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The Administration & Support Staff

Eric Bernstein, Director
Antonio Napoleone
Dr. Herbert L. Sheppard, Director of Development
Kim Stroud, Assistant Director
Gene Bozzi, Department Chair-Music
Linda Burns, Department Chair-Dance
Jonathan Gillman, Department Chair-Theater
Pamela Nomura, Department Chair-Creative Writing
Kitty Sweet Winslow, Department Chair-Visual Arts
Andrea DeCarli, Assistant to the Directors
Jill Giles, Department Chair – Musical Theater
Erica Callahan, Student Services Coordinator
Carol Jacques, Office Assistant Attendance/Grades & Newsletter Editor
Lynn Hoffman, Academic Advisor and Outreach Coordinator
James Keller, Managing Director-Theater of the Performing Arts
Golfo Lambros, Secretary
Deborah Cowles, Office Assistant
Isabel Mendes, Box Office Associate
Julio Birbrau, Maintenance Technician
Phyllis Palmer

Eric Bernstein has a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems, a Masters in Education Administration & Supervision, and a Juris Doctorate from the University Of Connecticut School Of Law. He served as an administrator in the Watertown Public Schools after teaching math and social studies in Manchester. Prior to teaching, Mr. Bernstein was the Director of Operations and Technology for an educational toy manufacturer in Fairfield County.

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Antonio Napoleone, Prior to coming to GHAA and GHAMAS Antonio Napoleone was an assistant principal at Pearson Middle School in Winsted, CT and at Clinton Avenue School in New Haven. Prior to obtaining administrative positions he taught in Norwalk, CT. He has been involved in many aspects of linking student achievement data to the application of instructional strategies and curriculum materials in the classroom. In addition, he remains current in educational research, including effective pedagogy, and data-driven planning to improve student achievement, as well as assisting in establishing and sustaining a positive school climate.

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Dr. Herbert L. Sheppard (aka "Doc") stepped down as Academy Director in July, 2008 and assumed the position of Director of Development on a part-time basis. His primary responsibility is to raise money for the newly created Academy Endowment. Doc had served as Director of the Academy of the Arts since August, 2000 and had been the Academy’s Managing Director for the previous four years. A graduate of Boston University, School of Fine Arts, he studied voice with James Houghton and was part of a select group of singers chosen to entertain servicemen in Alaska and Europe. Doc has been a principal at middle and high schools in West Hartford, Greenwich and Newington. In 1983, he established SHS Enterprises, a sales organization providing recognition and promotional products to schools in Connecticut. In addition to Baccalaureate and Master's degrees from Boston University, he completed graduate work at Stanford University and earned an Educational Doctorate from Nova University in 1980.

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Kim Stroud, Assistant Director was appointed Assistant Director at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in 2000.  Ms. Stroud had been Dance Chair at the Academy for the seven years prior. She is also the General Director for Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University and the CCY/CulturArte Program in Cape Verde, Africa. Some of Ms. Stroud’s’ former positions include: Administrator for the Dance Programs for City Youth through the School of the Hartford Ballet, Head of the Diversity Committee for the International NETWORK of Performing and Visual Arts Schools. She has been on the faculty of SUNY at Purchase, University of Hartford, The Hartford Conservatory, the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in NYC. Her performing career includes Principal Soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company for eleven years touring the world, The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, touring nationally with “Your Arms too Short to Box with God”, performing in the Universal Studio film production of “The Wiz” and as guest artist performing works of Katherine Dunham. Ms. Stroud has been a master teacher for such institutions as the University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State University, Randolf-Macon Women’s College, University of Southern California at Los Angeles and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.  Ms. Stroud has been honored as Outstanding Dance Educator of the Year in 2005 by The National Dance Education Organization, Distinguished Service to Dance in CT and the Development of Quality Dance Education at the Secondary Level by the Connecticut Dance Alliance in 2007, recognized for her Distinguished Contributions in 2006 by the Martha Graham School, and named as a member of the International Dance Council of the United Nations in 2009. Ms. Stroud is an honors graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in NYC and earned her B.F.A. degree from SUNY at Purchase.

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Gene Bozzi, Department Chair - Music, Mr. Bozzi is the principal timpanist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.  Gene is also the Music Department Chair at the Center for Creative Youth, a summer residential arts program at Wesleyan University. He also teaches percussion at Wesleyan University at the college level.  As a jazz musician, Mr. Bozzi has worked as a sideman with many well-known recording artists including Dave Liebman and Steve Swallow. He has appeared with Gerry Mulligan in a concert performance of Mulligan's "Birth of the Cool" compositions.  In 1992, he and Brazilian singer/pianist, Catalina Vigurs, co-founded the highly acclaimed Brazilian jazz group “Samba Brasil.” Gene also performs periodically with the Claudio Roditi Quartet. In addition to chairing the Music Department and teaching percussion, he also has served as Music Director and conductor for many of the Academy’s spring musicals.

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Linda Burns, Department Chair - began her formal training at the School of Russian Ballet in Bermuda. Her experience includes work with Merce Cunningham, the Limon Company, Twyla Tharp, Viola Farber, Meredith Monk, Ernestine Stodelle, at Antioch College, and at the Hartford Ballet. Additionally, she has danced for Connecticut Dance Theater, Antioch Dance Company, Bermuda Civic, Martynuk/McAdams Dance and independently for choreographers in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Vermont and Bermuda as well as touring throughout the United States. She currently teaches at the Hartford Conservatory, and has taught at Bermuda School of Russian Ballet, Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University, Trinity College, The Hartford Ballet, Hartt School of Music, and in the Hartford Public Schools.

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Jonathan Gillman, Department Chair - Theater, has taught at the Academy since 1985 and is director of Looking In Theatre. He has a B.A. and an M.A. from Harvard and an M.F.A. in Theater (playwriting) from the University of Minnesota. He is the past recipient of Connecticut Commission on the Arts individual fellowships in both fiction writing and playwriting, and is the author of two interconnected collections of short stories, Grasslands and The Magic Ring. He has been in residence as a writer at the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks, and at the Montana Artists Refuge, and was the 1997 recipient of CREC’s Distinguished Service Award for “exceptional service to students and families”.

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Pamela Nomura, Department Chair - Creative Writing, is a poet.  She is chair of the Creative Writing program at the Center for Creative Youth (CCY), a teaching artist for the Bushnell Partners Program, and has given readings at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival at the Hillstead Museum as well as at colleges and universities.  Her poems have been published in periodicals and magazines. She has taught in prisons and in shelters for battered women and the homeless.  Ms. Nomura earned a B.A. from Trinity College.

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Kitty Sweet Winslow, Department Chair - Visual Arts, received a B.S. in Fine Arts from Skidmore College and a Masters in Art Education from Hartford Art School.  She has shown her work extensively throughout the Northeast and New York, including solo exhibitions at the Nicholas Davies Gallery in New York in 1997 and 2000, and the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT in 1993.  In Addition, her work is represented in many public and private collections.  She has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including two Individual Artists Grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and a Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant. She was a Yaddo Fellow, Saratoga Springs, NY in 1987 and completed a residency at the Edna Saint Vincent Millay colony, Austerlitz, New York in 1998.  She has been artist-in-residence in the area public schools, and has taught at the Hammonassett School in Madison, CT.  Prior to joining the faculty at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, she was an artist/teacher for the Vermont College MFA Program, adjunct faculty at Fairfield University and instructor in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan University.

