Biographical Data: Poetry/Creative Writing/Performance/Production

• Author of I'm not moving across the river... nominated as NJ State Poem in State Senate Bill S-1328

• Producer/host of award-winning poetry appreciation television series: Off the Page METV, Metuchen, NJ

• Director of long-running reading series: Max Collective Poets, Cafe Improv, Princeton, NJ; Third Wednesday Series, Cafe Newz, New Brunswick, NJ; and Chapter One Book, Highland Park, NJ

• Poetry Projects & Workshops: Maxward Productions, Max Collective, Open 8; Member US1 Poets, others 

• 40+ years’ experience in professional, educational, community, and children’s theater

• Award-winning performing arts producer, director, performer, designer, playwright, and technician. 

• Contributed to 1,000+ productions for television, performing arts, and corporate and community events

Awards & Honors:

• 2016,2015,2014, 2013,2012, 2011, 2010 JAMMY Program Excellence, Jersey Access Group Awards

• 1993 Guardian/Arvon Foundation International Poetry Competition, Duncan Lawrie Prize

• 1992 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, First Prize

• AVY Award, 1992 Special Recognition Award for Staged Poetry Reading

• Two Mayor's Special Proclamations, from Mayor Jim McGreevey, Woodbridge, NJ

• njARTform 1982 Poetry Competition Winner

• Special Resolution from Metuchen Borough Council

• Seven-term Vice-Chairperson Cultural Arts Commissioner, Metuchen, NJ

• METV Achievement Awards: 1996 Best Show, Best Series, Best Host, & Best Interview; 1997 Best Show, Best Performing Arts, Best Special, & Best Interview; 1998 Best Performing Arts

• Entertainment Chair, Metuchen Centennial Commission

• AVY/Perry awards and nominations for directing, scenic design, stage management, acting, and special contributions to community theater

• American Theater Association directing award 

• New Jersey Theater League award for Best Drama

• AACT Nominee for Best Drama

• 1997 Vermont Studio Center Fellowship Grant from Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Festivals and Other Special Appearances: 

• 2002 NJ Governor’s Israeli Flag Raising Ceremony, Governor’s Mansion “Drumthwacket”, Princeton, NJ

• 2000 Metuchen Centennial Gala Concert (commissioned to write Centennial Poem)

• 1999 American Jewish Poetry Festival, Sudbury, MA

• 1996, 1994 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festivals (featured reader and festival staff)

• 1995 New Hope Performing Arts Festival, New Hope, PA

• Concert for Safe Haven, George Street Playhouse, New Brunswick, NJ

• The 1992 AVY Awards, Woodbridge, NJ

• 1998, 1999,2000 Voices of Our Community Martin Luther King Day Concert, Metuchen, NJ (creator, producer, and host)

•  1996 Unity in the Community Martin Luther King Day Celebration, New Brunswick, NJ

• 1995 First Night Woodbridge Township, Woodbridge, NJ

• 1995, 1996 Celebrate Metuchen Night, Metuchen, NJ

• 1995, 1996,1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 Metuchen Cultural Arts Commission Coffee House Series Poetry Program, Metuchen, NJ

• 1996 Mayoral Inauguration Ceremonies, Metuchen, NJ

• Town Council Meeting, Woodbridge, NJ

• Borough Council Meeting, Metuchen, NJ

•  325th Anniversary Heritage Ball, Woodbridge, NJ (wrote poem for event)

• 1992, 1993, and 1994 (performer & host) Trenton Avant Garde Festivals, Trenton, NJ

• International Women's Day Program at Metuchen High School, Metuchen, NJ

• Women's History Month Program at Menlo Park Terrace School, Woodbridge, NJ

• African-American History Month Program w/Scarlett Moore, Piscataway High School, Piscataway, NJ

• Raritan River Club, New Brunswick, NJ (read & wrote poem for Jeanie Bryson's album release)

• Raritan River Club, New Brunswick, NJ (read & wrote poem for Scarlett Lee Moore's debut gala)

• National Poetry Month, Woodbridge Public Library, Woodbridge, NJ

• 1996 La Di Da freeform gathering, Livingston, NJ

Summary of Literary Publications:

