Betsy Robin Schwartz

POET.

Betsy Robin Schwartz was always a poet. Starting when she was just 6 years old, her teachers hung up her poems on the classroom walls, including a series of acronymic poems. At 14, she co-founded a literary magazine Write-In, Speak Out, with her English teacher, poet Terrence Ferraro. Her poetry appears in Lips, The Newark Review, 13th Moon, atelier, Footwork: The Paterson Literary Review, Long Shot, Big Hammer, among others. She was a featured guest on New Jersey People on WNET (PBS), Discover New Jersey on WNJM (NJN), News 12 New Jersey, METV, WFMU-FM, WCTC-AM, and a featured reader Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, American Jewish Poetry Festival, Trenton Avant Garde Festival, and New Hope Performing Arts Festival, among others. 

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PRODUCER.

Beyond her own writing, she produced and participated in more than 1,000 fine arts, literary and performing arts exhibits, festivals, and events. Her work has been performed by other artists, including members of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK. A production of her play Memorial Park was produced at the Forum Theater in NJ. She produced, wrote and hosted 20+ episodes of Off the Page, a television series for featuring major poets and musicians.

 

THEATER PROFESSIONAL.

Though Betsy Robin Schwartz has written poetry all her life, her first love is theater. After taking a course in musical theater at Verne Fowler's School of Dance, she found her calling. While still in high school, she co-founded The Image Players, a children's theater troupe that performed original plays throughout NJ & NYC. Since then, she has worked on hundreds of productions in professional, community, and educational theater. She was on the boards of directors of Edison Valley Playhouse, Parish Players, and Actor's Repertory Company and on the technical production staffs at The Roundabout Theater and other Off-Broadway companies.

Throughout her theater career, Betsy Robin Schwartz won awards for directing, scenic design, stage management, and acting. She directed: Jacques Brei... and Biloxi Blues (with Jay Mohr) at Nutley Little Theater; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Tea & Sympathy, Quilters, and Total Abandon (1989 AVY Award Best Production-Drama, Best Production-New Jersey Theater League 1990 Play Festival) at Parish Players; Total Abandon at the Somerset Valley Playhouse and the Philathalians; 2x3: Answers and Private Wars at the Edison Valley Playhouse; and Mass Appeal and Crimes of the Heart at Theater at  St. Luke's (AVY Award nomination).

 

For more than 20 years, she worked as a directorial team with her mentor, designer and lyricist Jim Morgan at Middlesex College on productions including Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, The Vagina Monologues, The Laramie Project, Greater Tuna, Dracula, Loose Joints, Fools, A Little Night Music, Noises Off, The Search for Intelligent Life ...., Fashion, Working, and The Miser among others.

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COMMUNITY SERVICE.

Her community service includes producing more than 80 projects and events to commemorate Metuchen's centennial as Co-Chair of the Metuchen Centennial Commission and producing 100s of events as Vice-Chair of the Metuchen Cultural Arts Commission (4 terms). She wrote a monthly column for a local newspaper and was an integral part of the METV community television production team and won more than a dozen Jersey Access Group (JAG) Awards for her Election Day and other public affairs programs.

 

EDUCATION & BACKGROUND.

Betsy Robin Schwartz grew up in the Menlo Park Terrace section of Woodbridge, NJ and has lived in Metuchen, NJ since 1988. After graduating from Woodbridge High School in 1973 she attended Emerson College in Boston, Middlesex College, and graduated cum laude from Kean University with a BA in English: Speech/Theater/Media and NJ Teaching Certifications in English and Dramatic Arts. She also earned an AAS in Electrical Engineering from Middlesex College and worked in telecom and technology for 35+ years as a technical trainer, product manager, writer, digital marketing and communications manager. She is a technical expert in some obscure areas of telecommunications interconnection standards. LinkedIn profile. She is retired from her day job and lives happily ever after with her registered domestic partner Rich Desimone who she first met in 1977.