Overview
With over fifteen years of experience in the arts and culture and writing world, I'm ready to help you tackle your next project. I'm the author of three successful nonfiction books (see below) and have a PhD in American literature. Working on a play? I have years of dramaturgical experience with some of Broadway's top writers including Terrence McNally, Christopher Durang, and Bill Irwin, honing their work to bring it to the stage. I've taught English composition and literature to students at many universities including Hunter College, Temple University, and the University of Delaware, and I am equipped to finesse your words and ideas into smooth, grammatically correct prose.
Services
Non-Fiction
Fiction
Languages
Certifications
- PhD in American Literature from the University of California-Santa Cruz
Work experience
Association for Jewish Studies
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
Strategize with the Center for Jewish Life and Learning board on allocation priorities while serving as the on-the-ground liaison for organizational grantees, helping them with nonprofit “best practices,” grantmaking, evaluation, and community building.
Key achievements:
• Secured a multi-year $600,000 grant plus other funding for the Center’s One Happy Camper program and oversee the Center’s $700,000 camp scholarship program including program outreach, marketing, branding, budgeting, and donor cultivation.
• Established the Center’s first-ever Innovation Fund and serve as the Center’s expert on innovation.
• Created EDJE, a skills-based workshop series for nonprofit professionals.
• Serve as the lead staff person for Jewish Pride, Federation’s LGBTQ affinity group.
The Gershman Y
Oversaw all programming for The Gershman Y, Center City Philadelphia’s premier Jewish arts and culture organization, and curated the organization’s artistic vision. Managed two program directors and oversaw their programming and budgets.
Key achievements:
• Created the Philadelphia Jewish Music Festival, a city-wide festival which launched May 2013.
• Created The Philadelphia Seder, an annual arts and cultural interpretation of Passover, which sold out its first year with over 200 people in attendance, March 2012.
• Lead producer for the show Bella: The Color of Love, a co-production with Philadelphia Theatre Company and the Philadelphia Museum of Art that was a featured event in the 2011 PIFA Festival (Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts), April 2011.
• Built new producing partnerships with over twenty community organizations to widen The Y’s reach, diversity, and inclusiveness.
• Helped oversee new marketing campaigns to rebrand and refocus institutional image.
• Doubled the number of programs that The Y produced over a two-year period and created programming that served 2,000 people each year.
• Collaborated on Gershman Y fundraising efforts and development strategy including making successful asks with donors, securing in-kind donations, writing successful grant applications, and overseeing major special event fundraisers.
Philadelphia Theatre Company
Literary Manager/Dramaturg, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia, PA, February 2005 – August 2008
Managed the literary department for Philadelphia Theatre Company, an award-winning regional theater that specializes in the premiere of contemporary American theater.
Key achievements:
• Developed and dramaturged world premieres by major writers including Terrence McNally, Bill Irwin, and Christopher Durang.
• Produced and developed STAGES, a new play reading series for the company. Responsible for all casting, director selection, and budgeting for the series.
• Organized, along with a team of colleagues and peers in the Philadelphia theater community, the city’s first New Play Festival.
• Wrote multiple articles and conducted interviews for Playwise Magazine that was given out at every production.
• Led talkbacks and on-stage interviews for all company productions. Highlights of live interviews include discussions with award-winning playwrights Doug Wright, William Finn, David Henry Hwang, Austin Pendleton, Terrence McNally, and Lynn Nottage