Who We Are

Susan Charlotte (Playwright)
Susan Charlotte’s multi-faceted career began with Prism Blues. Based on her work as a prison counselor, the play earned her a place in Columbia’s MFA program and won the prestigious Joseph Kesselring Award. Her 60 full-length and one-act plays have been produced throughout the country, including The Shoemaker (starring Danny Aiello, directed by Antony Marsellis); She’s Of A Certain Age; When Truth Is Not Enough; and The Round Table with legendary writer Peter Stone. Her play Love Divided By, originally produced by the Actors Studio, was adapted into a film with an original score by Philip Glass and reopened MoMA’s Titus II Theatre.
 

She has collaborated with Emmy Award–winning composer Billy Goldenberg. Television credits include PBS (Did You Know My Husband with Louise Lasser & Carole Shelley), CBS (Comedy Zone), Guiding Light, and projects for Lifetime. Films include Something Like That, A Broken Sole, Come On (Hamptons Film Festival), and Out of Your Hands. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and Playbill, and she is the author of Creativity and Creativity in Film. She has taught at Columbia University and NYU and served as a judge for the Albee Festival.
 

She is the Founding Artistic Director of Food For Thought Productions and Cause Célèbre Productions, and extends special thanks to Martin Garbus, director Antony Marsellis, and the extraordinary cast of The People Versus Lenny Bruce.

 

John Donnelly, Esq.
John Donnelly is an attorney with decades of experience in corporate, nonprofit, and commercial law. Former General Counsel of the Carey Energy Group, he now advises clients in private practice and serves as director, secretary, and counsel to: Cause Célèbre Productions, The Mabel Mercer Foundation,  The Coffee House,  The Dutch Treat Club.

 

Nancy Jackman
Nancy Jackman was a business executive for over three decades. Her love of theatre and her commitment to a number of causes, including MS and mental health, made her a perfect fit for Cause Célèbre Productions, where she became a producer on many of our shows.

 

Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser is a celebrated comedic and dramatic actress whose work spans stage, film, and television. She began in New York theater before appearing in Woody Allen's Bananas, Take the Money and Run, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, and Stardust Memories. Her breakthrough came as the title character in the landmark series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which earned her an Emmy nomination and cemented her as a cultural icon. 
 

Her stage and screen credits include Wallace Shawn's Marie and Bruce, A Couple of White Chicks Sitting Around Talking, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and films such as Happiness, Requiem for a Dream, and Fast Food, Fast Women.

Since 2004, she has also been a vital part of Cause Célèbre Productions and of Food For Thought Productions, appearing in The Hairdresser and Did You Know My Husband?, both directed by Antony Marsellis.

 

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Antony Marsellis (Director)
Antony Marsellis is a film, theatre, and television director with a career spanning more than 50 plays. He has directed works by many of the major playwrights, including Amiri Baraka (Dutchman), Harold Pinter (Ashes to Ashes, Night School), Samuel Beckett (Happy Days, Krapp’s Last Tape), Arthur Miller (A Memory of Two Mondays, The Last Yankee), Athol Fugard (Statements After an Arrest…), Eugene Ionesco (The Bald Soprano), Luigi Pirandello (The Man with the Flower in His Mouth), Thornton Wilder (Bernice, The Wreck on the 5:25), Tennessee Williams (In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, Something Unspoken), and A.R. Gurney (Love Letters, with Joe Sirola and Tammy Grimes).

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He has directed stage adaptations of his films Men of Manhattan and A Broken Sole, and brought to the stage the PBS film Did You Know My Husband? written by Susan Charlotte and starring Louise Lasser and Carole Shelley. He has worked with numerous acclaimed actors including Peter Bogdanovich, Len Cariou, Tyne Daly, Christine Ebersole, Richard Easton, Judd Hirsch, Judith Light, Tony Roberts, Frances Sternhagen, Elaine Stritch, Marlo Thomas, and Kathleen Turner.

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He is currently collaborating on a new version of The Twilight Zone and directing a new PBS series written by Susan Charlotte. He feels privileged to have worked with the extraordinary cast of The People Versus Lenny Bruce.

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• Andrew Brozman, Esq., Clifford Chance, Retired

• Martin Garbus, Esq.  Leading First Amendment attorney, Offit Kurman

• Mary Goetter,  International Education Services, LLC

• Tom Goetter,  TAG Partners, LLC

• Irene Goldstoff,  The Goldstoff Group,  Retired 

• Susan Herman, Esq.  ACLU President Emeritus,   Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

• Ken Johnson

• Wallis Johnson,  Educator and Department Chair, Connecticut Department of Higher Education,  Retired

• Antony Marsellis, Theater and Film Director,  Resident Director of Cause Célèbre Productions

• Sherri Michelstein,  M Booth Health, Retired

• Michael Osgood, Former Deputy Chief, NYPD Special Victims Unit, Consultant for Law and Order: SVU

In memory of April Wells who believed in never giving up
 

Cause Célèbre Productions wishes to thank the following individuals for their generous support: