ROSE PEARSON, M.A. creative director and playwright, founded The Writers’ Circle, Inc. in 1993. Workshops for emerging and professional writers, visiting author forums, staged readings of original plays, and the Writers’ Circle Anthology, run year-round. Ms. Pearson’s pen name is Grace Tryon. The name belonged to her mother who wrote poetry and hid it in a shoebox, much too long. Ms. Pearson’s plays have been produced in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, New Orleans, and San Francisco, California.
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BRIGID DUFFY, M.A. was Artistic Associate of Irish Repertory where she appeared in The Mai, A Life, Pentecost, and Well of the Saints. Other performances include Steppenwolf’s Hedda Gabler, Goodman’s The Sea and Freedom of the City, and Drury Lane Water Tower’s Mornings at Seven. Brigid taught in the Chicago Public Schools and won the prestigious Golden Apple Award. Favorite roles include Gabrielle in The Madwoman of Chaillot with Zoë Caldwell, Lady Macduff in Macbeth with Sam Wanamaker, and alternating with Cicely Tyson in American Conservatory Theatre’s Servant of Two Masters. Brigid trained at the Goodman School of Drama.
WENDY FELLER, M.S.W., M.A. works at Brown Medical School as an actress in the standardized patient program. Medical students at all levels interview Ms. Feller in diverse roles, simulating actual patient encounters. The goal is to provide students with a framework to enhance their skills when they interview and examine real patients. One week, she may role-play as a woman with a headache who is afraid she has cancer or a patient with chest pain. The cases are designed by Brown medical faculty. In addition to spending 20 years as actor and play collaborator for Looking Glass Theatre, Ms. Feller has also performed at Worcester Forum Theatre, 2nd Story Theatre, Perishable Theatre, Alias Stage, and Pioneer Valley Theatre and has been a member of Improv Jones.
CHARLES GERACE, M.A. is a Chicago native and has been a theatre teacher, director, and actor for 40 years. During those years, he has performed in and directed scores of productions, most recently at the Irish Repertory, Court, and AppleTree theatres. He holds a B.F.A. from The Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.A from Northeastern Illinois University. He is a member of AEA, SAG and AFTRA.
DAVID HOWARD, M.F.A. started writing in the fifth grade, with the lead story for the Spring Glen School Chronicle. He spent over thirty years as a newspaper reporter and editor and now works as a freelance writer. He has published in Manuscript, Parnassus Literary Journal, Mobius, Manna and Animal Print. He won first place in the short story contest for Vebsap Literary Magazine and is at work on a novel about politics in Rhode Island. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Vermont College and conducts fiction and creative nonfiction workshops for The Writers’ Circle.
BOB JAFFE, B.A. is an actor and director based in Providence. In addition to his work on stage and in film, he gives much of his time dealing with issues related to arts advocacy, women’s rights and hunger. His involvement with the issue of hunger has led him to work with the RI Community Food Bank, creating a solo performance piece with playwright / director David Eliet entitled, But for the Grace…which played to standing ovations at Trinity Repertory Company in the fall of 2007. Bob has worked with the Providence Black Repertory as an Affiliated Artist, appearing in the World Premiere of "Black Maria" and “Suicide in Bb." He is a Board Member at Perishable Theatre, where he has worked frequently as an actor and director. His works as a director has focused almost exclusively upon new works. He has performed at Brandies Theatre Company, La MaMa E.T.C. in NYC, NY Fringe Festival, Perishable Theatre, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and in countless Off-Broadway shows, television and film.
ROBERT LEUCI first came to popular attention when his life as an undercover detective, for the NY police department, was portrayed in the book and film Prince of the City, starring Treat Williams. After retirement, he began writing and lecturing full time. He has written several novels, that have been translated and published in Croatia, Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. His television plays have been featured on the Arts & Entertainment network show, 100 Centre Street. Leuci is currently working with Rob Holcomb, television director and producer of ER, Wiseguy, and Lost. Together they are adapting Leuci’s novels into films for television. Presently, Mr. Leuci is an adjunct professor of English and Political Science at the University of Rhode Island. With his vast knowledge of organized crime and narcotics, he continues to lecture at universities, major police departments, and the FBI academy in Virginia. His memoir, All The Centurions, depicts the harsh reality of his life as a law enforcement officer.
JODY LISBERGER, PhD, MFA (fiction), Vermont College. Jody Lisberger's story collection, Remember Love, was published by Fleur-de-Lis Press. Her stories have appeared in Fugue, Michigan Quarterly Review, Thema, Confrontation, and The Louisville Review. Her story "Crucible" was nominated for a Pushcart Award. She won third place in the 2003 American Literary Review Fiction Contest and was a finalist in the 2004 Quarterly West Fiction Contest. She has taught fiction, creative nonfiction, literature, and feminist theory at Brown, Harvard, Tufts, Holy Cross, Boston University, and University of Rhode Island where she currently is the interim director of Women's Studies. She has also worked as a journalist, editor, and grant writer.
BRETT RUTHERFORD, M.A. is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island. He moved to Providence in 1985 from New York City. During his Manhattan years, he founded The Poet’s Press to promote the work of lesser-known but deserving poets. The press is still active in print and on-line, with over 165 publications to date. Brett is a poet, novelist, and playwright. Night Gaunts, a play about H.P. Lovecraft, was staged in Heidelberg, Germany in 2006. His most recent book of poetry is Things Seen In Graveyards, 2007.
LISA J. STARR is the founder of the Block Island Poetry Project. Her poetry books include Day of Dogs and Driftwood, This Place Here, and Mad With Yellow; her individual works appear in journals and publications around the country. Currently, she is touring RI with Power to the Poets, a Writers’ Circle free outreach program. An inn-keeper, mother, basketball coach and champion for fun, Starr divides her time between family and her passion for poetry. As RI Poet Laureate, her five year plan includes a state-wide poetry pen pal system, enlisting student writers working with the elderly. She uses poetry in positive, proactive ways to educate and free the writer to be authentic. Recently, she was a featured reader at the Dodge Poetry Festival in New Jersey. Her agenda is to pool collective resources to bring cultural programs to Rhode Island and nationally.
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