penney-University of Missouri Award for feature writing. As a journalist, she’s interviewed genocide survivors in Rwanda, a bank robber (who confessed during the interview), the inventor of Velcro and scores of politicians, artists and scientists. She was a regular writer for New Morning, which ran from 2002-2007 on the Hallmark Channel. Her play, “The Shakespeares,” won the Shakespeare in the Burg one-act completion in 2014. Her short fiction is frequently anthologized. She is an activist working to reform the juvenile justice system and combat child poverty. She has helped change laws in many states to reduce the number of children in prison. Colleen lives on an organic homestead with her husband, dog and chickens.

John Shanahan is an award-winning playwright and author who lives as quietly as possible at the edge of a marsh in a town south of Boston, MA. His full-length and short plays have been performed by small theaters and school groups around the U.S. and beyond since 2005, including three appearances in the prestigious Boston Theater Marathon. In his spare time, he is an avid pinball player and the host of the Hypnagogue Podcast, a program focused on presenting ambient and electronic music. 

When Troy is not writing plays, he teaches math at a juvenile detention center in Florida. He received an acting scholarship out of high school and has participated in over thirty shows since. He began writing several years ago with a full-length farce titled, “Name That Murder,” which was produced in Canada and was later published. Next he wrote a one act, “Mourning Calls,” which won the Geneva Theatre Guild’s 2007 Playwright/Playreading contest and was subsequently published and has been produced on three continents. “Dyin’ Free” is Troy’s third finished work. This drama was a finalist at the 2007 Florida Playwrights Competition and as a result received a staged reading in July, 2008 at the Back Door Theatre in Gulfport, FL. “Dyin’ Free” was one of three finalists at the 2008 Valencia Playwriting Competition. The play also won a competition hosted by “notechtheatre.com” and as a result was fully produced at Indian River Community College. That production was entered into the American College Theatre Festival where Dr. Crosby Hunt from Middle Tennessee State University gave it a glowing review.

Brian Shoop was born near the shores of Lake Erie in the early ‘50s. In his youth, he never swam in the lake because of industrial pollution, and he never acted on stage because athletes considered such things silly. Since those days, a lot has changed. Lake Erie is a resort-lined vacation destination, and Brian is a full-time actor who also enjoys writing drama. As an actor, he has appeared in several movies, some with big stars, and many television commercials, both regional and national. As a writer, he has written many one-act dramas for his church over the years, and has also written a few screenplays, one of which he produced himself that remains in distribution. "Good Will Two Men" is his first attempt at a comedy on stage, as well as his first full-length play.

Luke Simmons is a student at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond, Oklahoma. Previous published works include "Nottingham" in 2012. He enjoys writing plays where everybody onstage and in the audience gets to have a good time. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and ultramarathon running.

PLAYWRIGHT JONATHAN TURNER SMITH says... I was born in West Texas, grew up in Texas, and now live in Los Angeles where I continue to write. I am also an AP English and theatre teacher at Metropolitan High School. I have written and produced several full-length plays. One of my plays, "Nathan," was produced in Los Angeles and had an extended run. I received a Los Angeles Drama-Logue Award for outstanding performance. I also co-wrote and produced an independent feature film, "Broken Victory," which won several awards, including the Silver Medal at the New York Film and Television Festival. I produced "The Losers' Club" with my Theatre Arts students at Roosevelt High School in Lubbock, Texas. We performed the play for the community with resounding success. We also performed it for the state one-act play contest and won runner-up at the district level. Three of our actors were named to the All-Star and Honorable Mention Casts.

Mark Edward Smith holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems Management from the University of San Francisco. Originally from Massachusetts, Mark still considers himself very much a New Englander at heart even though he resides in Northern California. He has been involved with theater all his life, whether it be in acting, running a box office, volunteering as a local theater Judge, or just lending a hand building sets. He has authored a number of short pieces and one acts, some of which, such as "Sonny Waits" and "Intensity of Life" have gone on to full productions. "The Viewing Room" is only his second full-length play that has been produced. Now retired, Mark volunteers as a Steering Committee member for the Playwrights Collaborative which is an organization of writers that promote the development and production of new plays in the Sacramento region.

Noah Smith is a New England native who began writing plays for children while still in college. He has written more than 20 adaptations of children's classics, including several collaborations with musician David Nields. Noah holds a BA in Drama from Vassar College and an MFA in Playwriting from Brandeis University. He has taught writing and literature at Simmons College, Quinnipiac University, the City College of New York, Occidental College, and Widener University. Noah has written material for "Weekend Update" segment on "Saturday Night Live" and is the author of "The Big Book of Batman" and "The Big Book of Superman" as well as a co-author of "The Official DC Super Hero Joke Book" for Downtown Bookworks. Noah lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Amanda Atkinson, and their four children.

Tom Smith’s plays have received productions both nationally and internationally. He is the recipient of the 2004 Robert J. Pickering Award for Excellence in Playwriting, the 2004 ATHE Playworks Award, the Orlin R. Corey Outstanding Regional Playwright Award, the Richard Odlin Award, a Seattle Footlights Award, the Doña Ana Arts Council Newcomer's Award, and has been a ed participant in numerous playwriting festivals across the country. He is a proud member of the Dramatist's Guild.

