Marconi, Gerard: - A native of Baltimore, Gerard Marconi earned a master's degree in Humanities from Johns Hopkins University and in Theatre from Catholic University. He taught these subjects and held related administrative positions at the college level for many years. As Coordinator of Cultural Affairs at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he initiated a lecture series that brought to the community college campus such well known speakers as John Barth, Nora Ephron, and Maya Angelou. He led study tours to museums and theaters in Baltimore, Washington, London, and Florence, Italy, and served on the boards of the Theatre Association of Pennsylvania, the Dance Council of Central Pennsylvania, and the Frederick Arts Council in Maryland. He studied fiction writing in classes or seminars with Lee K. Abbott, Roxanne Robinson, Alexander Chee, and Jennifer Haigh. His short stories have appeared in The Chattahoochee Review, Somerset Review, The Write Launch, and Mayday Magazine, among others, and his one-act play entitled "Rapture" was given a public reading by the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.