Members
Terri starred and understudied stars on and off Broadway. Appeared on film with Jack Benny, Toni Randall and Jane Fonda. After 7 years “on the road” as a chanteuse, she came home to became a singing teacher/coach. The musical she wrote, Monkey Mind, was produced at the 2019 Fringe in L.A.
A writer since she was knee-high to Mad Magazine. Her resume consists of TV (Roseanne, Blossom, Desperate Housewives, Ghost Whisperer) and produced plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Athena Project in Denver, Bloomington, and Indiana’s Playwrights Project among many venues.
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Nancy is the producer of her own work. Some highlights include 11-part 90-minute web series The Calamities of Jane, which chronicles a woman of a certain age dealing with ageism and sexism in Hollywood, and the 40-minute lesbian dramedy Shelby’s Vacation with over a dozen film festivals and awards under its belt. Shopping her two new TV pilots – The Cleaning Crew, where a small hazmat clean-up team tidies up messes big and small in L.A., and The View from Above, which investigates mysterious crop circles appearing in the Midwest.
Mona Deutsch Miller
A lover of classical music, warm weather, and swimming. The former Head of the Writers Unit of Fierce Backbone, and mentioned Fierce Backbone when she was on Jeopardy!
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Mona writes plays, short stories and screenplays in multiple genres, including comedy, black comedy, sci fi, historical, avant-garde and drama. Ten of her plays, mostly short, have been produced in Los Angeles.
Matthew Kamm
Matthew Kamm works in non-profit development by day…and writes plays by night. He is extraordinarily proud to be the Writer’s Unit Leader.
Please contact him for any reason at
fiercelywriting@gmail.com.
Leda Siskind
Leda is an actress as well as a playwright. The Liars Punishment; was produced at the Pierson Playhouse in Pacific Palisades, as well as for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. All My Distances Are Far was produced by Theatre 40 and is now published by Steele Spring Stage Rights. The Surveillance Trilogy was also produced at Theatre 40 to ritical acclaim.
David Dats
David Datz is a writer and actor in Los Angeles. He has written four novels and three stage plays. His plays are Hackers and Lovers (drama), Basement Follies (comedy), and Disrupting the Box (drama). He has self-published a sci-fi novel, Scalies, available at Amazon and other sites by searching for "David Datz". An excerpt from Scalies has appeared at Commuterlit.com as “Boris and Marjorie.” He is a member of Dramatists Guild, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights, IWOSC, SAG-AFTRA, and Actors Equity Association.
Dan Perry
Dan is an LA-based writer who works across multiple content platforms. His long list of TV credits includes shows for Netflix, CNN, Disney+, ABC, CBS, NBC, Discovery, MTV, and AMC (The Emmy-nominated series INTERVENTION: THE HEROIN TRIANGLE). Dan’s plays include PEOPLE YOU KNOW, a finalist for the 2018 TRU New Plays Series in New York City, SAFE HOUSE, BEHIND THE SIX, and IF IT GOES THERE, a Pick of Fringe and Encore Producers’ Award winner in the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Dan was awarded a special citation from the City of Los Angeles for “... further adding to the diversity, creativity, and artistic value of the Hollywood neighborhood and City of Los Angeles.” He is a proud member of Writers Guild of America West, The Dramatist Guild, and The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.
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Ann Ryerson
Ann’s professional career began in improvisational theatre, first in Minneapolis at Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop, then two and a half years at the Second City, Chicago. She has performed extensively in television, movies, and on stage.
Carol M. Becker
Carol is a Director, Dramaturg, Performer and Producer. Partial list of regional directing credits: Sister from Another Planet (HFF 2023), Dismissed (HFF 2022), Boy Crazy Psycho Slut (2023 & 2021 HFF), Basement Folly, The Christmas Spirit, I Love You Because, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Violet. Assistant directing credits: Mrs. Warren’s Profession (A Noise Within), Beauty and the Beast (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Procreation, A Man’s a Man, and The Chicago Conspiracy Trial (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble). She’s a 2016-2017 recipient of a StageSceneLA Outstanding Direction Award. She is also a proud member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC) and was a participant in the 2016 Directors Lab West. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and "half" of a Master of Fine Arts in Directing... it's a long story. She digs meditation, mantras, zen, dharma, karma and chakras.
A past recipient of a James Michener Fellowship, in 2007 Stephen Blackburn helped co-found Fierce Backbone Theatre Co. In May, 2023, Northwestern University Press reissued Each One Teach One—Up and Out of Poverty: Memoirs of a Street Activist by the late homeless activist Ron Casanova as told to Stephen Blackburn. Blackburn's one-man play, Frederick Douglass—Unexpected received a stage reading in 2019, presented by the Robey Theatre in Association with the Latino Theatre Company. It was directed by Robey co-founder and Artistic Director Ben Guillory and starred Julius Tennon. In 2012, Fierce Backbone presented an Equity production of The Rock of Abandon, a noir murder mystery set in ancient Athens at the Lillian Theatre in Hollywood. It was directed by Tiger Reel, and starred Jim Hanna as the playwright (and detective) Euripides. Backstage hailed it as “a Grecian extravaganza…always engrossing and entertaining."
