Mary Damiano has been covering arts and entertainment in South Florida as a feature writer and theatre critic for 18 years and has published more than 2,500 articles.  Mary is managing director as well as a judge for the Carbonell Awards, which recognizes excellence in South Florida regional theatre.  She is the co-founder of MiamiARTzine.com, for which she worked as editor for five years.  Mary has been published in the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, New Times, The Express, South Florida Gay New,  She Magazine, Project Destiny, Miami SunPost, BroadwayWorld.com, FloridaTheatreOnStage.com, and more than a dozen other local and national publications. Her entertainment reports were heard on Issues Over the Rainbow, a South Florida show that was broadcast for three years on two different FM stations.  An award-winning writer, her essay Creature of the Night took first place in the National Writers Association South Florida Chapter’s writing contest in 2000, and her play, Word Count, won first place in the 2007 South Florida Theatre Festival One-Act Play contest. In 2009, her short story, The Day Janis Joplin Died, was a finalist in the 11th annual Writer’s Network of South Florida writing competition.  Mary’s play Jane Fonda’s Breast was featured in the 2004 Lavender Footlights Festival. In 2012, Mary moderated the panel, “The State of Erotica” at the Miami International Book Fair.  Mary is vice president of the South Florida Theatre League and a member of the Oakland Park Art and Culture Council. Mary believes her greatest accomplishment is making a living by being entertained.