Community Access to the Arts: redefining disability

Paula Beaudin, Yoga Instructor
Paula is certified in Yoga for the Special Child and Interdisciplinary Yoga. Through the Starlight-Starbright Children’s Foundation, she teaches at hospitals such as St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Cornell Medical Center, and St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Center. Paula also teaches at Berkshire County ARC, combining classic yoga with games and improvisation to inspire light-heartedness.

Barby Cardillo, Actress, Teaching Artist & Social Worker
Barby performs in plays on local stages whenever possible. She is a founding member of the Royal Berkshire Improv Troupe and performs throughout New England with this comedy troupe. In addition to her joyous work with CATA in settings all over Berkshire County, she is currently working with or has worked with the education departments of Berkshire Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage Company and Shakespeare & Company, mostly working with adjudicated youth in alternative sentencing programs. She also created an after-school improv group, the cool beans, at Drury High School this year. She will be teaching and performing at Berkshire Theatre Festival this summer.

Laura Christensen, Visual Artist
Having served for seven years as MASS MoCA’s Education Coordinator, and currently as MCLA art faculty since 2006, and with CATA since 2008, Laura guides many children and adults towards enriching art experiences. She was awarded an Artists’ Resource Trust (A.R.T.) Grant, a fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, to create new work for a 2007 Kidspace exhibit at MASS MoCA. Laura’s mixed media sculptures integrate miniature painted illusions on old photographs and handcrafted wooden boxes.

Lara Gonzalez, Performing Artist & Educator
Lara Gonzalez is co-founder/artistic director of Marafanyi Percussion, and along with her musical partner, Yael Shacham, has appeared on stage at MASS MoCA, South Orange Performing Arts Center, The Knitting Factory, and more. Lara has been a resident teaching artist and accompanist for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center since 1998 and is a graduate of Fordham College at Lincoln Center with a BA in Art History and Studio Art.

Susie Hardcastle, Visual Artist
Educated in England at Falmouth School of Art and St. Martin’s School of Art, Susie has a degree in painting, sculpture, and art history. She produces one of a kind hand-painted fabrics, paintings, and sculpture.

Pat Hogan, Visual Artist
Pat has lived and worked in the Berkshires for seventeen years. CATA is her passion. Previously she has taught at IS183, where she served as Department Head for Painting and Drawing. Her work can be seen locally at SKH Gallery and Godwin & Lundquist Fine Art in Great Barrington and at Deborah Davis Fine Art in Hudson, New York.

Leslie Klein, Ceramic Artist
Founder of Clay Forms Studio, Leslie has been teaching for over twenty-eight years. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States at venues including the Herter Gallery, the University of Massachusetts, and Ceramics/Northeast. Her commissions include the Boston Freedom Award, presented by Coretta Scott King and Boston Mayor, Thomas Menino, to Dr. Charles Jacobs, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group.

Dawn Lane, Choreographer, Dancer & Teaching Artist
Dawn’s work has been performed at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Unicorn Theatre, Boston Arts Academy, The Egg, Boston Conservatory and The Harman Center for the Arts. Her Award-winning humor has been funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the LEF Foundation and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. In 2007 she was honored by the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education as a distinguished Dance Educator. She is one of three nationally chosen dance educators to teach Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion™ residencies and professional development sessions for the Pillow. She holds a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an M.Ed from Lesley University. In 1998 she founded The Moving Company, a mixed ability dance company for Community Access to the Arts (CATA), for which she has worked since 1995 and is currently Artistic Director. In 2008, she was honored as a distinguished alumni of MASSArt and was a Massachusetts Cultural Council Finalist in Choreography. In 2010, Dawn was awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Fellowship for her choreography and a new work residency at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Her work was selected for the VSA International Arts Festival at The Kennedy Performing Arts Center in June 2010.

Bernice Lewis, Singer, Songwriter, Educator
Bernice was dubbed by Rosanne Cash as “one of the Keepers of the Flame of real songwriting.” She has been a national touring artist for over two decades and has worked with Dar Williams, Bobby McFerrin, Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Dixie Chicks, and Christine Lavin, among others. She currently teaches songwriting at Williams College and Colorado College, as well as at schools and retreat centers. In 2009, she was selected by the National Park Service to be an Artist in Residence.

Marlene Marshall, Visual Artist
Marlene is a certified art therapist, watercolorist, mosaic artist, teacher, and author of several books on decorative arts. Her work has been exhibited and sold in galleries and museum shops throughout North America. A graduate of The New School of Social Research in New York City, she also holds a graduate degree in alternative therapies from Greenhouse Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Diane Prusha, Actor
Diane is happy to be teaching once again for CATA with co-teacher Barby Cardillo and to be working with such talented artists and actors in Shakespeare’s Players.  Diane also teaches at  the  Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School and has acted with various companies in the community.  Her latest work was this spring at Nicki Wilson’s new theatre in Pittsfield honoring the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam war and directed by Normi Noel.  She will also be seen at The Mount this summer in a production of Summer, an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel.  Diane continues to be awed and inspired and grateful to be a part of this enterprise called CATA.

