THANK YOU!

To say that Stage It reflects decades of thinking, reflecting, practice, trial and error, research, and social enterprise would not be an exaggeration. I am deeply grateful to the following people for sharing their expertise, patience, and skill during my arts education career that began in the late 80s and continues to this day.

Jeffrey Horowitz and Dr. Linda Burson who enabled my early arts education career at Theatre for a New Audience and to Margie Salvante for sustaining and building on it.

Mentors and teachers in the Michael Chekhov technique: Kevin Cotter, Deirdre Hurst du Prey, Joanna Merlin, and the early actor/teachers of the Chekhov Theatre Ensemble: Michael Aronov, Julie Alexander, Fred Berman, Donna Browne, Cindi Clark, Paul Darrigo, David Deblinger, Ethan James Duff, Lori Funk, Tony Freeman, Sharon Gardner, Kalan Hilljac, Joe Hoover, Clark Jackson, Sean MacCormac, Seth Michael May, Jonah Mendelsohn, Julie Pasqual, Joe Ragno, Philip Levy, Jon Shaver, Melissa Schlachtmeyer, William Steel, Warren Watson, Anthony Williams, and Guy Hobson.

Stage It would not be possible without my sixteen years at Stages of Learning. Among distinctive contributions include Jessica Balboni, T. Scott Lilly, and Andrea Seigel who helped to shape what we were doing and how we were doing it. Gratitude to the following teaching artists: Albert Iturregui-Elias, Russell Feder, Laura Frenzer, Amanda Hunt, and Claire Marie Mannle. Additional teaching artists who contributed to my thinking and immeasurably to this book include T. Scott Lilly, Andrea Seigel, Jennifer Shirley, Elizabeth Turkel, Ann Vieira, and Jennifer Wintzer.

Although April Cantor was not on staff when I began to synthesize the work into Stage It, her early influence on my thinking continues to resonate and I am forever grateful for what she has taught me. Thanks also to Mike Halverson, Megan Halpern, Max Evjen, Kelly Ellenwood, Karrie Myers, Tim Parsaca, Abigail Ramsay, Sara Wood-Madera, and to early lifecycle board members Jason Lilien, Michelle Barbeau Noguchi, Peter Allen, and Michelle DiSabato. I am forever grateful for their wisdom and patience during my early career as an institutional leader with so much to learn. Much gratitude to Niko Elmaleh, board chair, and Lauren Howard DePalo, vice president, and Julie Jensen for sustained governance and to the following for their service and support of Stages of Learning: Steven Bluestone, Thomas Brown, Reginald Chambers, Sherri Cohen, Toby Fischer, Wayne Gore, Beth Ellen Keyes, George King IV, Lisa Jahns, Roberta Kirshbaum, Smita Kothuri, Karen Lack, Todd Lehman, Michael Leibowitz, Honri Marcel, Nora Peck, Mary O'Keeffe, Dawn Palo, Mark Rogers, Bruce Van Horn and Bill Walters.

From 1994-2009, Stages of Learning reached approximately 40,000 students with the help of forty-two institutional funders. Much gratitude to James Jensen and Kim Tanner of the Jenesis Group for sustained leadership support and for helping me to understand that social entrepreneurs come in many forms; to Jane Barnet of the David L. Klein, Jr. Foundation for sustaining program support through good times and bad.

Gratitude is also extended to the following government, foundation, and corporate funders that invested in activities of Stages of Learning, the Chekhov Theatre Ensemble, or both: Arnhold Foundation, Arthur M. Blank Foundation, Axe-Houghton Foundation, Bay and Paul Foundations, Booth Ferris Foundation, Carefree Trust for Children, Dr. Bronner’s Family Foundation, Emma A. Shaefer Charitable Trust, Howard Family Philanthropic Fund, Ira Resnick Foundation, Fribourg Family Foundation, Councilmember Dan Garodnick, Glickenhaus Foundation, JP Morgan Charitable Trust, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Laura Pels Foundation, Roy R. and Marie S. Neuberger Foundation, William Talbot Hillman Foundation, New York Community Trust, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, David L. Klein Foundation, One World Fund, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, Sunny and Abe Rosenberg Foundation, Alliance Capital Management, Philip Morris Companies, Kraft Foods of North America, ConEd, Fleet Bank, Syms Corporation, Brooklyn Union Gas Company, Time Warner, 42nd Street Development Corporation, Colgate-Palmolive, Independence Community Foundation, UBS Financial Services, Weston Capital Management, and Whitman Development Company.

