215.895.2451
ljb89@drexel.edu

Biography

Lindsay Browning is a Performing Dance Theater Artist based in Philadelphia, Pa. She studied the Performance, Practice and History of Contemporary Dance at Radford University in Virginia. Lindsay received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from RU in 2005. Since moving to Philadelphia she's received opportunities to collaborate with many of Philadelphia's established companies as well as Independent artists including Group Motion Multimedia Dance Theater, Scrap Performance Group, Penn Dixie Productions, Susan Rethorst, Olive Prince Dance, Tania Issac Dance, Chisena Danza, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, <Fidget>, Wally Cardona Dance, Ausdrucktanz Dance Theater, Idiosyncrazy Productions, Silvana Cardell and White Box Dance Theater.

Lindsay is currently creating a series of Dance Theater Productions with Philadelphia Based Actress Kathryn Raines. Their first collaboration  “Human Realm | Earth” premiered in October 2015 at legendary Mosaic Artist Isaiah Zagar’s South Philadelphia Art Space.  Lindsay and Kathryn will premiere their second collaboration  “Human Realm | Space” in August 2016 in Philadelphia.

In addition to her work as a Performing Artist, Lindsay has developed a presence in the Philadelphia community as a Movement and Performance Photographer. Her work as a Visual Artist can be seen in several venues around the city including a Permanent Instillation in Rittenhouse Square’s Saxby's Cafe. For more information about her Photography visit www.lbrowningphotography.com.

215.895.2451
amc445@drexel.edu

Biography

Antoinette M. Coward-Gilmore is the Founder, CEO and Artistic Director of Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble. She holds a BFA from University of the Arts & an MA from New York University both in Dance Education and Performance. Coward-Gilmore is a founding company member of Eleone Dance Theatre (Phila. PA.), former member of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Company (NY.) and Rod Rodgers Dance Company (NY.). As an established choreographer, Coward-Gilmore's works have been seen on such stages as Aaron Davis Hall, New Victory Black Box, Kimmel Center, Strayhorn Theatre and the Prince Music Theatre just to name a few. Currently,Coward-Gilmore is a newly appointed adjunct instructor at Drexel University and the Director of Dance at The MLK Talent Center, a Philadelphia School Board initiative.

215.895.2451
sed32@drexel.edu

Biography

Susan Deutsch danced professionally for over 30 years. She was the movement coach/rehearsal director for several Philadelphia companies and has taught modern dance in the city since 1980.

For the past 31 years Susan has been a somatic movement educator. She was Certified at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies in 1987 and is certified through Level 2 in the Franklin Method. She loves to help people deepen their own embodiment skills and gain insights into movement that will help them move with ease and clarity.

She has a private practice working with a diverse group of clientele ranging from dancers to individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities, and people recovering from physical injuries. Along with her Laban and Franklin training, Susan brings Feldenkrais and Zero Balancing to each session.

Susan works at Drexel in both the Drexel Dance program and the Creative Arts Therapy Graduate Program. She also teaches at Circadium, the first higher education circus program in the USA.

215.895.2451
ce334@drexel.edu

Biography

Clyde Evans, Jr. began dancing Hip-Hop at 11 years old. Originally from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Evans immigrated to the United States in the early 80’s where he began to learn how to Break dance. It was the Hip-Hop phenomenon of “Breakin” that inspired him to dance and allowed him to fit in to the American culture. His circle of friends encouraged him to dance on a popular kid’s television program, Dance Party USA where he met Rennie Harris, who is one of the pioneers of Hip-Hop Dance Theater. In 1991, Evans became a founding member and lead dancer in Harris’ company. Then in 2001 began Chosen Dance Company. His purpose in forming Chosen dance is a direct result to his faith in God and the belief of presenting Hip-Hop in a way that loves, is responsible, constructive and uplifting to its audience. This attitude has allowed him to teach and perform Hip-Hop all over the world, appear in movies and videos with renowned celebrities Robert Redford, Jill Scott, Bruce Willis, Will Smith, Brad Pitt and most recently M. Night Shyamalan. It has also afforded him the opportunity to perform in events like the ESPN X-Games, appear in NFL Super Bowl commercials, 106 & Park for BET, tours for Sunny D, etc. From the summer intensive dance program at Bates College, recreational centers in the inner city to America’s Best Dance Crew, Evans continues to teach Hip-Hop at all levels throughout Philadelphia and now at Wesleyan and Drexel Universities on the East Coast. As his opportunities increase, Evans desires to utilize technology with dance across genres of performance art.

215.895.2451
cbf27@​d​r​e​x​e​l​.​e​d​u​

Biography

Christopher B Farrell is an award-winning composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of the critically acclaimed instrumental ensemble, the Rit Mo Collective. Christopher has scored music for over 100 multi-media productions including film, television, dance, and spoken word poetry. He averages over 150 live performances a year and has performed on five continents during his 30-year career as a musician.

Samples of his work can be found at the following sites –

Mud: Bodies of History, Red Earth Calling, Sound Cloud and Trombo.

215-571-3527
bwf34@drexel.edu

Biography

Britt Whitmoyer Fishel is an award-winning choreographer, screendance maker, educator, author, and scholar. Her work examines relationships between the ephemeral nature of live performance and the permanence of dance in the digital sphere, with a research focus on the rhizomes of feminism, gender gap, access, and community.

Fishel is the leader and Artistic Director of Britt Fishel and Artists, a collaborative, contemporary dance company in Philadelphia. In addition, she is the director and curator of Opine Dance Film Festival, an annual, international screendance festival in its 9th season. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance from East Carolina University and a MFA in Dance and Screendance from the University of Michigan.

Fishel has led company tours throughout New York City, Philadelphia, D.C., Richmond, Asheville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago, London, Italy, and France. Her screen work has been seen in Greensboro Dance Film Festival, Y’allywood Film Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, EnCore Dance on Film Festival, DanceBARN, Dance for Reel, FilmFest by Rogue Dancer, Women in Dance Leadership Conference, FringeArts, MashUp Dance's IWD Festival, FlorenceDanceOnScreen, well as several gallery exhibitions across the country.

In 2021, Fishel and BF and Artists received the “Lorenzo il Magnifico" International Award for Performance from the Florence Biennale and in 2022 she authored The Screendance Practitioner's Workbook: A Pre-Production Guide for Creativity and Organization.

Fishel has presented research at Dance Studies Association's Annual Conferences and currently sits as Co-Chair of DSA's Dance and Technology Working Group.

215.895.2451
kag459@drexel.edu

Biography

Kim Gadlin has been teaching dance in higher education for the past 20 years. Currently, she is teaching at Drexel University and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She has taught Dunham inspired classes, production, dance history, arts integration, and dance from a womanist’s perspective. Throughout her career she has taught African infused dance, ballet, Dunham inspired classes, jazz, Graham, Horton, improvisation, and dance/movement workshops that focus on dance as a healing modality.

Presently, she is the newly appointed Director of Dance Education for The Philadelphia Dance Company that is warmly known as PHILADANCO! and the current Director of the youth ensemble D/3. She teaches for the Philadelphia Dance Arts School and recently, she has been asked to teach master classes for PHILADANCO!’s first and second companies.

Ms. Gadlin was a soloist with PHILADANCO! and a principal dancer with the Joseph Holmes Dance Theater of Chicago. She has created and set choreography within higher education institutions and secondary schools along with choreography, she has been casted in movies, commercials, and videos. She is the co-founder of D.ancestors Present…a platform where dance is used as a modality of healing and self development. She is also the co-founder of The African Diasporic Dance Conference at the Claremont Colleges.

She received her professional dance training from the Alvin Ailey Studios- Merit Scholarship, Joel Hall: New School North, Joseph Holmes School of Dance-Chance to Dance Scholarship, Philadanco!, Ruth Page School of Dance, and STEPS. She has studied and worked closely with Joseph Holmes, Joan Myers Brown, Milton Myers, Talley Beatty, Harriet Ross, Randy Duncan, Keith McDaniel, Thea Barnes, Tommy Gomez, Homer Bryant, Joel Hall, Walter Raines, Jose Myers, Joan Peters and many others renowned teachers and choreographers.

Ms. Gadlin was a Pitzer College New Resource student and graduated with a B.A. in Dance. She has a M.A. in Education with an emphasis in Dance Education from Claremont, and she is completing a Ph.D. in Dance at Texas Woman’s University. She is working towards gaining a certification in Dance/Movement Therapy and in the Dunham Technique. One of Ms. Gadlin’s core beliefs is that dance has the power to build sustainable and creative communities that transforms lives.

215.895.4914
mgg22@drexel.edu

Biography

Dr. Giguere graduated magna cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania earning both a BA in psychology and an MS in education in four years. She earned her PhD in dance from Temple University, where she was awarded the Emerging Doctoral Scholar award. Her dissertation was recognized nationally by the American Educational Research Association with their 2009 National Dissertation Award for Arts and Learning. She is a frequent presenter at the national conferences of the National Dance Education Organization amd her research has been published in Research in Dance Education, Arts Education Policy Review, Journal of Dance Education, Dance Education in Practice, Arts & Learning Journal, and International Journal of Education and the Arts among others. Dr. Giguere was the keynote speaker for Dance Education Conference 2010, Singapore, an invited presenter at the Dance and the Child International conferences in Taiwan in 2012, Denmark in 2015 and Australia in 2018. She is an associate editor of the journal Dance Education in Practice where she writes a regular column entitled Dance Trends, and has guest edited three special issues of that journal Community Dance (2017), Choreography in Education (2019) and Virtual Dance(2021) . Dr. Giguere is also the author of the textbook Beginning Modern Dance, published in 2013 through Human Kinetics. She is currently the President of the Pennsylvania Dance Education Organization, the state affiliate of the National Dance Education Organization.

