Comparing books – Interplay Jewish Theatre 2011

Michael Cipiti (Stage Directions) actor, writer, and producer has worked nationally in TV, films, commercials, industrials, print and theater. Michael appeared as Angelo Porrello in Sugar Wars, a documentary about the Cleveland Mafia. He also appeared as the 1986 Gangster in Chicago Overcoat with Frank Vincent and Armand Assante. Michael also penned, produced and co-starred in the independent short, Mob Hitz which he is developing as a feature. He starred in and co-produced the psychological thriller, A Good Day for a Killing. Theater credits include Conversations With My Father at the JCC Halle Theatre, Tracers, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Cleveland Play House, where he worked under the tutelage of director Robert Berlinger. Additional credits include Unsolved Mysteries, and supporting roles in the films Connected and Haywire, which premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival in 2003, and garnered critical acclaim. He has been a spokesperson, host, and actor in commercials, corporate videos, infomercials and documentaries.

Paul Floriano (Dominic Francesco) has been an actor since before video tape…that’s quite a long time. He has also narrated, produced and directed shows at SeaWorld Cleveland, Six Flags New Jersey and Six Flags Ohio. As an actor, he was cast in the major motion picture, Kevin Smith’s “Zach and Miri Make A Porno” with Seth Rogan, and various episodes of “America’s Most Wanted”! (Always playing a convict!). In New York, he appeared at Lincoln Center, and the National Tour of Tomfoolery. Regional theatre credits include All Shook Up, Footlooseand The Sound of Music at the Carousel Dinner Theatre, Shear Madness, Love, Janis, Tony‘n Tina, and We Gotta Bingo at Playhouse Square, Love, Janis, The Infinite Regress of Human Vanity, A Kiss For Cinderella at the Cleveland Play House. Paul is a proud, 31 year member of Actor’s Equity, and 20 year member of The Screen Actors Guild. If you’re interested in a murder mystery or any kind of corporate entertainment, check out his company at florianoproductions.com! He is very excited to be working with Fred, Brian, and Faye again. Salute!

Marc Goldsmith (playwright) Marc’s full-length play, Danny Boy won the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival Audience Favorite Award. His other plays include the full-length Comparing Books (Jewish Theater of the South, 2007) and the one-act plays The Hero of Kabul and Miami Twilight, which was presented at the 92nd Street Y/Makor, where Marc was an artist-in-residence. He is also the co-author (with Laurence Holzman) of two original screenplays, Fella (Official Selection, Kids First! Film and Video Festival) and The Queen Is In the Parlour (finalist, 2010 Champion Screenwriting Competition). Marc wrote the book and lyrics to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, an original musical with music by A. Michael Tilford, which was staged at the White Plains Performing Arts Center in December 2010. He is a founding member of Urban Myth, a writers’ workshop, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the Association for Jewish Theatre. Marc is also an attorney.

Faye Sholiton (Producer) In 2005, Faye Sholiton chaired “Halle-lujah” – a celebration of the history of the JCC Halle Theatre, as the final curtain was descending. In 2011, she founded Interplay to revive Jewish theatre in Cleveland. The company stages engaging, entertaining works that explore the world through a Jewish lens. As a playwright, she has developed her own work at the Cleveland Play House since 1996; and at Dobama Theatre since 2009. Her full-length plays have been read and performed more than 40 times throughout the U.S., and in London. She has received three Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist grants and dozens of regional and national playwriting awards. Scenes from The Interview, V-E Day, All Things Being Equal, and Telling Lives appear in anthologies. She writes extensively about theater and has served as dramaturg on many area productions. Since 2009, she serves as Ohio Regional Representative to the Dramatists Guild. Her work will be seen locally in early 2012: scenes from Last Call (Dobama, January); a workshop production of Telling Lives (Dobama, January-February); and A Brief History of Mah Jongg (the Maltz Museum of Jewish History, March). Visit www.fayesplays.com for Interplay Jewish Theatre updates.

Kelly Smith (Michelle Feingold) is in the arts management program at Baldwin-Wallace College and has appeared there in the theatre department’s production of Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the 2nd and 3rd annual New Play Festivals, and Ginny in For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls. Other credits include Wendy in Peter Pan, Logainne in Spelling Bee, Silly Girl in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Kim in Bye Bye Birdie to name a few. She would like to thank her family and Kevin for their love and support.

