SALMAGUNDI ARTIST BIOS
(* signifies those who will be performing only, ** signifies teaching and performing)
VIRGINIA CLOW
Clow holds a BFA in painting from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MFA in painting from Indiana University, and has had the good fortune to study scenic painting with Lester Polakov in the 1980's. Working in New York City since 1977 and specifically as a costume painter since 1983, Clow's credits include The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Shrek, and the Ringling Brothers Circus.
ROBIN FAWCETT
Robin has worked as a theatre professional for over twenty years
in the roles of director choreographer, creator of new works, and teacher. She teaches acting skills to both young and old at CVU high school in Burlington, The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, the University of Vermont, and the Skinner Barn Musical Theatre Camp, where she is devoted to creative collaboration, igniting possibility, and stoking expressive vitality in others.
JAIME GUITE
An esteemed faculty member of the celebrated Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater in Middletown, CT, Jamie is also a performing member of the improv troupe Too Many Monkeys. She has been trained at The Circle In the Square, Southern Connecticut State University, and is a graduate of the Upright Citizens Brigade. Jamie has been teaching theatre throughout CT for the last 12 years.
ANASTASIA BARNES
A graduate of UMass Amherst, Anastasia has been involved with the film and theatre scene in Boston and New York. She trained with some of New York's finest acting teachers and with both The Upright Citizens Brigade and The Actors Center. She studied filmmaking at the Rockport Workshops at Rockport College in Maine. Film Credits include: Ava in “American Wake” and Bar Girl #6 in “Ghost of Girlfriends Past”. Television Credits include: Waterfront“(CBS), “Brotherhood” (Showtime), and “Rizzoli” (TNT). Anastasia currently has representation in Los Angeles and travels back and forth to LA on a regular basis. She teaches at CP Casting, New England Models Group, and at her own studio in Dorchester, MA.
ROB MERMIN**
Rob trained in classical mime with Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau and has performed in European circus, theater, TV and film for 40 years. He is an author, director, university lecturer, former Dean of Ringling Bros. Clown College, and founder of the award-winning international company Circus Smirkus (www.smirkus.org). Rob’s awards include Copenhagen’s Gold Clown, the Bessie Award, Best Director Prize at the former Soviet Union’s International Festival on the Black Sea, the Lund Family Center’s “It Takes A Village” Award, the Vermont Arts Council Award of Merit, and the 2008 Governor’s Award for Excellence – Vermont’s highest honor in the arts.
ROGER REED**
(AKA Roger the Jester) Roger celebrates his 36th year as a self-appointed fool by continuing to spread laughter and mirth in his tracks. Generations in 24 countries around the world have fallen under his spell of hilarity and lived to tell of it over and over again. His highly refined skills as object manipulator, magician, physical clown and musician enable him to play for any audience. His improvisational prowess makes the unexpected seem well rehearsed. His willingness to be a fool lets us all have a well needed laugh. European circuses, the Broadway stage, countless festivals, celebrations and street performances equip him well to truly be a master of mirth.
DOUG KATSAROS**
This Grammy winner and Emmy nominee has played and arranged for such artists as Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan, Sinéad O'Connor, Kiss, Bon Jovi, Marlo Thomas, Donny Osmond, Elton John and dozens of others around the world. He has written music for the Ringling Brothers Circus, the Macy's 4th of July Celebration and Thanksgiving Day Parade, and has been a guest conductor of the Boston Pops. His Broadway and Off Broadway credits include Footloose (Conductor), The Rocky Horror Show (Orchestrator), The Life (arranger) Laughing Room Only (Composer), Hair (Star), A...My Name Is Alice (Composer), Just So (Composer) and Orphan Train (Composer). He lives with his wife, composer Elise Morris, and his two teenage girls, and yes, he is the guy who wrote "By Mennen!" www.themusicofyourdreams.com
BRENT MCCOY**
Brent McCoy grew up in Vermont on a small dairy farm. He learned to juggle at the age of 15, and hasn’t stopped since. Since 2003, McCoy has performed and taught all over the world. Highlights include
AEMI Clown Festivals in China, numerous International Busker and Vaudeville Festivals across North America, and well over 50 schools, colleges and summer camp programs around New England. When he’s not performing, he enjoys gardening, cooking, and farming in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont
DAVID VANN**
David has been working in theatre in the UK for many years. He trained at LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) and worked in all areas of theatre, as a clown, actor, writer, director and teacher. Experience includes work in repertory theatre, touring , television and radio. He has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the Chichester Festival Theatre and he has been Artistic Director of New Mercury Theater – a venture dedicated to making new work – since 1998.
