People of Green Street
GREEN STREET STAFF
JANIS ASTOR DEL VALLE
–
Director
JESSICA CARSO - Associate Director and Director of Development
LEX LEIFHEIT - Assistant Director
CLAUDIA FOERSTEL - Financial Coordinator and Registrar
PATRICIA SOTARELLO - Afterschool and Summer Program Coordinator
RACHEL ROCCOBERTON - Administrative Assistant
COOKIE QUIÑONES- After School Assistant
NAT HOLMES - After School Counselor
ROSE FOUNTAIN - Front Desk Assistant
EDGARDO QUIÑONES - Technical Coordinator
.
GREEN STREET TEACHING ARTISTS
JANICE ALBERT
(Creative Writing)
JEFFERY ALLEN (Floating Theater)
MICHAEL BARKER (Tap)
JOHN BERGERON (Sound Design)
ROSLYN N. CARRIER-BRAULT (Photography)
CHRIS CRETELLA (Private Lessons, Guitar)
DAVID DAVIS (Private lessons, Saxophone)
MARY FARNSWORTH
PRISCILLA GALE
(Private Lessons, Voice)
BRYAN GILES (Break Dancing)
GARY HARGER
(Voice, Stage
Performance)
SHAWN HILL (Web Design)
LANCE “KAMAU” JAMES (Adv. Guitar and Jazz Piano)
SCOTT KESSEL (Music, Visual Art)
GIA KHALSA (Belly Dance, Middle Eastern Dance)
KERRY KINSEY (Movement & Dance)
MARIAH KLANESKI
CAROLYN KIRSCH (Acting)
LEX LEIFHEIT (Playwriting)
JUSTIN LIBERMAN (Screenwriting)
T. PAUL LOWRY
ELIZTAICHA MARRERO (Playmaking)
NATASHA D. MILES (Collage, Multi-Media)
MEREDITH MILLER (Digital Photography)
ANDREW NEMR (Tap Dance)
AMY MARIE NESBITT (Hip-Hop Dance)
DAN NOCERA (Videography)
JOCELYN PLEASANT (Music)
DAVID POLON (Salsa)
GWEN STENGEL POND (Music Alive)
DAN POPE (Creative Writing)
RACHEL ROCCOBERTON (Ballet)
SARI ROSENBLATT (Creative Writing)
FRAN RZEZNIK (Videography)
CARRIE SWIDER (Drawing)
ERIKA VAN NATTA
JILL VAUGHN (Watercolors)
MARIANNE VOGEL, (Private teacher of
violin)
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Raquel Adorno
Mica Anaya
Jennifer Aniskovich
Janis Astor del Valle
David Beveridge
Lydia Brewster
Bitsie Clark
Terry Eastman
Grady Fitzpatrick
John Hennelly
Frank Kuan
Cathy Lechowicz
Peter Patton
Calvin Price
Cookie Quiñones
Rob Rosenthal
Mark Simon
Pamela Tatge
Geen Thazhampallath
Cheever Tyler
JANICE ALBERT (Creative Writing) is a writing
teacher with more than 30 years of experience in the California Community
College system. Her writing has appeared in newspapers and publications of
the National Council of Teachers of English. Her articles on California
writers can be found at the website www.CATEweb.org under Publications. She
is a two-time winner of the Russell Library’s Jack Paton Storytelling
contest in Middletown.
JEFFERY ALLEN
is the Artistic Director of Oddfellows Playhouse, an acclaimed youth theater
in Middletown. Previously, Jeffery was
Director of Education for Cleveland Public Theater, Northeast Ohio's leading
alternative theater. He also spent four seasons with the Great Lakes Theater
Festival in the nationally recognized Education Outreach program. Jeffery is
a member of the Lincoln Center Theater's Directors Lab and Actors' Equity
Association. Previous directing credits at the Playhouse include Merchant
of Venice, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gold in the Bones, Macbeth and
Prometheus Bound.
JANIS ASTOR DEL VALLE, Director, is an award-winning writer,
filmmaker and teaching artist. In addition, she has worked as a youth
development specialist for A.C.T.I.O.N (Activists Coming to Inform Our
Neighborhood) at The Point, a community cultural center in the South Bronx.