Craig Sodaro is one of Eldridge Publishing's most popular and prolific playwrights with over 60 titles currently in print. Most of his work is ideal for children's theatre and school performances, and several plays have been turned into musicals. His audience participation plays are extremely well received. For community theatre plays he writes under the pen name of Sam Craig. Mr. Sodaro taught for 33 years in public schools, but now writes full time. He and his wife Sue have four grown daughters. Here he speaks in his own words about his love of writing. "I always wanted to write. From the first time I read my first full-fledged book - a long-forgotten mystery - I wanted to be an author. I've always had an imagination that runs overtime. My mind has always been more interested in the possibilities of what if two times two equaled five rather than four. "I grew up in Chicago, but I don't think the Midwest has had a great deal of influence on my writing. I was fortunate enough to travel as a youngster, and the places we visited - the West, East, and South, all seemed steeped in atmosphere and dramatic possibilities. Eventually, I traveled to Alaska, Europe, and Africa, and each experience planted seeds for future stories. "I wrote my first play in high school - an anti-administration absurdist comedy performed in my last period art class. Our teacher turned a deaf ear to the proceedings, but we all caught her laughing. I liked this idea of audience response, and during college, I entered a playwriting contest. I won the fifty dollar prize and saw my characters come to life under the blue, red, and amber stage lights. I knew that this was the direction my writing obsession would have to take. "Success on stage would have to wait for a number of years, however, since I married, began teaching, and had four children and received many, many rejections slips. Eventually I found a formula that worked: large cast mystery with mainly female parts, one setting, and a lot of one-liners. Since then, I've written a hundred and thirty plays, many of which have been published and/or produced. I've had the thrill of walking down 54th Street in New York to a flag-adorned theater where one of my plays premiered. I've received terrific letters from kids who have had parts in the plays I've written, and I've found myself in Amazon.com. "Once in a while people ask me how I write so fast. I guess it’s that I have a lot of stories to tell. And idea will grab me, and then for quite some time—even while working on another script—I’ll keep thinking about the characters and develop the major plot points in my imagination. Once I sit down to the computer to write, the characters really tell the story almost too quickly for me to write down what they’re saying. And that's what I think playwriting is all about. It's telling a story in the simplest but most dramatic way possible. There's a ninety minute or so limit on reaching the climax, and for literature that's quick. I write fast simply so I can find out what's going to happen at the end, just like anybody who watches the play."

As a teacher and professional puppeteer, Charmaine Spencer has written numerous story adaptations for young audiences including two-actor versions of The Time Machine and Treasure Island and an audience participation comedy entitled Higgledy Piggledy Mother Goose. She wrote a one-man show about the life and music of Mario Lanza which toured Great Britain, including the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now living in suburban Chicago, Charmaine is currently working on book and lyrics for Circus Boys, a musical story of the young Ringling Brothers and Mrs Magi, an contemporary retelling of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.”

Sybil St. Claire is an award-winning educator who has been honored by Congress as a “driving force in youth theatre.” With an MFA in Dramatic Writing, her work has enjoyed performances in almost every state, as well as in Canada, Europe, and South America. Her body of work includes Woolfie and Incantation (plays for young audiences and young actors), the anthologies Monologues for Student Actor’s: Volume II, and Monologues of Spiritual Experiences from the Best Contemporary Plays and Scenes. Two of her screenplays, The Family Remains and Bloom, are currently in pre-production. Sybil served as the Founding Artistic Director of All Children’s for nearly two decades, created one of only six MFAs in Theatre for Young Audiences in the nation at the University of Central Florida, and is an America Association of University Women Fellow. She has served as a consultant to Walt Disney World Entertainment, BuzzFeed and the New York Film Academy, and as faculty for Semester at Sea. Though diverse, her work is rooted in finding the medicine in our stories and in lifting others up to a place where they may fly. Sybil is thrilled to interact with producing organizations and invites you to reach out…

Billy St. John feels his first two careers, first as a school teacher and then as a community theatre director, provided an excellent background for his current profession: playwriting. Since his first play, "Deadly Deal," was published by Eldridge in 1990, Billy has amassed more than 40 plays in print. Many of these plays are available from Eldridge, whom he appreciates for giving him his start. His comedies, mystery/comedies, melodramas, thrillers, and musicals have been produced in all 50 states, Canada and foreign countries including New Zealand, Australia., and the United Arab Republic.

Steven Stack has been involved with theater for over 25 years as playwright, actor, director, and instructor. His career began in the third grade, when he took on the challenging dual role of both Hansel and the Father in Hansel and Gretel. Steven's 15 years teaching middle school gave him a thorough knowledge of the inner workings of middle-school students' minds, which has influenced his writing style, the topics he incorporates in his plays, and often his intended performers and audience. He has written and directed several full-length plays, countless one-acts and many scenes for various theaters, performing arts schools and professional organizations. Steven has published over 18 plays that have been performed all over the world. Steven spends part of every summer at the Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth, where he guides gifted and talented students in writing and performing their own original theatrical works. His goal in working with and writing for this age group is to help them grow into themselves by giving them stories that resonate beyond the stage.

Ashley Stamnes was inspired to write when she struggled to find a play for Christmas that fit the diverse ages and gifts of her Sunday school students. The first play she created was well received and a joy to produce. She has continued writing every year since. Ashley has always had a love of reading, which has served her well in her ventures into writing scripts. Her passion for music also began at a very young age. Ashley is both a piano and voice teacher, as well as a praise and worship leader at her church. She considers it an honor and a privilege to be able to share the joy of God’s love and His gift of salvation with others through her gifts. Ashley resides in Loreburn, Saskatchewan, Canada with her husband Dwayne and her beautiful girls Kelley and Rachel.

