SPARK STORIES
"Food! Glorious Food!"
November 2023
We hope you enjoy our  true personal life stories. Click on the story titles to see YouTube video recordings thanks to CWC Productions.

Scott Weingart was born and raised in Salem, Ohio (Sevakeen Lake). He taught high school and middle school English, and was an elementary, middle school and high school principal. Scott served as Superintendent of West Branch Local Schools for 12 years until his retirement in 2016. Since his retirement, he has been privileged to be part of the percussion section of the Salem Quaker Community Band. Scott and his wife Shelley have two grown children. Vienna, their first grandchild, was born this past July! As someone who has always liked to write, Scott is very grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the SPARK Storytelling Project at Stage Left. Working with Kandace Cleland and a group of creative colleagues has been an amazing, rewarding experience.

CLICK HERE to see a photo of Grandpa's Bread.

Celeste grew up on a “hobby farm” south of Lisbon, surrounded by nature, animals, and the third of four boisterous siblings with very big personalities. She attributes this upbringing to her love of the arts, and to her success working with inmates in the Eastern Ohio Correction Center in Wintersville. She also started the first in-house counseling program at the Columbiana Country Jail in Lisbon, under Sheriff Koffel. More recently she competed in numerous ultra endurance events, taught yoga, was a cross country coach for United local. For the last eight years she has been the Director of Patient Care at the Sophia Women’s Center in Salem. She has two adult children, one of which is also an avid writer. Despite some shocking health challenges and personal hardships over the last 8 years she stays grounded in faith and sees all of life as a spiritual journey and a precious gift. She loves photography, hiking, reading, kayaking, and spending time with Duma, her very large, amazing Rhodesian Ridgeback who is always by her side, especially on her frequent road trips to waterfalls and state parks all over the tri-state area.

Kandace serves as Ex. Director here at the playhouse and is very excited to see Stage Left grow through SPARK, Young Playwrights, Poets & Storytellers and Leap of Faith Dance Studio. She thanks the Stage Left Board and her playhouse friends for their support as she fully recovers from shoulder replacement surgery "gone awry." She is the proud Mama to 6 super, supportive children and Grammie to 7 sweethearts. She is grateful to Jodine who "takes care of me through thick and thin" and to God "for the gift of each new day."

Gloria was born and grew up in Lisbon. After graduating from The Ohio State University, she began a journalism career that took her to Pittsburgh, New York and London. She returned to Lisbon and the family farm in 2001. She worked or MCTA for 15 years retiring in 2022. She is involved with the Lisbon Alumni Association and the OSU Alumni Club of Columbiana County. She is past chair of board of the Community Action Agency of Columbiana County, on the board of the Lisbon Historical Society, secretary/treasurer of the Algonquin Spinners & Weavers Guild and secretary of the Great Lakes Fiber Show. Her farm chores include caring for three dogs, eight cats, seven cows, two goats, five sheep and several chickens.

Robin and her husband relocated to Lisbon in 2021 and she is finally taking some definitive steps toward retirement! This includes exploring activities that she never had time to pursue during years of self-employment as a child psychologist. Travel, bird watching and nature photography are on the horizon, but so far, SPARK Storytelling is one of her favorite new adventures!

Robin grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Many of her stories are based on memories of her childhood experiences. SPARK Storytelling has given her the opportunity to share her recollections with others.

Elaine Blose has lived in the Gavers area her whole life. She worked for twenty-five years as a cosmetologist, seventeen of those years was spent making people beautiful in Alliance, Ohio. Now she helps look after her aging mom on the family farm where she also cares for a herd of cats and one spoiled house rabbit. She has published short stories in various anthologies in the speculative fiction field. She loves watching low budget sci-fi flicks and K-dramas. She has a love of travel and has been to various parts of the U.S. and Canada, as well as Australia, France, UK, and Denmark.

We hope you will think about joining us as a SPARK Storyteller. We workshop for 5-6 weeks and help each other find, remember and share true stories that have made us think about the world differently. That may sound BIG- but it's really not. We all experience events that leave an impression. We just have to start noticing them- and recalling them. 

SPARK (Storytelling to Promote Acceptance, Respect & Kindness) is a Stage Left community outreach effort to promote the art of oral storytelling in Northeast Ohio and share personal stories that reflect the unique struggles and successes of the community. This project was made possible by a very generous donation from the Ohio Arts Council in 2022 which helped us launch SPARK by funding a coaching staff and resource development. Since that time, Stage Left Players have forged ahead with their Storytelling initiative and have scheduled four events throughout their 2023-2024 season.

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