graduated from Hampshire College, where he enjoyed the theatrical training grounds of the Amherst/Northampton 5 College system.  Steven began his career at New World Theater and the story circles of Brother Blue in Cambridge, MA.  From there he went on to work with the San Francisco Mime Troupe from 1996 to 2000.  Steven also worked with Anna Deveare-Smith and many other well-known political artists at Harvard University, at the Institute on Arts and Civic Dialogue.  Since September 2001 Steven has been a co-founding member of HartBeat Ensemble.  In the Greater Hartford area Steve has taught at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, the Greater Hartford YMCA, and at the Oddfellows Playhouse. In 2004 Steve trained with Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Ma.  In 2005 Steve received the national Comcast Leadership Award.  Most recently Steve directed A MIDNIGHT CRY at the Hartford Children’s Theater.

Photo credits for this website include:

Larry Bilansky

Jean Molodetz

Debra Walsh -- Company Member

became a member of the HartBeat Ensemble in 2008. She has performed and taught with the Ensemble since 2005. She created the role of Ebeneeza in Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol, works with the Finding Words trainings, performed in the CNA project, and made her directorial debut with the Plays In The Parks 2007. She brings over 25 years of professional work as an actor, producer and theatre arts educator. Some of this experience includes: Core Faculty in the Theater Department at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Artist Instructor at the Hartford Conservatory, and the Center for Creative Youth. Locally she has performed with Hartford Stage and Capital Classics Theater. Most recent productions (that she co-produced and performed in) include: Seductive Countess in The Seductive Countess, It’s A Wonderful Life On Air! (Produced in the Golden Age of Radio Style; the Angel) The Learned Ladies, (Belize) The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Ford) and Romeo and Juliet (the Nurse and Lady Montague). She received her education at the University of Connecticut, with a BFA (magna cum laude) in theater, and an MA in Socio-Drama. In addition: she has worked with many local schools and arts agencies to develop and implement theater programs. These include: the Bushnell, Dance Connecticut, The University of Hartford and Trinity College. In 2006, she was a recipient of the SURDNA Arts Teachers fellowship.

Cindy Martinez -- Company Member

a native of Hartford, CT studied Theatre at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts as well as the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University. She co-hosted ‘Women In Charge’ directed by Doug Rogers and worked on several PSAs and voice-over projects for Connecticut Public Television (CPTV.) As a college freshman, she began an internship as a Stage Manager and actor with HartBeat Ensemble’s first Main Stage production Graves. She attended Southern CT State University and in 2006 graduated with a Bachelors in Communication. Since 2003, Cindy has worked on several HartBeat projects including Finding Words, Plays in the Parks 2006 and 2008, educational workshops, and assistant teaching. Cindy took on one of the lead roles in The Pueblo, a bilingual production about the changing politics in Latin America. Cindy became a member of HartBeat Ensemble in 2008.  Currently, Cindy serves as the Program Director of HartBeat Ensembles’ Youth Play Institute. YPI brings urban and suburban youth together for an intensive month-long play creation process.

graduated from Emerson College with a Masters in Theater Education in 2007 and then worked for one year with HartBeat Ensemble as their Community Liaison through Public Allies. She joined HartBeat as an ensemble member in 2008. Eliztaicha has facilitated several workshops related to youth issues, diversity, and education. She is certified in Gender and Development Studies from the University of West Indies and is a recipient of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship.  Her original work, Glimpses was the first documentary theater project at Bowdoin College under both the Theater and Sociology departments. She served as the assistant to the General Manager and Director of Marketing of Emerson Stage from 2006-2007 She has trained with Gerard Stropnicky of The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Augusto Boal, founder of The Theater of the Oppressed, Gail Burton of New Freedwoman Project and The TOPLAB Collective, Robbie McCauley of Emerson College and Davis Robinson of Beau Jest.  Eliztaicha made her professional acting debut in HartBeat’s production of Rich Clown, Poor Clown, Beggar Clown, Thief.

Gregory R. Tate -- Co-Artistic Director

has had an eclectic and adventuresome theatrical career.  It began when he was accepted into the BFA program at the University of Southern California in 1976 where he remained through 1979.  In 1986 he became the master electrician at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco where he was proud to work on the world premiere production of Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day.   In 1988 he joined the The San Francisco Mime Troupe, where he became an ensemble member in 1988.  Greg acted in and or co-wrote the SFMT productions of Back To Normal, Social Work, I Ain’t Yo Uncle, Coast City Confidential, Escape From Cyberia and Killing Time.  Greg also served as lead writer on the Mime Troupe’s first Youth Theater Festival play, Gotta Getta Life. Greg has also had two of his plays; The Patch and Ritual produced at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in 1991. In 1998 Greg worked for the Soweto Youth Drama Society in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa under a grant from the Oxfam Foundation where he taught stage and tour Management at the SYDS while tour managing the play, Let’s Talk About It, which was one of South Africa’s first AIDS education projects. In September of 2001 Greg moved to Hartford, CT to become one of the founding members of HartBeat Ensemble.  From 2006 – 2008 Greg served on the Board of Trustees for the Network of Ensemble Theaters.  In 2007 he was elected Vice-President of that organization.

graduated from University of California Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television in 1997.  In addition to studying acting, Julia studied Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed (TO).  She has subsequently taught and directed TO projects throughout the United States, Nicaragua and Mexico. From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Rosenblatt worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe as an actor, teacher, production manager and stage manager.  During this time she also performed with The New Conservatory Theater, Traveling Lantern Theater Company, Pagliacci's Fools Radio Project and at the John Simms Performing Arts Center.  In September of 2001, Ms. Rosenblatt moved back to her hometown of Hartford, CT to become a Co-founding Artistic Director of HartBeat Ensemble.  While with HartBeat, she has co-written and performed in Graves, News To Me, CNA Is The Soul, Rich Clown, Poor Clown, Beggar Clown. Thief, Ebeneeza – A Hartford Holiday Carol, The Pueblo, and Plays In The Parks 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.  Ms. Rosenblatt received the 2009 New Boston Fund Individual Artist Award..