Interviews with Artists
Ben Vereen
A Tony and Drama Desk winner for his renowned performance in Bob Fosse’s “Pippen.” Mr. Vereen’s Broadway appearances include “Wicked,” “I’m Not Rappaport,” “Chicago,” “Hair,” Fosse,” “Jelly’s Last Jam,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and “A Christmas Carol. Mr. Vereen appeared in the World Premiere of “Fetch Clay, Make Man” directed by Des McAnuff at The McCarter Theater. Mr. Vereen continues to tour throughout the United States with his concert act, “Stepping Out with Ben Vereen. His notable film appearances include “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” directed by Kenny Ortega, “Time Out of Mind” with Richard Gere, “Top Five” with Chris Rock, “Idlewild,” “All That Jazz,” “Sweet Charity,” “Funny Lady” receiving a Golden Globe nomination, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” and “Once Upon a Forest.” His television appearances include an Amazon series produced by David Shore and Bryan Cranston, “the miniseries “Roots,” “Hot In Cleveland,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Grey's Anatomy” receiving a Prism Award, Tyler Perry's “House of Payne,” “NCIS,” “Law And Order: Criminal Intent” and “An Accidental Friendship” receiving an NAACP nomination, “Feast of All Saints,” “Tenspeed” and “Brown Shoe,” and “Star Trek: the Next Generation.” Mr. Vereen is one of the nation's most requested motivational speakers delivering talks on Overcoming Adversity, A Trip Down Broadway, Black History, Arts and Education, Substance Abuse and The Art of Physical and Occupational Therapy. Mr. Vereen has created The Ben Vereen Awards and the organization, Wellness Through the Arts benefiting young people across America. He directed “Hair” at Florida's Venice Theater and on Broadway in the musical “From Brooklyn To Broadway.” Mr. Vereen has become an advocate for American For the Arts the largest advocacy group of arts in America and spoke at the Democratic Convention in July 2016. He has received a number of awards including the Broadwayworld.com Cabaret Award Best Celebrity Male Vocalist, Israel's Cultural and Humanitarian Award, three NAACP Image Awards, an Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award, and a Victory Award. Mr. Vereen was the first recipient of The Walk of Fame Award from The LaGuardia School of Performing Arts and has been inducted in The Theater Hall of Fame, The National Museum of Dance and The Dance Hall of Fame.
Jeanine Tesori
Ms. Tesori won The Tony Award for Best Original Score with Lisa Kron for the musical, “Fun Home” on Broadway. She also wrote the Tony Award nominated scores for “Twelfth Night” at Lincoln Center, “Thoroughly Modern Millie” with lyrics by Dick Scanlan, “Caroline, or Change” with lyrics by Tony Kushner, “Shrek, The Musical” with lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. the production of “Caroline, or Change” at The National Theatre in London received The Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Her 1997 Off-Broadway musical, “Violet” with lyrics by Brian Crawley opened on Broadway in 2014 and garnered four Tony nominations including Best Musical Revival. Ms. Tesori’s operas include “A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck” with a libretto by Tony Kushner performed at Glimmerglass, “The Lion, The Unicorn and Me” with libretto by J.D. McClatchy, performed at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. Her music for plays includes “Mother Courage” directed by George C. Wolfe with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, “A Free Man of Color” directed by George C. Wolfe at Lincoln Center Theater, and “Romeo and Juliet.” Ms. Tesori wrote songs for the “Emperor’s New Groove 2: Kronk’s New Groove,” “Wrestling with Angels,” a 2006 Documentary about Tony Kushner, “Shrek the Third,” and three animated Disney DVD's “Mulan II,” “Lilo And Stitch II,” and “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning.” her film scores include “Nights in Rodanthe,” and “Every Day You're Not You.” She was cited by ASCAP as the first art female composer to have two new musicals running concurrently on Broadway. Ms. Tesori is the Founding Artistic Director of Encores Off Center at the New York City Center and a lecturer in music at Yale University. She’s the proud parent of Siena Rafter.
