I knew from the very start that theater would be an integral part of my life. Growing up among 10 brothers and sisters, a “typical” Italian family as far as I was concerned, it was that environment that instilled a love of music and the arts; in fact, after Sunday dinner, we would perform a talent show replete with lip syncs to Lou Monte’s Yakkity Yak, an interview stint with our Doberman pincer, Rex dressed in gym shorts, my ballet rendition, and a trio of sisters singing to The Fleetwoods’ Come Softly. Thus began my journey to evolve as an artist and educator, with my mantra echoing the Spice Girls’ Wannabe lyrics:
You know what I want, what I really, really want….
The Creative Arts Team (CAT)/City University of New York NYC Wolf Trap/Early Learning through the Arts (www.creativeartsteam.org) actively involves pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade students and their teachers in interactive drama activities designed to explore human, social and curricular issues. Within the context of story lines that unfold on a daily or bi-weekly basis, CAT’s professional actor/teachers, together with the children, play a variety of characters and resolve the dilemmas in the story. Choices the children make often determine the story’s outcome, offering young people the opportunity to examine consequences of their actions in a fictional context. Through their contributions, children also come to learn that they have the ability to positively affect themselves and those around them. As its Program Director with a trio of Master Teaching Artists, we created The Tale of Tancho, a conflict resolution workshop on bullying for three and four-year-olds. The objective was to answer and address the central question: What are the responsibilities and actions of a community when faced with bullying? Set within a Japanese community of cranes who make their annual migration to a warmer climate, they must decide how to facilitate this move and work together to achieve their goal. Among the family of cranes, the aggressive Kitagowa bullies Yuki. The bullying escalates to the point where the “children cranes” must decide how to deal with this situation and whether they should intervene. Depending upon their suggestions, the process drama pedagogy allows children to come up with solutions.
Working for Young Playwrights Inc., the organization that was the subject of my doctoral dissertation, was exhilarating. As Director of Instruction, I worked with youngsters in the classroom, taught and hired professional playwrights to teach the Write A Play! Curriculum in classrooms, conducted Teacher Training Institutes, wrote partnering grants with schools and arts organizations, implemented new partnerships with public libraries, developed curriculum for Diary 21: Are We Writing Loud Enough? a collaboration with The Anne Frank Center and The Vineyard Theater. I’ve worked with young playwrights across the nation at the Urban Retreat program where the Lunch & Learn series was created to have theater professionals such as playwright David Henry Hwang, Literary Agent Morgan Jenness, Director Walter Bobbie, among others conduct workshops. I have presented the Write A Play! Curriculum at local, regional, and national conferences. Since the position of Director of Instruction was eliminated due to budget constraints in March 2007, I looked to the future, once again, and decided to pursue artistic avenues, beginning with being cast in an Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues, creating a professional voiceover demo, workshop a cabaret act, lay the groundwork for First On Line With Fran, and establish a professional website. Now, it’s time to re-invent myself once again to discover…