Classroom teachers Dr. Janet Farnham and Maureen Dillon of the Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School for their good advice about Shakespeare for students in general and this book in particular. To teachers, administrators, and students at the following schools where I was a teaching artist between 1994-2004: Brooklyn: PS94, PS145, East New York Family Academy; Manhattan: PS6, PS7; Bronx: CES42, CES53, MS206B; Staten Island: PS52; New York State: Carrie E. Tomkins Elementary, Ridge Street School, Murray Avenue School; Philadelphia: Bache-Martin Elementary School; Fort Myers, Florida: Royal Palm High School, Fort Myers High School, P.L. Dunbar Middle School, Academy High School, and North Fort Myers High School.

The committed educators who served on the PS145/Stages of Learning Assessment Team (2001-2004) and not already mentioned include Maria Balducci, Vince Carannande, Julie Castellano, André Del Valle, Jr., Rosa Escóto, Rachel Fermin, Fermin Henderson, Katie Musselwhite, Michael O’Neill, Yvette Roman, Elena Marerro, Tony Mosca, Ray Torrellas, and Kristine Watts. Special thanks to Jane Remer for stewardship of the research study that helped determine what worked and what didn’t for students ages 9 – 12.

Members of the broader arts and arts education community who contributed to my thinking through the years: Phil Alexander, Eric Booth, Gary Dayton, Carol Fineberg, Tina Grotzer, Paul King, Ginny Louloudes, Micki Hobson, Nello McDaniel, David O’Fallon, Scott Shuler, George Thorn, and Robert Zukerman. To the staff of ArtsConnection, some of whom continue to provide insights to this day: Joanna Hefferen, Carol Morgan, Carol Rice, Steve Tennen, and Rachel Watts.

Special thanks to Flloyd Kennedy, Abby Remer, and Andrew Altman for their help with some of the theater lesson plans of Chapter 5. Mrs. Plutchik provided excellent guidance on basic emotions based on Dr. Robert Plutchik’s research; to Usha Goswami and Jack Hassard for their thoughts about metacognition, asking questions, and analogical reasoning in Chapter 8. Lisa Martin-Hansen at Georgia State University pointed me in a couple of very good directions; Nick Jaffe clarified some points as we prepared a version of Chapter 8 for the Teaching Artist Journal.

Geoffrey “Ba” and Josette Luvmour have forgotten more than I will ever know about human development. Chapter 2 would not have been possible without their collaborative insights, wisdom, and meticulous editing. Their contributions were significant and continue to shape my thinking today.

Sam Graber, whose courageous commitment and vision for the project was as graceful as it was supportive when he first intended to publish it in 2007 as a title of Accompany Publishing.

Dru DeSantis and Samantha Skarin from DeSantis Breindel for their excellent work on marketing concepts and name research; to nearly thirty classroom teachers and arts educators who participated in July 2010 focus groups that resulted in the moniker, Stage It.

Beloved literary agent, Manie Barron, who never lacked enthusiasm for the project until his passing in January 2011. He would be happy to see it “out there.”

Stephen Rainforth, graphic and web designer supreme, and Judith Rumohr, editor of remarkable stamina, without whom the wonderful world of the earlier self-published versions would likely have remained encoded on my hard drive.

Julia Dolinger, Commissioning Editor, and Sofia Cohen, Editorial Assistant, from Routledge/Taylor & Francis; and Stefani Roth, advisor and dear friend whose passion for the project equaled and often excelled my own. Ian Dale and his agent, Lisa Pomerantz, for illustrations that bring the acting lesson plans of Chapter 5 to life.

It would be remiss of me were I to not mention my high school drama club leaders, Shirley Swan and Ed Paciorek, both of whom initiated me into this remarkable art form of acting.

And lastly, to Paco Arroyo, my husband, who helped me understand that Shakespeare is as he is to me: an enduring gift.

Thank you, one and all!