Gary Ray Stapp is a founding member of The Chamber Players Community Theatre in Garnett, Kansas, and since its beginning he has participated in numerous productions as either an actor, director, or set builder. He added the role of playwright to his resume in 2003 when his debut play, “Love Thy Neighbor,” was an unexpected hit, breaking the theatre group’s previous production attendance record by fifty percent. Genuinely stunned by the play’s success, and in spite of what he thought would be a one-time writing fling, he ultimately developed a long-term affair with playwriting. With an emphasis for quality over quantity, Gary began to create a modest portfolio of new plays, all of which have so far become published works. His comedic plots and characters have found their way to stages across the United States and in Canada and Europe. Gary and his wife Kim have two children, Lacey and Taylor. In their spare time they love to travel the globe, including an occasional trip to see a production of one of Gary's plays. Who knows, he may show up in the audience at a theatre near you!

Bryan Starchman grew up in the small foothill town of Mariposa, CA., just outside of Yosemite National Park. He began writing short stories in the first grade and fell in love with screenwriting in high school. Soon he tried his hand at playwriting. At UCLA, he spent four years honing his craft. There, he won the UCLA playwriting award for his satire on fraternity life. Unfortunately Bryan and Los Angeles went together like Elizabeth Taylor and husbands -- it just wasn’t meant to be. Now he lives in Mariposa where every night he plays the ukulele with his dogs Maggie and Luna. He teaches English and Drama at his old high school. His plays have been produced over 2000 times in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, in 9 out of 10 Canadian Provinces (come on Prince Edward Island!) and around the world in Mexico, England, Italy, Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Nigeria, and Portugal. He has also collaborated with fellow Eldridge playwright and composer Stephen Murray to create "Just Another High School Musical" and "Parents Just Don't Understand: The Musical." In 2018 he was the recipient of the NBC RISE grant beating out nearly 1,000 other schools and his drama program was featured coast to coast on The Today Show. More information at www.bryanstarchman.com

BRYAN STARCHMAN (left photo) BRYAN STARCHMAN grew up in the small foothill town of Mariposa, CA., just outside of Yosemite National Park. He began writing short stories in the first grade and fell in love with screenwriting in high school. Soon he tried his hand at playwriting. At UCLA, he spent four years honing his craft. There, he won the UCLA playwriting award for his satire on fraternity life. Unfortunately Bryan and Los Angeles went together like Elizabeth Taylor and husbands -- it just wasn’t meant to be. Now he lives in Mariposa with his beautiful wife Noel (even a geek sometimes gets the girl!) and his cats, Wily and Pinkerton. He teaches American Literature, Advanced Placement Language, and Theatre at his old high school. His plays have been produced over 1300 times in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, 9 out of 10 Canadian Provinces (come on Prince Edward Island!)and six more countries including Mexico, England, Italy, Dubai of the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, and Portugal. He has also collaborated with fellow Eldridge playwright and composer Stephen Murray to create "Just Another High School Musical." More information at www.bryanstarchman.com

STEPHEN MURRAY (right photo) is a composer, lyricist and playwright who has been a Performing Arts Educator since 1985. Steve's plays and musicals have been produced throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Germany, South Africa, Malta, The Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and China. Some of his award-winning titles can be found in the Eldridge catalog. "Musical! The Bard is Back!" was the 2000 winner of the Columbia Entertainment Company National Playwriting Contest, the first musical ever to win the award. Two other Eldridge titles have also been recognized by the CEC Contest, "Mother Goose, Inc." and "The Universe and Other Stuff." Steve has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University. By day he is a humble music teacher, but by night, you may find him performing on various stages in Massachusetts.

MATT STEELE (Left photo) is a Los Angeles-based actor and writer who has been performing from a very early age. He began acting in a self-constructed theatre he built in his basement. For years, he and his older brother, performed, directed, and designed high-quality productions - at least as high quality as theatre can be with no budget, two actors, and curtains made from bedsheets. Matt performed with community theatre companies and in his high school plays before attending New York University as a Drama major at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. There, he studied musical theatre under CAP21 and acting for the screen with Stonestreet Studios. Since graduation, Matt's acting work has been seen on screens, both large and small, and he has performed in theaters across the US, ranging from the grand Town Hall in NYC to the most intimate of performing spaces. He recently garnered international media acclaim for his original web series, "The Doomsday Diaries," for which he was reviewed in various publications and social media outlets, including The Huffington Post and the Village Voice. His performances in his school plays, however, will always remain his favorite memories as an actor. It's these memories that have given him a passion for writing for young performers. For more information, visit www.mattsteeleonline.com.

MIKE STEELE (Right photo) has been writing and directing from far back as he can remember. His life in the theatre began at the age of five when he gathered old bedsheets and constructed a stage in his basement so that he could direct a production of Snow White and the Two Dwarfs. Mike could not round up enough friends to cast seven dwarfs, so his adaptation had to be slightly non-traditional. His childhood weekends consisted mostly of forcing his friends and family to watch his original basement plays. Mike spent the bulk of his teenage years performing in school and community theatre productions and continued to act through college while he completed a BS in elementary education and sociology. Shortly before earning his degree, a local high school asked Mike to direct a play for a small group of students. The gig continued through the next year, and then the next, and he hasn't looked back since. Mike soon began to write full length plays and found ways to incorporate his students into the creative process. This evolved into what he now refers to as his cooperative drama program. Mike continues to direct school and community theatre productions and has taught cooperative drama workshops to a variety of students throughout the years - from elementary schoolers to senior citizens - as near as his hometown of Trenton, New Jersey, to as far as Bangkok, Thailand. He is happy to have found a way to combine his love of theatre and his passion for education. In Mike's spare time he enjoys exploring new places, watching television and films, and pretending like he knows how to play tennis. For more information, visit www.mikesteeleonline.com.