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Andrea DeCarli, Assistant to the Directors, joined the Academy in the fall of 1998 as secretary. In July 2000, Andrea was promoted to her current position. Andrea received the Distinguished Service Award at CREC’s annual FallStaff in October 2001 “for her dedication and commitment to CREC, its programs and its people.” Andrea lives in South Windsor with her husband, Larry and their cat Casey.

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Jill Giles, Department Chair – Musical Theater graduated from Tisch School of the Arts, and has directed, stage managed, propped and performed in dozens of plays in New York, London, Chicago, Los Angeles and locally. She is the Chair of the Musical Theater Department at The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (GHAA), and has taught playwriting and acting with the Bushnell’s Partner Program, and at Center for Creative Youth. Locally, Jill has directed at Oddfellow’s Playhouse in their teen rep program, and at GHAA. More recently she has performed with Capitol Classics, ArtFarm, at The Spirit of Broadway, and worked on several new plays with The Writer’s Roundtable. She was also a recipient of a Playwriting Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, attended Eugene O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference on an Educator’s fellowship, and was a Surdna Finalist.

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Erica Callahan, Student Services Coordinator has a professional background primarily in developing, managing, and marketing programs that engage youth of all ages and promote their academic, physical, and social development. She graduated as a University Scholar with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut, and has attended the London College of Printing at the University of the Arts London. In addition, Erica holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Connecticut. Prior to arriving at the Academy in 2008, Erica was an intern at The Connecticut Institute for the Blind at Oak Hill where she researched the viability of developing an expressive arts therapy program for adults and children with developmental disabilities. This pilot program was established in October 2008. While pursuing her Master’s degree, she was awarded a Graduate Assistantship at the University of Connecticut’s Office of Community Outreach where she was charged with recruiting, training, and supervising student leaders responsible for coordinating service-related projects throughout Windham and Tolland Counties. From 2003 until 2006, she was a Program Coordinator for the Town of Colchester’s Youth Services Bureau.

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Carol Jacques, Office Assistant Attendance/Grades & Newsletter Editor, came to the Academy as a temp in October 2004 and became an official staff member in March 2005. She has worked for many years in the administrative field in public and private businesses.

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Lynn Hoffman, Academic Advisor and Outreach Coordinator, is a writer, educator, and composer.She received a B.Mus. in Music Theory and Composition, cum laude, from Hartt School/University of Hartford, where she also chaired and taught theory and composition the Community Division Program. She has an M. Ed., with a concentration in Reading and Language Arts, from St. Joseph College, where she is an adjunct faculty member in the graduate education program. In 2006, Antrim House will publish her first collection of poetry. Recently, National Public Radio aired “True Story” (poem) on its “Theme and Variations” program; “Serving Your Country” is scheduled to air later this year. Three other poems have been anthologized in Sweet Lemons: Poems with a Sicilian Accent (2004). “The Gift” (poem) and “In Summer”(poem) appeared in the January and May ’05 issues of Off the Coast. Tic and Tiny, a playlet, received a rehearsed reading at Manhanttanville College (NY)in 2004. Excerpts from several other plays have been read at Trinity College. Lynn has conducted writing workshops for numerous organizations, including the International Reading Association, Old Sturbridge Village, the World Scholar-Athlete Games (Univ. of Rhode Island), the Young Writers’ Institute, Hartford Public Library, and the Academy for Young Writers, which she co-founded. She is an Aetna Fellow and Teacher-Consultant Young Writers, which she co-founded. She is an Aetna Fellow and Teacher-Consultant for the Connecticut Writing Project at UCONN, Storrs. Since the summer of 2000, she has been a writing instructor for the State Department of Education’s “Multicultural Instruction “Through the Arts” inter-district grants program in Farmington, New Britain, and Plainville.

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James Keller, Managing Director - Theater of the Performing Arts - Mr. Keller began working with the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in 1998 as a consultant. He joined the school full time in 2000, when the Academy moved to the Learning Corridor campus. He was Technical Director at the Hartford Stage 1986-2000 and has held teaching positions in the Department of Theatre and Dance at both Trinity College and at the State University of New York at Buffalo. As technical director with the Nikolais Dance Company he participated in tours of the Far East, Europe and the United States. Mr. Keller has acted as Technical Director for several Off-Broadway production at St. Clements Theatre in New York City and was the Assistant Technical Director at the Berkshire Theater Festival in Massachusetts for two seasons. He has a B.A. in Theatre from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a M.F.A. in Technical Production from the University of Wisconsin/Madison.

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Golfo Lambros, Secretary, is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in New York City, as a modern dance major. She has performed with Charles Nicoll/Joe Villane Dance Company of New York City. Golfo is a member of American Guild of Variety Artists. This is her fourth season as the Assistant Director for “Discovery Camp” at Perry-Mansfield School of the Arts in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  She joined the Academy after working one year as Executive Assistant to the Assistant Executive Director of CREC.

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Deborah Cowles, Office Assistant, has been involved in Education at primary and secondary grade levels for more than 30 years. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Connecticut in Child Development and Family Relations. Her background experience includes Pre-school Teacher, class-size and Special Ed Paraprofessional, Arts Education administrator and a Master Teacher of visual arts for a nationally-renowned Arts Education program. She has three adult children and resides in Glastonbury. Her recreational time is spent reading, kayaking and hiking.

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Isabel Moura Mendes, Audience Services Coordinator, recently joined the Theater for the Performing Arts’ team. While living in Portugal she majored in Media Studies/Journalism. Since graduating, she has worked for various media and government organizations in Portugal and Cape Verde, West Coast of Africa, developing work in the fields of Communication, as well as Youth and Arts Education. She first started collaborating with CREC in 2004 through the Center for Creative Youth (CCY) summer arts program.

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Julio Birbrau, Building Maintainer, has 18 years maintenance experience with the Middletown Public Schools and has been with the Academy since 1996.

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Phyllis Palmer joined the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in January, 2007 as temporary employee. She became a permanent employee in May, 2007. Prior to her employment at the Greater Hartford Academy, her employment background has been in insurance, medical, public service, profit and non-profit in the administrative/case management capacity. She has two adult children and one grandson.

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Kristopher Allen (alto saxophone), while growing up in the Hartford, CT area, was recognized early on as a gifted young protégé of the great Jackie McLean. Kris went on to earn music degrees from the Hartt School of Music and Purchase Conservatory (SUNY). He has since had valuable "on-the-job-training", performing in groups led by jazz greats such as Illinois Jacquet, Gerald Wilson, Winard Harper, Andy Laverne and Mario Pavone and the Mingus Dynasty. Kris appears regularly with some of the most exciting groups in jazz today. Kris is also very involved with education, as a part time faculty member of Trinity College and the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts, and as a teaching artist with the many educational offerings of Litchfield Performing Arts.

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Kevin Andersen studied voice, music history, and performance at the University of Hartford's HARTT School.  He teaches vocal preparation, music history, and voice in HARTT's Community Division. He has performed with the Connecticut Opera, Concora, the Manchester Symphony, and the Underground Opera. His most recent work was performing in La Padrone at the Ives Festival in New York.

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E. Ann Baldwin earned her B.F.A. at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio and a M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University. She is a printmaker who exhibits nationally and her artwork is included in numerous private and corporate collections. She is also a juror, lecturer, workshop facilitator, and presenter on a statewide level. In addition to printmaking, ceramics, mixed media, and drawing are inclusive in her areas of expertise. Ms. Baldwin was appointed to serve on the Board of Directors for Antioch College in 2003.

