COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER OF BOSTON 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: Producer/Director with legendary conductor and composer David Amram and acclaimed percussionist and instructor at Berkeley School of Music, Kenwood Dennard. The workshop was free for students and open to the public also, "aus gratis". David and Kenwood performed a concert with music from cultures all over the world. After the concert young musicians were invited to sit in for the second set, for the opportunity to perform with the two music greats. This included a nine-year old blind boy who was extremely gifted in percussion and piano who accompanied the group on a grand piano.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS Writer/Director Awarded the one grant nationwide for a multi-discipline theatre project. Created MARTY THE MANATEE, TV show prototype for a "Live" puppet variety series in English, Spanish and Portuguese at New World Center for the Arts in Miami with dear friend and Dean of Theatre, Jorge Guerra Castro.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY Several invitations from both Professor Catherine Burroughs and Professor John Robbins. Guest Director workshops on OTHELLO, ROMEO & JULIET, HAMLET and MACBETH.
WELLS COLLEGE Many theatre workshops over the years with Professor Susan Forbes and Professor Catherine Burroughs including the world premier of I AM HAMLET, Phipps Auditorium. The original adaptation of the Shakespeare classic written, directed and produced by joe s. went on to do over 100 performances in the northeast U.S. and Canada playing at prestigious theatres and performing art centers.
ITHACA COLLEGE Many guest director residencies with Dr. Richard Clark and The Department of Theatre Arts including contemporary adaptation of THE BACCHAE by Euripides. The show was a collaboration with the theatre department and the School of Music. Guest percussionist Zlatko Kaucic (from what was then Jugoslavia) created the "live" music for the show and joe s. made arrangements to bring the piece to Cornell University for a special performance. It was the first time that the theatre departments from Ithaca College and Cornell University collaborated on a project.
CAYUGA HOME FOR CHILDREN Sexually Abused Children: The project was a courageous attempt by Laurie Bushman who brought joe s. in for the work. These children ages eleven to sixteen were severely abused and not able to function in society including a young girl (Bonnie) who had been in a catatonic state for four years with no expression. The project was a Cabaret. Everyone could choose their own form of expression for their "act". It took weeks to overcome the groups intense mistrust and reluctance to participate. When their trust was gained they would run to the car when joe s. arrived. The work was shown to experts in the field who were astonished to see Bonnie banging on a drum set and smiling.
GREECE ATHENA HIGH SCHOOL 100 Opera Singers MACBETH Guest director joe s. invited by Judith Ranaletta. Macbeth opera workshop; directed 100 opera singers. Greece Athena is one of the leading performing arts high schools in New York State. He also conducted acting classes and coach senior audition pieces. They started calling joe "The Shakespeare Guy".
KENDALL MUSIC STUDIOS Miami Directed theatre workshop on MACBETH with owner and opera singer from Puerto Rico, Tannia Laracuente. Tannia's school was special. Some of the children were Autistic and some had Down's Syndrome.
PEACHTOWN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Conducted an acting workshop and directed scenes for their production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM with program director Bird Kramer. Peachtown Elementary is one of the leading and most successful independent day schools in America with high level talent.
Never turned down a group with that could not afford a workshop.
FREIE UNIVERSITAT BERLIN & THE CULTURE MINISTRY OF BERLIN The Freie Universitat (The Free University) is one of the leading universities in Germany where joe s. was invited several times to create and direct theatre projects collaborating with the university and WERKSTADT BERLIN (The Cultural Ministry of Germany). HERMANNPLATZ was recognized as a landmark theatre project for young people (38 war refugees from Beirut) part of an international guest directors series BERLIN HAT FEBER. NO BRAINS NO HEADACHES (one of the very first theatre projects between East and West Germany soon after the Berlin Wall came down). The show was invited to be the representation for culture for THE BERLIN WORLD CONGRESS in 1991. Doris Salje, CULTURAL SENATOR FOR YOUTH AND FAMILIES for the City of Berlin worked with joe s.