At The Point, she developed a variety of arts and media-based initiatives
designed to promote social change, including a full-length play and two
short films that featured A.C.T.I.O.N members. She also spent four years
working for New York University's Center Arts Team (CAT), an educational
theater that specializes in conflict resolution through drama and embraces
the basic tenets of Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed. Del Valle holds
an MFA in film from Columbia University, and a BA in theater from Maymount
Manhattan College. She most recently worked as the grants manager for the
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Grants and Services Division in New York
City.
JOHN BERGERON (Sound Design), has compositions in films, videos
and commercials. He has a BS Degree in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Colorado and has maintained his own recording studio and
recording school for the past fifteen years. He has been the producer on
over 40 released CDs for many artists, and currently teaches Audio
Production and Electronic Music at Middlesex Community College. He maintains
his own studio, DreamCatcher Recording Studio, in north central Connecticut.
ROSLYN N. CARRIER-BRAULT (Photography), is an award winning
fine art photographer whose work uses conventional and digital photography,
video and mixed media. She mastered her craft in San Diego, CA at Grossmont
College, which is affiliated with the Museum of Photographic Arts. Roslyn
was the Chairman for the Shoreline Art Alliance's 20th-Anniversary show for
Connecticut photographers, IMAGES 2001. She has taught beginning
photographic classes for children and adults at the Tracy Art Center in Old
Saybrook, CT.
JESSICA CARSO, Associate Director and Director of Development, has
been working in Arts Administration for the past five years. After growing
up in Portland, Carso moved to New York City and received a BA in Theatre
from Marymount Manhattan College. While living in New York, Carso staged
managed and directed several theatre projects, while also studying and
working in arts administration. After graduating, she returned to
Connecticut to pursue a career in the non-profit arts sector, most recently
as a Grants Writer at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in
Hartford. Carso and her family live in nearby Middlefield.
CHRIS CRETELLA (Private Lessons, Guitar) began studying the guitar
under Ron Bridgsche at the age of thirteen. He began composing his shortly
thereafter. Chris has studied with Mark Kuss in composition and with David
Chevan in improvisation at Southern Connecticut State University. With Dave
Parmelee, Chris founded a chamber/jazz ensemble called Goose Lane. The group
regularly performs Chris' compositions and arrangements. Goose Lane has
recorded and released two CD's on Chris and Dave's own Rehab Music
Foundation imprint and is currently working on a third. Chris can also be
found playing in many other local ensembles from rock bands to jazz bands
and from free improvisation groups to solo classical guitar at weddings.
Chris has completed a set of six studies for guitar and a major new work for
woodwind quintet and is currently working on a piece for guitar and drum
set.
DAVID DAVIS (Private lessons, Saxophone), was born and raised in
Connecticut, is a Hartt School of Music graduate with a degree in Jazz
studies and Music Management. Davis has performed at venues along with Mary
J. Blige, Deborah Cox, LL Cool J, Brian Mcknight, Keith Washington, Sean
Puffy Combs, Kid Capri, Biz Markie, John P. Kee, Karen Clarke, Marion
Meadows, Roy Ayers, Donald Harrison, Dave Valentine, Onaje Allen Gumbs,
Sherry Winston, Chuck Loeb, Cherryl Hayes and Gloria Lynn to name a few.
MARY FARNSWORTH (Swing Dancing) director of Vinnie's Jump & Jive
and the founder of Providence Swings, has earned glowing reviews for her fun
and energetic teaching style. Having trained in California and NYC, Mary has
a strong reputation for working well with complete beginners and experienced
dancers alike in all kinds of swing including East Coast/Jitterbug, Lindy
Hop, Balboa, Charleston, and Blues.
PRISCILLA GALE, voice/piano instructor, is a graduate of the
Julliard School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Priscilla is
a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and currently
teaches voice and opera classes at Wesleyan University. Priscilla has
recorded turn of the century Irish songs with classical guitarist, Andre
Mentschukoff, on Centaur Records, entitled Dream Faces.