Hello there,

My name is Robby Steltz! I’m a graduate of Augsburg University’s Graduate Creative Writing (Playwriting) program. I passionately love stories about women, stories that make their voices heard and allows us to get a better perspective on who we are as humans. In this world, I also feel as if there are still many topics that we don’t quite discuss that need to be brought to attention, and I’m sure many of you feel the same. I want to write plays that allows us to dismantle our fears of talking about our mental health, talking about our trauma, talking about how we’ve been victimized in various degrees. Theatre is a safe place for us to showcase our troubles and darkness, to discover or rediscover ourselves, and I believe that we can change the world by allowing theatre to be a safe place for people. If “all the world is a stage,” than the theatre is meant to be there for us most; like a warm cup of coffee on a cold winter’s morning.

Let’s heal the world together!

—Robby Steltz

R. Rex Stephenson earned his Ph.D. in educational theatre at New York University. Rex has more than a dozen plays published, has won two major play writing contests, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and the National Archives Play Writing Contest. In 1996 he received the Jean Ritchie Fellowship to research and write plays on John Wesley, the founder of the United Methodist Church. He was awarded the 1997 East Central Theatre Conference's Award for "Theatrical Excellence." In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious SETC Sara Spencer Child Drama Award. Stephenson is considered one of the most published children's playwrights in Virginia. Rex lives in Ferrum, VA, and has three daughters, Janice, Jessica and Juliet.

R. REX STEPHENSON earned his Ph.D. in educational theatre at New York University. Rex has more than a dozen plays published, has won two major play writing contests, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and the National Archives Play Writing Contest. In 1996 he received the Jean Ritchie Fellowship to research and write plays on John Wesley, the founder of the United Methodist Church. He was awarded the 1997 East Central Theatre Conference's Award for "Theatrical Excellence." In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious SETC Sara Spencer Child Drama Award. Stephenson is considered one of the most published children's playwrights in Virginia. Rex lives in Ferrum, VA, and has three daughters, Janice, Jessica and Juliet.

EMILY ROSE TUCKER lives in Ferrum, VA. She has collaborated with R. Rex Stephenson on two full-length musicals, one of which is “Just So Stories.” She also serves as Music Director and performer at the Blue Ridge Dinner Theatre, and directs plays, musicals and choral music for Franklin County Public Schools.

Jennifer Stewart-Sampson heads the Bakersfield Museum of Art’s “Theatre in the Gallery” and “Theatre in the Garden.” A graduate of the University of Evansville and USD/Old Globe Theatre, Jennifer has acted with several companies including, The Denver Civic Theatre, Colorado Stage Company and Aurora Fox Theatre and The Old Globe. While at the Old Globe, she enjoyed working with several Tony Award winning directors including Jack O'Brien, Mark Lamos, Darko Tresnjak and Daniel Sullivan. Jennifer has directed plays and taught acting courses with The Dalton School, John Jay College of Criminology, The Old Globe Theatre, University of San Diego, La Jolla Playhouse's Young Performers Workshop and Conservatory, Fresno Pacific University, Oklahoma State University and The Empty Space. She is an adjunct faculty member at California State University, Bakersfield. Jennifer was the ’18 recipient The Marion Osborn Cunningham Award, the ’03 recipient of the Craig Noel Award and is a member of Actor’s Equity.

Kevin Stone lives near Topeka, Kansas. He and his wife have three grown children. Kevin has been writing and directing plays for over 20 years and has won one national playwright's award. He has experience as an actor and as a director of community theater, church plays, high school productions, and touring collegiate groups. Besides teaching drama classes, Kevin is the pastor of a church and the managing editor of a ministry website.

James Stover is an Assistant Professor of Acting & Musical Theatre at Purdue University Fort Wayne. His other plays include Grimm’s Juniper Tree (produced by Philadelphia’s Renegade Company) and Prometheus & Sisyphus (short, produced by Ohio’s MadLab Theatre). As an actor, he’s performed Off-Broadway and at regional theatres across the country (including the Walnut Street Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Virginia Repertory Theatre and many others). He’s directed the world premiere of Wilkes (Ohio’s Glacity Theatre), the Mid-Atlantic premiere of Yank! (Richmond Triangle Players) and the Philadelphia premiere of The Amish Project (Simpatico Theatre). He holds an MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA in Musical Theatre from Otterbein University.  

Jay is the co-adapter and premier director of the University of Texas at El Paso’s  acclaimed production of A Christmas Carol en la Frontera. Jay is also the author Keeping Distance – an irreverent comedy about covid isolation, and the adapter of numerous other pieces including a recent reimagined As You Like It, and UTEP’s Halloween productions of Bloody Shakespeare! and Shakespeare’s Asylum.

Mary Hall Surface is one of the most widely-produced playwright/directors specializing in theatre for family audiences in the United States, including twelve productions at the Kennedy Center. Her plays also have been presented in Ireland, France, Peru, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, England and across Canada. She has been nominated for eight Helen Hayes Awards, winning the award for outstanding director of a musical for her play "Perseus Bayou" in 2003. In 2006, she was awarded the Charlotte Chorpenning Prize from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education for her outstanding body of work as a playwright.

L DON SWARTZ received his BA in Theatre Education from Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Illinois and a MA in Theatre and English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His plays have been produced in 47 states, Novia Scotia, Ireland, Guam and British Columbia. Don has been Artistic Director of the very haunted Ghostlight Theatre in North Tonawnada, New York since 1982. Don married his favorite actress, Debby Koszelak, in 1991 and they share a noisy home with their four children, Emily, Rosemary, Donald and Michael.

I wrote my first play in fourth grade—a puppet drama—and we produced it! Fourth grade, but still pretty exciting to me. Since then I have always loved theatre. My college degrees are in English and theatre, and I have acted and directed for educational, community, and repertory theatres and local radio and television. I am a former regional vice-president of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and the founder of the Rochester Playwright Festival. At the risk of sounding sappy, I feel almost spiritual about theatre. It can be entertainment, it can be therapy, it can change hearts, it can move nations.