The London Observer/Guardian Newspaper's 1993 Arvon Foundation Anthology, Long Shot, Lips, Footwork: The Paterson Literary Review, 13th Moon, atelier, Arbella, Poets On the Line (print & online), Anti-Lawn, Big Hammer, Common Journeys, The Heartlight Journal, The Newark Review (print & online), Up Front Muse International Review, Aquarian Arts Weekly, Dust Behind the Door (njARTform anthology), Quo Vadis, New Jersey Bowel & Bladder Control, Write In/Speak Out (editor), Northwest Arkansas Free Paper, Weekend Plus, The Home News Tribune, The Home News, The Princeton Packet, The Star Ledger, The News Tribune, The Metuchen Minute (monthly column/Poetry Editor); others

Other Poetry/Performance Events & Projects: 

• Works Performed by Others: Memorial Park directed by Wendy Liscow, Forum Theater, Metuchen, NJ; this is just to say why she did not wax poetic directed by Terry Hands (Royal Shakespeare Company) Riverside Studios, London, UK; Words: a theater piece based on the poetry of Betsy Robin Schwartz directed by Wm. Perry Morgan, Appel Farm, Elmer, NJ; Several poems used in curricula of several school districts

• Judge/Adjudicator: Very Special Arts NJ's New Jersey Wordsmiths, VSA Teen Arts Festival; Various New Jersey Teen Arts Festivals creative writing and theater competitions

• Events Producer: Produced many community performance events including symphonic concerts, annual choral concerts with 10+ choirs, and many others. Other special projects include: Manager/Tour Director—Jimmy Santiago Baca’s October 1996 tour, including all arrangements for 13 events in NY and NJ (including 3 colleges, 3 high schools); read with Mr. Baca at most events; Spokesperson, Publicist, Talent Selection Co-coordinator, and Poetry Coordinator—First Night Woodbridge Township 1995 included 230 professional performing artists; Director/Producer—Staged choral readings and oral interpretation performances with writers and performers

Featured Readings:

• Nuyorican Poets Cafe, New York, NY*

• The Knitting Factory, New York, NY*

• Blood Logic, Brooklyn, NY*

• The Right Bank, Brooklyn, NY (AIDS benefit)

• Bronx Community College, Bronx, NY

• Westchester Community College, Nyack, NY

• The Red Door Poetry Party, New York, NY*

• Town & Village Synagogue, New York, NY

• Up Front Muse, New York, NY

• Binghamton Community Poets, Binghamton, NY

• Ozark Poetry Collective, Fayetteville, AR*

• Stone Soup Poets, Boston, MA*

• T. T. the Bear's, Cambridge, MA*

• Book Cellar Cafe, Cambridge, MA

• Congregation Beth El, Sudbury, MA

• Doylestown Poetry Forum, Doylestown, PA

• Karla's, New Hope, PA

• Celebrating Literary New Jersey Series, Centenary
  College, Hackettstown, NJ

• Aljira Center for the Arts, Newark, NJ

• Paterson Museum (w/Allen Ginsberg), Paterson, NJ

• Sumei Arts & Culture Center, Newark, NJ*

• The Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ*

• The Melody Bar, New Brunswick, NJ*

• Stockton University, Stockton, NJ, Women’s Day 

• East Brunswick Jewish Center, East Brunswick, NJ

• Metlar-Bodine House, Piscataway, NJ

• Arts Council of Princeton/Cafe Improv, Princeton, NJ*

* = multiple featured reading

Summary of Theater Experience:

• Director: Jacques Brel..., Biloxi Blues (with Jay Mohr), Nutley Little Theater; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Tea & Sympathy, Quilters, and Total Abandon (1989 AVY Award Best Drama, Best Production-New Jersey Theater League 1990 Play Festival), Parish Players; Total Abandon, Somerset Valley Playhouse and Philathalians; 2x3: Answers and Private Wars, Edison Valley Playhouse; Mass Appeal, Crimes of the Heart, Theater at St. Lukes; Def Poetry Jam on Broadway (first rights w/o original cast); The Vaginal Monologues, The Laramie Project, Greater Tuna, Dracula, Loose Joints, Fools, A Little Night Music, Noises Off, The Search for Intelligent Life..., Fashion, Working, The Miser, Ionesco’s Exit the King (American Theater Association award), Beyond Therapy, among others, Middlesex College, Godspell, New Jersey Public Theater. Director, producer, writer, performer, and co-founder of The Image Players touring children’s theater repertory company toured throughout NY and NJ.