Psalmayene 24
is an award-winning playwright, director, and actor. Psalm – as his colleagues call him – is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Mosaic Theater and the Doris Duke Artist-in-Residence at Studio Theatre. He is currently the host of Studio Theatre’s “Psalm’s Salon at Studio,” an online interview-based series that celebrates and examines culture through a Black lens. Psalm is one of the writers of Arena Stage’s coronavirus pandemic time capsule film, “May 22, 2020, Psalm wrote “Double Entendre”, the fifth episode of Roundhouse Theatre’s ten-part pandemic influenced web series, “Homebound.” His plays include “Les Deux Noirs” (2020 Charles MacArthur Award, nominee for Outstanding Original New Play-Capital Grant) - world premiere, Mosaic Theater Company; “The Frederick Douglass Project” which included his play, “An Eloquent Fugitive Slave Flees to Ireland,” with Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan’s play, (first play produced on a pier at The Yards Marina, Washington, D.C. (recipient of six 2019 Helen Hayes Award nominations); a one man play, “Free Jujube Brown!,” recognized as a seminal work in Hip-Hop Theatre, published in the anthology, Plays from the Boom-Box Galaxy: Theater from the Hip-Hop Generation; his Hip-Hop Children’s Trilogy with premieres at Imagination Stage, exploring the past, present, and future of hip-hop culture, includes “Cinderella: The Remix at Imagination Stage,” “Zomo The Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth” and “P.Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical” (receipient – NEA and Walt Disney development grants, two Helen Hayes Award nominations for Outstanding Production, TYA). As a director, his productions include Antoinette Nwandu’s “Pass Over” at Studio Theatre, Nambi E. Kelley’s “Native Son” at Mosaic Theater Company, Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s “Word Becomes Flesh” (recipient of five 2017 Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Direction of a Play) at Theater Alliance, Young Jean Lee’s “The Shipment” at Forum Theater, the world premiere of The Welders production of “Not Enuf Lifetimes” by Caleen Sinnette Jennings; and the Mead Theatre Lab production of The Hueman Prophets’ “Read: White and Blue,” and he directed theater ensembles in India, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of Arena Stage's Voices of Now program. He was the assistant director of The Living Stage Theatre Company. Psalm is the recipient of the Imagination Award from Imagination Stage, and has received commissions from the African Continuum Theater Company, Arena Stage, Imagination Stage, The Kennedy Center, Theater Alliance, Solas Nua, Mosaic Theater Company, and Theatrical Outfit. He has also received grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and the Boomerang Fund for Artists Inc. As an actor, Psalm played Fortune in Arena Stage's “Ruined,” was a nominee for a Helen Hayes Award(1999, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical), and appeared on HBO’s “The Wire.” He is currently featured in “Destination D.C.”’s film segment highlighting theatre in Washington, D.C.
Sylvia McNair
is a two-time Grammy Award winner and has enjoyed a three-decade career in opera, oratorio, cabaret and musical theater. Ms. McNair made her professional concert debut with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra while still a student. She made her operatic debut in 1982, performing as Sandrina in Haydn’s “L’infedelta Delusa” with the Mostly Mozart Festival. Ms. McNair appeared regularly at the Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and as a solo performer with many major European and American orchestras. As a faculty member, she taught at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. From 2012 to 2019, Ms. McNair served as a judge and mentor for the Songbook Academy, a summer intensive for high school students operated by the Great American Songbook Foundation founded by Michael Feinstein. More recently, Ms. McNair has performed cabaret performances with the music of Gershwin, Porter, Sondheim and Bernstein at many venues including at New York City’s Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room, the Rainbow Room, The Plaza Hotel and at the Ravinia Festival. She released over seventy albums, including two American Songbook recordings with pianist Andre Previn. Her newest release is “Subject to Change.”
