Cece; Or Every Grief but the Kitchen Sink
Camille Simone Thomas, Writer
Camille Simone Thomas is a 5th generation Detroiter through her father’s side and a first generation Jamaican through her mothers. It’s important for her to name this because her work most often interrogates cultural legacies, familial healing, spirituality + ancestral wisdom, and the general kicking and screaming of how Black femmes get free despite the oppressive forces of colonialism, capitalism, and white supremacy. Her plays have been workshopped and performed at The Connelly Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Sanguine Theatre Company, Blackboard Playwriting series, Lime Arts Theatre company, American Slavery Project, The Obie Award-winning Harlem9 and Detroit Public Theatre Company, Dixon Place, Workshop Theatre, Barter Theatre Company, The National Women's Theatre Festival, The Brick, and more! She was a 2023 Broadway Advocacy Coalition Artivism fellow where her play “What We Deserve” premiered as a staged reading at MCC theatre and has had additional fellowships with The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute’s DEAR fellowship,Theatre Producers of Color, and Reel Sisters film fellowship.She was a 2024 finalist for the Eugene O’neill NPC for her play “At God’s Back”. A 2023 New Harmony Project finalist, 2023 Hedgebrook Writers retreat finalist, 2023 Catskills Creative Residency finalist, a 2023 Van Lier New Voices Fellowship Semi-finalist and a 2022 Art House Inkubator Finalist.
Most recently her play “Mud or when things get messy and how we live with it” had its Off-Broadway premiere at the Connelly Theatre in August 2024 with SheNYC theatre festival.
Currently Camille is a writer in the Under Construction Playwrights Group working on “111 Orchestra Place” a play in her six play “Cotton & Cane” play cycle. If you've read all the way down here she is also an aspiring TV writer and would love to connect! Email her at Camisthomas96@gmail.com.
Ale Fips, Director
Ale Fips is a multifaceted performer hailing from Guadalajara, Mexico, with a rich tapestry of experiences in the entertainment industry. She began her career in regional theatre. From a very young age, she starred in beloved musicals like "El Príncipe Rana" and "Peter Pan," which premiered at El Teatro Galerías in Guadalajara. Her talent transcended stages onto screens beginning with Mexico's rendition of "High School Musical" for Disney Channel and TV Azteca. She went on to star in the Premios TVyNovelas award-winning shows "La Rosa de Guadalupe," and "Como Dice el Dicho," two of the highest rated series in Mexico. She then starred in the supernatural thriller series "Código Paranormal" for LATV/TV Azteca. Ale transitioned to film portraying the fearsome cartel Queenpin Alicia "La Güera," opposite Luis Fernando Peña in El Buchón for Hulu/Cinelatino. She then moved to New York City with memorable performances in Off-Broadway productions like "Seucy and Boto," "Undefined Fraction" for La Mama ETC Theatre, and "Judgment on a Grey Beach," which Ale also produced. In addition to live shows, Ale performed in the Reddot award-winning immersive exposition "Vida y Obra de Frida Kahlo" as the voice of Frida Kahlo, which has toured in London, Spain, Colombia, and Shanghai and been profiled by CNN and the BBC. Ale trained at the Stella Adler Academy in Hollywood. Today in addition to acting, Ale is on the Board of Directors and play selection committee for "A Light in Dark Places," a Los Angeles based Non-Profit which uses theater as a means to reach out to those whose lives have been affected by suicide. Ale has served as a jurist for several film festivals, and in 2024 was invited to co-host the 10th Anniversary of the Northern Virginia International Film & Music Festival.
Meet the Cast
Dan Martin, Clarence
Dan Martin is an actor and stage director who has been active in the industry for many, many years.
Contact: Entertainment Lab
Danielle McPhaul, Clara
Danielle Samar McPhaul (She/They) is an Actor, Writer, and Costume Designer from Sacramento, CA. She received a BFA in Design & Technology for Performance from the University of New Mexico in 2019. In 2020, Danielle enrolled in the Black Arts Institute with The Billie Holiday Theatre in collaboration with the Stella Adler Studio for Acting in New York and in the Winter of 2023 graduated from the Art of Acting Studio in Los Angeles. In the summer of 2023, Danielle performed in the Hollywood Fringe Festival with their self-written solo show, Wild Hand, telling the story of the mixed-race son of a Cherokee Freedwoman and Buffalo Soldier, known by his outlaw alias, “Cherokee Bill.” For her work, Danielle received The Hollywood Fringe Festival Diversity Scholarship and the Hollywood Fringe Festival Encore Producers’ Award with an encore performance at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theater.
I deeply connect to the topic of these plays having family and close friends who struggle with mental health and suicidal ideations. I too have found myself in these dark spaces since I was 11 years old and couldn't find the courage to speak up about what I was feeling until many years later. I was wrapped up in the unnecessary shame and that has attached itself to needing help and support. Any one of the plays presented can be viewed as variations of lived experiences I've endured and that's what makes it so personal to me. Since making my mental health one of my top priorities, I have grown to find the light amongst the darkness. Even the smallest light, the smallest gesture, the simplest conversations can make a world of difference to anyone who feels stuck and lonely in their life.
How do you connect with the themes of the plays?