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Anita Balkun earned an M.F.A. in painting from the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford in 2009. She also preciously received a B.A. in Economics from Fairfield University and a B.A. in Painting/Studio Art from CCSU, where she was awarded the Departmental Honors Award for Excellence, and the Anna Bubser Judd and Sicily Overseas Exchange Scholarships. Anita has been teaching visual arts in the Hartford area including both the Arts Academy and the Math and Science Academy, and in local summer programs. Her work is currently exhibited in several Conn. galleries. She resides in West Hartford, Conn. with her family.

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Alison Bogatay, Since relocating from New York City, Alison has choreographed and taught for such organizations as the Hartford Symphony, Performing Arts Programs, the Hartford Conservatory, Kingswood – Oxford High School, Windsor Locks High School, CREC”S “Images of Cultural Identity: project and Connecticut Opera’s “Take Center Stage” outreach program. In 2003, Alison was selected as on of 8 choreographers in the state to feature her work for the CT Dance Alliance Festival, and choreographed the “Dance of the Seven Veils” for Connecticut Opera’s production of Salome. Ms. Bogatay has danced professionally with the New Dance Collective in Danbury and with Angels in Shadows in NYC. Her experiences range from staging such ballets as The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker for various CT Companies, to choreographing and performing in A funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the New Harmony Theater. She has also been in numerous musicals in regional theaters throughout the country. Recent performances include the Ted Hershey Marathon and the CT Latin Expo.

Alison has studied and performed at the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem, and was a dance major at Butler University in Indianapolis. Alison resides in West Hartford with her husband Michael.

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Christine Breslin is a documentary, fine art, and commercial photographer. She received her BFA in Photography from the University of Connecticut, School of Fine Arts and an MFA in Photography from the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, Ms. Breslin has exhibited internationally and nationally, is in the Polaroid Collection and the New Britain Museum of American Art’s Collection. She is a member of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) as well as the Society for Photographic Education (SPE). She is a teaching artist at The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, The Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University, and the Bushnell Partners’ program and is an adjunct professor at Capital Community College, and has taught as an adjunct professor at Manchester Community College, The Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford and the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts.

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Pam Brisson who teaches English, came to the Academy to help launch its full-day program after working with the Windsor Public Schools, where she supervised the Social Studies Department at the middle and high school levels. In Windsor, she worked with colleagues to enhance efforts to teach students through an interdisciplinary approach with an emphasis on building student literacy skills. Prior to that, Pam taught history, English, and journalism at Danbury High School, where she helped rebuild the student newspaper into a regional and national award-winner. Before pursuing teaching, Pam worked as a newspaper reporter. She earned a journalism degree from Northeastern University, where she wrote for the Boston Globe. Later, she earned a masters degree in history from Western Connecticut State University and one in educational leadership from Columbia University. She is currently writing a dissertation study on literacy leadership.

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Paul Brown known jazz bassist.  He began studying trumpet at age nine, and at age fifteen was performing professionally with Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, and other Rhythm and Blues groups.  In his late twenties, Mr. Brown began playing the bass.  He has traveled throughout the world performing and recording with such major jazz artists as Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, Billy Eckstein, Philly Joe Jones, Clark Terry, Betty Carter, Dakota Staton, and Sarah Vaughn. Mr. Brown has played all the major jazz festivals, from Newport to New Orleans and Monterey to Montreaux.  Throughout the year, Mr. Brown performs in many New York City jazz clubs such as the Village Vanguard and Sweet Basil's. Mr. Brown is founder and director of Hartford's Monday Night Jazz Summer Concert Series, the longest running free jazz series in the United States.  He is also founder and artistic director of the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz.

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David Chandler is the director and owner of the Eagle’s Quest Tai Chi Center. He is also the Stage Combat and Tai Chi instructor for the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center since 1986 and for Gregory Abels Training Ensemble in N.Y.C. since 1997. David is also a frequent guest professor at the Connecticut College Drama Department. He teaches Tai Chi to the faculty and staff of Yale University, and Wesleyan University. David has been director for the Papermoon Productions Summer Workshops, the Performing Arts Program at Quinnebuag Valley Community College, The Birds Mime Troupe and The Ya-Ta-Hey Native American Arts Festival. David has also been the summer staff coordinator and Tai Chi instructor for the Omega Institute, a teacher at the Ensemble Studio Theater in N.Y.C., creative consultant for The Adventure Game and the Women in Prison Program, Connecticut Correctional facility for Women. As a member of The Studio Company at Cooper Union in N.Y.C., David critiqued the work in development by professional actors, directors, critics and teachers. David has numerous movie credits, stage credits and is the author of “Overcoming Clumsiness” and “Wings”.

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Jonathan Chatfield attended Oberlin College Conservatory, where he received his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies (Piano) in 1994.  After his return to Hartford, he began a freelancing career that carried him into a wide variety of musical endeavors.  He has played with such Hartford-based jazz talents as Steve Davis, Nat Reeves, Daniel Salazar and Paul Brown, as well as trumpeter Claudio Roditto. He has recorded with Texas Flood, and such jazz talents as guitarist Larry Coryell, Joel Rosenblatt and drummer Lenny White. Jonathan has just completed the second CD with the jazz-fusion group, Mystery Feet. He has performed and recorded with Latin jazz group, the Charles Flores Quartet, as well as leading his own original jazz trio.

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Catherine Conant has been teaching, coaching and performing the art of oral stories for more than 15 years. She holds a national reputation for promoting stories as an effective and adaptable tool to support family and community life as well as serve nonprofit and corporate development. She is the president of LANES (the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling) and a member of the Connecticut Storytelling Center and the National Storytelling Network. She has performed at colleges, museums, corporate and nonprofit settings as well as The Moth, an exciting Manhattan venue known for its ‘urban storytelling’. Her clients include the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, The International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the Spa at the Norwich Inn, Community Mediation and Peace Jam. She guests lectures at Southern Connecticut State University and conducts weekend retreats in story development for women. Both of her CD recordings of original stories, ‘Far from Perfect’ and ‘Exit 11 and Other Stories; Living in the Shadow of the New Jersey Turnpike’ have received awards from Storytelling World. Her essays and articles appear in ‘My Little Red Book’, ‘I Killed June Cleever’, ‘At Your Fingertips’ and ‘Forty Fathers; The Search of Oneself in the Father”.

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Robert DePalma Studied saxophone, clarinet, flute & arranging at Hart College & the Hartford Conservatory of Music and studied jazz saxophone with Dave Liebman and Pepper Adams. He is currently on the faculty of the Hartford Conservatory and performs with numerous jazz groups including The New England Jazz Ensemble & The Hartford Jazz Orchestra. Robert also performs with The Hartford Symphony, New Haven Symphony and Orchestra New England for various concerts when saxophone is needed. He has toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and has played with Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, The Temptations and many other name acts as they have appeared in the area. Most recently, Robert has played with Johnny Mathis.

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Eileen Dulen-Jennings is a graduate of The Goodman School of Drama in Chicago and has performed in numerous venues throughout the country. She has toured nationally and internationally with The National Theatre of the Deaf and with Child's Play, a theatre dedicated to the performance of works written by children. Eileen has lead workshops in theatre and non-verbal communication throughout the country and abroad for the past 10 years and was named a Master Teaching Artist by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts in 1997.