Michael McElroy
is a 2019 Special Tony Honor award-winning director and teacher. He has been chosen as Director of Diversity Initiatives of Undergraduate Drama in Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Mr. McElroy is Head of Vocal Performance in the New Studio on Broadway, the musical theater studio in Undergraduate Drama and he served as Associate Chair of Undergraduate Drama from 2016 – 2018. As a performer, Mr. McElroy has appeared on Broadway in “Sunday in the Park with George” (2017 revival with Jake Gyllenhaal), “Next to Normal,” “RENT,” “The Wild Party,” “Big River” (Tony nomination, Drama Desk nomination), “The Who's Tommy,” “Miss Saigon,” “Patti LuPone on Broadway,” “High Roller Social Pleasure Club.,” “HAIR” (City Center Encores Series). He also performed with the New York Philharmonic in “Candide” at Lincoln Center. Mr. McElroy’s National Tours include: “Next to Normal,” “RENT,” “Big River” (LA Ovation nomination), and “SARAFINA.” Off-Broadway, he was seen in Terrance McNalley’s “Some Men” (Second Stage Theater), “BLUE” (Roundabout), “Violet” (Original Cast, Playwrights Horizons, Drama Desk Nomination), “Thunder Knocking on the Door” (Minetta Lane) and “Richard III” starring Denzel Washington at New York Shakespeare Festival. His film and television includes “Rent Live on Broadway,” “Romance and Cigarettes,” “Stonewall,” “After Forever,” “Cantebury Law,” “Michael Jackson Concert,” and “2014 Tony Awards” performing with Sting. As a teacher in Vocal Performance, Mr. McElroy has taught at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, University of Melbourne/Victoria College of Arts, and at Carnegie Mellon University. As a Vocal Arranger, his work has been seen on Broadway in “Disaster!,” “Street Corner Symphony,” and Off-Broadway in Katori Hall’s “Our Lady of Kibeho,” Three Mo’ Tenors,” and the revival of Disney’s “Aida.” Michael McElroy is the Founder/Musical Director and Arranger for Broadway Inspirational Voices(BIV). In June 2019, Broadway Inspirational Voices was awarded the 2019 Tony Award Honor for Excellence in Theater by American Theater Wing. BIV is a diverse choir of Broadway performers from such shows as” Ain’t Too Proud,” “Alladin,” “Hamilton,” “Book of Mormon,” “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” “Tootsie,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Beetlejuice.” Broadway Inspirational Voices has performed including at Lincoln Center with Patti LuPone and the New York Philharmonic, Avery Fisher Hall with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, New York Pops and Carnegie Hall. Mr. McElroy received a Grammy nomination for his work on “Great Joy: A Gospel Christmas.” As an arranger and composer, Michael’s work has been performed on and off Broadway, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, CityCenter, The Crystal Cathedral as well as heard on as “America’s Got Talent,” “Smash,” “Why Did I Get Married,” “Preachin’ To The Choir,” and the Tony Awards.His arrangements can be heard on the recordings of such performers as: Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland, Billy Porter, Leslie Odom, Scott Alan, Steve Lutvak, Clay Aiken, Vanessa Williams and many others. Broadway Inspirational Voices also is a non-profit with Outreach Programs at such institutions as Ronald McDonald House New York, Mosaic Prep Elementary and the Covenant House New York.
Deirdre Kinahan
is a Dublin-based award-winning playwright, and was Founder & Producer of Tall Tales Theatre Company for fifteen years. An elected member of Aosdána, Ireland’s association of outstanding artists, Literary Associate with Meath Councy Council Arts Office, she has also served as a Board member for the Abbey Theatre, Theatre Forum Ireland and the Stewart Parkert Trust. Ms. Kinahan’s plays have been translated into many languages and are produced regularly in Ireland and on the International stage. Her newest works include “Embargo” for Fishamble Theatre Company 2020, "The Savior" for Landmark Theatre Co. and "Ettie" with Gordon Greenberg NYC. Ms. Kinahan plays include “Renewed,” which starred Julie Walters at The Old Vic Theatre London; "RISE' also for the Old Vic Theatre London, “The Unmanageable Sisters,” a Dublin retelling of Michael Tremblay's play Le Belle Soeurs which has two successful productions at the Abbey Theatre; “Be Carna;” “Crossings;” “Wild Notes,” inspired by Frederick Douglas, nominee - Outstanding New Play - Helen Hayes Awards; “Moment,” performed at the Bush Theatre to critical acclaim in 2011, and had its American premiere at Chicago’s Steep Theatre; “Lydia Glynn,” commissioned by MTC; “Wild Sky;” “Broken;” “Piigs;” “Rise;” “Bogboy,” Winner of the Irish Festival in New York City and Tony Doyle Bursary BBC Northern Ireland; “66 Books,” performed at the opening of The Bush’s new theatre in London; “These Halcyon Days,” winner of a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013; “Melody,” “Me & Molly & Moo,” a children’s play; and “Spinning” & "Rathmines Road" performed at the Dublin Theatre Festival . Ms. Kinahan was also a part of the Open Court season at the Royal Court with a play about the Irish economic crisis. She collaborates constantly with artists and Theatre Companies throughout the world and has a series of projects currently in development.
