Christine Howey is the former director of Lit Cleveland and has been a professional writer (often of humor) for more than 50 years. Anne Elder has won two prime-time Emmy Awards for co-writing Lily Tomlin's CBS specials and was nominated for co-writing three others (two for Lily Tomlin, one for Carol Burnett).
Christine Howey has been creating smiles ever since she wrote a humor column for her high school paper. She has earned numerous awards for writing humorous radio and TV spots as well as ad campaigns for clients such as McDonald's, Wendy's, and SeaWorld. For the past 25 years she has been a theater critic, often using humor to express her opinions— positive or negative. Christine has been the theater critic for The Plain Dealer and Cleveland Free Times and is currently the critic for Cleveland Scene. She has been recognized as the Best Critic in Ohio by both the Press Club of Cleveland and the Society of Professional Journalists. Christine is also a published poet and former Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights, often performing her humorous poetry at readings throughout the area. Along the way, she has been commissioned to write two pilots for network sitcoms and was the comedy writer for a popular radio team in Cleveland. Christine is proud to be a former executive director of Lit Cleveland.
Ann Elder has won two prime-time Emmy Awards for co-writing Lily Tomlin's CBS specials and was nominated for co-writing three others (two for Lily Tomlin, one for Carol Burnett). She co-wrote Mitzi Gaynor's NBC specials and wrote for the Vicki Lawrence comedy series Mama's Family. She became a regular cast member of NBC's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, remaining with the hit comedy hour for two seasons. Also, she contributed to an album on the Hidden Records label titled The Watergate Comedy Hour and HBO hired her as the producer of their first independent production, a satirical election special called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House, hosted by Steve Allen.
