Ensemble
Theatre
Celeste Cosentino, Artistic Director
Celeste Cosentino, Artistic Director
presents
an Ohio Premiere
an Ohio Premiere
Set & Light Design - Joe Mitchell
Sound Design - Matt Harmon
Costume Design - Angelina Herin
Special Effects Designer - Dan Folino
Cast
of Characters
Kayleen - Celeste Cosentino
Doug - Dan Folino*
* member - Actors' Equity Association
Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.
Two eight-year-olds’ lives collide in the nurse’s office: Doug rode his bike off the roof and Kayleen can’t stop throwing up. As they mature from accident-prone kids to self-destructive adults, their broken hearts and broken bones draw them ever closer. These two rebels may only be fit for one another. But how far can one person go to heal another’s wounds?
REVIEWS OF THE NYC AND DC PRODUCTIONS:
"Up-and-coming dramatist Rajiv Joseph is an artist of original talent."
-NY Times.
"Irresistibly
odd and exciting…This darkly humorous drama is Rajiv Joseph's most
satisfying work."
-NY Daily News.
"This
wondrous strange two-hander finds as much humor as horror in the play's
bizarre events."
-Variety.
"Mystical,
arresting, and quirkily amusing"
– Washington Post
"This
haunting ode to self-destruction is paradoxically life-affirming"
– CityPaper
"Injuries
is layered with quirky humor and poignant intensity."
– Washingtonian
"Gruesome
has you chortling and swallowing back tears"
– DC Theatre Scene
“Gruesome
knows all about love. And all about hurt.”
– Express
The biographies below are written as they will appear in the playbill in April of 2012, so some of the credits that are listed as if they are in the past, are in fact, still to happen.
Celeste Cosentino (Kayleen) is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Theatre. She has quite literally been raised in the Cleveland Theatre Community and has been lucky to work as an actor, director, actor/teacher, as well as in many other "roles" for many Cleveland Theatres. She has worked with Ensemble Theatre, Cain Park, Dobama, Bang and Clatter, Willoughby Fine Arts, Clague, Weathervane Playhouse, The Illusion Factory, Tri-C, Karamu, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, and The Cleveland Play House. Favorite acting roles include Marela in Anna in the Tropics, Alice in Closer, Harper in Angels in America, and Desdemona in Othello. Celeste recently returned to Cleveland after 2 years in NYC and has been dividing her time between Cleveland and NYC. Theatre runs in her "blood". She is the daughter of the late Founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre, Lucia Colombi. She dedicates her every step into a theatre space, and in life, to her mom. She is very excited to work on this show with such a talented group of Cleveland artists! Thank you to Fred and Dan. Thank you to Rajiv and to his wonderful family! MANY thanks to Ian. Here we go!
Dan Folino (Doug) After a two year residency at the Barter Theatre in Virginia, Dan has come home to Cleveland. While at Barter, he performed in eleven full scale productions, two mini productions and two national tours. Some of his favorites include The Blue Sky Boys (Galileo and The Red Baron), Where Trouble Sleeps (adapted from the novel by Clide Edgerton by Catherine Bush), The Full Monty (Jerry), Civil War Voices (Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain) and the world premier of Richard Alfierri's Revolutions (Nick Greenburg). Cleveland audiences may remember him from Evil Dead : The Musical (Ash), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Hedwig), Sweeney Todd (Sweeney), Jekyll and Hyde (Jekyll/Hyde), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Beast), The History Boys (Irwin), and Evita (Che). While not performing in theatre, he fronts the band vanityCrash, who's next album will drop this summer. He also has a real passion for engineering blood and gore effects, so he is thrilled to be a part of this production. You can catch Dan later this year in the regional premier of Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson (Andrew Jackson) at the Beck Center. Thanks to Ensemble, Fred, and Celeste for the opportunity! Love to Crystal.
Fred Sternfeld (Director) most recently directed The Bluest Eye at Karamu, A Little Night Music, Company and Les Miserables: School Edition at FPAC and The Fantasticks & Steel Magnolias at TrueNorth Cultural Arts. Fred is widely represented on Northeast Ohio stages through diverse projects, garnering numerous honors and awards, including for Baby at 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; Children of Eden, Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Eat (It's Not About Food) and The Odd Couple at FPAC; Proof at GLTG and All My Sons & Enter Laughing at the Dallas JCC. For pictures and reviews for any of the shows listed here you can go to this link.