Dr. Giguere directed the dance program at Drexel University from 1992-2015, before becoming Department Head for Performing Arts in 2015. She was also the Director of the Drexel University Dance Ensemble, a 55 dancer company, and FreshDance, a freshmen only company of 35 dancers, from 1992-2020, having guest directed and/or choreographed on the company in 1990 and 1991. She currently teaches academic dance classes in Dance History, Dance Pedagogy, Dance Appreciation and Dance Criticism and Aesthetics.

See Dr. Giguere's CV here.

215.895.2451
ig369@drexel.edu

215-571-4443
vji24@drexel.edu

Biography

Valerie Ifill is an active dance artist, educator and researcher interested in the intersection of dance and community, making dance education more accessible to communities of color and embodied storytelling. Valerie is a collaborative dance artist and Assistant Professor of Dance at Drexel University.

Valerie is invested in university-community dance education initiatives and using Africanist perspectives to support university dance curriculum. Her written research is centered on university-community partnerships; race and power in education; and making dance accessible to all. Invested in making dance more accessible to communities of color, Valerie has founded and directed university-community dance programs at Drexel University through Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships in Philadelphia, PA, and at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC. Certified to teach Inside-Out Prison Exchange courses, Valerie also teaches classes for groups of university students and incarcerated citizens. Black Girls STEAMing through Dance is a collaborative project making Dance, Code, and Making with electronic textiles accessible to 7-12-year-old Black girls. This research has been presented nationally and internationally, as well as being highlighted in TED-X Philadelphia (2019) as innovative work making STEAM accessible to people of color.

Through her creative work, Valerie strives to tell non-linear stories supported by values of community building while creating spaces for marginalized people. This process-based creative work is expressed through leading process-based self-reflective movement workshops on identity; bringing interactive dance experiences into elementary and middle schools in urban communities; creating work for the concert stage; and creating interdisciplinary site-specific performances for non-traditional dance audiences.

Collaborative interests have led to multiple projects including founding IfillDance Co./LAB and co-founding TRANSForm Dance Collective, a cross-country collective focused on contemporary discourses on and through the art of dance.

Valerie’s research has been presented at the South Carolina Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance conference, the American College Dance Association festivals, International Conference on Urban Education, National Arts Education Association conferences, Blumenthal Performing Arts Educational Lunch & Learn series, the Journal of Dance Education, and National Dance Education Organization conferences.

Valerie earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from the University of Oregon, completed the Independent Study Program at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a Dance minor from Kent State University.

www.valifilldance.com

215.895.2451
kks94@drexel.edu

Biography

Kalila Kingsford Smith was introduced to Pilates in 2014 in order to address lower back pain and increase core strength as a means of supporting her local dance career as an independent choreographer. She completed the Drexel Pilates Training Program under the direction of Jennifer Morley in 2018. She works to create an encouraging learning environment where clients feel seen and supported. She offers anatomically informed feedback to help clients access an integrated and supported core. She builds classes around clients’ specific health and fitness goals, so they feel great in their bodies after every session. Kalila utilizes her dance background by moving clients with rhythm and flow. Kalila received her MA in Dance from Temple University, her BFA in Dance and her BA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan.

215.895.2451
bm3353@drexel.edu

Biography

Rebecca Malcolm-Naib danced professionally with ZeroMoving Dance Company, Karen Bamonte Dance Works, Chamber Dance Company, Freedman/Coleman Dance Company, Claudia Murphey Dance Company, Battery Dance Company, and with several independent choreographers in prestigious venues including the Joyce Theater (NYC), Meany Center for the Performing Arts (WA), Walker Art Center (MN), Jacob's Pillow (MS), Annenberg Center (PA), Saltzburg Tanz Festival (Austria), and The Kennedy Center (DC). She was Co-Founder and Co-Director of Travesty Dance Group from 1997-2010. Rebecca's choreography has been performed in Cleveland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Maine, Toronto, Houston, and New York City. She is the 2022 recipient of the Ellen Forman Memorial Dance Award for her choreography. Rebecca has taught full-time at the University of Washington and Kent State University, master classes at several U.S. colleges and universities, at Bates Dance Festival’s Young Dancers Workshop, and as adjunct faculty at Bryn Mawr College and Swarthmore College. She is the Interim Director of the Drexel University Dance Ensemble. Her research has been published in Impulse: The International Journal of Dance and Science, Medicine, and Education. Rebecca graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College, and received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Washington. She was a member of the Board of Directors for BalletX from 2012-2021 and rejoined the board in 2022.

215-895-2451
em39@drexel.edu

Biography

Elizabeth McNamara, BC-DMT, LPC, NCC is a Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor in Philadelphia. She works with individuals and couples in Private Practice as well as provides EAP consulting in a corporate setting. She is the Program Director for the Creative Arts for Everyone project within the Family Court system, where she has worked for 20 years providing creative arts interventions for non-custodial parents and their children. Elizabeth is an Adjunct Faculty member at Drexel University. Areas of specialty include working with families impacted by trauma and providing licensure support in Clinical Supervision.

Elizabeth trained at the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet before attending Towson State University (Dance/Psychology) and Hahnemann University (MA in Dance/Movement Therapy).

215.895.2018
jsm76@drexel.edu

Biography

Jennifer Morley is an Associate Teaching Professor and the Somatics coordinator in the Drexel University dance program. She is the Director of both the Drexel Pilates studio and the 450-hour Drexel Pilates training program. She is the coordinator of the Somatics minor. Her scholarship is highly focused on both existing and emerging embodied practices and the cultures and value systems from which they emerge. Jennifer is dedicated to anti-racist pedagogy and active inclusion.

Her specific work in the Pilates method has been centered on the deconstruction of the biomechanics of the classical repertoire. This practice is reflected in the 400-page training manual she authored and utilizes in the training program. This approach, partnered with exploration of the kinetics of dynamic stabilization and a love of full-bodied expressive movement create the foundation of her dance pedagogy.

Jennifer’s choreographic research is focused on the development of archetypal movement modes as a starting point for the creation of inhabited landscapes. Utilizing the Jungian understanding of archetypes as energies that reflect innate tendencies that mold and transform individual consciousness that live in all humans across time, space, and culture, she works to develop movement motifs that connect to lived experiences.

Her work was most recently presented at the Somatic Dance conference in Geneva New York and at the Cardell Dance Studio in Philadelphia. She has had a two-year choreographic residency at Philadelphia’s Community Education Center and been the recipient of multiple New Stages for Dance grants through Dance USA Philadelphia and the Pew Center for Arts and Culture.

Jennifer is invested in the development and support of community. She teaches mindfulness workshops throughout the University and beyond. She developed a community-based yoga course, through which she was able to study trauma informed care at the Kirkbride Center behavioral health care facility.

Her background includes Pilates certifications from Romana Kryzanowska (Romana’s Pilates) and Karen Carlson (Pineland Pilates) and multiple yoga certifications including a dynamic flow certification from Alex Holmes. She is working toward a Dynamic Embodiment certification from Dr. Martha Eddy and holds select certifications in the Franklin Method. Drexel Pilates has been highlighted in Dance Magazine, Pilates Style Magazine, and Drexel Quarterly. Interviews with Jennifer have been published on DanceAdvantage.net and the Gratz Industries International newsletter. Jennifer’s performance background includes work with Keith Thompson/ danceTactics, Olive Prince Dance, and Deborah Goffe’s Scapegoat Garden. Through danceTactics, Jennifer taught master classes at Duke University and at the American Dance Festival in North Carolina. She was the recipient of a 2020 Rocky Award.

215.895.2451
cm3859@drexel.edu

Biography

Camille Moten, originally from Somerset, New Jersey, received her formal concert dance training at PHILADANCO!'s School of Dance Arts while studying dance at Temple University (BFA). Before going on to obtain her MFA at Rutgers University (2019), she had the pleasure of working as a performing artist with Kavin Grant, Kim Bears Bailey, Laurie M. Taylor, Ashlé Dawson, and Sonia James Pennington, among others. As a choreographer, Camille has choreographed musicals for the Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company, as well as created and produced an original evening-length immersive live dance theatre show called Ella's Trip (2019). Camille is the Founder & Director of the Company of Collaborative Artists (CoCA), a professional dance company for the movers of the new 2020's (www.cocamoves.com).

She is also the Owner of Camille Moten & Company, LLC. a virtual arts & wellness service business that was founded in 2020 to support , connect, and hold space for all people. is committed to holding space for all people. Camille is also a passionate dance educator and writer, serving on faculty at several institutions and schools of dance, including Rutgers University, Drew University, Stockton University, Ballet Hispanico, and more. Camille is a certified yoga instructor through the Baptiste Power Yoga methodology (200-RYT).

www.camillemoten.com

215.895.2451
okp23@drexel.edu

Biography

Olive Prince is a veteran Philadelphia performer having worked with many independent artists as well as a company member with Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (2007-2013), and Merian Soto (2005-present) for close to a decade.