Roger Reed, Juggler & Mime
Performing as Roger the Jester for thirty-six years, Roger has delighted audiences of all ages in twenty-three different countries. Starting as a street performer on the streets of Boston, he went on to perform with the Swiss mime/mask theatre, Mummenschanz. He then appeared in Circus Brazil Jack in Switzerland, Circus Roncalli in Germany, and Circus Knie in Switzerland. He spreads joy and laughter through his silent physical humor, object manipulation, magical moments, musical mayhem, and audience play. Roger thanks all of his CATA students for teaching him new ways to juggle!

Yael Shacham, Performing Artist & Educator
Yael is co-founder/artistic director of Marafanyi Percussion and, along with her musical partner, Lara Gonzalez, has appeared on stage at MASS MoCA, South Orange Performing Arts Center, The Knitting Factory, and more. Yael has over ten years of experience serving children and adults of all ages and populations. Yael is also a certified Music Together teacher and a graduate of the Institute of Audio Research in New York City.

Janice Shields, Rustic Artist
Janice spent much of her life creating art as a hobby. In 1995, with the encouragement of many, she became a full-time artist. A circuitous route over the next year brought her to the beginning of her rustics business, Cut It Out. Janice teaches at the Arnold and Polly Hill Arboretums and has been featured on the PBS series Victory Garden, in The Boston Flower Show, and in many books and magazines.

Yvette “Jamuna” Sirker, Playwright
Yvette is an award winning playwright, an Arts Infusion Specialist as well as a producer, director, actress and choreographer. Her play, Hell and High Water or Lessons for When the Sky Falls was awarded first place in the Multistages Theater Company’s New Works Contest and premiered at the Hudson Guild Theater in NYC. Pink Collar Crime, premiered, to international press coverage, in collaboration with Zhoux Zhoux Theatre Company at Jefferson Performing Arts Society in New Orleans, LA. Other commissioned work includes Hay Outta Hell in collaboration with The Drilling Company (NYC), Speakeasy, for which she was awarded a Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting, and Trouble Waters for which she won a Gambit Weekly Big Easy Award. Artist Residencies include Santa Fe Arts Institute (NM), A Studio in the Woods (LA), the Montalvo Arts Center (CA) and the Julia and David White Colony (Costa Rica). Jamuna is a member of Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and is a Dramatist Guild Associate. She serves as adjunct faculty in the Division of Humanities at Berkshire Community College and is a teaching artist with Enchanted Circle Theater in Holyoke, MA.

JoAnne Spies, Singer/Songwriter
JoAnne is a singer songwriter using music to help understand environmental issues, build community, and empower voices for positive change. Recent works include songs written for Marmalade Production’s Watershed Waltz, an interactive environmental program for schools, and Sounding the River, an ongoing event that honors Mohican heritage, celebrates the river, and brings together diverse parts of the community. JoAnne’s new CD of original songs is called North Avenue Honey.

Carol Stroll, Poet
Carol inspires adults and children to write from their own memories, thoughts, and feelings. In April 2007, the AfterSchool Poets program developed by Carol was given a Gold Star Award by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as an outstanding project that celebrates diversity, fosters collaboration, showcases artistic excellence, and provides learning experiences for people of all ages and backgrounds. Her book, Poems and Portraits, was published in 2000. She is preparing her next book, Once You Know, You Know, for publication.

Vikki True, Singer & Performing Artist
Vikki, daughter of Grace Evelyn, granddaughter of Anna Lee Victoria, promotes healing and community-building through singing, drumming, listening, and loving. Vikki has toured the U.S. and abroad appearing in concerts, festivals, clubs, coffee houses, churches, synagogues, on radio, television, and some great kitchens and back porches. She holds a BA in Music and Theater from Mt. Holyoke College. In this, her 13th year with CATA, her knowledge of music as a tool for healing, growth, self confidence, and communication is beautifully reinforced.

Stefanie Weber, Dance Artist
Stefanie Weber began making dances as a child and continues to strive to expand the meaning of what it means to her to be doing so. She presently directs the COH eNsemble otherwise known as the Creatures of Habitat Physical Poetry Performance Group. She is also a member of the Silver Swimmers (USA) and the Commonwealth Tap Collective. Stefanie has been mentored by tap masters such as Dianne Walker and Heather Cornell and had the joy of experiencing the secrets of the shuffle whispered to her from the wise feet of Jimmy Slyde.

Michael Wolski, Visual Artist & Puppeteer
An award-winning playwright and set designer, Michael comes to the Berkshires from British Columbia. He continues to perform his one-man shows William K. Whiskers and Michael’s Surprise Shows to the delight of family audiences while pursuing his latest love, painting.