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David Eberly received a BMus, Magna Cum Laude and an Artist's Diploma from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford.  He is a member of Alpha Chi, and Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Societies.  David taught piano at the community division of the Hartt School from 1982 to 1989. He has accompanied ballet classes at Dance Connecticut and the Hartford Conservatory. David has appeared as soloist at the Hartford Jazz Society and at several Sarasota Jazz Society Jam Sessions.  He played keyboards for Pulse for 13 years and currently plays with the Gerry Carillo and Sam Pasco orchestras. He has been singing with the Harford Insurance City Barbershop Chorus since 1985.

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Kenneth Fischer received his Bachelors and his Masters degrees in music education from the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music. He currently teaches at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor. In his professional career, he has played a variety of styles for jazz groups, popular groups, and vocal coaching, as well as productions at the Coach Light Theater and the Hartford Stage Company.

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Gail Fresia has been a costume designer and technician with a variety of companies. Her experiences range from theater, dance, opera, musical theater, and contemporary fashion. In New England, Gail has been the costume shop manger of the University of Massachusetts Department of Theater, Hartford Ballet Company, Dance CT, and Goodspeed musicals. At the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Gail works as a technician in the Costume and Textiles Department. She has also worked with Amherst College, Shakespeare and Company, Middlebury College, Opera North, Eastern Connecticut Ballet, National Theater of the Deaf, Pilobolus Dance Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet, Zaccho Dance Theater in San Francisco, and Performance Workshop in Taiwan, ROC.

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Francine Gintoff received her B.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (Temple University's Art School) and in 1983 earned her M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in painting.  She is a past recipient of a Connecticut Commission on the Arts Individual Grant.  Ms. Gintoff has been in group and one-man shows in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.  Selected exhibitions include the Paul Mellon Arts Center; Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT; the New Britain Museum of American Arts, New Britain, CT; the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT; and Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT.  She taught at the University of Massachusetts and presently is a core instructor in the Visual Arts Department.

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John Gintoff  B.A. French Franklin and Marshall College, M.F.A. Photography, Tyler School of Art. Awards: Connecticut Commission on the Arts Grant (2 years); Polaroid Corporation 20”x24” Camera Grant (3 years); Polaroid Corporation Grant. Collections: Private Collections; Yale University; Wesleyan University; Tyler School of Art; Polaroid Corp.; Collection; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.

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Jeanne Giroir originally from Texas, studied at School of American Ballet in NY on a Ford Foundation scholarship. She danced with the Harkness Ballet, also in NYC for two years before landing in Hartford. A principal dancer for the Hartford Ballet for 15 years, she danced such roles as the Sugar Plum Fairy/Clara in the “Nutcracker,” Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet,” and the Maiden in “Carmina Burana,” along with works by George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Michael Uthoff, Peter Martins, and Doris Humphrey. After retiring from the stage, she was ballet mistress for the Hartford Ballet. During her years there, she taught company class, rehearsed the company, and taught master classes in colleges and universities across the country. She presently teaches in the Diploma program at the Hartford Conservatory and at The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. She is married to photographer Thomas Giroir, and has two terrific teenagers, Christopher and Megan!

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Deborah Goffe is a performer, choreographer, dance educator and video artist. She is Founder and Artistic Director of Scapegoat Garden, a collaborative dance theater based in Hartford, which is driven to create daring interdisciplinary dance performance that goes in through the nose, eyes skin, ears and mouth to stir those who witness and participate. Since earning her BFA in modern dance from the University of the Arts and an MFA in dance performance and choreography from California Institute of the Arts, Scapegoat Garden has served as the vehicle and creative community through which she cultivates artistic innovation, exploring dance and its intersection with other media. She has created video works and sound designs for Scapegoat Garden, the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble (with whom she performed for many years), the Greater Hartford Arts Council, and others. She has received Artist's Fellowship Grants from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Greater Hartford Arts Council for her choreographic work. She was a 2008 recipient of a Surdna Artist Teachers Fellowship which she used to engage in creative collaboration with Mano Preto, Artistic Director of Cape Verde’s acclaimed Raiz di Polon. Deborah has taught dance and related courses in a number of institutions, including Belmont High School in Los Angeles, CalArts, CREC's Center for Creative Youth, Hartford Conservatory, University of Hartford/Hartt School/Community Division, Trinity College, and CulturArte (a youth arts summer residency program in Cape Verde, Africa). She has served on the faculty of CREC's Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts since 2003.

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Melanie Guerin, holds a bachelor's degree from The Hartt School in clarinet performance and music education. She taught band, orchestra, and general music for four years at Two Rivers Magnet Middle School in East Hartford before leaving to pursue a master's degree in music education, with an emphasis in wind conducting. Melanie has been a member of the Academy family since 2004, working as accompanist and pit musician for the Academy's spring musical for four years, then as music director for the 2008 production of "Dessa Rose". In the fall of 2008, she joined the music faculty to teach woodwind ensemble and theory courses. She has composed and arranged several works for chamber music and children's theatre, including an original musical for middle-school performers. She directs the children's choir at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford and has served as guest conductor of the Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble and Hartt Symphony Band.

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Sarah K. Hersh, hailing from Springfield, Massachusetts, Sarah has been singing opera professionally since 1992, with companies all over the country including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sarasota Opera Association, Connecticut Opera, Connecticut Concert Opera, The Metropolitan Opera Guild, The Aldeburgh Festival in England, and the Gregynog Festival in Wales. In addition to her performing, Sarah is the Principal Cantor for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, and the Assistant Director of Music at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph. Here at the Academy, Sarah teaches Classical Voice, Diction, and Vocal Survey for the Music Department, coaches for the Theater Department, and has a full complement of private students.

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Joseph Hertz has returned to his roots as a graphic artist, after a thirteen-year detour to study and practice medicine. He was a principle designer for The Ride, a transit bus map for the city of Anne-Arbor, Michigan, in 2002 and for Long Island Bus, a transit bus map of Nassau County, in 2001. He is planning to begin work updating the Neighborhood Maps of New York City located in every subway station, for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, fall 2003.

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Brian Jennings is a Core Faculty member in the Theater Department. He also teaches acting at the University of Hartford and for the CCY/CulturArte program in Cape Verde. He has directed numerous productions for the Academy, including the 2007 production of Les Miserables and most recently, The Doll's House Project. His adaptation, RAVE: The Bacchae of Euripides-Remixed was performed by Academy students at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Brian’s acting credits include productions for major regional theaters, Off Broadway, television, and radio. He was formerly a voicing actor for the National Theater of the Deaf. His acting credits include productions for major regional theaters, Off Broadway, television, and radio. His plays for young audiences have been performed throughout the United States. He holds degrees from the National Theater Conservatory and Princeton University. Brian was named 2004 Teacher of the Year by International Network of Performing and Visual Arts Schools, and was the recipient of a 2005 Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship. In 2009, he was selected to travel to Cape Town, South Africa as part of a performing artists exchange.

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Norman Johnson attended the Hartford Conservatory and the Hartt School of Music. He was the associate conductor for the Hartford Stage Company's summer youth theater from 1983 to 1986. Mr. Johnson has been on the faculty at the Hartford Camerata Conservatory since 1986 and was Dean of the Diploma Program from 1990 to 1996. He is presently Dean of the Record Production Program at the Conservatory.