Prince received her MFA in dance and choreography from Temple University where her choreography was chosen for the American Colleges Dance Festival Association’s National Concert at the Kennedy Center. She has been commissioned to create dance for Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Group Motion, and to create site-specific work for Hobart and William Smith College’s 40th anniversary of the women’s studies program as well as choreograph at Drexel University, Bryn Mawr College, Stockton College, Kutztown University, and West Chester University. She was also commissioned by Drexel University to create an original piece for students to perform at the International Night of the Singapore Youth Festival – the only American company ever to receive this invitation.

Prince is artistic director of Olive Prince Dance which has been presented at the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, the 2010 Live Arts Festival, the International Contemporary Dance Conference, New Dance Alliance’s Performance Mix Joyce Soho, the CEC Resident Artist Series, the NEW Festival and as part of the Susan Hess Choreographer’s Project where she was a resident artist. OPD’s most recent work was created in collaboration with visual artist, Carrie Powell while resident artist at the Iron Factory. As an educator, Prince has taught as a full-time and adjunct faculty member at Drexel University since 2008, focusing on modern dance, composition, and improvisation. Most recently, Prince was featured in an interview on her most recent work, on WHYY’s piece “Articulate with Jim Cotter”.

215.895.2451
mkr38@drexel.edu

Biography

Meredith Rainey, Carbon Dance Theatre Founder & Artistic Director, began dancing at 15 in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale.  In 1985 he joined the Milwaukee Ballet. In 1987, he joined the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet, remaining with the Pennsylvania Ballet when the collaboration ended as a soloist until his retirement in 2006. The recipient of the 1995 & 2002 PA Council on the Arts Fellowship, the 2001 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Artist as Catalyst Grant, the 2002 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts and, a 2003 Pew Fellowship in the Arts Finalist.  Meredith has been commissioned to create works for Pennsylvania Ballet, Delaware Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, National Ballet De Cali, BalletX, Danse4Nia and institutions such as Drexel University, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr College. His work has been performed in North and South America and throughout Spain.

215.895.2451
wdr29@drexel.edu

215.895.2451
ast64@drexel.edu

Biography

Abby Toll is a graduate of Drexel University with a Bachelor of Science in Entertainment and Arts Management. Since graduating in 2018, she has worked as a freelance Stage Manager and Arts Administrator in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. She has worked for Delaware Shakespeare, Inus Nua, Azuka, and many more. When not working in the arts, Abby is a preschool teacher, working with kids ages 3-5. She loves introducing the magic of the arts to young minds.

215.571.3528
laa24@drexel.edu

Biography

Luke Abruzzo received his M.M. in jazz studies from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1998, and a B.A. in music from the University of Pittsburgh in 1996. He is currently a full-time auxiliary instructor of music at Drexel University teaching music theory, composition and arranging, as well as guitar. Luke Abruzzo resides in the Philadelphia area and maintains an active career as a freelance guitarist and composer.

He is nationally recognized for his jazz big-band arrangements and original compositions. His work has been performed at jazz festivals in Colorado, California, and Philadelphia as well as at national conferences for the College Music Society. Locally, Luke Abruzzo is the staff arranger for Up Front, a Philadelphia based big-band. He has also brought his music to Drexel University through a series of commissions by the Drexel University Keyboard Ensemble. In the spring of 2008 he premiered his first piece for concert band, “Reflections of Prague”, written exclusively for the Drexel University Concert Band.

In December of 2008, with his band Up Front, some of Luke Abruzzo’s arrangements will be featured in a live radio broadcast in Philadelphia. He is currently working on another commissioned piece for the Drexel University Keyboard Ensemble, planning to be premiered in 2009. Also premiering in spring of 2009 is a concert band arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango”, to be performed by the Drexel University Concert band.

Luke Abruzzo is an active member of the College Music Society, National Association of Music Education, and the Society of composers.

215.895.4915
sdb33@drexel.edu

Biography

Scott D. Bacon is an Associate Teaching Professor in Music at Drexel University. Mr. Bacon has developed and taught courses in Rock Music, American Popular Music, Class Piano 1 and 2, Class Percussion, Applied Percussion, Introduction to Music, and a course on the Music of The Beatles. He founded and directs The All College Choir. Mr. Bacon is the author of two textbooks: The History of Rock and Roll: Part 1 (1865-1970) published by Kendall Hunt in 2016 and Modern Rock: From the 1960s On published by Cognella in 2019.

Prior to joining Drexel University, Mr. Bacon taught choral and classroom music in k-12 public schools for 10 years in Maryland and Pennsylvania. His high school choirs traveled extensively and received excellent and superior ratings at festivals in the United States and Canada. He was nominated twice to be included in The Who’s Who of American High School Teachers.

Mr. Bacon received his Master of Science in Higher Education from Drexel University in September of 2008 and his Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Elizabethtown College in 1992. Mr. Bacon is the faculty advisor for Pi Nu Epsilon, an honorary student performing arts fraternity and 8 to the Bar, an a cappella student vocal organization. Mr. Bacon is active as a choral adjudicator in the Mid-Atlantic region and conducts a church choir in his home town of Lititz, Pa.

215-895-2451
pjb326@drexel.edu

Biography

Learning a musical instrument is an incredibly rewarding pursuit. Getting the most out of musical study means accessing high quality arts experiences both as a learner and an audience member, finding mentors to navigate the many pathways available to artists in today’s interconnected world, and embracing the understanding that this pursuit is a lifelong journey. Patrick Bailey is a career musician, educator, conductor, and administrator whose professional pursuits center on meeting these needs.

At its core, artistic training serves to deepen one’s understanding of the world and enrich one’s life.

Patrick currently serves as a tenured faculty member of the Pennsbury School District instrumental music program in Southeastern Pennsylvania - Pennsbury has been recognized as one of the best communities for music education in the country by the N.A.M.M. foundation for over a decade. The school district’s instrumental music program provides opportunities for students in 4th through 12th grade to learn a musical instrument in school. Performing ensembles from the district have toured 4 continents, won national and international musical competitions, and been a springboard for the careers of many professional musicians and music educators. Patrick’s roles within the instrumental music program have included director positions with the high school curricular concert bands, co-

curricular marching and jazz bands, extra-curricular pit orchestra and chamber music programs; and director and coordinator positions with the middle school and elementary school curricular band and orchestra programs, and extra-curricular honor programs.

In addition to his work in public education, Patrick is deeply involved in the arts education non-profit sector through his work as on the artistic and administrative staff of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Music Institute; he currently serves as the Operations Director & Librarian for the Institute, and Director & Conductor of the Philadelphia Youth Symphonic Band – a new program offering from the Institute which seeks to engage advanced instrumental students through performance of professional level concert band and wind ensemble repertoire.

As a part of his efforts to bridge the gap between participation in school music programs and continued engagement in the arts after graduation, Patrick engages in music education at the collegiate level as well. Appointed in 2019, Patrick has served as the Music Director & Conductor of the Drexel University Concert Band program. The DUCB connects students from across the University through shared experience and performance. Students who make up this ensemble are not music majors, as Drexel does not offer a music performance major: members of the DUCB attend Drexel to study architecture, biology, engineering, computer science, fashion design, behavioral and health sciences, music industry, and more, and stay involved in music through performance in the university’s flagship concert band program. These students rehearse twice a week and perform great works from the concert band repertoire. Past positions in higher education include adjunct professor at Temple University, where Patrick co-authored the Arts Enterprise course on personal financial management and entrepreneurship in the arts, and adjunct professor at Moore College of Art and Design where he taught entrepreneurship in the business minor program.

Patrick is also an active freelance percussionist and private lesson instructor for percussion students: his performances as a soloist included the 2012 North American Debut of John Psathas’s Timpani Concerto Planet Damnation. He also has the distinction of winning the 2009 "Individual and Ensemble" gold medal as a member of Drum Corps International's Boston Crusaders. Patrick is a published composer and author through Bachovich Music Publications. Most recently, his work Journeys for percussion ensemble received its European Premier in the fall of 2019.

He holds degrees from Temple University (B.M. Music Education) and Drexel University (M.S. Arts Administration), as well as continuing education credits from the University of the Arts and the American College of Education. In 2016, Patrick was awarded the Karen Murdoch Scholarship for Visionary Leadership in the Arts by Drexel University. Other honors include Temple University’s Jack Moore Scholarship for contributions to the percussion department, PYO Music Institute’s Helen Carp distinguished service award, Pennsbury’s Stan Kenton Award for excellence in jazz, and membership in various academic honors societies. Patrick is a member of the Vic Firth Education Team; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Pennsylvania Music Educators Association; College Band Directors National Association; and National Association for Music Education.

215.895.2451
kmb53@drexel.edu

Biography

Karen is violin and viola instructor at Drexel University. She attended Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the New School of Music, where she studied with Jascha Brodsky. She also studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School for Strings, and had additional chamber music studies with Charles Castleman at the Quartet Program.

Karen is currently a member of the orchestras of the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Key West Symphony and the Philly Pops. She toured with the NYC Opera, National Company, and is also currently a regular substitute for Broadway musicals. She is a founding member and first violinist of the Rittenhouse String Quartet, and spends her summers playing with the Lake George Opera Company in Saratoga Springs, NY and the Endless Mountain Music Festival in Wellsboro, PA.