ITHACA COLLEGE VOCAL JAZZ ENSEMBLE Producer, WorldFest Atlanta. joe s. brought the entire Jazz Ensemble from Ithaca School of Music and arranged for sponsors to cover, plane, hotel, per diems, etc. He treated the students like the other professionals so they would understand that their work has real value both culturally and financially. The performing arts are a very challenging quest and all too often young artists are taken advantage of instead of cultivated.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY OTHELLO IN 5 LANGUAGES: Concept, created and directed an ellite international project with Cornell University Summer Program with a small group of women from all over the world. It was also a collaboration between Wells College and Cornell University; joe s. directed "The Willow Scene" from OTHELLO in five languages. Arabic, Urdu, Japanese, Spanish and English. He also produced a video of the event primarily for the young women to have an archival DVD of sharing Shakespeare with each other outdoors on the majestic Cayuga Lake. Both Cornell University and Wells College use the video to recruit students. One of these highly selected women was Khadijah Williams (Google, there are too many links to include). Khadijah and joe s. reunited at Boston Center of the Arts on a special evening when joe s. arranged for a performance for women from the homeless shelter. Khadijah was a homeless child in Los Angeles, self taught in the streets, and ended up with full scholarships to Cornell and Harvard, appearance on Oprah and met with Bill Gates etc, etc, etc.
Rehearsal for WEST SIDE STORY
Public School #192 Testimonials
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA Tampa: Produced and directed an original ensemble creation with students from USF. ELVIS King of Rock & Roll, was a fun musical about Elvis Presley. The project was conceived by joe s. to do a collaboration between the U.S., Germany Holland and Italy. Nancy Cole was head of the USF Drama Department (a courageous, woman, and savvy theatre person who contributed much to culture in Tampa Bay) jumped through all the hoops and made it happen! We toured Europe for six weeks with nine people and played seventeen major theatre festivals including the 750 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BERLIN and BONN 2000. Wouter de Boer, a good friend of joe s. and founder of THE MELKWEG and FESTIVAL OF FOOLS made ELVIS PRESLEY DAY in Amsterdam for the show. The students from USF received round trip air fare, accommodations for the entire six weeks, meals and all kinds of special treatment and a weekly salary for the tour. A special featured collaboration with the famous Italian theatre director and creator, LEO BASSI, was arranged in Bochum. Taking students across the ocean to tour Europe was a huge and daring accomplishment. There is nothing that can compare with real professional experience for young people seeking out their dreams.
One of the highlights of the seventeen city tour was when we arrived in Amsterdam. Wouter de Boer, my friend and founder of THE MELKWEG and FESTIVAL OF FOOLS created ELVIS PRESLEY DAY in honor of our show. The performances were over sold out.
Khadijah Williams
CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT Director, workshop ROMEO & JULIET. Hagerty Holler Library Corner Shakespeare Class with Karen Kosco & The Shakespeare Club.
HEY NONNY NONNY - Text into song
MARTHA'S VINEYARD REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL: Conducted several workshops for acting and puppets. Cast a student to be the "pilot" of the manually operated BARD BOT prototype, a 12' foot high giant Shakespeare puppet and other students to perform A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS ICE CREAM, adaptation by joe s. The chest of the giant street puppet opens to revel a traditional hand puppet theatre. The BARD BOT was featured in the Martha's Vineyard 4th of July Parade (same parade as film Jaws).
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: Co-Producer of 7 Decades of Scotch & Soda, a 70 year reunion of a music theatre club started by drama students at "Carnegie Tech" before the formal music theatre program existed. The show was a variety show extravaganza with Lee Miller who produced the video. The performance featured some of the biggest names in the history of Carnegie Mellon University including Buzz Blair (Hawaii 5 O), Stephen Sondheim, Iris Ranier Dart, Bobby Finkel (creator/producer in THE GOLDEN AGE OF TV, Hulabaloo, Laugh-In, Hee Haw, The Andy Williams Show, The Judy Garland Show) and many more greats from the elite theatre program. It was a real honor for joe s. to work with Al Leahman, a wonderful man and one of the very best designers in the history of Hollywood.
IFAC, INTERNATIONAL FINE ARTS COLLEGE: Produced many top-end fashion shows with Charlene Parsons (who founded IFAC, one of the top three fashion schools in the world along with Paris and New York) throughout Miami and Miami Beach in high profile locations, Crowne Plaza Miami, The DoubleTree Hotel Miami, Nikki Beach, The Fountainbleau Miami Beach, Dadeland Mall, Brooks Brothers, Brickell Financial District, The Grand Flamingo to name a few. Charlene Parsons is dearly appreciated by joe s. who thinks the world of her and was greatly inspired by her talent, dedication, discipline and utter brilliance in so many areas of expertise.
