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   Joan          Merwyn

 

Arts Education Services

for performance info, please also visit: www.JoanMerwyn.com

 

This site is currently under construction. Stay tuned for more info, coming soon!

 Check out this 2016, PBS NYC segment on one of my Inclusion classes:

http://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2016/02/clay-aikens-organization-works-to-connect-kids-of-all-abilities/

 

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Resume for Joan Merwyn

www.JoanMerwyn.com

 

 

 

 

  SELECTED ARTS IN EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS!

 

2015 - Joan Merwyn has been selected to be on the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Education Roster. Matching grants for Professional Development and Residencies are available through RISCA:  http://www.arts.ri.gov/education/grants.php

 

Manhattan New Music Project @ UAP 2008 – Present  http://urbanarts.org/program/ease/ 2010-2015 EASE – Everyday Arts for Special Education PD Facilitator / Curriculum Designer a

5-year, US Dept. of Education funded, PD program for teachers of students with all disabilities

CASTA - Communication and Socialization Through the Arts PD Facilitator / Curriculum Designer

Federally funded, 3-year Professional Development Program for Teachers of Autistic Students

 

Marquis Studios 1994 - Present             www.MarquisStudios.org Curriculum Designer, TA, Mentor

TATI - Teaching Artists Training Institute Master Teacher, autism -TA mentor / PD facilitator

NYC Public Schools, Grades K-12 Teaching Artist in Residence: mime, dance and theater

Professional Development Facilitator for Teachers and Educators, all grades http://vimeo.com/70414450

 

Hospital Audiences, Inc. (HAI) 1983 – 2010 (now called Healing Arts Initiative)

HAI Arts Mentoring Program Special Education, Dist. 75 teachers & students, NYC public schools

Evaluator, Professional Development Facilitator / Artist Instructor / Senior Workshop Artist

Project Coordinator, Site Developer- also multi-arts workshops for all ages and disabilities

 

Manhattanville College 1990-95

Teacher / Writer / Director / Choreographer: Dance/Theater and HEOP Depts.

Taught, created and directed students from the Dance/Theater Dept. and the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) in five, full-length, physical theater pieces developed through physical theater training and improvisation. Up to 45 students per show.

 

      Emergence – Self-discovery, group identification, rebellion, unity – Dance/Theater Dept. majors

      Print Fit – Current events and the news

      Inheritance – Environmental concerns

      A Matter of Choice – HIV, AIDS and at-risk behavior, won a Scholarship Award for students

      Power – gangs, drugs, peer pressure, greed, global wars

      

Poly Prep Performing Arts Experience 1996-98

Middle school drama students in intensive, musical theater, summer programs

Little Shop of Horrors – adapted musical theater production

Groove and Greed – original musical theater piece based on Beatles music

Numerous performances of musical folk tales from Native America, China, Europe Caribbean

 

Adaptors Movement Theater School 1988-94 www.MargolisMethod.org 

            Beginners through advanced adult classes in physical theater technique and improvisation

 

Studio for Mime and Experimental Theater 1978-80

Founder and master teacher, Providence, RI – adult beginners through professional classes

 

ARTS IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY and LA

 

2013-2015 EASE Summer Institute                       

http://urbanarts.org/program/ease-summer-institute/

2015 LAUSD EASE Professional Development for Inclusion Arts Specialists in Los Angeles

Reach Them to Teach Them Autism and the Arts            www.mnmp.org/arts/reachthemtoteachthem

Face to Face NYC Arts in Education                                                             www.nycaieroundtable.org

Touching Humanity Arts and Autism                                      www.mnmp.org/arts/reachthemtoteachthem

Arts in Special Ed. Consortium                                                               http://www.artsspecialed.org      

                                                                 

AWARDS         

                                                                                                                           

Bessie Schoenberg NY Dance and Performance Award – Best Ensemble Performance

with Adaptors Movement Theater (now Margolis Brown Adaptors Company)

 

Individual Artist Choreography Fellowship Rhode Island State Council on the Arts

 

Eleanor Roosevelt Community Service Award with Foundation for the Creative Community

 

Individual Artist Space Grant Award Brooklyn (formerly Gowanus) Arts Exchange & NYSCA

 

Scholarship Award for Students for an original production created at Manhattanville College

 

 

SELECTED ORIGINAL PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS (Europe, Canada, U.S.A.)

 

Joan Merwyn Physical Theater (solo) and Sound Image Theater (ensemble)

            Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer and Performer

            Full Length Productions and Numerous Short Works, NYC and National

Currently performing two, full length, solo shows: SHIFTINGS and CHO?CES

New solo show in progress: DISSENT!