Committed to the education of the underprivileged, Karen has worked for the Institute for Arts in Education (trained by the Lincoln Center Teaching Artists) as well as the PA Arts in Education Partnership. These residencies in the city schools of Philadelphia provide music education to students who attend schools that no longer offer general music

In addition to classical performing, Karen has enjoyed performing with headlining stars like Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach and Bernadette Peters, to name a few. She has performed with the Trans Siberian Orchestra, and on Broadway has played in the pits for Secret Garden, Tommy, Ragtime, Boy from Oz, and West Side Story.

215.895.2451
meb26@drexel.edu

Biography

Mark Beecher has over 30 years experience, playing and teaching worldwide. Mark attended Widener University, where he performed & toured with their Jazz Ensemble, directed by Woody Herman alumnus, John Vanore. Mark studied with Latin percussion masters Frankie Malabe and Jose Luis 'Changuito' Quintana, African drumming master Oscar Sulley, Eastern Indian drumming master T.N. Bala, and Frank Zappa drummers, Chad Wackerman & Chester Thompson.

Mark has recorded over 30 albums with a variety of artists, is a voting member of the GRAMMYs (Recording Academy), has authored a number of published works, including 'The Rudimental Percussionist' and the book, 'I.A.R.P. Rudimental Solos,' as well as his own instructional DVD, 'The Art of Ancient Rudimental Drumming,' which has been endorsed by members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

As a drum & percussion instructor with over 30 years experience, Mark has taught award-winning high school bands and drum corps, including the Independence Fife & Drum Corps, Valley Forge Military Academy Field Music and the Washington Memorial Pipe Band (of which he is the current Drum Sgt) and has conducted a number of Drumming & Percussion clinics and seminars with the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA).

He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, The Company of Fifers & Drummers and is the President of The National Association of Rudimental Drummers (NARD) - originally founded in 1933 and sponsored by the Ludwig Drum Company.

Mark Beecher is an endorser for Ludwig Drums, Evans Drumheads & Vic Firth Drumsticks

215.895.2451
rlb33@drexel.edu

215.895.2451
wlc22@drexel.edu

Biography

Wanda Canfield is a graduate of Temple University with a Master of Music in Composition and a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Piano. She is a performer, songwriter and arranger. She is also a church pianist, and accompanies vocalists, instrumentalists, and choirs.

Wanda Canfield is founder and director of the Drexel University Keyboard Ensemble, and she teaches class piano, private lessons, and piano improvisation. She has taught at Drexel since 1995 and is also piano faculty at Cabrini College.

215-895-2451
bmd35@drexel.edu

Biography

Brian Dilts is an instructor of piano and music theory, and chief accompanist for the Vocal Department at Drexel University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from West Chester University, and a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy from Temple University.

He has taught throughout the region, including at Settlement Music School and Haddonfield School Of Music. He has taught at Drexel University since 2006.

His performance career includes recitals as a soloist and vocal accompanist, in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, as well as appearances in New York and Oxford, England.

Mr. Dilts is also an active singer/songwriter. He has performed in that capacity all over the region, including Drexel's Mandell Theatre, Milkboy Coffee, and Steel City Coffeehouse. He has produced two albums of his own material, the latest an EP called 'After The Dawn'

215.895.2451
rme49@drexel.edu

Biography

A flexible, creative and highly accomplished conductor, Rosalind Erwin is welcome on podiums both in the USA and abroad. Her credentials include performances with the Sofia Philharmonoc in Bulgaria; in concert under the auspices of NATO in Zagreb, Croatia; performances in Western Europe; and at home where, in six years, she built a fledgling regional orchestra in the suburbs of Philadelphia to one attarcting international attention, record executives and European solo artists.

Rosalind Erwin received her Bachelor's Degree in Clarinet Performance from the New School of Music in Philadelphia where she received an NEA Fellowship, and her Masters in Performance from Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University where she studied with Anthony Gigliotti, Principal Clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and was appointed Resident Conductor of the Composition Department. Rosalind Erwin is an accomplished instrumental performer, having appeared as clarinet soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony and having performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has studied with and been mentored by some of the great names in the conducting world, including Loren Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin and David Zinman. She has been honored by the Leopold Stokowsky Memorial Conducting Competition sponsored by the Rittenhouse Square Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Rosalind Erwin was the founder and creative force behind Musica 2000 – The Symphony Orchestra (2000 - 2005). Erwin commissioned works by emerging American composers, presenting world premieres both in the USA and abroad. Unique to Musica 2000, Erwin developed effective educational outreach programs, introducing not only instruments and music styles, but also involving students in the art of composition .

During her tenure as Music Director of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra, Rosalind Erwin elevated this regional orchestra to exceptional artistic heights, expanded educational outreach,  and brought contemporary music into the mainstream of concert programming. Among other works, Erwin commissioned and premiered the overture simple by Guggenheim Fellow and internationally respected composer, Robert Maggio; Alabanza by Philadelphia composer Kile Smith; and conducted the regional premiere of Joan Tower’s ASOL/Ford Foundation commissioned work, Made in America. Beginning in 2005, Erwin and the Orchestra’s concerts were regularly rebroadcast on Philadelphia NPR station WHYY’s Symphony Space. During Erwin’s tenure the PSO was offered a rare recording opportunity with American independent label Newport Classics. Her guest conducting engagements have included orchestras in Portugal, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, as well as throughout the USA. She was featured conductor in 2003 during American Music Week with the Sophia Philharmonic in Bulgaria. In 2009 Erwin guest conducted Sinfonijski orkestar Hvratska vojske, performing the Croatian premier of David Gillinghams’ Marimba Concerto No. 2 with renowned soloist Ivana Bilic.

Rosalind Erwin has been highly acclaimed as a conductor and educator by the legendary composer and author Samuel Adler of the Eastman School of Music. Erwin has been invited by Pennsylvania and New Jersey Music Educator Associations to guest conduct All-State, Regional and District Festival Orchestras to great acclaim. Erwin is the former Music Director and Conductor of the Delaware County Youth Orchestra, Luzerne Music Center Orchestras and Settlement Music School Advanced Studies Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble, with which she performed at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and Independent Study Proffesor of Conducting at The College of New Jersey. Erwin has served as guest lecturer for Arcadia University's Community Scholars program, and Guest Lecturer and Celebrity Guest for the Philadelphia Orchestra Lecture/Luncheon Series.

Rosalind Erwin was hired by the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization in 2014 as Director and Conductor and Artistic Staff for the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, feeder orchestra to the renowned Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, now under the administrative umbrella of the PYO Music Institute. Erwin currently teaches conducting at the Bryn Mawr Conservatory and was hired as adjunct professor of Advanced Conducting at Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance in 2019.

215.895.2451
cbf27@​d​r​e​x​e​l​.​e​d​u​

Biography

Christopher B Farrell is an award-winning composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of the critically acclaimed instrumental ensemble, the Rit Mo Collective. Christopher has scored music for over 100 multi-media productions including film, television, dance, and spoken word poetry. He averages over 150 live performances a year and has performed on five continents during his 30-year career as a musician.

Samples of his work can be found at the following sites –

Mud: Bodies of History, Red Earth Calling, Sound Cloud and Trombo.

215.895.2451
dhf32@drexel.edu

215.895.2451
eaf79@drexel.edu

Biography

Eve Friedman is a modern and historical flutist. She has recently performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly Pops, the Delaware Symphony, Opera Philadelphia, American Bach Soloists, and Tafelmusik. She is the flutist and president of The Halcyon Consort, Inc., a chamber ensemble of flute, strings, and piano.

She can be heard on recordings with Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra Tempesta di Mare, early and contemporary works with Melomanie (including works of her husband Roberto Pace), and the world music ensemble EZUZ. Her performances have been broadcast on NPR and the CBC.

Her solo playing has been called “particularly fine” by the Washington Post. About her book, Tone Development on the Baroque Flute, the journal Early Music America wrote, “This carefully researched, imaginative book should be on every baroque flutist’s bookshelf.”

Dr. Friedman serves on the National Flute Association's Historical Flutes Committee, and has recently been a judge/guest artist for the American Musicological Society, San Francisco Conservatory, and the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia.

Each summer, she performs and teaches at the SummerKeys festival in Maine with her husband, composer/pianist Roberto Pace. In the summer of 2003, they traveled to Italy to perform at the festival Incontri di Canna.

She received her Master of Music from Boston University (as a student of Boston Symphony Orchestra principal flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer) and holds a Doctor of Music from Indiana University. Her current faculty appointments include Rowan, Drexel, and Temple Universities.

215.895.2451
bk46@drexel.edu

Biography

Bruce attended West Chester College for Music Education and Gratz College for Jewish Liturgical Music, earned both an M.M. and B.M. degrees from Combs College of Music, Philadelphia. He studied double bass with Dr. Irving Cohen, Mr. Albert Stauffer and Mr. Eligio Rossi.

Since 1990, Bruce, has been on the music faculty of Drexel University, where he teaches Music History and Bass Studies along with directing the Drexel Mediterranean Ensemble performing music from the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans. He is also on the faculty of Montgomery County Community College, teaching Music History.

Bruce Kaminsky is the designer and president of the KYDD Products, Inc., manufacturer of KYDD Basses sold internationally and used by the bassists with John Legend, Lou Reed, Katy Perry and the Emmy Awards. He is also the designer of the KYDD Bass Lab made in conjunction with the Roland Corporation. He is a member of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and holds two U.S. patents.