Brian Sylvia, originally from Massachusetts, has been involved in theatre since being a unified arts major in high school. He has served as drama/fine arts director in several locations around the country, including serving as an adjudicator in numerous regional and national festivals within his church denomination [and assisting in coaching several national finalists and winners]. Brian has taught drama ministry up to a college level and still travels nationally conducting workshops in Christian drama. Currently he serves as President/Director of inCHARACTER SCHOOL OF MINISTRY (training church leaders in creative approaches to ministry) in Florida, where he lives with his wife Rebecca and daughter Annaliese.

Nora is a first generation Norwegian-American writer and a teacher of literature, theatre arts and music which has allowed her to travel, write and produce plays and, above all, learn from her students the world over. She is a member of the SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) and the Dramatists Guild. She studied under poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly at the University of Illinois.

Originally from Philadelphia, Ed Tasca now lives in Ajijic, Mexico and is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. From 1990 to present, he has authored seven published works of fiction, has five screenplay options (one currently in pre-production in London), and writes a humor column. He was the grand prize winner in the 2011 Screenplay Search Competition for his suspense/thriller entitled “Vinegar and Brown Paper,” and the winner of the prestigious Robert Benchley Society Humor Award in 2009. Also, he is the winner of humorpress.com awards and M. Culbertson’s Life and Humor Award, among several others. His humor essays have appeared in publications in the U.S., Canada, England, Italy and Mexico, and his work is anthologized in “American’s Funniest Humor, 2006,” and “Laugh Your Shorts Off, 2009.” His first play was a one-act tribute to Franklin D. Roosevelt, written for a huge fund-raising event for President Barack Obama.

Jim Territo has a masters degree in composition and education from the University of Michigan School of Music. He has been music directing for school and community shows since 2002. Jim is a published band composer and freelance rock pianist and teaches band and music theory at Detroit Country Day School.

Edward J. Thomas started writing plays in 1989 with his one-act "Once a Pun a Time," and now has well over 30 scripts to his name. They have been produced in New York City, Los Angeles, and points in between. He cites Neil Simon, Douglas Adams and George Carlin as his biggest influences. He currently lives in Michigan with his wife, son, and two dogs.

Matthew Thompson previously served as the Artistic Associate/Literary Manager/Director of Education for North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach, CA. from 2008-2012. In 2007 he founded Compass Theatre in Hillcrest where we was the Artistic Director. He has directed productions for the La Jolla Playhouse, North Coast Rep, Scripps Ranch Theatre, and Coronado Playhouse. His plays have bee published through numerous drama publishers. Matt also teaches theatre and film classes at MiraCosta and Southwestern College. He received his M.A. in Theatre from San Diego State University.

Lorraine Thompson is currently the Head of the Drama Department at Athens Academy in Athens, Georgia. Her bachelor’s degree in Education is from Auburn University of Montgomery and her Masters in Fine Arts in Theatre is from the University of Georgia. She is the author of several published plays for the educational and community stage. In addition to teaching and writing, she also works as a professional actor and storyteller. Ms. Thompson is a member of the Educational Theatre Association, The Dramatists Guild, Southern Order of Storytellers and The National Storytellers Association.

Dave Tippett has been involved in local drama since 1987. He has a number of plays and sketches published, and continues to be involved with both teens and adults with writing, acting, directing and, well, the occasional failed attempt at building sets and costume design. Dave and his wife Jill make their home in Gibsonburg, OH with their ‘fur children”, a dog and two cats. He is employed as a trainer and consultant on Human Resources issues and all sorts of fun stuff like that.

Dewey W. Todd grew up in south Alabama of a strong Christian heritage. His mother introduced him to the power of drama by encouraging him to play Tom Sawyer in an elementary school play. In the 10th grade his sister helped him land the lead play in the school play which led to other roles in comedy, drama and musicals. Over the years, acting and directing have been part of his life. Writing was also a natural love that his family always encouraged. Creating plays allows him to combine these two loves. Dewey has a Ph.D. in Decision Sciences from Georgia State University and is working on a novel. He is also writing a book on decision making based on the lessons he learned growing up working the family farm with his father. Dewey has been married to Annette for over 28 years and they have a daughter, Haley, and a son, Will.

Terrie Todd is an actor, director, and playwright with 20 years' experience leading a church drama team in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. She is also involved in community theatre, has served on the board of the Association of Community Theatre (ACT) Manitoba, and written for Sarasvati Productions, most recently “Irony: A Tragic Comedy about Life and Death.” Her first novel, "The Silver Suitcase," was released in January, 2016. She lives on the Canadian prairies with her husband Jon. They have 3 grown kids and 4 adorable grandsons. You can catch up with Terrie at www.terrietodd.blogspot.com

Annette Tringham, a Minnesota native, began her theatrical journey with acting studies at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. In 1984 she moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and over the next decade appeared onstage in dozens of theatre productions around the LA area. Though she still performs occasionally, her focus has shifted to her writing and directing aspirations. Several of her short one acts were produced in Burbank, and most recently her one-act holiday play “All I Need For Christmas” was produced in Banning, CA where Ms. Tringham now resides. In addition to plays, she is a feature writer for the local newspaper.