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​Photo credit: Benjamin Ezekiel Norte
Consuelo G. Flores
A multidisciplinary artist, Consuelo G. Flores is recognized as a leading Los Angeles Culture Bearer and programming professional in the cultural, literary, media, and visual arts sectors. Renowned for her Day of the Dead work, her installations/ altars have been exhibited in museums, galleries, cultural centers, and businesses throughout Southern California. She’s curated multiple art exhibits, produced literary altars, created cultural tours for the Los Angeles Metro Transit Authority, designed paper fashions, and presented academic lectures on the traditional and contemporary history of the celebration. She’s written and directed multiple one-act plays which were produced for several festivals in Los Angeles.
She held executive positions in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Departments at the WGA, West, the American Federation of Television and SAG-AFTRA. Consuelo has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Whatever the medium, she’s passionate about art and storytelling.
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Renée DeBevoise
Renée DeBevoise has acted in over 30 plays in L.A. and is a member of Fierce Backbone. She is
a Stella Adler Conservatory and UCB Improv graduate. Renée is also a writer of dark fiction.
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Liridona Leti
Liridona Leti has been acting since she was in middle school, unfortunately she took a 5 year hiatus and now she's back!
A recent tv, film & theater graduate, Brittney is well versed behind the camera as well as in front. Her acting education includes
UCLA's musical theater program, Michael Chekhov's technique, and Fitzmaurice vocal training. Brittney is an award-winning stage actress and hopes to conquer the silver screen.
Alana J. Webster
Alana J. Webster is an actress, podcaster, and writer from Los Angeles, CA. She attended High School at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, and received a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from Ithaca College. After graduating, she moved back to Los Angeles, and found her performance path doing On Screen Acting and Voice Over Acting for Commercial and Radio spots, Television Shows and Movies. She has worked on shows such as: Superstore, The Chi, Orange Is The New Black, All American, The Last OG, Mindhunter, Greenleaf, Dear White People, Legends of Tomorrow, Homecoming, The Flash, Good Trouble, The Middle, Mrs. America, Bull, MacGyver, 13 Reasons Why, One Night In Miami, The Banker, and Fe@rless. She is also the a creator/lead actress/ head writer of the dangerously sexy web series, The Madams.
Alana is a voracious vintage shopper, a proud pescatarian of 20+ years, a marathon runner, a competitive dodgeball player, and isn’t afraid to shake what her Mama gave her when the beat drops.
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Lyn Good
Lyn Good (they/them) is an actor for theatre, as well as a writer for altogether too many things. They are trained in improv, Shakespeare, and musical theatre, as well as several different schools of acting. In joining Fierce Backbone, they hope to take the plunge and make waves in the Los Angeles theatre scene!
De Ann Marie Odom
An actor, voice actor, and writer in Los Angeles, De Ann’s love of acting was born from her transient childhood, having moved 9 times through 8 states during the first 18 years of her life. She has a deep passion for performance in film, television, voiceover, and theatre. Be they for stage or screen, she also revels in table reads and staged readings penned by her talented writer friends. Happiness includes weekly motion picture matinees (at actual movie theatres, hey!), all things vintage, creating short films, Gus Van Sant silent takes (she got to perform them while working on his film Restless), Ethel Mermanating, I Love Lucy, Elvis, prairie tales, falling off stages while doing stand-up comedy (um, and other occasions), and once performing as a tap dancing, roasted chicken for Intel. You can find out more about her at www.deannmarieodom.com & @deannmodom. Fun Fact: In a fitting foreshadowing, De Ann Marie was named for Marlo Thomas’ character, Ann Marie, in the TV show That Girl.
Tasmin Jahan
Tasmin Jahan is a British Asian playwright. She is a prolific writer of full length and short plays. In 2022, she wrote 365 short plays (one for each day of the year!). She has had many readings/performances of her work at home and overseas, mainly in the USA. FIERCE BACKBONE has been instrumental in helping develop her material especially for the THINK & IMAGINE October Festival 2023. She also writes an online British soap opera called 'Crossing The Line'. This is exclusive to the Actors & Writers London (AWLextra) online events. Her next writing challenge is 100 infinitesimal plays.
Leah Bass
Leah has had lead roles in Ain’t Misbehavin’; Little Shop of Horrors; Carmen Jones; A My Name is Alice; For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Suicide…; Old Broads Can’t Dunk;
Champ & His Four Women. Other credits include Broadway, national and international tours as a dancer/singer/ and actress in The Tap Dance Kid; Guys and Dolls; Arms Too Short To Box With God; Black Nativity; Chicago; The Wiz.
