UPDATE (7/27/12):

 

The Musical Theater Summer Intensive is excited to introduce you to five new additions to it’s faculty !

 

BRITT SHUBOW KESHNER

Dance

Britt Shubow Keshner is a choreographer, director, vocal coach and acting teacher in New York City. Britt is the Theater Arts teacher at Wagner Middle School on the Upper East Side where she directs and choreographs over 350 students in various productions. She also teaches at the Summer Arts Institute at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School during the summer. Britt taught at multiple public schools around New York City with Rosie’s Theater Kids. She taught dance and voice at Rosie’s Summer Intensives and had her choreography performed at the Maravel Arts Center and The Duke on 42nd Street. Britt holds a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts and MA in Educational Theater from New York University. Prior to receiving her masters, Britt performed in the Broadway show Mamma Mia! for five years. She performed on the 2002 Tony Awards, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Broadway on Broadway, and the CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade. Britt had the pleasure of stage managing and performing in numerous “Easter Bonnet” and “Gypsy of the Year” fundraisers for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

 

GEORGIA LYMAN

Stage Combat

Georgia Lyman was most recently seen as Molly in Orfeo Group’s Love Song (2012 Best Fringe Production).  Prior to that, she played multiple roles in John Kuntz’s Hotel Nepenthe for the Actors Shakespeare Project. She has also worked at Speakeasy Stage, New Rep, the Lyric Stage Company and has been nominated three consecutive times for the Elliot Norton Best Actress Award.  A core member of Orfeo Group, she was seen in Marisol and Look Back in Anger. She co-produced the award winning The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) for them as well as all four web trailers for past Orfeo Group pieces.  Her film and TV credits include 3 seasons as Cassie Giggs on Showtime’s Brotherhood,a recurring role on Law & Order: SVU, as well as RIPD, The Town, Bride Wars, My Best Friends Girl, The Mulberry Tree, and The Women.  She has been performing, teaching and choreographing stage combat for 10 years.  She is experienced in hand to hand, small sword, broadsword and small stunts.

 

LIVINGSTON TAYLOR

Performance Techniques

 

Internationally-renowned performer and Berklee faculty member Livingston Taylor will share his wisdom on performance techniques at the Intensive. More information on Livingston can be found here.

 

 

 

SARAH MOUNT

Assistant to the Director

 

Sarah Mount is a graduate of Berklee College of Music where she studied Songwriting and Creative Writing. She previously worked as an assistant to the Chair of Liberal Arts at Berklee, where she helped coordinate events and visiting artists, with a focus on publicity and promotional materials. She was a member of the 2012 Berklee Poetry Slam team, and also performs in the band: Tumbleweed Company. Most recently Tumbleweed Company played a closing set for Santana. Sarah will be doing her Graduate study in Contemporary Studio Performance at the Berklee Valencia Campus in the fall of 2012.

 

 

CHRISTOPHER LEE

Showcase Production Assistant

Christopher Lee is working on a Bachelor’s in Music Education with a minor in Latin Music Performance at Berklee. He has performed in venues nationwide, including  Carnegie Hall, The Knitting Factory, and more. Chris interned at the National Guitar Workshop and volunteers with Genuine Voices, the National Guitar Workshop, and the City Music Mentorship. He is also involved in the Berklee Poetry Club, serving as a student leader, and is a member the Berklee Slam Team. He volunteered at the National Poetry Slam 2011, and the innaugrual Louder Than A Bomb presented by MASS LEAP, and has performed his poetry in the Berklee Performance Center, the Berklee Gala for the Giant Steps campaign, Berklee Liberal Arts conferences, and the Boston Book Festival. He currently collaborates with his band, I Kill Giants, who just released their first EP, the critically acclaimed “Let It Out.”

 

ORIGINAL POST (5/10/12):

We are very pleased to announce the A-list faculty members joining us on campus this summer for Berklee’s first-ever Musical Theater Summer Intensive led by Program Director Caroline Harvey.

CAROLINE HARVEY

Program Director

Caroline HarveyProgram director Caroline Harvey is an internationally renowned performer, writer, and educator. Her writing has been featured in print, film, and television—including season five of HBO’s Def Poetry—and she was most recently featured at in the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. Harvey is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music and also teaches at berkleemusic.com, Berklee’s home for online education. She is currently a Pushcart Prize nominee. Harvey has performed and taught at schools and organizations nationwide, including YouthSpeaks, the Esalen Institute, Lesley University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. She is honored to have shared stages and classrooms with such artists as Mos Def, Livingston Taylor, Alicia Keys, Melissa Ferrick, Susie Bright, Dave Chappelle, Donna De Lory, and many others.

Harvey is passionate about merging the traditional with the cutting edge. She sees musical theater as a critical part of any thriving art world and loves it for its ability to entertain, inspire, and transform audiences. She also conceives of musical theater a way to build vital performance skills for musicians, actors, writers, and other creative souls who strive to be in the public eye as world changers, educators, civil activists, and more. The tools we learn in the musical theater world can translate onto whatever stages we choose to stand, and help to make us more energetic, more aware, and more vibrant communicators wherever we are.