Bruce Kaminsky has been a bassist on more than fifty recordings. He has performed at the United Nations for the signing of the Israeli/Jordanian Peace Accord, the Jewish Music Festival - Berlin, Germany, Faro Chamber Ensemble Festival-Faro Portugal and the World Café in Philadelphia. Bruce has performed with international artists, including Simon Shaheen (Palestinian), Samuel Heifetz (Latvian), Edmond Joseph (Iranian), Geoffrey Williams (British), Boaz ben Moshe (Israeli), Hamit Golbasi (Turkish), Henrik Goldschmidt (Danish) and Adib Rafela (Egyptian). Maurice Chedid (Lebanese). Bruce Kaminsky has also performed with The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra. In the jazz world, he has performed with Tal Farlow, Jimmy Knepper, Larry Coryell, Eddie Daniels, and Jimmy Bruno. As a production member of the International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE), Bruce worked directly with Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea and Dave Holland.

Bruce has authored articles including, “Converting Rock Musicians to Play Jazz,” Downbeat Magazine November 1982 and “Tips From the City Of Brotherly Bass,” Bass Player Magazine June 2004.

Radio and television appearances include: WHYY: “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” WRTI: “Crossroads with Jill Pasternak and Jack Berkel,” ABC: “Good Morning Philadelphia,” NBC: “AM Philadelphia,” and NJN: “New Jersey Live with Mary Cumming.”

215.895.2451
svl27@drexel.edu

Biography

Susan Lerner, Cellist, received a B.M. from the Hartt School of Music and Masters Studies in Performance from The Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Lerner can be seen often performing with the Delaware Symphony, Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Philly Pops. She has shared the stage with countless headlining stars, including Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, Josh Groban, Peter Gabriel, Smokey Robinson and Tony Bennett. Ms Lerner is the principal cellist for the “Broadway at the Academy” series as well as for the musicals at the Forrest and Walnut Street Theaters. Recent engagements include Hamilton an American Musical, Hello Dolly, and Dear Evan Hansen. A dedicated educator, Ms. Lerner teaches at Drexel University, LaSalle College High School and Merion Mercy Academy.

jcm472@drexel.edu

Biography

James McKinney is an experienced creative professional having spent nearly 20 years as an executive manager with various media and music companies. He is also an accomplished engineer, producer, songwriter, arranger, film-scorer, keyboardist, vocalist, musical director, educator and philanthropist. In James’ experience as producer and music director he  has worked with Doug E. Fresh, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, , Faith Evans, Chuck Brown, Wale, Rachell Ferrell, Kenny Lattimore, Raheem Devaughn, Bankie Banx, Kenny Burrell, James Moody, and more. His performance, co-writing and co-production also contributed to two Grammy Nominated Performances in the Urban Alternative category.

In addition to these accomplishments, James has scored for film, television and web and most recently contributed to the score and sound-track for the award winning films “My Last Day Without You” and “S.O.U.L Of A Black Woman.” His scoring credits also include commercial scores for Discovery Channel and Johnson & Johnson to name a few.

McKinney currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Eusonia Records, and also owns and operates Infinite Icon Enterprises, LLC, his production company. James also uses his skills to enhance the human condition through philanthropy and education globally. In fact within the last few years, James has performed concerts, educational workshops in music and music business in 7 countries including China, Taiwan, England, Papua New Guinea, Anguilla and Haiti. His work in Anguilla also garnered a 2021 Tec Award Nomination for Studio Design for AMA Recording, the studio he co-designed and built in The AMA Center, a caribean hub for technology and innovation which he also happens to co-manage. He recently completed several terms as a National Co-Chair of the Producers and Engineers Wing of the Grammys; and as a Trustee of the Board of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, (also know as The Grammy Association).

James counts his musical talents, business savvy and experience as a blessing and looks forward to continuing to use these gifts for the betterment and empowerment of people needing and seeking positive inspiration around the world, as he continues to share his and other’s music globally through live performance and recorded music. 

215.895.2451
rjp326@drexel.edu

Biography

Roberto Pace is a composer, music director, pianist and educator. He is recognized in concert music, as well as in music for theater and dance. His works have been played, and he has performed, throughout the U.S. and Europe, as well as in Canada, Brazil and Japan.

Mr. Pace studied at the New England Conservatory of Music with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Donald Martino, and the late great theorist Ernst Oster. He holds an M.F.A. in composition from SUNY Purchase, where he was the first to be awarded the Anthony Newman Prize for artistic and academic excellence.

Mr. Pace's recent commissions include the Network for New Music, American Opera Projects, The Greenwich Village Orchestra, the canonization of Padre Pio, the Viola Society of Philadelphia, the baroque/contemporary ensemble Mélomanie, which has released a commercial recording of his sextet written for them, Chamber Music Now!, the Elysian Camerata, The Gleeksman-Kohn Chorus of the Settlement Music School, and the American Composer's Forum of Philadelphia. He is currently fulfilling a joint commission of three celebrated guitarists for a solo work. His compositions have received public as well as critical success:"…a fantasm of shifting moods, featuring eloquent writing for strings" (NY Times); and "a kaleidoscope of colors wrapped in rhythms that leap with energy" (Philadelphia Inquirer). In 2011 Pace was elected to the Association for the Promotion of New Music (APNM), which will publish several of his scores through Subito Music.

He has served as music director and conductor at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's "Next Wave Festival", at La Mama Etc., and on tour throughout the United States. He has been pianist for many major dance companies and choreographers including the Dance Theater of Harlem, Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Suzanne Farrell, Peter Pucci, and Patrick Corbin.

A successful educator as well, Mr. Pace directed the music program of Fordham at Lincoln Center and lectured for the New York Philharmonic. He currently teaches theory and composition at the Settlement Music School of Philadelphia, and at Rowan and Drexel Universities. His summers are spent in Lubec, Maine, where he composes, and gives concerts and lectures at the SummerKeys Festival.

215.895.2451
djp368@drexel.edu

Biography

Dr. Pisano has been a music educator for over 25 years, starting his career right here in Philadelphia as an orchestral teacher at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. He spent five years as a 4-12 instrumental teacher at the Upper Perkiomen School District, before becoming the Music Department Chair and instrumental music teacher at Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware, where he taught Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Music Theory, Jazz, and Music & Film Production. He has also Directed ten honor bands through Europe with American Music Abroad.

Dr. Pisano is currently the Coordinator of Visual and Performing Arts for the Brandywine School District, serving over 60 teachers in 16 schools with over 8,000 Visual and Performing Arts students.

Dr. Pisano has written extensively about music education including, “Music Educators: Investigating the Relationship Between Undergraduate Music Education, State Certification, and Professional Responsibilities”, and he was a contributing author for a chapter in the book “Creative Music Making at Your Fingertips: A Mobile Technology Guide for Music Educators”. He has also edited several pieces of band literature with his mentor, Dr. Jack Stamp. Dr. Pisano has also served as a clinician, guest speaker, adjudicator, guest conductor, and lecturer for Universities, DMEA & PMEA and worked on educational policy with various state agencies.
A longtime member and teacher of Bands,

Dr. Pisano is excited for this opportunity to create music with the talented students of Drexel University. Go Dragons!

215.895.2045
mcr27@drexel.edu

Biography

Lynn Riley has been on the faculty of Drexel University since 1999. Previously an adjunct professor, she is currently Assistant Teaching Professor of Music in the Performing Arts Department. She teaches World Musics, Intro to Music (Music Appreciation) and directs the Drexel Fusion Band. In addition to lecturing, she is director of a Community Based Learning practicum (PRFA 100), where she supervises Drexel students who teach free after-school music classes to children of the Mantua-Powelton community of Philadelphia.

Ms. Riley has also taught, Music Theory, Ear Training, Fundamentals of Music, Jazz Theory, Latin Music, Rock Ensemble, Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Jazz Improvisation, and has served as conductor of instrumental ensembles of several Drexel theatre productions. She has taught at the Goodwin Evening College, both on campus and in the Online Distance Learning Center, as well as in Drexel’s Online Degree Program.

As director of the Drexel Fusion Band, one of Drexel’s advanced performance ensembles, she has performed at Westphal College’s graduations, Drexel Alumni Days, Convocation, and the Berks Jazz Festival. She has written the arrangements for and produced 8 Drexel Fusion Band albums: All the Places In Between (2022), Tell Me Something Funky (2019), Tell Me Something Good (2018), Funk Out Front (2016), Black and Blue (2014), Comin’ Home Baby (2012), Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing, (2010), Cold Duck Sauce, Best of Drexel Fusion Band (2008).

From 2000-2010, Ms. Riley was the Director of the AMLA (Latin American Musician’s Association) Roots of Latin Jazz program, giving presentations to schools throughout the Philadelphia area. She has done master classes nationally and internationally, as well as adjudicated at Jazz Festivals. 

Known as the “Superwoman of the Saxophone”, Ms. Riley has performed with David Murray, Johnny Pacheco, Grover Washington Jr., Philly Joe Jones, David Bromberg, Peter White, Rachelle Farrell, and Charles Earland, among others. She has performed at Lincoln Center-Outdoors and the Brooklyn Art Museum, NYC, the Kimmel Center and the Center City Jazz Festival, Philadelphia, the Getty Museum, Los Angles, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Minneapolis, the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, Wilmington, the Trenton Jazz Festival and the Mellon Jazz Festival, as well as internationally in Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guadeloupe, South Africa, Ghana and Japan.  