JULIE GOELL**
Julie Goell is a performer, director and theater educator as well as a working bassist. She grew up in Italy where she immersed herself in the traditions of Commedia Dell' Arte, Bel Canto and Clowning. She has toured with Mummenschanz, i Gesti di Roma, Schaubude, Pocket Mime Theater, several musical ensembles and three solo shows of her own devising. She has acted in several films, TV shows and on Broadway. She was guest professor and director at Boston University, Colby College, University of Maine, University of Southern Maine, University of Connecticut, Springfield College and Bowdoin. She teaches Eccentric Performance at Celebration Barn in collaboration with her husband Avner Eisenberg. Julie tours her solo show Carmen The Mopera, appearing most recently at festivals in Spain and Brazil.
AVNER EISENBERG, AKA AVNER THE ECCENTRIC**
Avner is one of the world’s leading teachers of physical comedy. He is on the permanent faculty of the Celebration Barn Theater, Maine’s International School for the Performing Arts. He has taught Eccentric Performing and Clown workshops in the US, Switzerland, France, Germany, Finland, Spain, Mexico, and Japan. Avner graduated from École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. You may even recognize him as the Jewel from the movie, The Jewel of the Nile. Avner has been performing his one-man show, Exceptions to Gravity, for over 30 years.
STEPHEN STEARNS*
Stephen Stearns has been teaching, directing and performing as a professional clown, mime and actor for 38 years. He has a post doctorate degree in acting from England's famed London Academy (LAMDA). He received his MA in directing ('Best Director Award' 1968) and PhD in Elizabethan and Scandinavian Drama, both from the University of Washington, Seattle.
As half of the renowned clown duo Gould & Stearns, Stephen has toured for 27 years to 42 states and five foreign countries. Their play, A Peasant of El Salvador, has won several national awards including the Denver Global Peace and Justice Award and has been performed by many companies worldwide.
EUGENE UMAN*
Eugene Uman is the Artistic/Educational Director of the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro. He divides his professional time between performing and composing, administrative duties at the jazz center and teaching music.
Uman received his masters in Jazz Performance and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Queens College in New York where he received a Eubie Blake Scholarship. He has performed or recorded with many established jazz artists and has offered concerts and taught throughout the Northeastern United States and Colombia, South America. He has written over 100 jazz compositions that have been arranged for various musical ensembles ranging from big band to rock.
ODD FELLOWS PLAYHOUSE YOUTH THEATER*
Founded in 1975 by a small group of Wesleyan University students as a theater arts organization designed to include children from all backgrounds, Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater now annually serves approximately 2,000 young people, ages 2-20, in a broad spectrum of theater arts activities. The largest and most active year-round youth theater in Connecticut, the Playhouse is an independent, not-for-profit organization with an arts/social service mission. Oddfellows received an Award of Excellence in 1998 from the New England Theater Conference in recognition of its outstanding contributions to youththeater and education. In 1999, the Middlesex County NAACP gave the Playhouse its Community Service Award in recognition of its years of commitment to the young people of the county.
AMANDA HUOTARI** Amanda is an actress, teaching artist and Executive Director of Celebration Barn Theater, Maine’s international center for creating original theater. With a BFA in acting from Emerson College, Mandy also studied physical theater at the Lecoq School in Paris, France, and is a graducate of the International School of Comic Acting in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Her solo work has been featured at the New York Downtown Clown Revue, Phyzgig Festival, Seattle’s Moisture Festival, and is now touring. To learn more, visit AmandaHuotari.com.
ADELE MYERS AND DANCERS**
Founded in 2000, Adele Myers and Dancers is a five-member contemporary dance company combining robust athleticism, theatricality, and social commentary. The mission of Adele Myers and Dancers is to create engaging dances that are accessible to a wide range of audience members.
Myers’ choreography has been presented nationally including Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out; Bates Dance Festival; Tanglewood Music Center; Velocity Dance Center; New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas; Stonington Opera House; DanceNowNYC; Dance New Amsterdam and Joyce SoHo.
Adele Myers and Dancers has received support from the City of New Haven, the State of Connecticut, the LEF Foundation, NEFA’s RDDI series, and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC).
VERMONT PERFORMANCE LAB (VPL) supports the creation and presentation of new work in contemporary dance and music and fosters an exchange between artists and communities through its Lab Program. VPL is delighted to be partnering with NEYT to bring Adele Myers and Dancers to Salmagundi. Adele Myers and Dancers will be returning to the area to develop a new dance work over the next 12 months with the support of VPL’s Lab Program. Please join us on Saturday, June 12th for a work-in-progress showing followed by tea with the artists. The event is free and open to the public. For event information and to learn about VPL’s Lab Program visit www.vermontperformancelab.com or call 802-579-3766.