[NEohioPAL] Licia Colombi passes

[Thom Haneline]

http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2009/05/licia_colombi_61_ensemble_thea.html#more



 from The Cleveland Plain Dealer 

Licia Colombi, 61, Ensemble Theater's artistic director
 May 05, 2009The last of the three Colombi siblings, leaders in local theater, has died young. 
Licia Colombi, who led Ensemble Theater with her twin, Lucia, died Tuesday at Grande Pointe Healthcare Community in Richmond Heights, where Lucia died four months ago. Licia was diagnosed with breast cancer a few weeks ago and had struggled with other illnesses for several years. She was 61. 

Gus Chan/The Plain DealerLicia Colombi 
1948-2009 
Survivors: Nieces, Corinna Co sentino Quintana of Bloomington, Ind., Celeste Cosentino of Para mus, N.J., and Jessica Colombi of Columbus; and a brother-in-law, Martin Cosentino of Cleveland Heights 
Arrangements: Pending. 
The twins' big brother, Christopher, an actor and director, died in 1991 at age 49 from colon cancer. 

>From 1989 until this March, Licia was development director and associate artistic director of Ensemble. In March, she replaced her late sister as artistic director of the theater, founded by Lucia 30 years ago. Licia directed many plays there and elsewhere over the years, including off-Broadway in New York and at the prestigious Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. 

Peter Ferry, actor and Ensemble trustee, said, "Licia would look at a play and understand better than anybody I've ever worked with how that play should be done. It was maddening. She was always right." 
Colombi was the only development officer in Ensemble's history. She raised funds from many sources, including $10,000 from the foundation of Shaker Heights native Paul Newman. 
Colombi was born in Beachwood to a well-known physician father and civic-minded mother. She was named for opera star Licia Albanese. 
At age 7, the twins debuted at the Cleveland Heights Youth Theater as Tweedledee and Tweedledum in "Alice in Wonderland." 
Colombi graduated from Regina High School and Kent State University, where she played Nana, the dog, in "Peter Pan." 
She spent several years on the East Coast, where she directed premieres for well-regarded playwrights such as Martin Jones. 
Colombi returned to Cleveland in the 1980s and worked as a dramaturge at the Cleveland Playhouse, helping to choose plays and summarize them for programs. 
She directed many shows here, from "The Rose Tattoo" to "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" 
Colleagues said Licia was a somewhat firmer and more intellectual director than her sister, interested in a play's history and social context. 
Offstage, she was somewhat more private. She lived alone in Willoughby on the shoreline of her beloved Lake Erie. She liked to read and write poetry. 
Ensemble spent many years at the Civic in Cleveland Heights. Now it uses two stages at the Cleveland Play House, which may eventually move to PlayhouseSquare. 
Ensemble leaders canceled their spring season because of Lucia's death. But they hope to reopen this fall, partly in tribute to the sisters, and say they may eventually return to Cleveland Heights. 
Said Martin Cosentino, Licia's brother-in-law and the theater's managing director, "We have some very high hopes that Ensemble is moving up." 



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