Fred Sternfeld (Director) most recently directed Steel Magnolias and Baby at TrueNorth Cultural Arts and A Little Night Music, Company and Les Miserables: School Edition at FPAC. Other productions at FPAC: Children of Eden, Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Eat (It’s Not About Food) and The Odd Couple. Fred is widely represented on Northeast Ohio stages through diverse projects, garnering numerous honors and awards. Recently he directed the award-winning productions of Babyat TrueNorth, Yellowman at Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at Beck Center and Ragtime, the musical at the JCC. He previously served as Artistic Director at Lakewood Little Theatre – Beck Center for the Arts and the Cleveland, Seattle & Dallas Jewish Community Centers. Other selected credits: Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver! & The Sound of Music at Cain Park; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife & The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at Dobama Theatre; A Shayna Maidel, Jolson and Company, Man of La Mancha, Modern Orthodox, Rags, From Door to Door, South Pacific, The God of Isaac, Beau Jest, Crossing Delancey, The Twilight of the Golds, The Immigrant & Conversations With My Father for the Cleveland JCC; Bad Seed at Ensemble Theatre; Amadeus at Willoughby Fine Arts; Table Settings, Isn’t It Romantic, The Diary of Anne Frank & Broadway Bound at JCC Center Stage in Seattle; Peter Pan (1987 & 2008), On the Town, Of Mice and Men, La Cage aux Folles, Saturday Night, Foxfire, Noises Off, Children of a Lesser God & The Importance of Being Earnest at Beck Center; Proof at GLTG and All My Sons & Enter Laughing at the Dallas JCC. Other upcoming projects are The Bluest Eye for Karamu House Theatre in February of 2012 and Gruesome Playground Injuries for Ensemble Theatre in April of 2012. For pictures and reviews for any of the shows listed here you can go to this link.

Jean Zarzour (Sylvia Feingold) is a 30 year veteran performer in TV, Film, Theater, Radio, Dance, Improv and Corporate Communications in the U.S., England, Wales and Italy. She has appeared in feature films opposite Seth Rogen, Joe Pesci, Stanley Tucci, Mercedes Ruhell, James Coburn, Rob Lowe, Clint Howard, Marc Singer, Hank Azaria and Jake Gyllenhaal. T.V. credits include Detroit 187, Candid Camera, America’s Funniest People and hundreds of radio and television commercials. Jean has appeared in 5 Off-Broadway productions and locally at The Cleveland Play House, Great Lakes Theater Festival, The Beck Center, Actors’ Summit, Dobama Theater, Cleveland Public Theater, Ensemble Theater, The Mandell JCC and Berea Summer Theater. Jean also performed in Menopause The Musical, nationally, for 2 years. As Owner of LIPSCHTICK, Jean has built a renowned reputation for putting the “Show” in “Business” with customized sketch, musical and improvisational comedy for hundreds of corporations nationwide since 1989. Lipschtick’s Laugh & Learn Workshops empower your workforce with improv games and role-playing seminars. Visit www.lipschtick.com. In 2006, Jean founded The Find Your Voice – Voice Acting Institute, providing voice over classes for TV, film, radio and voice over demo production in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Jean also coaches corporate executives on delivering business presentations on and off the mic and camera. http://findyourvoice-voiceactinginstitute.blogspot.com. Jean is a proud member of AFTRA, SAG and AEA.

Brian Zoldessy (Leon Feingold) Since 1991, Brian has been Professor and Director of the Theatre Arts Department at Cuyahoga Community College. In 1995, before receiving tenure, he was the first non-tenured faculty member to receive CCC’s prestigious Ralph M. Besse Award for Teaching Excellence and was honored with The Outstanding Achievement Award for Teaching by the International Conference for Teaching and Leadership, Austin, Texas. He is also a recent recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education. As a professional actor, Brian has worked in New York, L.A., Chicago, and Cleveland (Times Tribute Awards for Outstanding Performances and Direction), and has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in television and films, having worked with, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Broderick, Fisher Stevens, John Travolta, Woody Allen, Joseph Stein, Stephen Schwartz, Eli Wallach and the late, great, Jack Gilford. A winner of two Kennedy Center’s Irene Ryan Acting and Directing Awards, he has directed and produced over 70 award winning productions. Brian has also served as theatre faculty for both the Special Studies Program at the Chautauqua Institution, the Beck Center Conservatory Program, the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory, and is currently the coach for Beachwood High School’s Debate and Dramatic Interpretation Team. In 2006, Ohio Magazine and Crain’s Business Cleveland named Brian one of Ohio’s top educators of Theatre. He is a published poet and the author of The Theatre Appreciation Workbook: Exercises and Activities. This summer he will be returning to The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival (one of the original directors), where he will be directing The Merchant of Venice, and performing the role of Shylock. Brian also coaches many Cleveland performers, as well as preparing many senior High School students for their college theatre arts auditions