Laura Kane is a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the former principal cellist of Hartford Symphony Core Orchestra.  An active chamber musician, she has performed at the Taos, New Mexico Festival, the Newport, and Yellow Barn Festivals and is a founding member of The Camerata Ensemble. Her musical training includes private studies with David Wells, Raya Garbousova and Aldo Parisot.  She has taught at the Hartford Camerata Conservatory where she has been chairman of the string department and is currently on the faculty of the Hartt School of Music, Community Division. Laura also teaches at the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University.

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Carolyn Kirsch appeared in 15 Broadway Musicals over a 21 year period of performing in New York City. During that time she worked extensively for the Director/Choreographers Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse. For Mr. Fosse she appeared in both the first National and Broadway productions of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, “Sweet Charity”, and the first National Company of “Chicago”, in which she replaced Chita Rivera. For Mr. Bennett, Ms. Kirsch appeared in Broadway companies of “Promises, Promises:, “CoCo” (with Katherine Hepburn), “Company”, and “A Chorus Line”. As a member of the Original Company of “A Chorus Line” she was the recipient of a Theatre World Award. Ms. Kirsch was schooled in the distinctive styles of both these talented men by the choreographers themselves. As a lecturer she is able to share her personal, as well as professional, perspectives on how each of them developed his important contribution to the American Musical Theatre. Presently, Carolyn is passing the legacy to a new generation of talent. She is the Musical Theatre Department Chair-Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan. She serves on the faculty of the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and continues to teach at Hartford Conservatory. As a Director, she has been affiliated with The Ivoryton Playhouse, East Lyme Arts Council, The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and Connecticut Heritage Productions. She studied acting with the legendary Uta Hagen and continues to study with Austin Pendleton, both of HB Studio, New York City.

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Mara Lieberman holds a BA in theater from Sarah Lawrence College and a MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University where she was nominated for the William Morris Agency award for her one woman show, Feeling Science: The Life of Barbara McClintock. Mara has performed extensively in both New York and Chicago. She served as Lloyd Richards’ assistant at the National Playwrights Conference and later joined the summer acting company at the Conference based at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Mara has performed original works as part of the New York International Fringe Festival and the American Living Room festival co-sponsored by Lincoln Center and HERE. In addition, she directed an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s, To the Lighthouse at New Georges and the 78th Street Theater Lab in NYC. Also in New York, Mara co-founded a theater company called The Director’s Collective which focuses on making original work through the techniques of Viewpoints and Composition. In Chicago, Mara performed in Eleven Rooms of Proust directed by Mary Zimmerman. As an educator, Mara served as a full time faculty member in the Theater department at Trinity College for three years where she co-directed/adapted Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. In addition, she has taught acting at Eastern Connecticut State University. Mara teaches acting at Manchester Community College as well as at the Academy. Additionally, Mara is a licensed psychotherapist.

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Douglas Maher is an instructor of jazz guitar, jazz theory, co-director of Jazz Combo 2 and The Academy Big Band. He received his B. M. (Jazz Guitar Performance) from Berklee College of Music, M. M. (Jazz Pedagogy) from the University of Miami, and Music Education Certification from Central Connecticut State University. He is also currently the instructor of class guitar and jazz combo at Manchester High School. Doug is a former adjunct instructor of jazz guitar and jazz combo at CCSU, Berklee College of Music and the University of Connecticut. He was formerly Director of Bands at Windsor High School, where the Jazz Ensemble received several awards, including 1st place in their class at the 2004 Berklee College Jazz Festival. Doug is an experienced jazz performer and clinician, with 30 years of experience in all styles of guitar performance. His career began as guitarist with “The Army Blues,” the Jazz Ensemble of the U.S. Army Band, Washington, D.C. His performing experiences include clinics with Dick Oatts, Jeff Hamilton, Ernie Watts, Scott Wendholt, Mark Turner, Denis DiBlassio, and John Mosca, and performance with Dave Santoro, Earl MacDonald, Jimmy Greene, Chris Brubeck, Paul Brown, Diane Mower, Norman Johnson, Kris Allen and Noah Beerman.

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Donna Martin has been working as a performing songwriter throughout the northeast since the early 90’s.  In that time, she has released four CDs of original music and has won numerous awards for her work.  Performing Songwriter Magazine gave her national recognition for her latest release; Ghost and a previous CD earned her a spot in the Lilith Fair where Donna performed along with Sarah McLachlan and Bonnie Raitt.

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Patrick McCullough – An award-winning filmmaker, Patrick McCullough produced and acted in the independent film, Beautiful Kid, with Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Angela's Ashes. Variety cited Beautiful Kid for its, "Astonishing integrity and total lack of artifice." The film has won multiple awards. Patrick began his filmmaking career producing and directing several educational films including the Cine Golden Eagle Award-Winning, Sara's Diary. His screenplay, Broham was a finalist in the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriting Program. He has served as a Blue Ribbon Panel Judge for the Daytime Emmy Awards (Judging Writing and Directing in Children’s Movies) and has recently been appointed to judge this years Emmy's. He has just delivered 2 Bi-Lingual Documentary films on Domestic Violence, funded by the Department of Justice. During the summer, Patrick runs Filmmaking camps throughout CT, NYC and MA with his company, Filmmakers Ink.

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Karen Sparks Mellon has been a set designer and scenic artist in the Hartford/New Haven area since 1979. Sparks has designed scenery for, among others, Amherst College, The Connecticut Commission on the Arts, CPTV, ECA in New Haven, The Lincoln Theater, Loomis-Chaffee, The New England Actors Theater, The Portland Stage Company, Trinity College and The University of Hartford. She is the resident set designer at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT., where she lives on campus with her husband and two daughters.  As a scenic artist, Sparks worked for the Hartford Stage Company for eight years, as well as being a freelance painter for the Long Wharf Theater and the Goodspeed Opera House.  Other projects include backdrop design for the last G Fox Christmas windows in downtown Hartford, interior painting for the first Banana Republic store in NYC, and whitewashing the inside of a barn for the movie “Funny Farm.”

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Natasha D. Miles studied Technical Print Methods and the history of painting at the University of Hartford’s’ Art School. For the past six years, she has been a Visual Aesthetics instructor of art at the Armory Art Center of the Palm Beaches. When she is not in Florida, she is educating young adults through the creative exploration of painting, drawing, and personal journal brainstorming.  She focuses her energy towards redefining Visual Arts as a way of life, but also through collaborative visual aide projects within the greater Hartford community.

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Dianne Mower is an international recording artist and records on the Jazzcity Label.  Although her emphasis is jazz, Ms. Mower also sings country, folk, pop and Broadway music.  Currently she is working on her fourth CD, recording the music of Dave Brubeck with Norman Johnson and Dan and Chris Brubeck.  She also sings with an eleven-piece swing band, The New Millennium Jazz Ensemble.  She was the lead singer with the popular jazz vocal group, Jasmine.  Ms. Mower has performed at the top clubs in New York City including the Blue Note.  She has studied with Jackie Jarrett for many years and has performed with Dave Brubeck, Bill Mays, Dick Oatts, Don Elliot, George Coleman, Nat Adderley, and Harvie Swartz.  Ms. Mower continues to perform in New York.

