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MARCIA CEBULSKA
Playwright, Screenwriter, Author
Marcia Cebulska has received the Dorothy Silver Award, the Jane Chambers International Award, Kansas Arts Commission Master Artist Fellowships, and other honors for her playwriting and screenwriting. Her dramatic work has been performed at thousands of venues worldwide and aired on PBS. Her produced Kansas-themed plays include Now Let Me Fly, Visions of Right, Touched, Rooted, and the filmscript for Through Martha’s Eyes. Her guided journal, Skywriting (Flint Hills Publishing), was released in 2019. Her novel, Watching Men Dance (Flint Hills Publishing), was launched in September 2020, her first full-length work of fiction. She is a Fellow of the Center for Kansas Studies and lives in Topeka with her husband, historian Tom Prasch.
Now Let Me Fly ...the everyday heroes of Brown v. Board come alive.
The Brown v. Board of Education case jump-started the civil rights movement by overturning the “separate but equal” law of the land. Years before the landmark Supreme Court case, brave citizens held grassroots meetings across the nation in homes, schools, church basements, and barbershops. In honor of their courage, Now Let Me Fly brings to life the unsung heroes and heroines who set the stage for legal action. Marcia Cebulska’s inspiring, educational, and entertaining play is based on oral histories and personal interviews with the real people involved in the struggle leading to Brown v. Board.
“Now Let Me Fly is a theatrical triumph echoing the authentic voices of the individuals whose courage led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. Marcia Cebulska delivers an unforgettable experience.”
-- Cheryl Brown Henderson, daughter of case namesake, Oliver Brown, and founder of the Brown Foundation
“Directing Now Let Me Fly, was a unique and special honor. The play brought together a powerful array of actors: Roger Aaron Brown, James McDaniel, and the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., Yolanda King. Cebulska’s play brings a period of our history alive that today many take for granted. It is a powerful and lasting reminder of how far we have come and the distance still yet to go.”
-- Kevin Willmott, Academy Award–winning screenwriter
What Reviewers are saying about Lovers, Dreamers, & Thieves...
“With a novelist’s eye for detail and a poet’s gift for language, Cebulska has written a visceral knockout of a memoir packed with vibrant, unforgettable family members and unexpected happenings. Cebulska is a brilliant, big-hearted, and luminous storyteller who can capture a world in a short vignette. I was entirely captivated by these intimate and moving family portraits that have shaped the author's life and work.”
-- Harriet Lerner, author of The Dance of Anger and Why Won’t You Apologize?
“Marcia Cebulska’s account of life in Chicago’s Polish community is both moving and important. Polish Americans in Chicago are often referenced but have not often told their own story. Lovers, Dreamers, and Thieves captures both the joys and the sorrow of the immigrant/ethnic experience in the Windy City. It is a must read for anyone interested in Chicago and its diverse people.”
-- Dominic A. Pacyga, Author of, American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Polish Chicago
"This memoir is at once funny and poignant, wide-ranging and laser-focused, personal and universal. Cebulska weaves memories, family stories, and local history with deftness and reverence, creating a memoir that is both fun to read and profound."
-- Charles Anthony Silvestri, poet, lyricist, author of, A Silver Thread
“Marcia Cebulska, in Lovers, Dreamers, & Thieves, transforms the stories of her life into fabulous folk tales full of fantastic and fantastical lore focusing on everything from the holy (a youthful interest in becoming a nun), to the earthly and earthy (her great-grandmother was a blacksmith), to the wholly bizarre (her grandfather produced fake weddings) and shocking (her uncle’s connection to the mob and father’s arrest). This collection elevates the commonplace book far above and beyond the common, up past the luminiferous ether, settling in the realm of legends that couldn’t possibly be true, right? Oh but they are. Now listen…”
-- Andrew Farkas, Author of, The Great Indoorsman: Essays,The Big Red Herring, and Sunsphere
Watching Men Dance
She is a wanderer; he will not fly. She is a city girl; he prefers a bison ranch. She grew up in her father’s Greek restaurant; he dances at powwows. Ava and Jesse travel life together in a turquoise pickup truck, feasting along the way. They settle, raise children, cheat, gamble, and fight with great gusto. When Ava leaves to travel around Greece like a female Odysseus, their bond is tested.
This novel is a feast for the senses, a celebration of cultural diversity, and a compelling read, at once both humorous and moving. Ava, the captivating main character, embodies an engaging zest for life as she struggles between her pull to adventure and her need for home and family. Jesse, the Native dancer she falls in love with, challenges her beliefs and commitments. Watching Men Dance is the story of a marriage: simple and complex, lonely and overcrowded, exasperating and fulfilling.
WATCHING MEN DANCE was featured in the Indie Publishing Tent at the
2023 TUCSON FESTIVAL OF BOOKS!
Skywriting - a journaling guide to help you soar!
Marcia’s work with Flint Hills Publishing results in part from her 25-year-long personal journal practice. Her upcoming book, Skywriting, includes exercises from her own creative and memoir writing experience, her teaching of dramatic and creative writing classes, and leading Writing to Heal groups. Marcia believes that writing can give us courage, a sense of authenticity, and make us look up.
PRAISE for SKYWRITING:
"Cover up your screens! Tell your phone to take a hike! Get ready to journal your way to more joy, creativity, and healing than you can begin to imagine."
-- Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of "The Dance of Anger" and "Why Won't You Apologize?"
"Marcia Cebulska's Skywriting journal is the perfect jumping-off point for anyone interested in fun and insightful guided self-discovery. Where the typical prompt-journal author is an invisible, omniscient narrator leaving the reader/writer to complete this journey alone, she relates fascinating and deeply personal stories, which gives us permission to be authentic and honest in our own writing. With thought-provoking, challenging, and playful prompts and questions, she compels us to dig deep and hold nothing back, because she holds nothing back. A satisfying and inspirational journal I enthusiastically recommend to writers and non-writers alike."
-- LS Hawker, USA Today Bestselling Author of, The Drowning Game