The Owl Girl – Interplay Jewish Theatre & Cleveland Public Theatre 2013

Holly Holsinger (Ora) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Cleveland State University where she specializes in teaching acting, voice, and movement, as well as devised theatre techniques. She has been a Cleveland theatre artist for the past eighteen years and has created/performed in over fifteen original plays including Blue Sky Transmission and her solo piece Frankenstein’s Wake, both of which toured Off-Broadway. She recently premiered in a play she co-devised entitled Insomnia: The Waking of Herselves at Cleveland Public Theatre. Holly is certified as an Associate Teacher of the Fitzmaurice Voice technique. She received an MFA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine where she studied with Robert Cohen and Jerzy Grotowski.

Matt O’Shea (Joze) is thrilled to be a part of the presentation of The Owl Girl. A native of Buffalo, New York, Matt has lived in the Cleveland area for the better part of five years. He is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University where he studied Business and Arts Management. Matt’s recent return to the theatre has been an exciting journey. Recent productions include Dobama Theatre’s 4000 Miles with Dorothy Silver, Cleveland Public Theatre’s Springboard presentation of The World’s Largest Axe, Out of Orderpresented by Aurora Players, and A Nightmare of Crime at Brecksville Theatre on the Square. Matt will also appear in Cleveland Public Theatre’s upcoming production of Tender Napalm.

Laura Perrotta (Leedya) is a native New Yorker who has appeared Off Broadway and at the Kennedy Center. She toured nationally with The Acting Company and since her move to Cleveland 18 years ago, has continued to perform locally and regionally. Favorite roles include Arkadina in The Sea Gull at Great Lakes Theater, The Angel in Angels in America and Lee in The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, both at Dobama Theater, the title role in Jocasta, a world premiere at the Cleveland Play House, Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret originating at Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Sylvia Gellburg in Broken Glass at the JCC. She most recently played Diane in The Little Dog Laughed at the Beck Center for the Arts for which she received the Cleveland Critics’ Circle award for best actress.

Kyle Primous (Zol), a graduate of Kenyon College with a degree in Drama and Dance, has danced and/or taught with Canton Ballet, Oberlin College, The University of Akron, Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy, Footpath Dance Co., at Jacob’s Pillow, on the Drew Carey Show and is presently on faculty at Lorain County Community College, Ohio Dance Theatre and Cleveland School of Dance. He has directed and/or choreographed plays and show choirs including: South Range HS and Elementary School choirs, Rocky River HS Show Choir, The Wiz, The Sound of Music, Trees of Hope, Once on this Island, LCCC’s Serendipity III, Centerfest’s Sneak Peak, the world premiere of Full Moon, Steelbound, The Odyssey, The Little Tommy Parker Celebrated Colored Minstrel Show, Treemonisha and Famous Orpheus. A member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Mr. Primous’ regional credits include: I Love You Because (NYC Man), 14th Street Theatre; Peaches, Plums and Pontifications (Ensemble), Cleveland Play House & 651 Arts; The Hostage (Princess Grace), Center Stage; I Could Stop on a Dime and get Ten Cents Change (Ensemble), Cleveland Play House and Center Stage. Other stage credits include: Dreamgirls (Jimmy), Cain Park; 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Mitch), Beck Center;Yellowman (Eugene), Karamu House; The Wiz (Uncle Henry/The Wiz), Cain Park; Dreamgirls (Curtis), Cassidy Theatre; Wonderland (Lead vocalist), Ohio Theatre; Ragtime (Coalhouse), Cleveland JCC; Five Guys Named Moe (No Max), Beck Center; ODT’s Journey, (Ensemble); Parade (Jim Conley), Beck Center; Full Moon (Mercer), Dobama; truth (Dance), Dobama; and Mule Bone (Dave Carter), Karamu House. An unparalleled entertainer and performer, Kyle’s dynamic 3½-octave vocal range has been heard in many northeast Ohio bands, Europe, Hawaii, at Playhouse Square, The Cleveland Play House, Jacob’s Field, Cleveland Opera, The Tri-C Jazz Fest and throughout the Caribbean. Currently, Mr. Primous fronts the bands Redline and The Kyle Primous Group. Yet, his greatest accomplishment to date is that of husband to Michelle and father to Kaden, Eliza, Jakob and Rylen.

Monica Raymond (playwright) is a poet and playwright based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A 2013 winner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Fellowship in Dramatic Writing, she has also been a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center (Minneapolis) and a MacDowell Colony Fellow, and has received support from the Boston Athenaeum, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. Her work has been produced or developed by the Huntington Theater (Boston), Actors Shakespeare Company (Boston), Portland Stage (Maine), Vital Theater (NYC), the Inkwell, Stage Left (Chicago), Golden Thread Theater (San Francisco), the Montreal and NYC Infringement Festivals and many others; and published by Dramatic Publishing and Smith and Kraus. A 2013 grant from the Cambridge Arts Council will support production of her new mini-opera, Paper or Plastic. She holds degrees from the University of Chicago, Columbia University and Smith College and has taught writing and interdisciplinary arts at Harvard, CUNY and the Boston Museum School. The Owl Girl was winner of the Clauder Gold Medal, the Peacewriting Prize, and Castillo Theater’s political play prize and has had eight readings around the country. The playwright will be on hand for the Interplay/Cleveland Public Theatre reading.