• Featured Roles: EMAIL: 9/12, Love Letters, Vagina Monologues, Laramie Project, Really Rosie, The Shadow Box (Agnes), You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running, Crimes of the Heart

• Set Designer: Quilters, Tea & Sympathy (AVY Award nominee), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Mass Appeal

• Executive and Staff Positions: 

  • Board of Directors: Edison Valley Playhouse, Edison, NJ; Actors Repertory, NYC, NY; Parish Players, Plainfield, NJ

  • Staff Technician, Roundabout Theater, NYC Set construction, lighting, sound for regular and dance seasons included: Merce Cunningham, Pins & Needles, Lar Lubavich, Erick Hawkins, Claude Kipnis, Othello, others.  

  • Production Coordinator, Hartley House Theater, NYC. Assisted directors and designers for 3 By Checkov and Houdini’s 9th; supervised all aspects of production, including casting

  • Lighting Technician/Production Assistant, Hudson Guild Theater, Soho Rep, Promenade Theater, NYC

Summary of Television and Radio Appearances: 

• Creator/Producer/Writer/Host: Off the Page a poetry appreciation and reading TV series produced with METV and the Metuchen Public Library, aired 10 times per month throughout NJ and Mid-Atlantic Region (potential viewing audience 750,000). Guest poets include: Jimmy Santiago Baca, Miller Williams, Daniella Gioseffi, Laura Boss, Lamont Steptoe, Kurtis Lamkin, Robert Carnevale, Cat Doty, Joe Weil, Eliot Katz, Jack Wiler, Danny Shot, Marilyn Mohr, Bob Rixon, Emanuel Di Pasquale, Herschel Silverman, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Yictove, Beth Borrus, and others. Guest musicians include: Diane Moser, Perry Robinson, Adam Bernstein, Greg Stier, Victor Fiore, Benn Ciardi, others

• Producer/Host: Metuchen Cultural Arts Coffeehouse Series and Summer Music Festival featuring musicians and poets. Guest artists include: Charles Johnson, Patricia Fillingham, Sharon Baller, BJ Ward, Denise DeLeo, Scarlett Lee Moore, Nancy Wertheim, Greg Stier, Bluesman Willie, Aerial Acoustics, Robert Carnevale, VooDUDES, Night Train, Killer Blues Band, Matt Witte, Supreme Court, and others

• METV Production Team: Producer, performer, videographer, and host includes: on-air talent/interviewer (including Robert Klein), interview technique workshop instructor. Marketing consultant for Jersey Access Group, Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Community Media. Host/producer: Metuchen Matters, Mayor’s Forum, Election Night Live

• Featured Guest: National Poetry Month Celebration, Edison and Metuchen PEG Access TV stations; New Jersey People (w/Ntozake Shange), WNET TV, Newark (PBS); w/Lee Leonard, News 12 New Jersey; w/Bob Rixon, WFMU, , NJ; w/Bob Aronson and Bernard Spigner, WCTC, NJ; w/Racquel Williams, WMGQ, NJ

• Other Appearances: Northwest Arkansas Cable Television, AR; Manhattan Cable Television, NY; Discover New Jersey, PBS (WNET) & New Jersey Network (NJN); New Jersey Issues Live, Cablevision, NJ

Training/Education & Teaching Experience

• B.A. Cum Laude, English–Speech/Theater/Media; Graduate work in Reading Education; Kean University, Union, NJ

• A.A.S. Electrical Engineering Technology, honors, awards,  Middlesex College, NJ

• NJ Secondary Teaching Certificates for English, Theater, and Speech Arts

• Lighting internship at Big Apple Lights with Rick Belzer and Rich Desimone

• English and theater teacher, Woodbridge Township Secondary Schools, Colonia & Iselin, NJ

• Designed, taught, and performed for children's drama program in 32 parks, Woodbridge, NJ

• Tutored electronics, physics, mathematics, writing, acting, television production, interview technique, and performance

• Poetry workshop for 4th and 5th grades Piscataway, NJ via desktop video conferencing technology

• Adult poetry workshop, American Jewish Poetry Festival, Sudbury, MA

• Teen poetry and oral interpretation workshop, Appel Farm Arts and Music Center, Elmer, NJ

• Poetry writing workshops, Bishop Ahr High School, Edison, NJ and Piscataway High School, Piscataway, NJ.

• Grades 2, 3, and 4 poetry workshops, Martin Luther King School, Edison, NJ