Laura Manning Turner received her B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing and an M.F.A. in composition for Music Theater concurrently from New York University. Since 1994 she has been Associate Professor of Theatre at the College of Charleston where she began the Theatre for Young Audiences program and a master’s program preparing theatre teachers. She also has a specialty in musical theatre. Before coming to the College of Charleston she taught at the University of Northern Iowa as well as the Russian Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia where she lectured on American Theatre. She is a playwright and composer of many musicals for family audiences collaborating with her husband Les Turner, whom she met when they worked together as music ministry staff. Some of their original shows include: a new show being developed to tour to science museums and “MarsQuest,” both awarded grants by N.A.S.A.; “The Redcoats” as well as “Glow: The Story of Marie Curie,” commissioned by the Charleston Museum; “The Wizard of Wartville,” sponsored by Keep America Beautiful; and “WorldSong,” which won a national playwriting competition and toured the Midwest. Laura has two daughters, Eliza and Lindy, who seem to like making music and creating dramatic moments as much as she does!

I grew up in Greeley, CO, and I got bit by the theatre bug when I was in a show in the 6th grade. Theatre was my main focus throughout high school and college where got my B.A. in Theatre Studies from the University of Utah. I taught drama at a high school for a couple of years in Idaho and had a great time. Fast forward a few dozen years and here I am at the eastern most edge of Colorado, happily married with two awesome boys and I find myself back in the classroom teaching drama. Seems like you can take the girl off of the stage but you can’t take the stage far enough away that she won’t just get up there again!

Walter Vail has a depth of experience in teaching, administering, playwriting and performing. He's written numerous plays, many of which have earned professional productions and won awards. He's spent over 20 years at Society Hill Playhouse in playwriting, dramaturgy and acting. Indeed, his writing is enriched by his time onstage as he's played more than 20 different roles. He also spent 15 years as a playwriting consultant and dramaturg at the Philadelphia Young Playwrights Program and six years as an actor, playwright and literary manager at Hedgerow Theatre Extended Company. Much of the rest of his professional life has been teaching English, drama, and in television production.

Richard Van Den Akker lives in Vicksburg Mississippi and works as an emergency planner for Entergy Operations. Married to Sue for thirty years they have three sons: Cory, 29; Ryan, 18; and Noah, 15. In his spare time Richard fishes, acts, writes and is a Boy Scout leader. He has been performing mainly at Vicksburg Theatre Guild for twelve years, and writing for eight. Richard's writing is mainly comedies and Christian-themed plays and skits. He has had seven dinner theater plays produced by Hawkins United Methodist Church to raise money for missions, and three full-length children’s plays produced by the VTG Fairy Tale Theater.

Alaska Reece Vance lives and writes in an 1860 farmhouse in Southern Appalachia. Alaska holds an MFA in Acting, teaches at King University and serves as the Artistic Director of The Drifting Theatre. Alaska's works include; Human (The New York International Fringe Festival, New Orleans Fringe), The Disorientation of Butterflies (The New York International Fringe Festival, winner of FringeNYC overall excellence in directing award, UnCovered Theatre Chicago), Feeding the Subject (The Bad Theater Festival NYC), Moonlight in Boxes (Manhattan Repertory Theatre NYC, Regent University), Dirge of White Rocking Horses (Regent University), The Adventures of Bad (The Drifting Theatre), I Am Angel (Eldridge Publishing), Ivan and the Birds (Eldridge Publishing) as well as various other works.

Patti Veconi is a Brooklyn-based music and drama teacher, director of youth theater, dramaturg and playwright. Though her niche is writing in the adolescent voice, her plays for adults have also been produced in theater festivals around the country. Patti holds a BFA in music theater from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master’s degree in educational theatre from New York University. She is also an avid vegetable gardener and award-winning hand-quilter.

James Venhaus is the author of 18 plays including The Temple of Dionysus and Weird Sisters and, Stocking Stuffers, a collection of holiday themed 10-minute plays. His Shakespeare adaptations for young actors, Bitterroot, Romeo and Juliet at Verona High, and A Great Big Deal Over Nothing, have been produced over 100 times in schools and theatre across the United States and in nine other countries. He lives in Savannah Georgia with his wife and daughters.

Michael Vukadinovich is a playwright living in Santa Monica. He is the recipient of the 2005 Sidney Sheldon Playwriting Award, the Hal Kanter Comedy Award, and the Dini Ostrov Award in Playwriting. Recently one of his plays won second place in the Tim Robbins Playwriting competition and was a finalist in the Eugene O'Neil National Playwright's Conference. His plays have been produced by or developed with Moving Arts (Los Angeles), Reverie Productions (New York), Eclectic Company Theater (Hollywood), and Ensemble Studio Theatre (Los Angeles) among others.

Dolores Klinsky Walker: My introduction to plays was kind of a shotgun wedding. I was a newly minted high school teacher in her first job. My extra-curricular activity assignment was not journalism, my preference, but the drama club. Though I was pretty clueless, I did my best. Repression, or perhaps old age, has obliterated those memories. When I had teen-age children I unearthed and showed them a couple of plays I’d written after my drama stint. I was laughed out of the room. (It had looked so easy!) I got the last laugh years later when Eldridge accepted my work. All three of my children were very involved in drama, which resulted in my fresher, and less stressful, acquaintance with plays. They have taught me a lot, thank goodness! I became a freelance writer, published mostly in religious periodicals. I tend to write plays that serve a purpose, or explore something that interests me. I’m also a voracious reader, and have written countless reviews for church librarians. I love to write, but that pleasure is surpassed by the exultation that fills me when I see my characters come to life on stage.

Playwright, editor and journalist EDWARD J. WALSH (far left) has had an award-winning career as a writer. At various local and national publications, he has served as a general assignment reporter, business reporter, travel writer, columnist and editor. For radio, he has written and helped produce programming for National Public Radio. Walsh also has contributed to or edited several books, including a 150th anniversary edition for Cleveland Cliffs, Inc. In addition, as a playwright his work has been produced Off-Off Broadway, and in many community and college theaters in the Greater Cleveland area. “Harry and Mary,” originally staged and televised on NBC in Cleveland, became the basis for “Two Can Play,” which was produced at the Barter Theatre in Virginia, and again in Kansas City, featuring Hayley Mills. Walsh is a graduate of John Carroll University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree and did post-graduate work in English literature.

