Gerry Mandel is a freelance writer and documentary producer, focusing his writing on short stories, commentaries and plays. He recently completed his first novel, “Shadow and Substance: My Time with Charlie Chaplin.” He hosted a monthly cable television show for three years, for which he wrote a series of humorous commentaries. As a writer, producer and Creative Director for national ad agencies for many years, he received national and international awards.

Richard A. La Violette has had a career in real estate in one form or another for nearly thirty years, currently serving as a commercial real estate appraiser at a local St. Louis bank.

 His writing is as far from his day-job as the east is from the west.

 The Maid at Beaurevoir  is Richard’s first play was a finalist in First Run Theatre’s 2008-2009 season.  It chronicles Joan of Arc’s captivity as the prisoner of Messire Jean de Luxembourg.

Death by Fiat is a murder mystery circa 1946 in two acts is his second play, and was chosen for First Run Theatre’s 2008-2009 season.  The protagonist, Chief Inspector Ruthven, is called in to investigate a murder -- an extra-judicial murder that he committed.

 The Last Lion, a one-act play inspired by current headlines, weaves intrigue and moral outrage as an African bishop and a white ex-patriate conspire to overthrow a murderous tyrant.

 The Maid at Rouen, a sequel to The Maid at Beaurevoir, is currently a work-in-progress. 

 Richard also has three unpublished novels, Bright Adversary, Antediluvian, and A World Bereft

 Richard is married to Amalia and has two children, Justine and Adam.  He lives in the St. Louis area.

He moved to Los Angeles and began teaching acting at the VanMar Academy and later at Take One Studios.

He began writing while in Los Angeles, creating pilots for three sit-coms, “To Be or Not To Be,” “TR and D.O.L.L.,” and “To Your Health” which was briefly considered for development by CBS.

Screenplays include: “The Little Thing,” “A Different Kind of Egghead,” “The Elementalist,” and “Prey.”

Returning to St Louis, he partnered with composer, Donna Perrino, at Perrino Productions and wrote a series of promotional musicals for Northwest Plaza as well as a musical about Paul Revere titled Patriot and – for First Night – the musical When Cows Kneel and Pray.

After a ten year hiatus, he returned to writing and entered his play Capacity in competition with First Run Theatre. The play was produced  June 2004 at Desmet High School. Capacity also became a semi-finalist for Reverie Production’s Next Generation Play Writing Contest in New York.

In 2004, his play Late Afternoon was awarded a production by First Run Theatre, but technical difficulties delayed production and the play was withdrawn.

Other current plays are: Pop On Over, Ofc. Inc., 7-10 Split and the one-acts: Loop (a 2006 finalist for First Run Theatre), Hyphenate and Tom, Dick and Hairy.

Currently, he is working on his next play Binky and collaborating with Donna Perrino on their next musical The Deim’n.jza (an Honorable Mention entry in the Drama category of the Writer’s Digest Playwriting Contest for 2005) and the jazz opera, Affiatati.

As an actor, he has performed in over 75 productions, including: Master Sparkish in “The Country Wife,” Van Helsing in “Dracula,” Conjur Man in “Dark of the Moon,” John Adams in “1776,” Linus in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and Cyrano in “Cyrano De Bergerac.”

As a designer, he has designed sets for 25 productions, including: “Butterflies are Free,” “Waiting for Godot,” “The Effects of Radiation on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “Equus,” “Mary, Mary,”  “The Seahorse,” and “American Buffalo.”

He has painted sets for 15 productions, including: “The Apple Tree,” “Twelfth Night,” “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail,” and “Man of La Mancha.”

He has built props for 7 productions, including: “Antigone,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Godspell,” and “Amahl and the Night Visitors.”

He has done graphics for many productions, including: “Equus,” “The Seahorse,” “Cavalleria Rusticana,” and “The Mousetrap.”

As a writer, he has seen productions of his plays: Manroot, A Circle of Friends, Catharsis, Impotents, Potluck, Late Afternoon and his musical Ye Gods!