Bob Ari
Recognized worldwide as one of Bluegrass music’s finest songwriters, he penned such classics as “Secret of the Waterfall,” “The Girl I Love,” “The Last Request,” and a classic song, with the father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, “Walk Softly On My Heart” and “Beyond the Gate.” During the 1960’s, with Herschel Sizemore and Rual Yarbrough, he played for several years as a member of the Dixie Gentlemen. During this time they recorded five albums which contained almost 20 songs either wrote or co-wrote by Landers including “Soldier’s Return,” and “Your Heart Tells The Truth’,” In the early 1970’s, Mr. Landers and Mr. Yarborough formed the Dixiemen. During the 1980’s, Mr. Landers formed a group with his daughters becoming the Jake Landers Family Band and recorded for Old Homestead. Mr. Landers has presented an annual Festival of Bluegrass music and more recently, with Mary Settle Cooney and The Ritz Theater, “Bluegrass at the Ritz with Jake Landers and Friends.”
Paul Tazewell
Starting his Broadway career with the groundbreaking musical, “Bring in Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk” directed by George C. Wolfe, he followed that with work on the original Broadway productions of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning “Hamilton.” Mr. Tazewell received the 2016 Tony Award for Best Costume Design. Mr. Tazewell’s recent work includes the feature film, “Harriet,” NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!” (Costume Designers Guild Awards Nominee, Emmy Award Nominee), “The Immortal Life of Henriette Lacks” directed by George C. Wolfe, and Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film, “West Side Story.” He designed the costumes for “The Wiz: Live” with Queen Latifah, Mary J. Bilge and Chanice Williams on NBC. He’s been designing costumes for theater dance opera and film for over twenty-five years across America and around the world. His designs on Broadway include “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations” (Tony Award Nominee), “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (NAACP Theatre Award Nominee), “Escape To Margaritaville” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Sideshow,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Memphis,” “In The Heights,” “Lombardi,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Color Purple,” “A Raisin In The Sun,” “Caroline Or Change.” In London’s West End, his work includes “Hamilton (Olivier Award Nominee), “Memphis,” and “Caroline, Or Change.” National Tours “Hamilton,” “Escape To Margaritaville,” “Flashdance: The Musical,” “Memphis: A New Musical,” “In The Heights,” and “The Color Purple.” He has designed productions from many prestigious institutions including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet Company, English National Opera, Bolshoi Ballet, Guthrie Theater, Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, Stratford Shakespeare Festival and The Kennedy Center. His theater designs include “Kings,” Delacorte’s “Julius Caesar,” “Privacy,” “Flesh and Blood, “Harlem Song,” “Sousatzka,” “Hollywood,” “ One Flea Spare,” “Blade to the Heat,” and “Fetch Clay, Make Man.” He has given numerous class master classes at universities across the country and taught costume design as a guest instructor at NYU. He was on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University from 2003 to 2006. He has received many recognitions for his work. In the same year, 2016, he received both a Tony Award, for “Hamilton,” and the Emmy Award for “The Wiz! Live” on NBC. Other notable honors include two Lucille Lortel Awards, four Helen Hayes Awards, a Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship, and The Princess Grace Statue Award. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also invited him to participate in The Artist Project. Recently Theatre Art Galleries held the exhibit “Tazewell: Three Generations: Three Voices,” showcasing Paul Tazewell, Tazewell’s mother, Barbara Tazewell, and his nephew, Nate Tazewell, an up-and-coming illustrator.