ROBERT THOMAS NOLL has written 30 produced plays. His works have been performed throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, including six Off-Off Broadway productions. Eight are published. As a TV producer/writer, he has won nine Emmys and a Silver Medal from the International Film and TV Festival of New York. For NBC, he served as producer/writer for their multi-award-winning syndicated children’s TV series, “Hickory Hideout.” He teaches playwriting and other courses at John Carroll University’s Tim Russert Department of Communication and Theatre Arts in Cleveland, Ohio. (They also produced four of his plays there.) At John Carroll, he also serves as adviser to their award-winning newspaper, The Carroll News. For nearly 20 years, he taught playwriting at The Cleveland Play House. Robert has degrees from Kent State University and Ohio University. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

After working for seven years as a comic book writer and artist without ever quite having made a living at it, Bradley Walton landed a job in the library of his high school alma mater. A well-remembered drama and forensics junkie, he was quickly recruited to head the school's forensics program, as well as establish and direct an annual spring play. Long intimidated and befuddled by Shakespeare, but figuring it was high time to do something about it, he directed “The Tempest” as his first show, followed by a wildly (if improbably) successful Star Wars-themed production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Having conquered his greatest theatrical fear, the next logical step seemed to be writing his own plays to direct. To his enormous relief, he turned out to be rather good at it. Mr. Walton lives in Virginia with his wife, daughter, some cats, and an embarrassingly large quantity of comic books and Star Wars action figures.

Tracy Wells is an accomplished playwright who has published several plays for children and adults. Mrs. Wells has been involved in theatre for many years in acting and in production. She and her husband, Eric, reside in metro Detroit with their son and daughter.

Carl L. Williams is a Houston playwright whose full-length and one-act plays have won numerous national playwriting competitions. "When Bullfrogs Sing Opera" won the 2001 McLaren Memorial Comedy Play Writing Competition at the Midland (TX) Community Theater. "Coming Back to Jersey" won the 2007 New Play Competition at Brevard (NC) Little Theatre. His plays have been produced around the country, including off-off-Broadway. He is also the author of a Western novel titled "Fool's Play." Texas Nonprofit Theatres has inducted Carl into its Texas Playwriting Hall of Fame, and he is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America.

E. Jack Williams --Upon graduation from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in 1969, Mary and I moved to Waseca, Minnesota to accept a teaching position in media, speech, and theater which included directing plays. I’ve directed elementary, junior, and senior high school productions as well as community theater and after 43 years of directing, I am often asked which play is my favorite. The answer is always, “The one I’m working on.” Now I’m busy writing plays.  In 1991 I was the recipient of the Minnesota Arc of Excellence Community Media Award for writing a play on bullying called CARL.

Mr. Williams has provided the following FREE monologue relating to his one-act play, "Carl."

SPEAKER: There aren’t many things about my high school days I would do over. I loved every minute of it. We had the greatest time: the dances, dates, games, everything. We all had fun. (Pause) Almost all. There isn’t much I would change about high school, not much ... just one thing ... Carl won’t be here ... Carl was one of those lost souls. The guy everybody loved to pick on ... I remember as if it were yesterday. I’ll never forget the time he was called on to give his Pet Peeve Speech. He walked slowly up to the front of the room and started his speech.

As CARL: “My name is Carl ... my pet peeve is this ... I don’t like it here ... I’m not having any fun. I don’t like school. You don’t know what it’s like to be alone, to have no one to talk with. When people talk to me, it’s only to tease, never had a friend, a buddy ... and it hurts. I see you with your friends before and after school. And I ask why not me? You knock my books to the floor. I’m different I know it. But, why do you have to tell me I’m different? I’m not stupid. I’d like to wear nice clothes, but this is all I have. You live in nice homes with your moms and dads ... I live with my father ... My mother died a long time ago. I miss her. She loved me. The worst part of school is being laughed at. I don’t want to be laughed at ... Do you? “

SPEAKER: There was dead silence as Carl walked back to his seat. Some students bowed their heads unable to look him in the eye. Miss McCloud wiped away a tear. Carl was self-conscious of many things especially the way he looked, walked and talked ... That’s why he surprised us when he actually read his manuscript. As it turned out, that was the only time he ever talked in front of the class. The only thing he seemed to care about was a small piece of paper he kept tucked in his pocket. As bad as school was for CARL, things didn’t get much better at home ... he could never seem to please his “old man.” Nothing he did was good enough ... nothing. The summer after graduation, Carl’s lifeless body was found hanging in the shed next to his house. Not many attended Carl’s funeral. Few heard about his death. Fewer even cared. His obituary simply read, “Carl Chapman died, suddenly, on August 12. Arrangements are pending.” We will never know what caused Carl to take his own life, but we do know this ... everything he learned about life, we taught him. Everything he experienced in life, we showed him. Everything we did to him prepared him for that moment. When the police discovered Carl’s body, they found him clinging tightly to a crumpled-up piece of paper. I’d like to tell you what it said, “If they could hear my prayers – I may be relieved of some of my pain.” THE END