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Betty Beekman Munsell – Through the years in working with the National Theatre of the Deaf, Betty has been a played a part in many different areas in NTD’s creative as well as management teams. She has taught Sign Language techniques at NTD’s Professional Theatre School and directed the company’s Storytelling Hours on the Green, directed freelance work, and worked as Education and Outreach Coordinator as well as Tour Director. When NTD was home based in Chester, CT, Betty was in charge and taught the community sign language program. Betty has directed Little Theatre of the Deaf performances off and on since 1983, including the current “Un-Brella” Sign Language Introduction piece which she also wrote. She has written the Learn and Study Together Guide used to work hand in hand with school curriculum for the Little Theatre of the Deaf performances for the past eight seasons as well as adapted and written pieces for performance. She has designed lighting for NTD’s national tours of All the Way Home and A Christmas Carol. Betty has staged managed 18 of NTD’s national tours, 12 foreign tours and three television programs for WGBH’s Festival of Hands series: The Silken Tent, The Road to Cordoba and Issa’s Treasure, for which she also did voice over work.

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Michelle Murray-Fiertek (soprano), in her early years, appeared in numerous musicals and opened “The Voyage of the Little Mermaid” for Disney MGM studios in Orlando, FL, as one of the original Ariels. She went on to work as the lead singer aboard the S. S. Discovery I and, in 1995, became the first American singer to be invited to perform both Japanese and American music in Minakami, Japan. Michelle later attended Arizona State University, graduating summa cum laude in 2001 with a double Bachelor’s Degree in choral education and vocal performance. In 2003, Michelle and pianist David Murray released their first album, Blue: The Complete Cabaret Songs of William Bolcom and Arnold Weinstein (Summit Records), described as “exemplary” by BBC Music Magazine. Michelle completed a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance at California State University Long Beach in 2007, where she also served as a member of the voice faculty... Michelle made her Carnegie Hall debut in December 2005, performing selections from her first album in Weill Recital Hall. Her performance was described as “First rate – engaging and authentic” in New York Concert Review. In September 2006 she released her second album for Summit Records, The Juliet Letters. Michelle has been a faculty and guest recital artist at venues including California State University, San Bernardino, Arizona State University, California State University, Long Beach, California Baptist University, and Georgia Southern University. In 2007 she was invited to study and perform Spanish Art Song in Granada, Spain under the direction of such famed musicians as pianist Miguel Zanetti and mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza. She will return to Granada this summer as a guest recital artist. Currently Ms. Fiertek resides in Connecticut where she performs, teaches, and is completing her D.M.A degree in Vocal Performance at The Hartt School, University of Hartford.

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Alex Nakhomovsky was born in the former USSR.  After immigrating to the U.S.A. in 1978 he continued his studies at Hartt School of Music earning a M.M. in Piano Accompanying.  As a freelance musician in different styles of music, he performed in various cities throughout the United States, including New York's Village Gate and Town Hall.  He was a pianist and assistant conductor at Coach Light Dinner Theater and has been performing regularly with the Broadway Series at the Bushnell.  Alex has worked with Valery Ponomarev, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb and recently performed as a member of Tim Armacost Quartet at the International Jazz Festival in Novokuznetsk, Russia.  As a bandleader and pianist, he has traveled throughout the world aboard cruise ships, often performing classical programs.  He has taught at Trinity College, Connecticut College, and Hartt School of Music.

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Amy Nesbitt is a graduate of Saint Joseph College with a B.A. in Psychology. Amy has been teaching within the Hartford school systems for twelve years, and has taught for many private schools and organizations. A graduate of the Academy’s Dance Department, she has been working for CREC since 1998 as a Teaching Artist. Recently she has been employed as an Office Assistant for GHAMAS and GHAA with other responsibilities including Lunch Program Coordinator, Contemporary Dance Teacher, and Yearbook Advisor for GHAA.

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Michael Nowicki holds a BFA in Acting from the Experimental Theater Wing at the TISCH School of the Arts at New York University. In addition, he has studied Commedia dellArte and improvisation at the DellArte International School of Physical Theatre in California. He has workshopped with a variety of groups ranging from Chicago's Second City Theatre to Anne Bogart's Saratoga International Theatre Institute. Michaels performing experience is seasoned with numerous professional acting credits, including 5 mainstage productions and over 15 staged readings with Hartford Stage, where he worked directly with two Pulitzer Prize winners in drama. As an instructor, he has served on many local faculties including the University of Hartford, the School of the Hartford Ballet, Hartford Stage Company and the Hartford Conservatory, where he served as Dean of Musical Theater during his 8 year affiliation with the college. Michael has also taught abroad, with stops including Iceland, Africa and Russia, where he spent 3 weeks as an invited guest artist. He has been the Artistic Director of the Theater Program at Simsbury High School for the last 9 years. Michael was the proud recipient of the 2003 Artist/Instructor of the Year Award from the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, where he has been a faculty member since 1995. Michael frequently directs productions and leads technique workshops for high schools, colleges and professional theater companies.

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Martin Obeng is a composer, educator, dancer and master drummer who has worked internationally for the last 25 years. A native of Ghana, West Africa, Mr. Obeng began drumming at age five and by seventeen, had been appointed Royal Court Drummer to the chief of the Aburi-Akuapim region of Eastern Ghana.  He toured West Africa as a drummer and dancer with Ghana’s National Arts council Folkloric Company and later moved to the U.S. where he worked with the New England based Talking Drum Ensemble.  He has taught drumming and dance at Brown University since 1988.  He uses the drum to create surprising melodies and counterpoints in addition to complex rhythms, and this unique style is captured on his distinctive recordings, Awakening and Sunsum (Spirit) and on the compilation Africa: Never Stand Still.  Marrying traditional instruments and rhythm patterns with original compositions, he creates a fresh new sound. He has performed in festivals, music venues and schools in the U.S., Mexico, South America, Africa, and New Zealand playing and recording with such luminaries as Max Roach, Ed Blackwell, Roy Hargrove, Jay Hoggard, and Anthony Braxton. KKO’s new CD available at www.obeng.org

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Jim Oblon received his B.A. in Jazz Studies from William Paterson University. He has made seven recordings with Dick Oatts, worked with Jazz musicians such as David Liebman, Clark Terry, Jerry Bergonzi and is currently teaching lessons to Paul Simon’s son, Quinn. He has toured Sweden with Dick Oatts, and has studied South Indian drumming.

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Maureen O'Brien received a grant from Barbara Deming Memorial Fund/Money for Women to complete b-mother. b-mother, her first novel, published by Harcourt Trade in Feb. 2007, has also been translated into German and Italian. It was recently selected by the New York Public Library as a Best Teen Read for 2007, and the movie rights sold to Lifetime Original Movies. In May 2007 she received the Patricia Dobler Poetry Award from Carlow University for her poem “Incoming Wounded”. The prize was a trip to Ireland to study with Irish writers. She has been the recipient of a fiction grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her poems and stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including Hurricane Alice, Kalliope, How(ever), Earth’s Daughters, and The Louisville Review, The Lilliput Review; Hard Ground III: Writing the Rockies; Through a Child’s Eyes; Mother’s Nature; I Am Becoming the Woman I’ve Wanted (which received an American Book Award). She received an Honorable Mention in the Robert Penn Warren Award, judged by Yusef Komunyakaa and second place in "Many Mountains Moving" 2008 Flash Fiction Contest.

