WHAT'S YOUR LATEST AND GREATEST PROJECT: Directing, "Normal Is a Country", by Steven Schutzman. It's a short play about a son who comes back from the war in Iraq with physical and emotional damage while recuperating at his childhood home with the help of his mother he mends his mind by sewing the bloodied patches of his comrades uniforms together. It's a short, about 15 minutes long-part of the Subversive Shorts Play Festival in Buffalo, NY www.subversivetheatre.org
WHAT MAKES YOU A 'MOM ROCKER': I suppose I'm a mom rocker for the obvious, I'm a mother of 4 kids! And I give myself time and permission to keep making art-whatever the art is at that time AND I also find ways to make that work a product that can be paid for. Whether I am labeled a Theatre/Performing Artist OR a Theatre/Performing Teaching Artist, this is all that I do. I've been a working artist or teaching artist for the last 17 years in New York City and later here in Buffalo.
GIVE US A BRIEF HERSTORY OF YOUR CAREER: In High School I was part of a traveling troupe of musical theater performers called the Talent Unlimited High School Traveling Troupe.
• I did some commercial acting as a teenager and early twenties,
• I was in a band called the Pedestrians, we didn't perform further then a friends garage,
• while I was auditioning for commercials and extra work in movies I got a job assisting wardrobe stylists in commercial s
• I liked that a lot and started styling commercials and music videos on my own for about 10-12 more years I was the Wardrobe Supervisor for HBO's Def Comedy Jam w/ Martin Lawrence for 4 yrs
• I designed a line of natural fiber clothing for plus size women called "Nothing to Wear"
• I got a scholarship to attend The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in NYC and I stopped styling and costumes to focus on acting and writing
• I wrote ‘Boat Leaving in Ten Minutes’, NYC 1999 Marilyn Monroe Theater; 3 Women 2000, Langston Hughes Institue BUffalo, NY; A Symphony Down in My Soul, 2002 Alleyway Theater, Buffalo,NY; Mama Songs, Arts in Education commission & tour, 2005 Buffalo, NY; A Little Bit of Paradise 2008 Road Less Traveled Theater, Buffalo, NY
• I produced Mamaplaooza Buffalo events 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE: I love Buffalo, NY; the four seasons, the architecture, the traffic (or lack of it), the schools, the food -- Much more than wings and pizza although they do it best here, restaurants (the coolest restaurant folks around), the museums (Albright Knox Art Gallery acquired one of my husband's Paintings in 2007), Burchfield Penney, History Museums, Science Museum, zoo), the quiet, the libraries, the accessibility, the airport, the trees, the birds, my kids and my husband .
IS YOUR PASSION: My family and my art
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST DREAM: My biggest dream is that the universe will continue to give, show, guide and provide my family with whatever we need and want in order for us to be happy, healthy, peaceful and satisfied with life, the world and each other.