Mike studied theatre arts with an emphasis on acting at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. His professional acting credits include seventeen seasons of regional theatre, thirteen of those with either the Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival Theatre Company or the South Dakota Shakespeare Company, where he also taught play writing workshops for youth. Mike has been the recipient of numerous directing, acting, and writing awards. In 1990 he was recognized for his contributions to the arts in secondary education by the Southwest Wisconsin Educational Alliance. Mike is a nine-time winner of the Wauwatosa Village Playhouse’s One-Act Playwriting Competition, a competition for Wisconsin writers, where his play, The Runaway, enjoyed a three week run in 2015 and was voted favorite script and favorite production. A U.S. army veteran, Mike’s Vietnam agent-orange drama, Who Said Life Was Fair, won the 1995 Wisconsin Section of the American Association of Community Theatre’s AACT-FEST Play Competition and was a runner-up at the Region III level. The author of over fifty plays, Mike’s works have varied from adult Vietnam War dramas to teen awareness plays and Shakespearean spoofs. He currently has thirty-five plays in publication. His plays have been presented throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and numerous international schools. Many of his teen awareness plays have received awards in high school play contests. Mike has worked as a high school drama director and was the Artistic and Technical Director for the former Main Street Player’s Theatre Co. of Galena Illinois. During his career, Mike has directed over one hundred plays and presented workshops on set and light design, directing and play writing. Mike and his wife Sandy, split their time between their hometown of Platteville, Wisconsin and their winter home in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

James Witherell is Professor Emeritus at College of the Siskiyous, where he served for 34 years as Director of Theatre. In that capacity, he directed over 60 major productions and taught the full range of theatre classes. As a playwright, he specializes in fictional scenarios derived from Western American history. “The Perils of Pusher,” was originally written and produced for the centennial of Dunsmuir, California, which was originally named Pusher. However, it is readily adaptable to any community experiencing the building of the railroads.

I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, but I attended college in Iowa, and, once here, I decided to stay. I am a high school/middle school Spanish and English instructor with over 25+ years of teaching experience in the River Valley School District. Even though I have been directing plays for years, WILD PINK was the very first play I ever wrote, and I owe a lot its success to the talented young actors who helped me bring my characters to life. Since then, I have written a play every year for my students to perform. Both my second play, SEALED IN SPIT and my fifth play, THE DOUBLE L DUDE RANCH, are now published by Eldridge. My hobbies include reading just about anything and writing stories for my friends and students. I also love attending my plays whenever they are close by to see how other directors portray what I have written. It seems like every performance has been different, but I have truly enjoyed each show as well as the time spent chatting with the directors, getting their insights, and meeting their outstanding casts and answering lots of questions. My husband, Thomas, my son, Chris, and my Shih Tzu, Maya, make up my small family but, on Friday nights during the football season, my house is usually full of teenagers who always seem to drop by after games for my “famous” chocolate chip cookies, a cold glass of milk, and a safe place to hang out.

Ken Womble is the Head of Acting and Professor of Theatre at the University of Northern Colorado.

His book, Inside Act: How Ten Actors Made It—and How You Can Too (Hansen Publishing Group), was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a 2014 book that flew under the radar.”

Ken’s adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Importance of Being Earnest, published with Eldridge Publishing, have been produced throughout the U.S. Arms and the Man is his third adaptation for Eldridge.

Ken wrote and directed the first-ever documentary film on novelist James Michener, James A. Michener, An Epic Life, for which he was named UNC Scholar of the Year. He also directed and co-produced the short film An Equal Opportunity, which was named Best Inspirational Short at the Olympus Film Festival Los Angeles.

As an actor, Ken has appeared in two Off Broadway premieres and was the voice of a BBC radio announcer in the world premiere of Freud’s Last Session. He has had recurring roles on Guiding Light, General Hospital and All My Children, and is a member of Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA.

Ken has directed over sixty plays, including Lobby Hero, Proof and First Date at Colorado’s Little Theatre of the Rockies, and award-winning productions of August: Osage County, Clybourne Park, and The Cherry Orchard at UNC.

Dwayne Yancey can still remember all the lines from his debut performance on stage - both of them. In eighth grade. Many decades later, he is a journalist by profession but a playwright by avocation. By day (and sometimes by night), he is a senior editor at The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Va. On the side, he writes plays. Many of his scripts reflect his interest in Shakespeare and bringing Shakespeare to the masses, even if that does mean a few, um, script changes for a modern audience. Yancey comes from a theatre family. His wife acts and directs in community theatre and both his children are stage veterans. They live in Fincastle, Va.

Stephanie Youngman is a New Jersey native who has done something theater-related for most of her adult life, whether it is directing, producing, stage managing, sound designing or playwriting. So far, three of her plays have been produced: "Almost Heaven," a quirky look into the afterlife; followed by her dark comedy "Otis Opus," a sardonic take on age discrimination; and "The Legend of Quasimodo, Revisited," which was staged as part of the New Jersey Theater Alliance's "Family Week" in March, 2008. Ms. Youngman is a member of Alliance Repertory Theatre Company, a freelance graphic designer, and legal secretary for a major healthcare corporation. Whatever free time she has left she spends on her "StephStuff" (her original handmade gifts and jewelry), her boyfriend and her cats.

Jonathan Yukich’s plays have been published by numerous drama publishers and have been produced across the United States and in Canada, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, India, and throughout Europe. Jonathan has received a number of awards and honors for both his original works and his inventive theatrical adaptations of literary classics, including "Alice@Wonderland," "Frankenstein Unplugged," "Finding Don Quixote," "Waking Sleepy Hollow," and "Reality Stars: Greek Gods Edition." On average, his plays receive well over 200 full productions each year. Jonathan is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Trembling Stage (tremblingstage.com). He lives in Connecticut and teaches at the University of New Haven.

Eddie Zipperer is an award-winning playwright whose published plays have been produced across North America from Fairbanks, AK to Miami, FL. His short plays have won several contests and awards, and his full length drama, "Nicolas the Worm," won the 2011 Charles M. Getchell Award. He is also a member of the Dramatists’ Guild of America, Inc.