Ms. Riley has received a Trane Stop award for her contribution to preserving and promoting Afro-American classical music, the NAJE National Association of Jazz Educators award for Outstanding Service to Jazz Education, and a Window of Opportunity Grant from the  Leeway Foundation. She has been on the Board of Directors of the Jazz Sanctuary, the Sedgwick Cultural Center, the Women’s Jazz Festival and was featured on the television show Good Day Philadelphia.

215.895.2451
jes485@drexel.edu

215.895.2451
rls324@drexel.edu

215.895.2451
dms542@drexel.edu

Biography

Dr. Daniel Spratlan is currently in his second year as director of the Drexel University Chorus and Chamber Singers. This also marks his 10th season as Director of Music at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. Previously, he has served on the conducting faculties at Haverford College, Temple University, and Rutgers University. He earned his DMA in Choral Conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, his MM in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College, and BA in Music from Earlham College.

An active professional singer, he is in his 15th season singing with the two-time Grammy Award-winning choir The Crossing with whom he has recorded two dozen albums. Many of The Crossing's 110 commissioned works focus on social, environmental, and political issues, and Dr. Spratlan hopes to share several of these works with the Drexel community. He has performed as a soloist and professional chorister with ensembles such as the New York Choral Artists, Clarion Choir, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concert Chorale of New York, Opera Philadelphia, Piffaro, Tempesta di Mare, San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in venues such as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, the Kimmel Center, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

 

starksgl@drexel.edu

Biography

Dr. George L. Starks Jr., professor emeritus of music, served for 35 years as director of the highly acclaimed Drexel University Jazz Orchestra, Jazzet, and Saxtet. For 20 years, he produced the Jazz Orchestra's celebrated Jazz Extravaganza, an annual event that drew capacity crowds to Drexel's Mandell Theater. An esteemed lecturer, "Doc," as he was fondly called by his students, taught a variety of courses including World Musics, African American Music, Jazz History, Jazz Improvisation, Topics in Jazz, and Introduction to Music.

An ethnomusicologist with a specialty in New World Musics of African origin, he holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in music from North Carolina A&T State University and the University of Illinois respectively, and the Ph.D.in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. He has conducted field research in Barbados, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the South Carolina Sea Islands, and Anderson County, South Carolina.

Scholar/musician, his publications are on sacred and secular musics, rural and urban musics, traditional and contemporary musics. Starks served as associate editor of the International Jazz Archives Journal; as contributing editor to The Black Perspective in Music, the pioneering scholarly journal on African derived musics; as Black Scholar-in-Residence at LeMoyne College; as a member of Call and Response, a think tank on African American music; as a Carnegie Hall Advisory Scholar, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts

He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities; been the recipient of the Legacy Award from the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the recipient of the prestigious Benny Golson Jazz Master Award from Howard University.

As an alto saxophonist, he was recognized in the Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition Category of the Down Beat International Jazz Critics Poll. He has performed with musicians ranging from Ghanaian master drummer Kobena Adzenyah to avant-garde trumpeter Clifford Thornton to vocalist Roy Hamilton to the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra.

Starks was commissioned to compose and perform the music for the soundtrack of Trading Church Street: Pride, Prejudice, and a Parking Lot, a documentary on what was once a thriving African American business district in Anderson, South Carolina, and he appears in BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, an internationally acclaimed documentary on the life and work of author, activist, educator, and Philadelphia's first Poet Laureate, Sonia Sanchez. He has lectured and/or performed at Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania, among other colleges and universities.

In addition to Drexel University, he served as chairman of the music department at Spelman College; as Ethnomusicologist-in-Residence at Howard University; as a member of the faculty of the Gullah Studies Institute at historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island, SC, and on the music faculties of Coppin State University, the Community College of Philadelphia, and the University of Virginia.

215-895-1732
bw352@drexel.edu

Biography

Brent White is a lifelong Philadelphian and jazz enthusiast. Mr. White understands Philadelphia’s rich cultural community; its leaders, history, musicians, connectors, and politics. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Widener University, a Master’s Degree in Jazz Studies from the University of the Arts, and a certificate in non-profit management from LaSalle University. He has toured nationwide and internationally as a freelance trombonist to the world’s largest Jazz festivals, yet possesses the local field experience, and relationships with many of Philadelphia’s non-profits with a career focus that can be summarized in one word—Jazz. 

 

Previously, Mr. White has worked as the Education Program Manager at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, designing and implementing outreach education programming for Philadelphia students. Mr. White has taught jazz in the Philadelphia Prison System, the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, in the Camden New Jersey City School system, and as Director of Jazz Orchestra at Drexel University. Residencies included the Juilliard School of Music outreach Department (Bay Area Tour), where he provided jazz workshops in juvenile detention centers, children’s hospitals, and schools in the San Francisco Bay area. 

 

As a trombonist, Mr. White has toured with the likes of John Legend (Indonesia), Kindred Family Soul (South Africa), and the Sun Ra Arkestra (Europe). Mr. White has been welcomed to the stage by Lady Alma, and has recorded in-studio for Patti Labelle. Mr. White is no stranger to the Philadelphia and New York jazz scenes where currently, he performs with Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band, Josh Lawrence and Color Theory, and the Fresh Cut Orchestra, among other ensembles. Most recently, Mr. White composed and recorded his album Broken Toy dedicated to children who suffer trauma caused by losing a parent to incarceration.

215.895.2451
gjw28@drexel.edu

Biography

Greg Wright is the guitar instructor at Drexel University, he also directs the Rock Ensemble, which performs at Drexel and coordinates recording with music industry classes. When he is not teaching, Greg performs on guitar, plectrum banjo, electric bass, mandolin & ukulele.

Greg’s undergraduate degree is from Combs College and he has previously taught jazz guitar at Swarthmore College & Widener University. He also coordinates all music courses at Harcum College.

Greg is the director and co-creator of Summer Music Programs, Inc., which develops skills of young musicians in professional recording, performance and rehearsal disciplines. This program received “Best of Philly” 2008 Philadelphia Magazine for best summer camp and 2007 Coolest Camps on the Main Line, Main Line Magazine.

Greg was a bandleader for SWING SHIFT, a versatile, small Big Band that performed events and concerts throughout the tri-state area from 1988 until 2008. Greg’s interest in banjo and the music of New Orleans & traditional jazz started in the 1990’s as he led the Bid Easy Dixieland Band. He also currently performs Hot Jazz with Drew Nugent & The Midnight Society and is a member of the Wild Bohemians, a thirty-year Philadelphia tradition of NOLA street music.

In addition, you will find Greg strolling vintage train excursions, singing and playing banjo in West Chester and New Hope, and performing holiday music. Vintage rock band, traditional/modern celtic music, solo acoustic guitar gigs, jazz trios are all current activities that still fill his schedule.

215.895.2451
ta635@drexel.edu

Biography

Tamara Anderson is a multi-talented actor, singer, director, and published writer. She has been featured in musicals and plays across the country and in multiple TV, film, and commercials like The Blacklist and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and more. Her production company, The Gumbo Lab LLC is a theatrical platform for The Solo Project (a virtual platform for Black females, transwomen, and femme solo artists) and BIPOC led productions. Tamara developed and designed a free BIPOC database and resource guide featuring over 100 BIPOC creatives from across the country.

Check out her page at www.tamara-anderson.com and her other work at Della T Solutions.

215.895.1920
nma28@drexel.edu

Biography

Nick Anselmo, Theatre Program Director, Producing Artistic Director Theatre Program, Teaching Professor.

Nick is the Theatre Program Director and teaches Acting Fundamentals, Scene Study, Meisner Acting Technique, Musical Theater History, Play Direction and Musical Theater Cabaret.

He has directed numerous productions at Drexel over the years including Be More Chill, ALiEN8 (world premiere musical), Reefer Madness, Crimes of the Heart, Godspell, Our Town, and The Laramie Project.

Before coming to Drexel he was the Artistic Associate/Education Director of the Passage Theatre Company in Trenton, New Jersey, where he directed several productions for their youth outreach program The State Street Project. He has also directed for Temple University, The National One Minute Play Festival, Writers Theatre of New Jersey, Mainstreet Musicals, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Hedgerow Theatre, Players Club of Swarthmore, Double A Productions, Musicana Dinner Theater and his own adaptation of letters from soldiers fighting in Vietnam for a show called Vietnam: Letters and Remembrances, for which he also composed the score.

Nick is a proud native of Chicago where he often worked with Music Theatre Workshop on original musicals that were performed in the Chicago Public Schools that dealt with gangs, drugs, and gun violence. Part of the “Under Pressure Series,” these performances were followed by discussions and role-playing exercises with the students on the issues raised in the show.

As an actor Nick has appeared Off-Broadway at the York Theatre in Carmelina in their Musicals in Muft series, and at the Ensemble Studio Theater working with director Rene Buch. He was a company member of The Pulse Ensemble on 42nd Street, and the American Globe Theatre in New York City. He has appeared in many shows in regional theaters and in industrial films. A few of his favorite roles include the Cabaret Corp (Williamstown Theater Festival with Andrea Burns), Richie Valens in Buddy (Walnut Street Theater), Biondello in Taming of the Shrew (Asolo Theatre), and Raul/guitarist/original music in Fort Chaffee (World Premiere - Arkansas Repertory with choreographer Mia Michaels), West Side Story (Mill Mountain), Into the Woods (Jekyll Island) and Zorba (Apple Tree).