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. Interplay stages engaging, entertaining works that explore the contemporary 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 45 times throughout the U.S., and in London. She has received four Ohio Arts Council Artist Excellence grants (The Interview, V-E Day, All Things Being Equal and Telling Lives), dozens of regional and national playwriting awards, and publication from Speert Publishing, Smith & Kraus, Meriwether, Applause and the International Centre for Women Playwrights. 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. Visit www.fayesplays.com for Interplay Jewish Theatre updates.

Lisandra Stebner (Anja) is a sophomore at Hathaway Brown School. She has appeared in numerous productions in the Northeast Ohio area. She most recently portrayed Martha in The Secret Garden. Some of her favorite roles have been as Emily in Our Town, Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden (twice), Niki Harris in Curtains, Beth in Little Women, Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, and Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. She has also appeared as Mollie and the Star to Be in Annie and Gloria in Wait Until Dark. Lisandra has appeared in commercials and print work for Joann Fabrics, Sherwin-Williams, Ohio 529 Trust Account, Smith’s Dairy, Things Remembered, Mahoning County Library, Kids Concoctions, and United Healthcare. She has performed professionally in Eat, It’s Not About Food, A Christmas Story and Reflections. Li studied theater at Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory, Stage Door Manor, and with Denise Simon in New York City, as well as attending dramatic interpretation camp at Stanford University this past summer.

Fred Sternfeld (Director) is delighted to return to Interplay Jewish Theatre after having directed their staged readings of House, Divided and Comparing Books. Fred most recently directed The Miracle Worker and The Fantasticks at TrueNorth Cultural Arts, Gruesome Playground Injuries at Ensemble Theatre and The Bluest Eye at Karamu House Theatre. Fred is widely represented on Northeast Ohio stages through diverse projects, garnering numerous honors and awards, including the award-winning productions of A Little Night Music at Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory, Baby at TrueNorth Cultural Arts, Yellowman at Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at Beck Center and Ragtime, the musical for the Arts & Culture program at the Cleveland Jewish Community Center. He has served as Artistic Director at Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory, 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; Company, Les Miserables: School Edition, Children of Eden, Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Eat (It’s Not About Food) and The Odd Couple at FPAC; 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. Upcoming: West Side Story for TrueNorth Cultural Arts in April of 2013 and The King and I for Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute in July of 2013. For pictures and reviews for any of the shows listed here you can go to this link.

Ryan Vincent (Capi) is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with incredibly talented director Fred Sternfeld once again as he helps bring The Owl Girl to life. Although this is his debut with Interplay Jewish Theatre, Ryan is no stranger to the stage. The 12-year-old sixth grader at Brady Middle School is currently singing the role of Young Boy in Playmaker’s Cabaret. He had a busy 2012, ending the year as Jojo in Seussical at Fine Arts Association and Prince Mamillius in Great Lake Theater’s The Winter’s Taleat the Hanna to rave reviews. Earlier in the year, Ryan was honored to portray Sacha in the Cleveland Play House/Cleveland Orchestra joint production of Every Good Boy Deserves Favor at the Allen Theater and a Spirit in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with Apollo’s Fire at Severance Hall. Other professional credits include multiple performances of Barber of Seville and Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Cleveland at the State Theater. Regional roles include Gavroche in Les Miserables and Theo in Pippin at the Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory; Prince Edward in A Royal Mockery at Dobama; Michael Darling in Peter Pan with Mercury; Louis in The King & I and Chip in Beauty and the Beast at Heights Youth Theater; Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka and Kurt in The Sound of Music at Playmakers; Peter in Mame with Hudson Players; and Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol at Geauga Lyric Theater in which he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Film credits include the award-winning Turning Point and A Silent Truth. Ryan recently shot the television pilot “The Zachary Kessler Mystery Adventures” in which he plays the title role.

Jimmy Woody (Stage Directions) has appeared in numerous productions in Cleveland and New York. Some of his most recent Cleveland credits include: Cholly in The Bluest Eye at Karamu House Theatre, William in Lobby Hero, Booth in Top Dog/Underdog at The Beck Center for the Arts, Hamlet in Hamletat Cuyahoga Community College, Tigre in Dream On Monkey Mountain, portrayed multiple characters in The Colored Museum at Karamu House directed by Terrence Spivey and Caroline Jackson-Smith, and he appeared in Cleveland Public Theatre’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape directed by David Herskovitz. Jimmie directed and performed the role of Dionysus in Cleveland Public Theatre’s production of The Bacchae of Euripedes a Communion Rite written by Wole Soyinka. Some of Jimmie’s New York credits include Waiting for Godot, Hollis Mugley’s Only Wish and The Caucasian Chalk Circle staged by The New York Shakespeare Festival and LaMama E.T.C. respectively directed by Andrei Serban. Jimmie received his M.F.A. in acting from Columbia University.