 

Margolis Brown Adaptors Company (formerly Adaptors Movement Theater)

            1985-95 Featured Company Member, 6 Original Productions, National and International Tours

 

The Wanderer - Journey Through Mime and Joan Merwyn in Concert: full length solo shows

            Creator / Performer / Writer, National and International Tours

 

Bremen Bilder Theatre and Berserkus Circus, Germany

            Co-Creator, Company Member, 5 Productions, European Tours

 

Corporeal Mime Theater Thomas Leabhart, Director

            Ensemble Company Member, National Tours, DTW in NYC

 

Fools Unlimited, San Francisco

            Co-Creator / Writer / Performer, 4 Original Productions, West Coast Tour

 

SELECTED TOURING HISTORY       

                                                                                                               

Munich International Theater Festival

London Int'l Movement Theater Festival

Vienna International Street Theater Festival

Polish International Mime Festival

Canadian International Movement Theater Festival

Los Angeles Mime Festival

Movement Theater International Festival, USA

New York Festival of New Mime

 

SELECTED PERFORMANCES TOURING WITH MARGOLIS BROWN ADAPTORS MOVEMENT THEATER COMPANY 1985-1995

 

*            London International Mime Festival, London, England  

*            Movement Theatre International, Philadelphia, PA

*            Atlanta Arts Festival

*            Dance Theatre Workshop, NYC (2 week run)

*            Art Awareness, Lexington, New York

*            Performing Arts Center, SUNY Purchase, NY

*            Real Art Ways, Hartford Connecticut

*            Baltimore Theater Project, MD (two, 1 month runs)

*            Dance Place, Washington DC

*            John Harms Center, Englewood, NJ

*            Marshall Artists Series, Huntington, WV (tour of West Virginia)

*            Mount Vernon College, Washington, DC

*            Nazareth College, Rochester, NY

*            Ogdensburg College, Canton, New York

*            Whole Theater, Montclair New Jersey

*            Stephen Foster Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA

*            Saint Cement’s Church, NYC

*            Southern Theater, Minneapolis, MN

*            Towson State University, Maryland

 

SOLO PERFORMANCES INCLUDE

 

San Francisco Fringe Festival – 6 solo performances, SHIFTINGS

CRS - Manhattan 2 week NYC, solo run of SHIFTINGS  @ Dharma Road Productions

Magdalena USA Int’l Women in Performance Festival, Perishable Theater, SHIFTINGS (premiere)

Danstravaganza at Perishable Theatre, Providence new work: DISSENT!

Frazier Festival @ RI School of Design – TANGLED, INDUUSTRIAL MERMAID, STILL LIFE

RI2PN Concert at Perishable Theatre, Providence, RI- new work: DISSENT!

Bright Night Providence CHO?CES at Perishable Theatre, Providence, RI

Dance Close Up Festival Carriage House Theater, Providence, RI MONEY MATTER$

Blood from a Turnip late night performance festival, THE PHASE at Perishable Theatre, RI

 

SELECTED WORKS DIRECTED and/or CHOREOGRAPHED BY JOAN MERWYN IN NEW YORK CITY

 

  • Sound Image Theater

Performed three, full length works and numerous short pieces at HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, Visual Visceral Performance Festivals, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (Space Grant Award), Empire State Building. Up to ten performers.

      Sound Image Theater Presents (3 full-length shows):

      BYTES, In Cold Mod, CHO?CES

 

  • Errand Into the Wilderness -  Bel Canto Opera Company

Co-Director (with Frank Corsaro) and Choreographer

 

  • Rockapella & Doo Wa Zoo (national and international vocal performance groups)

Choreographer and Movement Coach, NBC, PBS, Tonight Show

 

  • All-Fit , Slim Goodbody Corp.

Choreographer and Movement Coach, PBS, and BBC: television series

 

 

TRAINING - Selected instructors in North America, Europe, India

 

Decroux Technique: Corporeal Mime: Leonard Pitt, Thomas Leabhart, Jean Asselin

Pantomime / New Vaudeville: Tomaszewski Pantomima, Mamko Yoniyama, James Donlon

Grotowski: Ryszard Cieslak (in NYC) and actors from the Grotowski Laboratory Theatre (in Poland) 

Margolis Method: Kari Margolis, 10 years

Acting, Voice and Improvisation: John O'Keefe, Robert Ernst, Blake Street Hawkeyes

Epic Theater Techniques, Commedia, Improvisation: RG Davis, Sandra Archer (SF Mime Troup)

Ballet and Modern: Zena Romet, Lance Westergard, Alphea Pouget, Linda Rabins

East Indian Dance: Singhaget Singh, Katherine Khuniraman

 

SPECIAL SKILLS

Creating original performance art works, art in public places, ensemble and interdisciplinary collaborations, basic juggling and circus arts, flow arts:/ hoop dance / poi; comedy, new vaudeville, corporeal mime; pantomime, parent-child and parent-only workshops, evaluating multi-disciplinary artists workshops, site developing, and coordinating, teaching, residencies, lecture-demonstrations, professional development seminars for teachers and staff, performances, theater and movement training for all ages, implementing curriculum standards into multi-arts activities, special education;

mentoring artists, performers, teaching artists, teachers and educators

 

www.JoanMerwyn.com

 

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