Seasonal Shorts

KELSEY CELEKPlaywright – Greeting Card Holiday Movie

KELSEY is a director, playwright, and teaching artist who specializes in Theatre for Young Audiences. Favorite directing credits include Tarzan (an ASL-integrated production), Seussical Jr., and Stellaluna. In 2018, Kelsey was named Outstanding Fine Arts Teacher of the Year by Arts Quincy, the country’s oldest fine arts council. She is currently on staff for Destination Imagination and Town Hall Theatre. Her TEDx talk, “Accessibility Through the Arts”, is currently available on YouTube. Kelseycelek.com.

MARLEY MASTERSONPlaywright – Waiting for The Snow

Marley has been involved in the performing arts since childhood, from actor/dancer to director/stage manager to playwright and film producer. Today, she is focused primarily on writing, after the success of Not Another Thanksgiving Play, which premiered at Dayton TheatreLab in 2024. The play has since been adapted into a local indie film, Operation Roll Play, which premiered at The Neon in November of this year. In addition to Seasonal Shorts, Marley also wrote the short play Ridiculous for the Human Race’s 2024 Playwrights’ Race. She is also on a writing/production team for an up-and-coming local short film collective, Campfire Films. Marley hopes to continue writing for The Human Race, to take her feature film to festivals, and to someday produce her other full-length play, Pinky Swear. Marley hopes you enjoy Waiting for the Snow, which she dedicates to her father, Jim, in loving memory.

ALEAH VASSELLPlaywright – Three Turkeys

Aleah (they/she) is a Canadian born, Jamaican rooted, American based, multi-faceted artist. They received their BFA in Musical Theatre from Samford University and their MFA in Acting from University of Tennessee, Knoxville. When Aleah’s not acting or singing on stage, she’s writing music and plays centering black, queer hope, growth, and joy told through the lens of laughter, love, and truth. Their plays and composition works have been featured at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Tennessee Stage Company, The Know Theatre, Two Strikes Theatre Collective, and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. www.aleahvassell.com

TORIE WIGGINSPlaywright – Black Elephant

Torie holds a BFA in Dramatic Performance from the University of Cincinnati (CCM). She has co-adapted and performed a one woman show, Your Negro Tour Guide, at various venues across the country. She has performed with and directed at many local theatres, appearing on the stages at Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, Human Race Theatre Co., Cincinnati Shakespeare Co., and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. She has also worked with WAM Theatre in The Berkshires and The Resident Acting Co. in New York City. An accomplished playwright, her play Who All Over There was recently commissioned and produced at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, followed by the world premiere of her play The Last Will and Testament of Madison Giles. Her play Seen, was selected as a finalist for the AGE Legacy Playwriting Grant in 2023.

ROBB WILLOUGHBYPlaywright – Three Wise Guys

Robb is a playwright and resident of Yellow Springs. His plays, both full length and one acts, have had professional readings and productions across the country. In 2025, his full length, comedy, The wOrKs was presented by YSTC. Robb’s One-Acts: The Fence, The Bridge, CHOO CHOO, Say It!, Cowboy Chuck, and Sunday School Hangover, played in festivals around the country. His play Can’t Stop the WROK! (a finalist for the 2024 Lanford Wilson New American Play) is currently playing at Northmont High School, in Ohio, and SEMU in Missouri. Robb performed with Gina Handy Minyard in What the Constitution Means to Me with the Magnolia Theatre. Robb is super stoked to have his first professional production with The Human Race Theatre Company.

CHRIS LEYVAPlaywright – Cookies for Santa

Chris is an autistic writer who crafts hopeful comedies about scrappy weirdos trying to pull their lives together while the world’s setting itself on fire. Raised by Jesus Christ Superstar and Walt Disney, Chris grew up in a Mexican/Puerto Rican household in Albuquerque, NM, before unexpectedly finding home in Columbus, Ohio. An eternal theatre kid, he holds a degree in Theatre Directing from Coe College and an M.F.A. from the Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa. A recent fellow with the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Series Scriptwriters Program, Chris has also received multiple Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards. His plays have been commissioned or developed by The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio, CLIMB Theatre, MadLab Theatre, Alliance Theatre, and others. Outside of writing, he treasures causing chaos as the Game Master for his family’s tabletop adventures and believes courageous hope can change the world.