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Clare O'Donnell holds a Master’s Degree in Dance from Wesleyan University and a B.A. in Theatre and Dance and Economics from Trinity College.  Ms. O’Donnell has been on faculty at University of Hartford, Hartford Conservatory, Dance Connecticut, and was a visiting lecturer at Trinity College.  Additionally, she has taught and performed throughout the United States and Europe and she is currently the Artistic Director of her own tap dance company called O’D n’ Tap.  Recently, she was chosen to perform at Oklahoma City University Doctorial Awards program to honor tap legends and masters who were awarded honorary doctorate degrees. The inductees included Geni Legon, Fayard Nicholas, Jimmy Slyde, Leonard Reed, Prince Spencer, Bunny Briggs, Buster Brown, Cholly Atkins and Henry LeTang. Ms. O’Donnell and her company have performed at Lincoln Center, Jacob’s Pillow International Dance Festival and at the New York City Tap Festival. Ms. O’Donnell has performed with tap legends Gregory Hines, Savion glover, Jimmy Slyde, Dianne Walker and with her teacher and mentor Brenda Bufalino. She has also shared the stage with several of the late great master’s including Buster Brown, Chuck Green and Lon Chaney.  Clare O’Donnell is a choreographer, dancer and educator who honors and dedicates herself to the American tap dance tradition.  She takes great pride in studying, teaching and preserving the history of tap dance as an indigenous, vital art form.

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Rafael Oses holds degrees from Hartford Art School and Columbia University. His work appeared in Black Warrior Review in 1998, won its 1998-99 Literary Award for poetry, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He received an artist grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts in 1999, was a MacDowell Colony fellow in 2002, a finalist for the Philbrick Award in 2004, the inaugural recipient of the Alonzo Davis Fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in 2007, and received an Amy Rao Honorary Fellowship from the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in 2008. His poems have also been published in Fugue, The Cincinnati Review, Endicott Review and The Portland Review. His radio play “Violet Enlightens” has been broadcast across the country and around the world, and is archived in the Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY-Buffalo. “Necessary Monsters”, a staged song cycle written with composer Carla Kihlstedt, was performed at Alverno College in 2007 and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2008. “Tres Canciónes Españolas”, written for soprano and guitar with composer Thomas Schuttenhelm, premiered at Central Connecticut State University in 2009. He has been a core faculty member in Creative Writing at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts since 1997, received a Surdna Arts Teacher Fellowship in 2007, and has also taught courses at the University of Hartford and Saint Joseph College.

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Christine Palm is a writer of feature articles, essays, poetry and op-ed pieces. She serves as Communications Director for the Connecticut General Assembly’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, the state’s leading force for women’s equality. She has been a reporter for several newspapers, including The Hartford Times and the Advocate, as well as a columnist for The Hartford Courant. Palm worked with the Arthur Miller Literary and Dramatic Trust, helping to prepare the playwright’s journals for editing. In her spare time, she coaches Hartford Little League teams and serves on the board of the Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens, of which she is immediate past president. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.

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Maryjane Peluso received her B.S. in music education from the Crane School of Music, State University College at Potsdam, New York and a M.M. in piano performance from the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music.  She is the founding member of the Kelley-Peluso Piano Duo, which has released a new CD entitled, Pianodance, and performs in chamber and solo recitals as well. She is the assistant music director for the Plainville Choral Society, and has maintained a private piano studio since 1976. Maryjane has studied with Sandra Shapiro at The Cleveland Institute of Music, and was recently invited to perform at the Van Cliburn Piano Institute at Texas Christian University.

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Peter Peluso received his B.S. in music education from the Crane School of Music, State University College at Potsdam, N.Y. He is currently the Choral Director of the Plainville Choral Society, and the Central Region Youth Theater. He has studied choral conducting with Bert Konowitz and Peter Bagley. Mr. Peluso has been guest choral conductor for the Association of Connecticut Choruses, The Connecticut Music Education's Regional Festival and The Charter Oak Music Festival. He has also been musical theater director for Myth Farmington, Rocky Hill Theater Guild, Bristol Civic Theater and the Berlin Youth Theater. He has been a guest clinician/speaker at Central Connecticut State University and for the Association of Connecticut Choruses. Mr. Peluso has taught private voice lessons since 1987 and has had a flourishing piano tuning business since 1973.  Peter served as the Academy Music Chairperson from 1989 through 1991.

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Caitlin Peters Biology Teacher, graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2005 with a BS in biology and played ice hockey. She then worked for 3 years at a small bio pharmaceutical company in Meriden as a quality control analyst. Then Caitlin decided to go back to school to get my teaching certificate from SCSU. This past year she student taught at Hamden High and was a long term substitute at Glastonbury High. Caitlin currently resides in Cromwell but is originally from Minnesota and is a sports fanatic.

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Pit Menpusek Pinegar is a poet, fiction writer, playwright and essayist.  She is a teaching artist with the Bushnell Performing Arts Center, Litchfield Performing Arts, Inc., and The Center for Creative Youth.  For eight years she directed the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival’s urban outreach program. Ms. Pinegar has three volumes of poetry, Nine Years Between Two Poems, The Possibilities of Empty Space, and the Physics of Transmigration.  Her Broadside Miniatures ™ (combinations of poems and photographs) have been exhibited at The Shaw Cramer Gallery, Vineyard Haven, MA, The Norfolk, Artisan’s Guild, The Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT, the Buttonwood Tree Galley in Middletown, CT, The Magpie Gallery in Lewisburg, PA and the Gallery of the Performing Arts, Hartford, CT.

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Sonia Plumb is a choreographer, dance educator, performer and STOTT certified Pilates instructor. She is former artistic director of Sonia Plumb Dance Company and two-time recipient of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts Choreographers Fellowship for Artistic Excellence. Sonia has choreographed for Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, Naugatuck Valley Community College, Hartford Children’s Theater, and Capitol Classics amongst others. Sonia currently teaches at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Hartford Conservatory, Studio of Dance, and PHIT Pilates in Hartford and is performing with DanceConnect. Sonia received her BA in Dance and Theater from Trinity College, Hartford, CT.

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Robert Resnikoff is a professional actor and teacher who has performed in plays by Shakespeare, Stoppard, Rice, Coward, Tolstoy and others in New York and on the road. He has also done extensive narration and voice-over work, and hosted classical music programs on WQXR, New York and WSHU, Fairfield. As an arts administrator, he has worked for the New York Philharmonic, the 92nd Street Y, the Shubert Theater New Haven, and others. He studied Acting and Directing at Boston University’s School of Fine and Applied Arts and apprenticed at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, and is a proud member of Actors Equity, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He serves as Teaching Artist in the Oddfellows Summer Shakespeare Academy and in 2010 will teach Acting Shakespeare in Wesleyan University's Graduate Liberal Studies Program.

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Deborah Collins Ryder joined the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in 2006. She is also presently on the faculty at the University of Hartford/Hartt School Dance Division, where she is a principal ballet teacher for both the college and community divisions. Prior to her teaching at GHAA, she co-directed and helped develop the Eastern Connecticut Ballet, where she choreographed several works of critical acclaim. She was a principal dancer and soloist with the Hartford Ballet for many years, where she performed and was featured in many full length ballets such as: The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Coppelia, Alice in Wonderland, Carmina Burana, and Hansel and Gretel. A versatile dancer, she was also featured in numerous works by: Balanchine, Taylor, Limon, Uthoff, Victoria Marks, and was an original cast member in Pilobolus’ Land’s Edge. While in the Hartford Ballet, she also acted as ballet mistress. She graduated with honors from Virginia Intermont College with a degree in Ballet and Ballet Teaching, and was on full scholarship with the Joffrey Ballet.