 

Read Nick's CV here.

215.895.2451
bb457@drexel.edu

Biography

Bobbi Block has been performing, teaching,  producing and directing Improvisational Theatre in the Philadelphia area for over 20 years.  She is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director and performs with the critically-acclaimed unscripted theater company Tongue & Groove Spontaneous Theater (tongue-groove.com).  In addition to their monthly shows and Fringe Festival appearances, Tongue & Groove was invited to perform at the Kimmel Center for PIFA Festivals 2011 & ‘13.  Bobbi has taught her signature Actors’ Improv ™ approach throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand, where she directed her popular show, SECRETS, for the New Zealand Fringe Festival. Bobbi received a Philadelphia City Paper Choice Award,“Actress who will lead Improv to the Promised Land.”  Bobbi conceived and directed LEAP: The Actors’ Improv Experiment, for the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival.  For 15 years, Bobbi was the Co-Producer and Education Director of the Barrymore Award-winning improvisational theatre company,  ComedySportz Philadelphia (comedysportzphilly.com), and was Artistic Director of the company for two years.  In addition, Bobbi performed longform improv for 12 years with LunchLady Doris, and performs with the interdisciplinary improvisational theatre company, Playback Philadelphia.   In addition to her theatrical  career, Bobbi founded, choreographed and performed with the body percussion troupe, P3: People Percussion Project, and is a percussionist  with the Brazilian samba band Unidos da Filadelfia.  After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi got her Masters degree in Theatre from Villanova University,  and has since trained with master improvisers in Chicago, NYC and LA.  Bobbi has taught improv at the University of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, Bucks County Community College, the Wilma Theatre, the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, ComedySportz, Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) and private classes.  She currently teaches Improvisation at Temple University, Drexel University, and the University of Otago in New Zealand.  As a Communications Skills Consultant, Bobbi has traveled the world using acting, improv and theatre techniques to train corporate executives in leadership and team development skills (bobbiblock.com)

215.895.2451
dcb48@drexel.edu

Biography

Damon Bonetti is a Philly based actor, director, musician and teacher. He has performed or directed at many of the area theaters including the Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia Theater Company, Lantern Theater, Theater Exile, Philadelphia Shakespeare Theater, Passage Theater, Hedgerow Theater and Theater Horizon. Damon is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, a site-specific theater company, dedicated to the performance of rare classical plays. For the PAC he has directed The Sea Plays, Changes of Heart, Blood Wedding (co-production with the Mandel Professionals in Residence Project at Drexel University) He Who Gets Slapped (partnership with the Philadelphia School of Circus Art) and The White Devil. As an actor he has appeared in The Duchess of Malfi, Creditors and All’s Well That Ends Well and has adapted a two-man version of A Christmas Carol. He is a three time Barrymore Nominee (Outstanding Director, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Outstanding Ensemble) and his company, The PAC, won the 2015 June and Steve Wolfson Award for an Emerging Theater Company. Damon appears extensively on film, commercials and is heard in voice-overs. He received his BA in Theater from DeSales University and earned his MFA at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory. He is an adjunct professor at Rutgers - Camden and Rowan Universities and is the lead guitarist for Jawbone Junction. Please visit http://www.philartistscollective.org/ for more info.

215.895.2451
joshua.l.browns@drexel.edu

Biography

Joshua Browns is a Philadelphia-based actor, director, and educator. His acting credits include appearances for the Maine Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the Walnut Street Theatre, Lantern Theater Company, and many more, including two national tours of Romeo and Juliet for Theatreworks/USA. He served as the Education Director for Lantern Theater Company's Barrymore Award-winning education program, Illuminations, and is a co-founding company member and former Producing Artistic Director of Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company, which produces free classic theatre in the parks of Philadelphia and the surrounding counties each summer.

215.868.3675
jdc69@drexel.edu

Biography

J. Dominic Chacon

Dominic was born and raised in the Midwest. He is a native of Dixon Illinois and attended the University of Iowa where he received is Bachelors of Fine Arts in Lighting and Sound design. He began his career in Philadelphia as an Arden Theatre Company Professional Apprentice. He fell in love with Philadelphia and has not left. He attended Graduate School at Temple University where he received is Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre Design. Along with teaching at Drexel University he is also the resident Lighting Designer for Drexel Dance Ensemble and the new Fresh Dance. He has designed for Theatre, Dance and Opera for the past 10 years.

215.895.2451
wjd54@drexel.edu

Biography

Walter DeShields is an Artist/Performer/Educator/Scholar born and raised in South Philadelphia. While Walter is mostly recognized for his performance career in Philadelphia, it is the nearly two decades in service, mentor-ship and educational leadership which are at the core of his work and values.

Walter has been committed to moving our community forward and being responsible for bringing arts and activism to the Philadelphia community. As a collaborator with Public Health Management Corporation, Communities In Schools of Philadelphia, the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Education Fund, Walter has created sustainable programming and cultivated special relationships that have built the foundation of his arts activism.

As a theater and film actor, Walter is co-founder and Co-artistic director for Theater in the X; a professional theater company created in 2013 to provide residents of West Philadelphia and the African American community at large the opportunity to see professional quality theater in their own neighborhood for no cost. Recent onstage performances include Beast of Nubia, Egoli, Buried Child, and Sweat, for which he was nominated for a Barrymore Award. In addition, recent film performances include "The Line", "Without You", "3 Women" and "If it aint Got that Swing". In addition, Walter works as a facilitator for a theater based sexual health intervention called BrotherSpeak with young men in Philadelphia. Walter holds a BA in English and Theatre from Penn State University.

215.895.2529
wjf35@drexel.edu

Biography

Bill Fennelly is an award winning stage director whose work has been seen on Broadway, Off Broadway regionally, and Internationally in theatre and on television.

His work has been seen in NYC at The Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons; and regionally at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Dallas Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Syracuse Stage, Portland Center Stage, Hartford Stage Company, Goodspeed Opera House, LaJolla Playhouse, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto California, TheaterWorks in Hartford Connecticut, Arizona Theatre Company, Actors Express, Ford’s Theatre, People’s Light, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Walnut Street Theatre, PlayPenn, Guild Hall of East Hampton, The 2006 Cultural Olympic Festival at The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, Glimmerglass Opera, and Chicago Opera Theatre.

He recently collaborated with CNN political commentator and Sirius Satellite Radio POTUS talk show host Michael Smerconish on the creation of his one-man political and journalistic retrospective: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking which aired internationally on CNN.

He was recently invited by the Taipei Performing Arts Center to collaborate on the creation of TPAC Director’s Lab, in Taipei Taiwan; a professional directing laboratory with a focus on directing musical theatre.

Bill was the original Assistant Director on the creation of the TONY Award winning Jersey Boys directed by Des McAnuff, he was the Resident Director for the Broadway First National Tour of Disney’s award winning The Lion King directed by Julie Taymour, he was the Associate Director for the world premiere and Broadway production of The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm directed by Mark Lamos; he was also the Assistant Director to Sir Alan Ayckbourn on the U.S. premiere of Sir Ayckbourn’s and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical By Jeeves. Bill spent four seasons as a staff director with New York City Opera at Lincoln Center where he worked on over thirteen new productions including the Glimmerglass World Premiere, the NYC Premiere and the EMMY nominated PBS Great Performances Telecast of Central Park by Terrence McNally, Robert Beaser, Wendy Wasserstein, Deborah Drattell, Michael Torke and A.R. Gurney. Additionally, Bill directed the world premiere and Off Broadway production of Frankenstein the musical.

He served as an Assistant Artistic Director at Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Chicago and New York City, Producing Artistic Director at Actor's Express in Atlanta Georgia, and Associate Producing Artistic Director of the TONY honored The Acting Company in NYC.

Bill’s work has received regional awards and nominations around the country. He earned a Bay Area Critics Award nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for the world premiere of the new musical Fly By Night at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, he won the Dallas Column Award for Outstanding Direction of a musical for Fly By Night at Dallas Theatre Center, he earned a Barrymore nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Herringbone at Flashpoint Theatre, he won the New York S.A.L.T. Award for Director of the Year and Production of the Year for his production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Syracuse Stage, and again the following season he won the New York S.A.L.T. Award for Director of the Year and Production of the Year for his production of the musical Hairspray at Syracuse Stage, he was awarded the California K.P.B.S. Patte Award and the San Diego Playbill Award for Outstanding Direction of Brecht’s Edward II, his production of Bird Boy at Hartford Children’s Theatre won the Moss Hart Award by the New England Theatre Conference, and Bill was also awarded the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Bill is a proud member of the Drexel Theatre program. Bill has also taught at The Juilliard School, NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, University of California San Diego, Dartmouth College, Syracuse University, Emerson College, The University of the Arts, The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Indiana State University, and Philadelphia’s Directors Gathering.

He earned a contracted B.M. in Music Theatre Performance, Directing, and Dramatic Writing from the Hartt School at The University of Hartford and his M.F.A. in directing from University of California San Diego.

Read Bill's full CV here.

