Where Theatre is Born

2011/2012 Board of Directors

Sonja Johnson is retired from an administrative position at Indiana University in the spring of 2001 and became a full time volunteer at the BPP later that year.  She continues to volunteer several hours a week and enjoys service on the Board of Directors.  She and her husband have been avid theatre goers for the past twenty years or more and are particularly interested in new plays and new play development.  In addition to their significant commitment to the BPP, they have attended the Humana Festival of New American Plays every year since 1995 and Steppenwolf's First Look Series since its inception.  Now that both are retired, they spend several days a month in Chicago to partake of that rich theatre scene.

Robert Arnove is a Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Education at Indiana University, Bloomington. His main disciplinary field is comparative and international education, the application of historical and social science perspectives to the study of education systems around the world, and especially in Latin America. His interested in theater stems from his undergraduate major in English Literature at the University of Michigan, where he performed in the cast of the musical "Good News." While directing the Madrid year- abroad program of Indiana, Wisconsin, and Purdue Universities (1989-1999), he had a cameo role  as an American English teacher in the Spanish TV Sitcom "Las Chicas de Hoy en Dia" (The [Hip] Girls of Today").; this year, he had a cameo role in the IU School of Education production of "The Laramie Project." He has co-produced for the BPP two staged readings of "Voices of a People's History of the United States," based on the edited collection of primary documents  by Howard Zinn and his son Anthony.  His latest book related to the arts is Talent Abounds:  Profiles of Master Teachers and Peak Performers (Paradigm Publishers, 2008/2009 paperback).

Greg Ellis is delighted to serve the BPP in their mission of new play development and production. Newness in theater excites him as do the opportunities for artists at all levels to participate in theater, a medium that enhances communication and constructive change in a community.

Patrick Brantlinger is retired from the IU Department of English, where he served as chair for several years, in 2004.   Although his main area of expertise is race and empire in 19th-century British literature, drama has always been one of his interests.  And another is encouraging new efforts in the creative arts, which serving on the BPP Board allows him to do.

Beverly Calender-Anderson is the City of Bloomington Safe and Civil City Director and she loves a good story.  Beverly believes that storytelling can help remove barriers, foster communication, promote self awareness and bring people closer together.  Beverly's love of story sparked her interest in reading, live theater and movies; however it was her son's involvment with BPP that helped her understand the importance of BPP in giving voice to stories that may have otherwise gone unheard.

Gladys DeVane is a Professor Emeritus, Indiana University; Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences; Kelley School of Business.  She became active in local theater as an actress, storyteller upon retirement, and has performed in Bloomington Playwrights Project, Bloomington Civic Theater, and Cardinal Stage Company productions.  She served on numerous local and state boards dedicated to improving the lives of the special needs population and was the cofounder of Options for Better Living Inc., a local organization that provides housing, employment, community living, and respite-care services of more than 300 residents in a seven-county area.

Deborah Gurman

Hal Kibbey is retired from the IU Office of University Communications, where he was a writer and editor for thirty years. During that time he was also an actor and singer on various Bloomington stages, and he has written a number of short scripts. He enjoys playing chess at the Bloomington Chess Club.

John McCluskey, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University. In addition to his courses in literature at IU and elsewhere, for over forty years he also taught and supervised original fiction writing by undergraduates and graduate students.  Among his interests and activities are photography, gardening, swimming, and music, especially contemporary jazz.

Frank Motley is an attorney and works at the IU Maurer School of law. He has an abiding interest in theatre, nurtured by his time in New York attending off-Broadway plays. An avid (but not very good) golfer, his only other passions (which he IS very good at) are his love for is wife, their five children and nineteen grandchildren.

Lee Ann Sandweiss is a Bloomington-based freelance writer and editor. Her work frequently appears in Bloom magazine and various Indiana University publications. She became an ardent supporter of BPP through its education program in which her twin sons have participated since 2002, when Lee’s family moved to Bloomington. She join the BPP Board of Directors in February 2011.

Nancy Wroblewski became interested in the BPP through her daughter Dede Wroblewski.  She has always been involved in the medical/recreation field, but loves the arts.  Becoming a member of the BPP was her path to that interest.  She loves the fact that the BPP presents original plays and the message those plays bring to the public.

Advisory
Hank Berman
Gail Bray
Ron Dye
Rob Hanrahan
Al Lyons
Adam Noble
Reva Shiner
Steve Timm
Shane Vogel
Ken Weitzman
Mark Wroblewski