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Elizabeth Saunders Mezzo-Soprano, received a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California and an Artist Diploma in Opera Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She received additional training from the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in Aldeburgh, England and the Aspen Music Festival and School. Her performance career in opera and concert has taken her around the U.S, Eastern and Western Europe and Japan. Also on the voice faculty at Trinity College, she has taught voice privately since 1995, and has taught voice technique and master classes for the New National Theater Tokyo’s Young Artist Training Program. Her awards include the Western Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Regional MacAllister Awards in Chicago and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards. An accomplished performer of Lieder and Art Song, she sings over 50 solo works of composer Charles Ives as the mezzo soloist for the “Ives Vocal Marathon”, a six concert series of the complete songs of Charles Ives. www.ElizabethSaundersVoice.com.

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Christine Bard-Simoes is a graduate of The Academy’s Dance Department (‘96) and has her degree in Dance Pedagogy from The Hartford Conservatory. She has trained to compete professionally in American Style, Latin Ballroom Dance. Christine has performed, taught and choreographed Jazz, Ballet and Ballroom Dance to children and adults for the past 13 years in schools throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. She has also choreographed for the Academy’s Musical Theater Summer Program for the past 6 years and choreographed 3 of the Academy’s spring musicals.

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Judi Tolomea has worked with and performed the choreography of Anna Sokolow, Twyla Tharp, Wendy Perron, Bill T. Jones, and Yoshiko Chuma as well as the works of Isadora Duncan, Doris Humphrey, and Jose Limon. She has performed in solo concert at RAW, Trinity College, Wesleyan University and throughout the U.S. and Mexico. Ms. Tolomea has also performed as a principal dancer with CT Dance Theater, Judy Dworin, and Martynuk/McAdams.  Ms. Tolomea was former Dean of Dance at the Hartford Conservatory where she re-instated the Dance Diploma Program and began ANNEXDance, a repertory dance company of which she was Artistic Director.  Ms. Tolomea conceived, produced, and performed in the concert “Save the Planet”, a benefit for the nuclear freeze campaign, in which she invited Eiko and Koma and other guest artists to perform.  Ms. Tolomea has her master of arts from Wesleyan University where she was a visiting faculty member and has also taught at Trinity College, the Hartford Conservatory, and continues to teach at Westminster and Watkinson schools.

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Iris Van Rynbach has been an arts instructor at the GHAA since 2001. She currently teaches drawing, painting, fashion rendering as well as an illustrating and writing book class in the Tech Theater and Creative Writing Departments. Iris is also an adjunct faculty member at MCC, teaching art and writing classes. Her new nonfiction book for children titled The Taxing Case of the Cows will be out in 2010 published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt- her 14th published book for children. Iris is a regular contributor to The Hartford Courant writing travel, gardening, food, and life style articles and illustrations. Her work has graced the cover of The New Yorker magazine numerous times. Iris has also worked for The New York Times, Gourmet, Yankee, and Seasons magazine. Iris is a graduate of Parsons School of Design.

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Debra Walsh was hired as an Artist /Instructor in 1988 in the Theater Department. In 2001, she was promoted to core faculty. She became a member of the Hartbeat Ensemble in 2008. She has performed and taught with the Ensemble since 2005. She created the role of Ebeneeza in Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol, works with the Finding Words trainings, performed in the CNA project, and made her directorial debut with the Plays In The Parks 2007. She brings over 25 years of professional work as an actor, producer and theatre arts educator. Some of this experience includes: Core Faculty in the Theater Department at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Artist Instructor at the Hartford Conservatory, and the Center for Creative Youth. Locally she has performed with Hartford Stage, ArtFarm and Capital Classics Theater. She was a 2006 recipient of a Surdna Fellowship which allowed her to study Puppetry in France. Most recently, (2009) she was awarded Artist /Instructor of the year at the Academy.

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Joni Weisfeld also teaches Movement 1 at The Hartt Conservatory at The University of Hartford. At the Academy, Joni has directed "Chicago", "Macbeth", "The Seagull" and "Cabaret". Professional directing credits include "The Prodigal Son", "The System" and "Breakfast for Dinner" which premiered at the NYC Fringe Festival in 2005. Most recently Joni directed ARTfarm's production of "The Taming of the Shrew". Joni received her BFA in Acting from the University of Connecticut and has worked as an actress all over the country in numerous tours and theatre ensembles.

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Christopher Weed is a graduate of Oberlin College (1972) where he majored in music as an organist and harpsichordist. At the University of Hartford he pursued graduate studies in medieval and renaissance music. He has studied conducting with Robert Eichenberger and James Jordan at Westminster Choir College. Since his summer stock experience with the College Light Opera Company, he has coached and accompanied and music directed for local theater groups, including Simsbury Light Opera, Manchester Musical Players and Producing Guild.

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Nancy Wolfe has been Director of the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University since 1999. She is an educator in her 19th year on faculty at Greater Harford Academy of the Arts, with 10 years as Artistic/Instructor of Theater Programs at Simsbury High School, and several seasons as Artist/Instructor at the International Film and Television workshops in Rockport, Maine. A member of Actor’s Equity Association, Screen Actor’s Guild, and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Nancy worked for 20 years as a professional actor, director and producer for theater/film. Recent performance work: actor for Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theater Center Playwright’s Conference, Harford Stage’s BRAND: new series of staged readings, and Co-Star (with Richard Karn) in “Mr. Blue Sky”, a full-length independent feature film which premiered in L.A., Houston and N.Y.C. She served as Acting Coach for daughter Ashley Wolfe on an episode of the NBC-TV drama “Third Watch” and on “Jewel”, a CBS-TV movie of the week starring Farah Fawcett and Cecily Tyson. Nancy has served several years on the Theater Review Panel and on the Master Teaching Artist Review Panel for the CT Commission on the Arts, and currently serves on the Education Advisory Board for the Goodspeed Opera House. She gained 10 years experience in Arts Administration as Co-Founder, Board Member and Managing Director of COMPANY ONE, an Actors’ Equity Association Theater Company. An alumni of Leadership Greater Hartford, Nancy’s recent “leadership project” came to fruition when she and a delegation from CREC traveled to Cape Verde, Africa, establishing a five-year agreement with the government for student exchange at CCY, which led to the formation of CCY Culture Arte, Cape Verde, a 2 week arts residency based on the CCY model.

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David Yih performs regularly with Caribbean and Latin Jazz ensembles in New England. As a member of various world music ensembles, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Symphony Space. A pianist and percussionist, David enjoys creating music for dance and theater, most recently for Trinity College productions of Blood Wedding and Turandot. David received his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, Trinity and is the author of a dissertation on the music and dance of Haitian Vodou. His field recordings and liner notes appear on the Smithsonian Folkways CD Rhythms of Rapture, and he produced a book/DC set on Haitian music, Angels in the Mirror. He taught at Wesleyan University, Trinity College, Eastern Connecticut State University, the University of Bridgeport, and the University of New Haven.

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Nina Zilber graduated Chernigov School of Music, Ukraine, in the piano class of Eugenia Borisova.  Her teaching career started in 1980.  She also worked as a music editor at the Lviv Philharmonic Society, Ukraine, and as a choir accompanist.  She worked as a ballet accompanist at the Hartford Ballet, Nutmeg Conservatory and presently at Dance Connecticut.  She continues to teach privately as well.