Patricia Rozario
World-renowned opera singer, Ms. Rozario has performed across Europe in “The Marriage of Figaro,” conducted by Sir Georg Solti. She has given concerts in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in “We Shall See Him as He Is” at the BBC Proms in England, and around the world in Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Halle, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Cologne, Leipzig, Madrid, New York City, Paris, Riga, Rouen, Strasbourg, Vienna, Winterthur and Zürich. An early appearance was in Moneverdi’s “ll Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorida” at the English National Opera, and she also appeared at the Aix-en-Provence and Wexford Festivals, and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Ms. Rozatio performed at the Garsington Opera in England, and on stages across Europe in Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Frankfurt, Ghent, Innsbruck, Lyon and Stuttgart. She performed in a production of Elvis Costello’s “Meltdown,” and in John Tavener’s operas, “Maria Egiziaca” (“Mary of Egypt”), “Eternity's Sunrise,” “Apocalypse,” in the world premiere of “Vlepondas” at Queen Elizabeth Hall, and “Agraphon” at London's Barbican Centre. Ms. Rozario starred in Tavener’s “Fall and Resurrection.” In the premiere of Opera North’s production of Simon Holt’s “The Nightingale's to Blame,” and in “Arvo Part.” Ms. Rozario has recorded many of the operas she has performed in, as well as Haydn’s “Stabat Mater,” Canteloube’s “Songs of the Auvergne,” Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia,” “songs of Severac,” Tavener’s “Svyati,” on Graham Johnson’s complete Schubert song series, Handel’s “Almira,” and the Gramophone Award-winning recording of John Casken’s opera, “Golem.” In 2011, with her husband, she created the organization, ‘Giving Voice to India,’ teaching western classical vocal music to Indian students, and in 2014 produced Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” with an all-Indian cast at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai. Ms. Rozario has received the Order of the British Empire in 2001, and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award from the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in 2013. She is currently a Professor at the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban.
Nancy Rhodes
is a champion of new American opera. Ms. Rhodes is the Artistic Director of Encompass New Opera Theatre founded in New York City in 1975, dedicated to the creation, development and production of adventurous new music theatre and contemporary opera, and revivals of important musical works by American and international composers. Ms. Rhodes and Encompass New Opera Theatre have produced sixty-five full-scale productions, and over a hundred and fifty staged readings of new works. She has staged the world premieres of Kirke Mechem’s “Tartuffe” at the San Francisco Opera, Virgil Thomson’s “Lord Byron” at Alice Tully Hall, and new operas for the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera Theatre, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Fisher. A renowned international Director, Ms. Rhodes’ productions include “Death in Venice” in Stockholm, “Carmen” in Oslo, “Happy End” in Finland, “Kiss Me Kate” in Ankara, “West Side Story” in Istanbul, and “Eccentrics, Outcasts and Visionaries: A Century of American Opera” for the Holland Festival. The numerous operas Ms. Rhodes has staged include Blitzstein’s “Regina,” Britten’s “Phaedra,” Antheil’s “Transatlantic,” and Virgil Thomson’s “The Mother of Us All.” Ms. Rhodes co-conceived and directed “Only Heaven” with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, and directed Grigori Frid’s opera, “The Diary of Anne Frank” at the Cleveland Opera. She was the Director of the first American musical performed at Albania’s National Opera House. Ms. Rhodes is the commissioned librettist of a new opera, “The Theory of Everything,” and recently directed the World Premiere of the new opera, “Anna Christie,” based on Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, by librettist Joseph Masteroff and composer Edward Thomas in New York City.
Maia Danziger
is an Emmy Award winning actress whose career has spanned nearly five decades. Originally from New York, Ms. Danziger has appeared extensively on and off-Broadway, in regional theatre and on film and television. She been teaching her master workshop ‘Relax and Write’TM and guided meditation workshops for more than twenty years. She has taught workshops for a variety of organizations including hospitals, wellness communities, universities, spas and corporations. A certified life coach, Ms. Danziger specializes in working with writers and artists on developing creativity and fulfilling their careers. Her clients include actors, artists, journalists, novelists, playwrights and screenwriters. She has had long-running contract roles on several daytime soap operas, including as Glenda Toland on “Another World,” Katie Whitney on “The Doctors” and Judy Barclay on “All My Children.” Ms. Danziger has been privileged to work with such actors as Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Arkin, Oliver Reed, Stephen Lang, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Jonathan Pryce, Ann Jackson and Eli Wallach. Ms. Danziger was the founder and former co-Artistic Director of the Actors Company Theatre (T.A.C.T.) in New York City, and a member of Rogue Machine Theatre and Theatre Tribe in Los Angeles. Ms. Danziger is a practicing Buddhist since 1979, she has received the Kalachakra Initiation from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, twice as well as initiation in the Bon tradition from Geshe Nyima Dakpa Rinpoche and His Holiness, 33rd Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpal Nyima, the spiritual leader of The Bon.
Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery
Songwriter, musician and Baptist Minister Montgomery is probably best known as a songwriter and wrote or co-wrote numerous songs including "What's Your Mama's Name Child," "We're Gonna Hold On," "One of These Days" and "Loving You Could Never Be Better." He has been one of Nashville’s top songwriters and session players for many years. As a studio musician, he recorded with Arthur Alexander, Jimmy Hughes, The Tams and Tommy Roe, Griffin said. He has toured with George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Red Foley, Michael Landon, Cowboy Copas and Patsy Cline. Mr. Montgomery began his career as the lead and rhythm guitarist at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, staff bass player at the Grand Old Opry, playing with many artists including Bob Dylan, Etta James and Patsy Cline. George Jones recorded 73 songs written by Mr. Montgomery, including 31 songs for duets with Tammy Wynette, including their No. 1 hit duet, “We're Gonna Hold On.” Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker, Emmylou Harris, Barbara Mandrell, Tanya Tucker, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams, Jr., Merle Haggard also recorded Mr. Montgomery’s songs. In 1976, Mr. Montgomery was called to preach, and in 1980, he became the pastor of Oakwood Baptist Church in Sheffield, Alabama. He and his wife, Charlene, began writing gospel music including "Let's All Go Down to the River" and "There's a Man Walking on the Water." Mr. Montgomery received the Arthur Alexander Songwriter’s Award by the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame's Music Creator's Award. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award for "We're Gonna Hold On." Mr. Montgomery and his wife currently own and operate Sweetwater Recording Studio, Mister Magic Music Publishing Company, and Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery Music Museum in Sheffield, Alabama.
Willie Ruff
is an American jazz musician specializing in the French horn and double bass and ethnomusicologist, a Yale School of Music professor from 1971 to 2017, founder of the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale in 1972, and a writer and educator of wide-ranging interests and influences. Mr. Ruff played in the 766 Army Air Corps Band in Columbus, Ohio among the famed Tuskegee Airmen. For over fifty years, he performed in the Mitchell-Ruff Duo with pianist Dwike Mitchell, playing and recording with many well-known artists including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Miles David, Sarah Vaughn, and Dizzy Gillespie. From 1955 to 2011, the duo regularly performed in the United States, Asia, Africa, and Europe, and was the first jazz band to play in the Soviet Union in 1959, and in China 1981. Mr. Ruff also recorded with Billy Strayhorn and Lalo Schifrin and was chosen by John Hammond to be the bass player for the recording sessions of “Songs of Leonard Cohen,” Mr. Cohen’s first album, released in 1967. He recorded two albums with Miles Davis — the classics “Miles Ahead” and “Porgy and Bess.” Mr. Ruff is one of the founders of the W.C. Handy Music Festival in Florence, Alabama. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, received the Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award, and Yale University’s School of Music Sanford Medal. In 1992, Mr. Ruff published his memoir, A Call to Assembly: The Autobiography of a Musical Storyteller, awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Mr. Ruff co-created the documentary, “A Conjoining of Ancient Song,” which received its world premiere screening at Yale in 2013. His work in this area is also a subject of Sterlin Harjo’s 2014 documentary film, “This May Be the Last Time.”
Dennis D’Amico
is the Co-Executive Producer of the new opera “IBSEN,” with a libretto written by Ronald Rand and music by Hartmut von Lieres, scheduled for its World Premiere in India and an Asian Tour in November, 2021. Mr. D’Amico was the Executive Director and Executive Producer of “The Garland Music Series” and “The Garland Appeal USA” commemorating Linda McCartney’s fight with cancer through the healing power of music, supported by Sir Paul McCartney. He produced the World Premiere of Sir Paul McCartney’s classical composition “Nova” at Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon. Mr. D’Amico has cast many Broadway shows including “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miss Firecracker Contest,” “Three Musketeers,” and “Into the Light.” His work in film includes Best Picture “Out of Africa,” “Santa Claus the Movie,” “9½ Weeks,” and “A Woman or Two.” Mr. D’Amico contributed his many talents to “Strange Interlude” on Broadway starring Glenda Jackson, and “Aren’t We All” with Rex Harrison and Claudette Colbert. Every year he produces charity events that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for breast cancer, children’s cancers, autism, scleroderma and animal’s rights. Mr. D’Amico has performed with several artists including Nigel Kennedy, REO Speedwagon, The Marshall Tucker Band and Fred Turner of Bachman Turner Overdrive. As a jazz producer, he has worked with Kenny Rankin, Chevy Chase, Dorado Schmidt, Peter Beets, Cassandra Wilson, Tom Scott and Pablo Ziegler. Mr. D’Amico was Executive Producer of the Michael Madsen film, “Turning the Tables” with Daryl Hannah. He produced “The Believe Concert” starring Chevy Chase and Danny Aiello to raise funds for children with cancer. Mr. D’Amico produced the “Let Us In” concert with Kenny Loggins, Steel Magnolia, and Jeff Daniels. He is currently producing a new play co created by Tony Award winning writer Mark Medoff and Dennis entitled “Baby Lamb.”
