Ellen Maddow is a founding member of the Talking Band and has written, composed, and performed in most of its works.  Her plays include Burnished by Grief; The Golden Toad (with Paul Zimet); The Peripherals (studio album available on iTunes); Panic! Euphoria! Blackout; Flip Side; Delicious Rivers; Painted Snake In A Painted Chair (OBIE Award); and five pieces about the avant-garde housewife, Betty Suffer. McKnight Playwriting Fellowship, Frederick Loewe Award in Musical Theatre, a NYFA Playwriting Fellowship, NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights, New York Theatre.com People of the Year Award, member of the Open Theater, alumnus of New Dramatists.  

Louise Smith is Associate Professor of Performance at Antioch College. Before coming to Antioch, she was an actor in NYC for 16 years.  She has worked with many downtown artists, including; Ping Chong, Meredith Monk, Ann Bogart, Julie Taymor, Otrabanda Company and Talking Band. She received an OBIE, a BESSIE, a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship, NEA Collaborative Artist Fellowship and two Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Excellence Awards. This spring she is directing Marcellus Shale by Paul Zimet in St. Albans, West Virginia. In addition to her work as a teacher, director, solo performer, and playwright, Smith is a practicing psychotherapist.