GARY HARGER (Voice, Stage Performance), is a
professional stage actor and musician with teaching credits at the Hartt
School, SCSU, and The Ensign-Darling Program. Harger has performed on
Broadway: “Shenandoah" (The Corporal - Original Cast & recording), toured
with “Les Miserables” (1st National) and “West Side Story” (Tony
– International), and performed in concert as such renowned venues as
Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Merkin Hall. He has also staged
concerts and musicals for The Quick Center, Cunard Cruises, the Orange
Players, and his own company, GWH Musical Productions, Inc.
SHAWN HILL (Web Design), has fourteen years of teaching experience
in seven different countries, the most recent being at the Mosholu
Montefiore Community Center (Bronx, NY) where he taught children and adults
classes in Photography, Video Production and Computers. Hill serves on the
board of Oddfellows Playhouse and currently works as a Desktop Support
Specialist for Wesleyan University.
NAT HOLMES, After School Counselor, has been
working with children and adolescents for the past 15 years in New York City
and Connecticut. He has worked in camps, residential and school settings in
NYC. For the past 10 years he has been a case manager/outreach worker for
the Community Health Center's School Based Health Center programs at Woodrow
Wilson Middle School and Macdonough Elementary school. Holmes was the
director of the Homeroom after school and summer programs between 1997 and
2000. He has an undergraduate degree in Peace Studies/International
relations from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT.
LANCE “KAMAU” JAMES (Adv. Guitar and Jazz Piano), is a renowned
music teacher. He teaches guitar, piano, African drums and instructs Jazz
Workshops. He has taught over 2,000 students during his last four years and
continues to work with adults and children at schools, museums, libraries
and community organizations. For audio clips of Lance James’ CD "Friends
and Strangers,"
click here!
SCOTT KESSEL. In addition to musical performances and visual arts
exhibitions, Scott Kessel's professional experiences include developing and
teaching multi-disciplinary arts and academics programs, presenting teacher
in-service workshops and working extensively with special needs
populations. A teacher in public schools, private schools and prisons for
over eight years, Scott holds Connecticut teacher certification in art
(K-12), and has a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from Wesleyan
University. He is a certified Master Teaching Artist and has received the
"Celebration of Excellence" award for his teaching.
GIA KHALSA (pronounced JEE-uh
CALL-suh) has been studying and living a natural lifestyle since 1970. Gia
has has a degree in Art Education and has helped to operate several yoga
centers. She has worked with young children in Connecticut at the Old Lyme
Summer Program and psychiatric patients at Mid-State Behavioral Health.
Studying ballroom and country dancing has enhanced her study and development
of her own style of Middle Eastern belly dance. Gia has studied Feng Shui,
the Chinese art of placement since 1990. Beginning in 1996, she began been
giving Feng Shui lectures and consultations for private and commercial
clients. Gia is a renaissance woman of the new century, embracing all these
aspects of holistic living into her own life and extending her knowledge
into her teaching workshops, classes and lectures in the areas of Belly
Dance, Feng Shui and yoga.
CAROLYN KIRSCH (Acting), has performed in fifteen Broadway
musicals, including How to Succeed in Business, Sweet Charity, and Chicago.
She was in the original company of A Chorus Line, for which she won a
Theatre World Award. Carolyn has worked extensively with the choreographers
and directors Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse, and studied acting with Uta
Hagen of HB Studios. She is currently on the faculty of the Greater Hartford
Academy of the Arts and the Hartford Children’s Theatre, and studies with
Actor/Director/Playwright, Austin Pendleton, also of HB Studios, NYC.
MARIAH E. KLANESKI, visual arts instructor, holds a B.A. in studio
arts and architecture from Wesleyan University. She is currently working as
a researcher at Wesleyan University and is developing a new course entitled
"Science and Art" that will debut in Spring 2005. This course has many
web-based learning modules and experiments that demonstrate scientific
concepts present in painting and the creation and study of art.