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ART & DESIGN (Ai Miami): IFAC was purchased by Arts Institute. The collaboration with Charlene Parsons continued for years including a major event with Mayor Manny Diaz and the City of Miami for THE INAUGURAL YEAR OF ART BASIL. The large-scale indoor/outdoor event included top artists, fashion, street performers, musicians, pyrotechnics, spectacle and many dignitaries and celebrities from Miami and Miami Beach.
CAYUGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Conducted theatre workshop on Shakespeare's RICHARD III with Professor Susan Wolstenholme. Also after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, joe s., in collaboration with C.C.C. produced and directed a double bill, LONE STAR and KILLER'S HEAD with three fellow actors from CMU.
THE LOVEWELL INSTITUTE: Produced and director a concert with special guest, David Spangler, Broadway Composer and creator of the children's TV hit show ROMPER ROOM. David and his students were invited to perform in the open-air concert downtown Miami, FROM MADAGASCAR TO MIAMI featuring the world renowned composer, conductor and virtuoso musician David Amram. There were musicians from many cultures including Del Mar one of Peter Gabriel's keyboard players. The concert was funded by Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs in cooperation with Mayor Alex Penelas.
ISLAND OF TEXEL, HOLLAND, Public Schools: The Phone Booth theatre company founded and run by joe s. for over a decade in Europe and the U.S. conducted successful theatre workshops. Funding was obtained for a major project that focused on the most difficult students labeled "trouble makers" in Texel. There were two projects produced and directed by joe s. and Tony Maples, SCAPIN by Moliere and an original adaptation of LORD OF THE FLIES. The students were so excited to do theatre that they decided as a group, unanimously to work on the two productions over their spring vacation to make the shows better. Parents, educators, administrators and local politicians were astounded that the "Problem Children" were going to school during their vacation when nobody could get them to attend regularly when they were supposed to; the students were great.
BERLIN HAT FEBER 38 War Refugees in the Kreuzeberg Ghetto: Created and directed a Cabaret on the history of The Hermannplatz, one of the hots spots of Cabaret during the 20s with Paris and Zurich. Now it was a ghetto with multiple cultures from the Middle East that hated each other and the ominous Berlin Wall nearby. Willie Grossman, head of the Cultural Ministry of Germany at the time, hailed the project as a big success, "I wish to express my heart felt thanks for your organization of the project "Berlin - Hermannplatz". The expense and the enormous concentration certainly paid off! In comparison with former projects in the field of Youth Development, this work distinguishes itself as one of very high quality... the material and the statement of the piece, provoking shock and irony, developed directly out of the theme."
ATTAIN, Advanced Technology Training And Information Networking, NY: Creator/Director of a multicultural group of extremely troubled high school kids (joe s. always gets and welcomes the young people that nobody wants to deal with) that had trouble focusing with low skill sets because of their home situations. We wrote and produced a Vaudeville Show using, Rap, Latino Music, Hip Hop, Poetry, Break Dancing, Heavy Metal, Comedy Skits and any hobby, interest or escape that these young people used to survive tremendous unwarranted hostility. No one had ever gotten any of them to work together, finish or manage a group effort (entrances and exits, cues, costumes, lighting and sound, blocking, etc., without quitting, aborting, vanishing, causing distraction or starting fights). THEY DID IT! The kids were focused for 45 minutes and pulled it off. The audience was genuinely entertained. The group was so proud that they made it happen without any mistakes or no-shows disproving predictions of disaster. A special ATTAIN award was created for joe s. for the work. Jackie Berens and Mike Sincebaugh, the ATTAIN activity leaders were wonderful and so supportive.
PUBLIC SCHOOL #192 BUFFALO ACADEMY OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS: Private performance of the original Shakespeare adaptation by joe s. I AM HAMLET for Buffalo inner city school students. Not only did they understand the entire piece, clarity being a primary goal, but when the play concluded they wanted to see it again. It was truly great to see young people in this age group completely entertained by one of the most complex tragedies of Shakespeare's works and dramatic literature.