Grace Gachocha
Theatre artist/Teaching Artist. Ms. Gachocha was invited to attend the First International Teaching Artist Conference at the House of Literature in Oslo, the world’s first international conference on Teaching Artistry. She was also invited by Urban Gateways in Chicago, where she instructed UG’s Art Options program alongside literary artist Maia Morgan and Digital Sound artist Shawn Wallace. The exchange was made possible through an International Connections Fund grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in partnership with the International Theater and Literacy Project (ITLP), a New York City-based organization founded in 2005 to provide rural African communities with youth education through theater, and the Greater Auburn Gresham Community Development Corporation.
Karen Saillant
Artistic Director of International Opera Theater (IOT), based in Philadelphia, every year has presented world premiere Italian operatic adaptions of Shakespeare texts every summer in Citta' della Pieve, on the border of Umbria and Tuscany in Italy. Ms. Saillant has starred in opera houses in Europe and across the U.S., where she has received standing ovations. In 1976, Ms. Saillant became the first American to represent the U.S. in The International Opera Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was the first singer presented in a New York recital debut by The Stough Institute of Breathing Coordination. As a vocal coach & respiratory specialist, Ms. Saillant has spent more than five decades guiding singers and actors in the creation and performance of classic and original works of art. She has worked extensively giving master classes in Italy and private sessions at a Philadelphia medical facility, helping individuals with asthma, emphysema and all types of breathing and vocal disorders. She began her study with Carl Stough in 1972. International Opera Theater has created eleven world premiere Italian operas at the Teatro degli Avvaloranti, Citta' della Pieve in Italy. In 2007, she was commissioned by The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, The Museum of Modern Art in New York and The Philadelphia Museum of Art to create new works of theater and music to highlight their collections. The Philadelphia Orchestra commissioned her to create and direct a new theatrical representation of “The Pulcinella Suite” by Igor Stravinsky for their family concert series in celebration of the 150th anniversary of The Academy of Music in Philadelphia. In 2013, IOT presented the American premiere of Jago,” based on an original story by Karen Saillant, in Philadelphia, and the world premiere of "Camille Claudel" in Italy. In 2014, IOT presented the world premiere of “Azaio,” in both Italy and Philadelphia, based on an original story by Karen Saillant and her son, Christian Bygott. Since 2015, Ms. Saillant has been writing and producing world premiere cantatas for premiere at The Assisi Suono Sacro Festival. 2018 marked the 15th year Ms. Saillant has directed and produced seventeen world premieres of Italian opera in Italy, and her works have been presented at The International Festival of Culture in Bergamo, Teatro Mancinelli, Orvieto, Teatro Comunale, Citta' di Saluzzo, Teatro Valle (Rome’s oldest opera house), and at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Rosenbach Museum, The Ibrahim Theater, Gershman Hall, Prince Music Theater, Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center and The Academy of Music, for their 150th anniversary celebration. www.internationaloperatheater.org
Jennifer Horne
is the commissioned Poet Laureate of Alabama from 2017-2021. In 2018, she was the visiting writer-in-residence at Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina. Ms. Horne is a teacher, a writer and the author of two books of poems, Bottle Tree and Little Wanderer, and three poetry chapbooks, Borrowed Light, Miss Betty’s School of Dance, and Tineretului. She is also the author of Tell the World You’re a Wildflower, a collection of short stories in the voices of Southern women and girls. She is the editor of Working the Dirt: An Anthology of Southern Poets, and co-editor, with Wendy Reed, of All out of Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality and Circling Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality. She has also co-edited, with Don Noble, Belles’ Letters II, a collection of short fiction. Her poems have appeared in Amaryllis, the Birmingham Poetry Review, Carolina Quarterly, the Dry Creek Review, and Sycamore Review, among others. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Seaside Institute in Florida and has worked as a teacher in college, high school, elementary school, and prison classrooms. She received the 2015 Druid City Literary Arts Award, given by the Tuscaloosa Arts Council. She is currently at work on a biography of Alabama writer Sara Mayfield. For more on her work, visit: “A Map of the World,” jennifer-horne.blogspot.com