LEX LEIFHEIT came to the Green Street Arts Center from Wesleyan
University's Center for the Arts, where she was the Press and Marketing
Coordinator. She served as Interim Assistant Director at Green Street from
November 2005 through February 2006, during which time Green Street saw a
60% enrollment increase in its adult and home school classes. In addition to
her responsibilities as Assistant Director, Leifheit teaches playwriting for
Green Street's after school program, hosts The Art Agenda on 88.1 WESU fm
and serves as Vice President for the North End Artist Cooperative. She
recently completed her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree at Wesleyan
and has previously worked with the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Garde
Arts Center , and the Hygienic Art Gallery in Connecticut as well as several
professional theater companies. In 2003 Leifheit created a program called
Arts for Awareness that generated new performance works about HIV, and was
featured in the CPTV documentary "Breaking the Stigma." She has directed
plays for many Connecticut arts organizations including the O'Neill Local
Playwrights Conference, Secret Theatre and the Spirit of Broadway Theatre,
where her production of "Our Country's Good" was named Best Play of 2003 by
the Norwich Bulletin.
JUSTIN LIBERMAN (Screenwriting) graduated from
Sacred Heart University in 2002 and has lived in Los Angeles for the past
five years where he has directed three award-winning films and several
commercials. At the outset of his career, Liberman worked with acclaimed
film directors Michael Mann on Collateral and Miami Vice and David Mamet on
his upcoming film Red Belt. Liberman is currently in pre-production on the
feature film Three Can Keep A Secret If Two Are Dead. He is a resident of
Middletown’s North End.
T. PAUL LOWRY
(Improv: Short & Long-Form Comedy) has worked in
New York as a stage manager, production manager, designer, director and
company manager for such theaters as Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre
Co. and the O’Neill Theater Center. Currently, he is the Associate Producer
at Long Wharf Theatre, working on additional programming such as Jazz on the
Wharf and Kids on the Wharf, as well as special projects like Olympia
Dukakis’ The Tempest. In addition to his work at Long Wharf Theatre,
T. Paul Lowry re-founded New Haven Theatre Company, creating and producing
such shows as This Just In: You Choose the News, We Make it Up
and America’s Next Great American Superhero…For America.
NATASHA D. MILES (Collage, Multi-Media), studied Technical Print
Methods, the History of Painting and Drafting at the University of
Hartford’s Art School. Last year, she received an Artist Fellowship in
visual art making and design from the Dreyfoos School of Arts for growth of
visual literacy among children. Her work has been shown locally in venues
such as Visual Aide Venue South, Hardy’s Time Studio and Artworks Gallery in
Hartford. Currently, she is a Drawing instructor at the Center for Creative
Youth at Wesleyan and she is also a Visual Arts and Creative Writing
instructor at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.
MEREDITH MILLER (Digital Photography) received
her undergraduate degree in Visual Art from the University of Chicago. In
2003, she received her MFA in photography from Yale School of Art where she
won the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize. Meredith most recently exhibited her
work in a six person show entitled “Six Pack” at the LAB in San Francisco.
She is also in the flat file collection of Artspace in New Haven and
received an artist’s fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on Culture
and Tourism. She has taught photography and art history at the New England
School of Photography, the Creative Arts Workshop, the Paier College of Art,
and Southern Connecticut State University.
ERIKA VAN NATTA
(Figure Drawing / Digital Photography) is an
assistant professor at the University of New Haven and Gateway Community
College. Her video installations have been exhibited at the Aldrich
Contemporary Art Museum, ArtSpace (New Haven) and Real Art Ways. She earned
her MFA from Yale University.
ANDREW NEMR
(Tap Master Class) is a founding member of
Savion Glover’s company Ti Dii, and the artistic director of his own
company, Cats Paying Dues. With Gregory Hines, he co-founded the Tap Legacy
Foundation. He has performed nationally and internationally as a soloist and
currently teaches at New York’s Broadway Dance Center.
AMY MARIE NESBITT (Hip-Hop Dance) is a
Connecticut Dance Alliance master teacher. She has taught hip-hop for the
Hartt School, the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Farmington Valley
Arts Center and the Hartford Conservatory. In addition to teaching, Amy
performs regularly with the Spectrum in Motion Dance Theatre Ensemble,
artists-in-residence at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford.
DAN NOCERA (Videography), has worked and taught in all areas of
media production for the past sixteen years. He has a BA in Television
Production from Ithaca College and a MALS with a concentration in Film from
Wesleyan’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program. Currently Nocera is the
coordinator of the Corporate Media Center at Middlesex Community College
where he produces, directs and edits award-winning films (corporate,
documentary, fiction). A recent television ad he produced won three national
awards including a Telly, a Communicator and a Gold Medallion.