Steven Robert Wollenberg
Stage: “Requiem For A Heavyweight”, 50th Anniversary production, Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit, 451”, Wendy Graff’s “Behind The Gates”….Off Broadway, N.Y “The Doppelgänger”, others….Film: “Pete’s Garden”,Sundance Fest & Sundance Nerwork..”The Pet”, Cannes Film Festival ….others….TV: Voice of Brooke Shields’ clock radio, “Suddenly Susan”, 3 seasons, “ER“, King Of Queens”, Guest Star….George Lopez Show, Guest Star….Others..
Jo Dellapina
Jo is an LA-based actor. Theatre career highlights include roles in Rumours, Macbeth, Italian-American Reconciliation and The Christmas Spirit. She studied acting at UCLA, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and with Ann Noble, under whose instruction she wrote and produced her own solo show, Boy Crazy Psycho Slut.
Rebecca O'Brien
Rebecca is The Official WINNER of BEST SOLO SHOW in The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2023! Getting There! her original solo show was also Nominated for Top of Fringe! You can see Rebecca in Getting There! Mon. Oct 23 at 7pm! @ Hudson Theatre’s MainStage in the HIT Fest! Hollywood Independent Theatre Festival! As well, Rebecca is a WINNER of The NATALIE SCHAFER AWARD w/ the Los Angeles' Drama Critic Circle! & As an actress, Rebecca has also been on NBC, ABC & CBS!
Nancy Van Iderstine
Nancy Van Iderstine can be seen in Holiday Breakup on Amazon Prime and in her award-winning role of Helen in Velvet Crush on various streaming platforms. A slate of new films she appears in will be out later in 2023. Nancy has won acclaim in Los Angeles for her many live performances – including an ADA-nominated turn at the Group Repertory Theatre, and prior to that at the former HBO Workspace for her one-woman show, “7 Years I Could Have Spent In Vermont.” As a voice artist, Nancy mostly works in animation, ADR, narration, and audiobooks. She is also a playwright, author, and copy editor.
Caroline Westheimer
Last seen in David Datz's Basement Folly (Carol Becker, director). Notable performances: Champ & His Four Women; All My Sons, Broadway Bound (Theatre Palisades best supporting actor), Banned Plays (Michael Donovan, director), Our Late Night and In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe (both LA Times Top Ten). Some film/TV: Madison Heights (PBS), Crazy Love (Lifetime), Blood Relatives (Prime), 86 Melrose Place (Prime).
Representation: Jana Luker Agency.
Liza Rash
Liza is a recent graduate of Western Kentucky University and a fresh L.A. transplant. When not working various odd jobs or at Monday night Fierce zoom meetings, you can catch her in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and A Perfect Ganesh at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum.
Erica Parrish
Erica is an LA-based actor and director. Some of her roles include Singing in the Rain (Lina
Lamont); Hour of Decision (Daisy Bates); How To Succeed in Business…(Hedy LaRue); and Reconsider Me in Hollywood Fringe. Erica has directed a number of shows and was co-director of a Playback Theatre Company focused on bringing storytelling to marginalized communities
across Arizona.
Oh Rhyne
Oh found his theatrical muse as the Third Player in a Hamlet long ago in San Francisco at Stagegroup Theatre, and later when the stars aligned returned to Hamlet as Polonius with Gorilla Rep in New York to critical mention. Also performed in other classical works and a slew of new works Off-Off-Broadway, and numerous independent films of modest renown.
Frank Dooley
(Playwright, Actor, Director): Frank workshopped three full-length plays:
Male Bravado; Our Rising Voices: The Oklahoma Bombing; The Elusive Mr. Blank; and his
short play, Angry Sea, at Fierce Backbone. He acted in over 40 theater productions, produced 11 short films, and performed in a comedy improv group. His son and daughter live too far away, but he has time to visit. He enjoys following the creators of contradictions and absurdity:
Euripides, Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Albee, Rabe, and Fellini.
Paul Elliott
Paul is an accomplished director, producer and published playwright with over 30-years experience in writing for the stage, television and film including projects for Disney, Universal and Landmark Entertainment. His award-winning plays include Ledge, Ledger & the Legend, Exit Laughing, Finding the Burnett Heart, Gentle Passage, Making Sweet Tea and other Secrets, Cries in the Night and Keep on Laughing.
Holger Moncada
Garrett Hughes
Skylar Silverlake
Maybe You
LYING BENEATH THE SURFACE, IMAGE AND
LIKENESS, THE NORMA CONQUESTS, PICKLE JUICE and PINOCCHIO IN THE BRONX.
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12 of his 27 short plays have been produced,including THREE SYLLABLES OF SHAME. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.
A playwright and television producer. She is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, The Producers Guild of America and a proud member of Fierce Backbone and Neo Ensemble Theatre.
A seasoned theater reviewer for nearly a decade via his blog Night Tinted Glasses. Graduate of the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York, he studied acting to become a better playwright.
Specializing in the use of genre as a way to tell serious stories about haunted houses, vampires, superheroes, and (soon) mermaids. In 2019 David directed, Shakespeare Richard III and original work, Masoch and DeSade by Omen Caine.