Jeanie Thompson
Executive Director of the Alabama Writers Forum, a statewide literary arts service organization, and Founder of the ‘Writing Our Stories’ creative writing program for at-risk youth within the AWF. Ms. Thompson, an award-winning poet, has published five collections of poetry, The Myth of Water, Poems from the Life of Helen Keller (2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, Finalist in Poetry), The Seasons Bear Us, White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems, Witness (Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Award), and How to Enter the River, and three chapbooks. She co-edited The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers with Jay Lamar. Her poems, interviews with writers, and critical articles have appeared in Antaeus, Crazyhorse, Ironwood, North American Review, New England Review, PoemMemoirStory (Nelle), Southern Review, The Louisville Review, and numerous anthologies. Ms. Thompson was Founding Editor of the literary journal Black Warrior Review at The University of Alabama. She is also a poetry faculty member with the Spalding University low-res MFA Writing Program in Louisville, and has taught as a literary arts education advocate at the University of New Orleans, the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, the poetry-in-the-schools program in New Orleans, and across Alabama. Ms. Thompson has received Individual Artist fellowships from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts and was a Walter Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers Conference. www.jeaniethompson.net, writersforum.org, writersforum@bellsouth.net
Robert Perry
Storyteller, Historian, Artist, and the Author of six books. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Before moving to Alabama, Mr. Perry served as Vice-Chairman of the Council of Elders that advises the Chickasaw Nation on cultural issues. At the 1966 tribal meeting, Robert Perry was elected to the Chickasaw Advisory Council by a show of hands. He rose to Chairman, when in 1977 the tribe’s constitution was approved by the U. S. government. Tribal leaders could be elected, and a tribal complex built to form businesses. By 1993, Robert Perry served five years as chairman of the board on the Chickasaw Industrial Development Board. A retired chemical engineer, Mr. Perry holds eight U.S. patents. He chaired the City of Sheffield’s Port Authority to develop Tuscumbia Landing, a water site on the national historical Trail of Tears. He also does re-enactments and joined the American Indian Alaskan Native Tourist Association, the only National organization that promotes international tourism to Indian Country. Along with his wife Annie Perry, he works with the Natchez Trace Parkway Association (NTPA) to teach school children about Chickasaw culture and history through living history. In 2011, he was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame.
Wayne Sides
Wayne Sides and Jeanie Thompson at “The Myth of Water” Exhibit at the Helen Keller Public Library, Tuscumbia, Alabama (photo: Florence Times Daily)
Nationally recognized photographer, Professor Sides recently retired as Professor Emeritus at the University of North Alabama in Florence. He had originally studied with Gay Burke, Guy Martin, and graduate work at Pratt Institute. Prof. Sides gained national recognition for his photography in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. He has been recognized for his collaborative work with musicians, poets, and other performing artists and collage artwork. Prof. Sides’ work is in numerous private and public collections and he exhibits and lectures at regional, national and international venues. His art collage/photography installation, “I Wake from a Dream,” with poetry by Jeanie Thompson was on exhibition at the Helen Keller Library in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Mr. Sides’ photographic publications include Sideshow, Litany for a Vanishing Landscape with Jeanie Thompson, White Knights, Silence and the Hammer, and Wayne Sides: Photographs, introduction by Guy Martin. www.waynesides.com
Jamie Lee McMahan
Self-portrait by Jamie McMahan
Received the Portrait Society of America International Competition’s People’s Choice Award in 2007. Mr. McMahan became a full-time professional portrait painter in his forties. Influenced by master painters Kinstler, Bettina Steinke, Joe Bowler, John Howard Sanden, and Fred Rawlinson, he has painted people in all walks of life and professions, including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and award-winning author of “Roots,” Alex Haley. Mr. McMahan maintains a studio in Memphis, Tennessee.
