Chagrin Valley Little Theatre

Hear Who's HereScott Lax

Performance Dates & Tickets

About the Event

'The Year That Trembled' is one of 1998's Milestones in Fiction — Powerful!
The Denver Post

The "Hear Who's Here" series will showcase the journeys and favorite career highlights of Chagrin Falls area professionals.  The talks will be held at 7:00 p.m., the first Wednesday of each month, beginning March, and feature:

• March 2nd: Amy Sancetta, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press (AP) photographer;
• April 6th: Scott Lax, author, columnist and speaker;
• May 4th: Jenny Campbell, nationally-syndicated cartoonist and illustrator.

Scott Lax

Author, columnist and lecturer Scott Lax's presentation is called, "Translating Personal Experience into Art." He will read from and talk about his novels, short stories, essays and nonfiction memoir, and explain how he wove his experiences, observations and imagination into each of these writing genres. And he will respond to speculation about his first novel's relationship to the Village of Chagrin Falls, by revealing previously unknown facts concerning his 1970s-era novel "The Year That Trembled." He will also provide a literary update regarding which of the first novel's characters appear in his latest novel, "Vengeance Follows," which is set in present day.

Scott Lax was born in Cleveland and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He attended Kent State University’s extension branch, then transferred to Hiram College, where he ran track, played drums in the Hiram College Jazz Ensemble, spent a semester at the University of Cambridge in England studying Shakespeare. He graduated with a B.A. in English in 1976. After college, Scott was a professional drummer, playing with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Bo Diddley, among hundreds of well-known and little known outstanding musicians. He was also an industrial salesman for fifteen years. Scott became a professional writer in January of 1992 and never looked back.

Since then, Scott Lax became a novelist, short story writer, nonfiction writer and playwright. He has been a contributing editor and columnist for "Cleveland Magazine"; senior writer for "Northern Ohio Live" magazine; front-page columnist for "The Sun News", book reviewer for "The Cleveland Plain Dealer", and has won numerous nonfiction awards from the Ohio Professional Writers and the Cleveland Press Club.

The Denver Post" called his first novel, THE YEAR THAT TREMBLED, "powerful" and one of 1998’s “milestones in fiction.” The novel was named the 1998 Vermont Book of the Year Runner-Up. In March 2010, Scott won second place in the MUSE Literary Competition for his short story, “Sales Calls.” He has had three short stories published so far in 2010, including “The Crack,” and “Sleeping In,” which are all part of a new collection of stories he is writing. Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc., of New York City, are currently selling his new novel, a literary thriller that takes place in France and in Chestnut Falls, a fictional small Northeast Ohio village near Cleveland.

Scott Lax is a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Nonfiction Scholar, a Sewanee Writers’ Conference Fiction Fellow, and has won numerous other awards for writing and producing, including the 2002 Midwest Filmmaker of the Year for his feature film version of THE YEAR THAT TREMBLED, which is currently out world-wide on DVD, and was called “the most important movie of the year” by the Ithaca Times, and “touching and intelligent” by Ain’t it Cool News.com.

He has taught and lectured at dozens of colleges and schools. Recently, the second annual Scott Lax Prize, a full ride scholarship to the Wild Acres Writers Conference in North Carolina, was awarded for the second consecutive year. Scott and the light of his life, Lydia, live in the Chagrin Valley in Ohio with Lydia’s two children, and they are expecting another child – Scott’s first – in a few months. He now writes a column, "First Time Father at Fifty-Eight," for THE FATHER LIFE MAGAZINE, as well as "The Wine Column" for TFL and is at work on a collection of short stories and a nonfiction book about first-time fatherhood.

Hear Who's Here Series

Look at the people around you.  Look at who is in front of you, in line at the grocery store; next to you, in the movie theatre.  Ever wonder what they do for a living?  Chances are quite a few of them are artistically-gifted and famous beyond the Chagrin Valley. 

Such were the serendipitous discoveries of Gary Gottfried, a Chagrin Falls Village resident. Over the past few years, working and relaxing in town, he met and became acquainted with people who shared his village haunts but, as he learned, had special talents.

The Chagrin Valley Little Theatre (CVLT) is proud to profile these interesting community members.  Gottfried, co-organizer Sandra J. Philipson and a host of CVLT volunteers have launched a three-speaker event, to be held monthly at the River St. Playhouse, 56 River Street; part of and adjacent to the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s main stage in Chagrin Falls Village. 

Sponsored by Geiger’s Ski & Sport Haus and Rick’s Cafe of Chagrin Falls Village, the series is expected to be part of ongoing programming, introducing talented Chagrin Valley residents to the community. 

Referring to the series’ title, Gottfried said, “It’s a great name because it says who is here:  people who are regionally- and nationally-recognized.  Here are quality artists, people we don’t even pay attention to.  There are all these people here right under our noses.”

A speaker meet-and-greet session, following each talk, will include complementary refreshments and items for sale including: Sancetta’s photographs; Lax’s book and movie; and Campbell’s books, greeting card line and illustrations. 

Based on the first series’ success, other events will be organized for later dates, again featuring accomplished area neighbors. 

“We have enough talent in the valley to keep this series going for a long time,” Philipson said.