215.895.2451
gmg27@drexel.edu

Biography

Gerre Garrett holds an MA in Theatre from Villanova University and a BA in English from Saint Joseph University. She teaches Acting Fundamentals, Sketch Comedy, Philly Theatre Let’s Go! and has directed Drexel Players' mainstage and studio productions. She writes and performs for the critically acclaimed sketch comedy troupe, The WaitStaff  (www.thewaitstaff.com.) Gerre is a creative dramatics specialist whose work with Philadelphia Young Playwrights won The Adele Magner Memorial Award for Teaching Artists and a Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theater Education.  In addition to Drexel, she has served as an adjunct instructor of theater at Cabrini College and Widener University. Her voice is heard locally in industrial films and commercials and nationally on two television series for the Discovery Network. She has appeared on numerous stages in and around Philadelphia. Gerre’s performance credits include Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, Misery, Dancing at Lughnasa, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

215.571.4243
prj36@drexel.edu

Biography

With 10 years professional experience in the Philadelphia Theatre Community, Paul has joined Drexel University as Production Manager and Assistant Professor ofTheatre Production.  

Prior to coming to Drexel, Paul was Production Manager for Theatre Exile as well asScene Shop Manager for West Chester University. He also spent two years as the Assistant Master Electrician at Delaware Theatre Company and two years as the Associate Production Manager at the Prince Music Theatre.

Paul has worked extensively with Amaryllis Theatre Company, as both a ProductionManager and a Stage Manager facilitating productions that focused on accessibility in the arts. This includes a Shakespeare production that was co-produced with Gallaudet University and cast with both deaf and hearing actors and performed in English and AmericanSign Language.

Prior to moving to Philadelphia, Paul studied stage management at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI. He holds a bachelors in Theatre and Electronic Media and Film from Towson University.

215.895.2451
kek329@drexel.edu

Biography

Kari Krein-Silvers is a Delaware based Stage Manager, Production Manager, and Educator. She has worked with many theatres around the country including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Lincoln Amphitheatre, Charleston Stage Company, Pennsylvania and Kentucky Shakespeare Festivals, the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, The Delaware Theatre Company, and The Arden Theatre Company. She holds an MFA in Stage Management from the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program.

215.895.2451
del36@drexel.edu

Biography

Donald “Postmidnight “ Leake is a nationally known and respected poet and performance artist. His decades long career has included everything from tour managing bands, managing venues, and representing artistic excellence on countless stages across the country. He has coordinated poetry writing and page to stage workshops for high school and college students. Aside from his performance achievements, Postmidnight is also an accomplished chef currently authoring his first cookbook.

215.895.2451
llm84@drexel.edu

Biography

LaNeshe Miller-White is a cultural producer, actress, and marketer. She is a graduate of Temple University's School of Communications and Theater. She believes in using art for social change and is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Theatre in the X, a West Philadelphia based theater company that produces accessible theater productions for Black audiences and provides opportunities for Black artists. She became the new Executive Director of Theatre Philadelphia in August 2020

215.895.2451
tr487@drexel.edu

215.895.2451
bar87@drexel.edu

Biography

Brett Ashley Robinson is a 2021 PEW Fellow, a Barrymore Award winning devisor, theatre maker and educator based in Philadelphia. She is the 2021 winner of the PEN America/ Jean Stein Oral History Grant for her original work Re-Enactment as well as a Skidmore College 2021 MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Visiting Fellow.

She was also a semi-finalist for the Otto F. Haas award for Emerging Artist and a two time nominee for the Golden Tassel Jawn, Philadelphia ’s Drag and Burlesque awards, for best comedy act as Patricia! She was a collaborator and performer in Lightning Rod Specials The Appointment at New York Theatre Workshop, which was a New York Times Critics Pick and voted best play of 2019 in The New York Times, Vulture Magazine, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine.

As an actor and devisor she has worked at The Public, Ars Nova Ant Fest, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Wilma, Lightning Rod Special, Pig Iron Theater Company, The Arden Theatre Company, InterAct Theatre Company, The Flea Theatre, Theatre Horizon, and Geva Theatre. She has worked with 1812 Productions, The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Lightning Rod Special, and Agitated!

As a director she has worked with, 1812 Productions, Head and the Hand, First Person Arts, University of the Arts and Philly Goat Project. She has taught acting at DeSales University and the University of the Arts, is a company member of Applied Mechanics and a member of the HotHouse–the Wilma Theater’s resident acting company.

as469@drexel.edu

Biography

Arin is the Deputy Director of SMU DataArts, the national center for arts research. At DataArts Arin provides oversight of the relationship between products, programs, and technology and ensures that the organization has the capacity and the connections to achieve that work. An actor and stage manager at heart, prior to joining DataArts in 2008, Arin was the managing director at Hedgerow Theatre, theater manager for Drexel University’s Mandell Theater, and producer for Geva Comedy Improv at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York. Arin is also an adjunct faculty member with Drexel’s Theatre program. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, where she graduated cum laude, and she holds a Master of Science degree from Drexel University’s Arts Administration program.

215.895.2451
dlw325@drexel.edu

Biography

David is a New Jersey-based playwright and educator that has worked with Passage Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Dreamcatcher Rep, PlayPenn, Rider University, and Drexel University as well as many other theatres and theatre programs in the NJ/NY/PA area. He received his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh and his BA from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His work runs the gamut from improvisational theatre, political satire, oral history-based docudrama, musical theatre, educational theatre, and mental health advocacy. In 2016, David was commissioned by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Stage Exchange Program and Passage Theatre to create the play Fixed. The play premiered at Passage Theatre in May 2017. Previously, his play Blood: A Comedy was seen at Passage Theatre (2009) and Dreamcatcher Rep (2012). His play Slipper As Sin also received its world premiere at Passage in 2011. The one-act play White Baby was originally produced at Passage Theatre, then at Emerging Artists Theatre in NY. His solo show Panther Hollow was performed at Dreamcatcher Rep, The United Solo Festival in NY, The New Jersey Fringe Festival, Passage Theatre, Arcade Comedy Theatre in Pittsburgh, Point Park College, and Drexel University. At Passage, White created the show This Trenton Life which was the subject of an Emmy Award-nominated broadcast on PCK Media's State of the Arts. Other plays include The Festial Quartet (readings at Bristol Riverside Theatre and Writer's Theatre of New Jersey) and Rocket Sex Magic - a comedy about real life rocket scientist/occultist Jack Parsons (reading at Writer's Theatre of New Jersey). For the past two years, David has been working with Jeffrey Barg on the musical The Angry Grammarian and with Kate Brennan on the musicals Clean Slate and ALiEN8.

215-571-4440
lb3422@drexel.edu

Biography

Prior to joining the Drexel Department of Performing Arts, LaShanetta was an Administrative Coordinator at Rutgers University, New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey. LaShanetta began her higher ed career as an Administrative Aide to the MSW (Master of Social Work) department at Chicago State University where she managed all aspects of the MSW program. Shortly after receiving her bachelor’s degree, she became an Academic Advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences at Chicago State University. After relocating to the east coast (New Jersey) she became an Academic Advisor and U-Life instructor in the Center for Academic Success at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ after which she transitioned to Rutgers University upon completing her master’s degree.

LaShanetta has recently become a new resident of the Philadelphia area along with her husband. She is the mother five adult children: three sons, one daughter and a bonus daughter. In her free time, she enjoys reading, shopping, singing in her church choir, praise dancing and working with the youth. LaShanetta received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois, where she graduated cum laude, and she holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Governors State University in University Park, Illinois. She is also a member of Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society for Public Administration and Public Affairs.

215-895-1572
ak4268@drexel.edu

Biography

Asaki is so excited to join Drexel! Originally from Yokohama, Japan, Asaki is a multi-disciplinary artist who has been working professionally with many theater companies and artists in the Philadelphia area. Her recent work has been focusing on costume design and dramaturgy/cultural consultation. Asaki is also a Resident Artist at Power Street Theatre.

BA,Temple University

MA in Theatre & Certificate in Non-Profit Management, Villanova University

215.895.2528
csl82@drexel.edu

Biography

215.895.2787
ors24@drexel.edu

Biography

215.895.6444
cmt375@drexel.edu

Biography

Christopher Totora is the Technical Director/ Production Manager for the Mandell Theatre. Before coming to Drexel, Chris was Assistant Director of the Guaracini Arts Center of Cumberland County College in Vineland, NJ. In his role as Assistant Director, Chris curated a performance series that featured National, International, and regionally recognized touring artists and productions in a variety of disciplines. Additionally, he served as Technical Director/ Production Manager for the presented series as well as College produced plays and musicals.

Chris is the founding member and Producing Artistic Director of Little Fish Theatre, a South Jersey based theatre company which produces works at venues throughout the region, including a well regarded Children’s theatre touring program which presents original plays and musicals on environmental and social issues. Their latest commissioned work, Of Plastic Things and Butterfly Wings by Greg Romero, has been published by Youth Plays.
Chris also serves on the Board of Directors for the Vineland Regional Dance Company.

Past Directorial Credits include, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, The Rocky Horror PUPPET Show, The Zoo Story, his own original interdisciplinary adaptation of Alice inWonderland, subUrbia, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, abridged, and The Complete History of America, abridged.

Chris holds a BA in Theatre and a MA in Arts Administration from Rowan University.

215-571-4440
lat78@drexel.edu

Biography