Harvey notes that at one time, the top ten hits and the songs of Broadway’s musical theater scene were one and the same. This speaks to the power of musical theater to be an important tool for cultural change and influence, and she strives to help usher musical theater more fully into the mainstream once again. As a musical theater educator she honors the classics and also encourages new work that is current, relevant, and inspiring to our ever-widening global world. Shows like Hair and Rent continue to make huge impacts on us because these musicals addressed real, current issues and inspired immediate feelings of community, curiosity, and hope. Harvey aims to inspire musical theater students in that same way: to nurture artists to make and perform the work that moves their hearts, heals their worlds, and entertains audiences across the globe.

ARIEL SHAFIR

Core Faculty: Acting and Stage Performance

Ariel Shafir Ariel Shafir is a Guest Lecturer with NYU Tisch School For the Arts at the New Studio on Broadway & the Meisner Studio. He is a resident company member of Stage13/Studio13 in NYC where he is the writer/co-star for the upcoming internet series The9thDot.com and recent M’Larky series on Comedy Central. Honored for his performances in Regional Theater, Ariel has helped productions earn the following awards: Barrymore Award for Mouahad’s Scorched at the Wilma in Philadelphia, Suzi Bass Award for Steve Martin’s The Underpants at the Alliance in Atlanta, and Jeff Award for Best Stage Fights as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Ariel most recently played Uzi in the world premiere of Captors directed by Peter Dubois at The Huntington Theater in Boston, and John in David Mamet’s two-hander, A Life in the Theater. Ariel has appeared in the following films: What Happens Next, Bride Wars, What Happens in Vegas, Dan Fogler’s Hysterical Psycho and upcoming Don Peyote. You can also find Ariel’s talents on the following TV shows: 30Rock, Army Wives, and One Life to Live.

 

 

LILLI WOSK

Core Faculty: Voice

Lilli WoskLilli Wosk is a vocal coach, musical director, and accompanist in New York City. She has served as Musical Director for New York Theatre Barn, The Gallery Players, Astoria Performing Arts Center, and Jaradoa Theatre Company. She is an affiliate of the Larry Singer Studios (Voted Best Acting Coach for the Backstage Readers Choice Award), and also accompanies for master classes with Broadway casting directors. In her private coaching studio, her method combines breath and text based story telling with Estill Voice Training. Lilli’s clients have been cast in the Broadway and touring companies of musicals that include Book Of Mormon, Ghost, Wicked, Mamma Mia!, Porgy & Bess, Memphis, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, In The Heights, West Side Story, Avenue Q, Rent, and Grease.

 

JO ANN CIMATO

Showcase Director, Core Faculty

Jo Ann CimatoJo Ann Cimato is a New York based acting teacher, stage director and dramaturg.  She teaches at the Beacon School in Manhattan where her productions include The Who’s Tommy, Pippin and the east coast school debuts ofRent, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and most recently Spring Awakening. Beacon students have received eight years of accolades from the Educational Theatre Association under Ms. Cimato’s direction and have continued their training at top programs including Boston University, Columbia, Princeton, Ithaca, Purchase, and Carnegie Mellon. Professional credits include Falsettos, Midsummer, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Little Shop among others. A trained classical singer, Ms. Cimato started performing professionally while still in high school. Her favorites include – Jesus Christ Superstar, A Little Night Music, Godspell and My Fair Lady. Ms. Cimato has taught students at the Battersea Arts Centre in the United Kingdom, the New York City Summer Arts Institute at the Frank Sinatra High School of the Performing Arts and the Boston University Summer Training Institute. She coaches privately in her studio in Brooklyn, NY and holds a BFA Boston University and Masters from New York University.

 

BILL GRADY

Musical Director, Core Faculty: Improvisation

Bill GradyBill Grady has worked professionally in NYC for the past 10 years as a Singer/Songwriter, Sound Designer and Sound Engineer for such theaters as Lincoln Center 3, MCC Theatre, The Long Wharf, The Duke, and Theatre For A New Audience. Grady got his start as an undergraduate at Boston University’s School for the Arts where he co-wrote the original musical “The Call of The Wild” based on Jack London’s famed book. This production was showcased at the American College Theater Festival.  Grady also is an accomplished Singer/Songwriter and has been highlighted many times at NYC’s Songwriter’s Beat. Grady’s most recent album, A Room Called Home, has been called a “minor miracle…delightfully edgy and enigmatic folk album… Grady has a rapid-fire lyrical style reminiscent of Ani Difranco and a melodic sense reminiscent of Jason Mraz.”  He also works with the award-winning Beacon High School in NYC as a band leader, teacher and musical director. Most recently, Grady could be found running sound for MCC Theater’s most recent production, Carrie. He is know for his quick-witted lyricism and uncanny knack for crafting musicals out of thin air.

For more information about the Musical Theater Summer Intensive, visit our website!

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