DAVID POLON (Salsa) has been teaching dance for nine years in
Connecticut and California. He trained in competitive Ballroom and Latin
disciplines as well as street-style Salsa and Tango. Polon currently coaches
and choreographs for dance teams in Hartford and at Central Connecticut
State University. He has had the honor of working with southern California’s
top Salsa performers and has appeared on numerous television specials.
GWEN STENGEL POND (Music Alive) is an early childhood music
teaching artist with an extensive background in vocal studies, performance
and in musical theater. Gwen holds an ARC (Alternate Route to Certification)
certificate for K-12 music education in the State of Connecticut. She has
enjoyed directing children’s musicals and a youth choir, as well as
composing original songs and collaborative songs with her children’s author
mom, Joyce Stengel—look for Alexander and His Fuzzy Duck at
www.gwenpond.com! Gwen received her BA in English from the University of
Connecticut and has begun working towards a graduate degree in Music.
CARRIE SWIDER (Drawing) has been a teaching
artist in Connecticut for eight years. She has a BS in Art and Art Education
from NYU and an MALS degree with a Studio Art concentration from Wesleyan
University. She has taught art to students of all grade levels in the public
school system and has been a Master Artist for after school and summer
programs such as the Arts Councils Neighborhood Studios. Carrie has
exhibited her own work in galleries in the Hartford area since 2000 and
produced several exhibits at Artspace Hartford.
DAN POPE
(Writers Workshop) is the author of In the
Cherry Tree (Picador, 2003). His stories have appeared in numerous
publications including Best New American Voices 2007, McSweeney’s
(No. 4) and Gettysburg Review. Dan is a graduate of the Iowa
Writer’s Workshop and a 2006 Connecticut Fellowship recipient for fiction.
He is an adjunct professor at Trinity College.
RACHEL L. ROCCOBERTON (Ballet), teaches at Arts
in Motion in Willimantic, directs for EO Smith High School, serves on the
Board of the Windham Theatre Guild and choreographs any number of shows that
come her way. She holds a BA in Dance and Theater from Muhlenberg College in
Allentown PA and has enjoyed sharing her love of dance with students of all
ages for the past two years. Her training includes the study of ballet,
modern, jazz, tap, swing, improvisation, West African and Baroque dance
techniques. Currently she teaches in Willimantic and Coventry. She also
directs and choreographs any number of shows that come her way.
SARI ROSENBLATT (Creative Writing) writes
fiction and non-fiction. Her publications include short fiction in Glimmer
Train, Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose (2002, 2004), and The
Iowa Review (1998, 1986). Her writing awards include the Glimmer Train Award
in Short Fiction, 2007; PEN New England New Discovery Award in Fiction,
2003; Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction, 2002; and New Millennium
Writings Fiction Prize, 2002. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’
Workshop.
FRAN RZEZNIK (Videography) is an award-winning
filmmaker who has written, directed and produced a wide variety of projects
including social commentary documentaries, reality television series, and
feature films. Her awards include two
National Emmys from NBC Sports and a Los Angeles Local
Emmy for her writing and production work on a ‘tween series for the
Discovery Channel. Fran has shared her love and knowledge of film with
others as a teacher in Los Angeles, where she developed and taught a film
curriculum to students at an urban middle school. An inner city kid from the
Bronx herself, Fran particularly enjoys helping immigrant and
African-American students find their filmic voice to tell their unique
stories.
JILL VAUGHN (Watercolors), visual artist and painting instructor,
earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design where she majored in
painting with concentrations in drawing and printmaking. She studied
independently in Rome, Italy and exhibits actively in Connecticut. Vaughn
was the former President of the Essex Art Association and is currently on
the council. Since 1999, she has been the Art Department Head at the Oxford
Academy teaching art and photography to high school students.
MARIANNE VOGEL
(Private teacher of violin), holds an undergraduate degree in music theory
from the Univ. of Connecticut, and worked towards a graduate professional
diploma in violin performance at the Hartt School of Music. An active
freelancer throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island, Marianne plays violin
with several chamber and symphony orchestras. She is also violist with the
Sylveen String Quartet and organist at Broad Brook Congregational Church.
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