PLAY CRAWL LEADER BIO'S
JEFF NEUMAN
Jeffrey Neuman is an award-winning playwright whose work has been performed at theaters, festivals, and universities across the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. His plays have been produced and/or developed by Denver Center Theatre Company, Cherry Creek Theatre, The Catamounts, Benchmark Theatre, LaMaMa Experimental Theatre Club, National Public Radio, and the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival, among many others. He is a Heideman Award Finalist, an O’Neill Center Finalist, cofounder of Colorado’s Rough Draught Playwrights, and the Colorado Regional Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild of America.
www.theaterbyjeff.com https://www.facebook.com/jeff.neuman.9693/ https://www.instagram.com/jsneuman/
SUSY HICKEY
Susy Hickey loves theatre and is honored to have been part of The Play Crawl from the beginning. Created and developed by Susan Lyles and And Toto, too, The Play Crawl is a unique fundraiser that embraces everything “magical” about the theatre. Susy wishes to thank Susan and company for supporting women playwrights.
DOUG BLONDIN
Doug has been coming to The Play Crawl since the beginning and became a play crawl leader in 2013. He might be a familiar face as he's all around town seeing 140 to 200 plays a year. In his spare time, Doug reads (including play scripts for theatres), does genealogy, cycles, visits National Parks & other scenic areas, and rides steam trains (Cumbes & Toltec, Durango Silverton)
HARRISON LYLES-SMITH
Harrison is a Sophomore at the University of Northern Colorado. They are an AEC, and are SAG eligible. His work includes, Jean and Beatrice; Murder on the Orient Express (University of Northern Colorado)Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Aurora Fox), Jerusalem (Edge Theatre), Medea (Edge Theatre), Appropriate (Curious Theatre), A Chorus Line (Denver School of the Arts), Radium Girls (Denver School of the Arts), A Scouts Guide to Brutal Honesty, and Blow Ins (And Toto too) Film credits include: Liam, 7th Son, Son of Lies and Whispers, Second String Villians, the feature film The Engagement Plot, and the indie short film Reed Gig. They would like to thank all their friends and family for their support.
DYLAN RAVEL
Dylan Ravel is a Sophomore Computer Science Major, Game Development Programming Minor (Chapman University). DSA CREDITS: Superfreak (Technical Director), The Book of Will (Issac/Barman), Too Much Light: Fruit Salad (Performer), My Name is Asher Lev (Asher Lev), This is Our Youth (Warren), Radium Girls (Dr. Martland, Judge, Reporter), Seussical Jr. (Wickersham 1), Hamlet (Horatio), Shrek (Knight/Duloc/Bones), Romeo & Juliet (Tybalt), Ramona Quimby (Director/TV Actor), Fixer Upper (Olaf), Love Labour's Lost (Berowne), ITS Member. OTHER CREDITS: Polar Express (Hero Boy and Billy), Some Assembly Required Improv, Bard Wars (Emperor/Durlin), Twinderella (Bob), A Hairy Tale (Andrew), Wonka (Willie Wonka), The Princess King (Prince Air Guitar), Porridgegate (Teddy Bear). He would like to thank his family, friends, dogs, and cats for their love and support.
DARREN SMITH
Darren is a successful business owner, stage designer and filmmaker. He has been a crawl leader since the first Play Crawl in 2011. Success is a result of tenacity, and a willingness to fail and learn from those experiences. Darren Smith’s bio is likely the only one you will read where the word “fail” appears four times.Darren’s approach to filmmaking comes from more than 30 years of experience both on-stage and in almost every capacity behind the scenes in theatre, along with 20+ years as the co-founder of the leading B2B customer reference software company Point of Reference. How do these translate to filmmaking? Preparation, organization, problem solving, and applying a mantra from software development to filmmaking: fail fast, fail forward. Or put another way: Fail - Analyze - Improve - Repeat. Originally from Birmingham, England, Darren Smith has made Denver Colorado his home for the last 25 years. Since 2016 he has directed more than 25 short films, garnering awards including nomination for Best Film at the London 48 Hour Film Project. His aim with storytelling is to immerse the audience in situations that feel familiar to them, even if they have never personally experienced the exact scenario that is unfolding on the screen. They should see themselves or someone they know reflected back to them, and through these stories gain a little more insight into the beautiful, inevitably flawed, human condition. Oh, and he is thankful that when his ego surfaces his actor-producer wife knocks it swiftly back into its proper place!
JEFFREY WOLF
Jeffrey Wolf is a playwright from Centennial and theaters all over the world have produced his plays. He recently wrote a murder mystery for the Aurora History Museum and Northglenn Arts performed his children's play, The Worst Play in the History of Ever. He thinks the play crawl is amazing! jeffreywolfplays.com.
CAMDEN LYLES-SMITH
Camden is pursing his Masters Degree at Colorado School of the Mines studying Computer Science. While at the Denver School of the Arts he studied Creative Writing and graduated with honors. Camden has worked on many films with Ruff, Ruff Dog Productions doing production sound design amongst other things. He was also a writer for Hoodminds Produtions. When not studying hard enough to graduate a semester early he enjoys working on cars.
SUSAN MOTIKA
As a public interest lawyer, equity advocate and public health leader, I've supported the power of community in telling their stories and in charting their course for change. Now, in my second career as a playwright, I focus on stories that shine a new light on Colorado history, revealing injustice and inviting action today. My historical drama, One Hundred Percent American? looks back 100 years when the Ku Klux Klan came to Colorado. In the 1920’s, the Klan seized electoral power state-wide and unleashed a wave of discrimination, intimidation and economic boycotts. One Hundred Percent American? demonstrates how quickly an authoritarian government can take hold, the courage and fortitude required to resist it and the enduring legacy of structural racism. This play had its first reading in May 2023, its second staged reading in January 2024 at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance -- and now, more revisions are underway. I'm a member of the Curious Theatre's Community Advisory Board, the Colorado Theatre Guild, the Lighthouse Writers Workshop (where I've studied with playwright Melissa McCarl), the New Play Exchange (NPX) and the Dramatists Guild. I receive coaching from Colorado playwright Colette Mazunik and am completing a certificate in Writing for the Stage and Screen from Red Rocks Community College. A Denver native, I graduated from Boston University and obtained my JD from Northeastern University School of Law. Email: susanmotika9595@comcast.net