Armory Artist Corps Teaching Artists
Photo: Michael Haskell
Kate Bell
Kate Bell is a writer, theater-maker, singer/songwriter, and teaching artist. She believes that creative practice is for everyone and that art-making can be a powerful tool to increase self-empowerment, healthy living, and positive social change. She founded Theater to the People with fellow theater artist Julia Cavagna in 2018; the bilingual project brings adults together to use theater-making as a social justice tool to think about immigration and gentrification. TTTP recently received a Brooklyn Arts Council Grant. As a playwright, Kate's work has been produced or developed in New York at the Downtown Urban Theater Festival at HERE Arts Center, Park Avenue Armory (through an Education Department Space Grant), Culture Project, Theater for the New City, Red Fern Theatre Company, Sanguine Theater Company, Naked Angels Tuesdays @ 9, New Perspectives Theatre, Manhattan Theater Source, Gallery Players, Theatre for the New Economy, Random Access Theatre, and at Baruch College (with Committed Theatre), as well as in the Washington D.C. Area by Silver Spring Stage, and in the Appalachian Play Festival at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA. Past honors include the Audience Award at the 2015 DUTF and two Hopwood Awards at the University of Michigan, where Kate earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Her plays have been published on Indie Theater Now and in The Book of Estrogenius; Kate has also collaborated with the New York Philharmonic as a storywriter for their Very Young People's Concerts. She founded the Lower Manhattan Arts Academy Theater Ensemble in 2005, and directed nineteen productions there during her nine-year tenure. As a musician, Kate currently plays bass and sings for the Brooklyn-based rock band, The Reverse Engineers. Kate's been a Teaching Artist in New York City since 2004, working in public schools, senior centers, libraries, and youth incarceration facilities. For more information, visit: www.katebell.info.
Photo by Maria Baranova/ Courtesy Kelly Bartnik
Donna Costello
Based in Brooklyn, Donna Costello is a multi-faceted dance artist performing, creating, and teaching in vibrant communities in New York City and beyond. She is a collaborator of many hats immersed in process rich work that blurs the lines of dance, theater, performance, and the conventions that surround these art forms. Active in the NYC dance scene for over 20 years, Donna has built rich relationships dancing for a variety of artists that include: Vicky Shick, jill sigman/ thinkdance, Kelly Bartnik, Carrie Ahern, Naomi Goldberg Hass, Shannon Hummel / Cora Dance, theater company Vagabond Inventions, composer Anne Hege, and visual artist Nick Cave, to name a few. Her collaborative work with New Orleans-based theater artist Jennifer Sargent and her own choreography has been presented by chashama, Movement Research at Judson Church, the Estrogenius Festival, The flea theater, DanceRoulette, Green Space, Wow Café, Dixon Place, DanceNow/NYC, BAX, SWEAT dance series, Queensborough College, Performatica in Mexico and Definitive Figures FemFest in New Orleans (co-produced by Costello and Sargent in 2018.) She currently teaches for Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), Juilliard k-12 programs and has been part of the Teaching Artist Corps at Park Avenue Armory since 2012. For more information, visit: donnacostello.org.
Alexander Davis
Alexander Davis is a New York City based freelance bassoonist who has performed with orchestras and series such as Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, CityMusic Cleveland, Symphony in C, New York Symphonic Ensemble, The Songwriters Orchestra, Rob Kapilow's "What Makes Music Great", Bach and Beyond Festival, and Western New York Chamber Orchestra. Alexander has performed with many influential chamber artists including Carol Wincenc, Frank Morelli, Stephen Taylor, William Purvis, WindScape, and the Imani Winds. He has performed in summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Banff Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, and Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. In addition to performing, Alexander has had an extensive career in both teaching and outreach. He has taught at the New York School for Orchestral Studies, Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, SUNY Fredonia, Stony Brook University, and is part of the Teaching Artist Corps at Park Avenue Armory. Alexander holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and Performance from SUNY Fredonia, a Masters in Performance from Stony Brook University, a Performers Certificate in Orchestral Performance from Manhattan School of Music and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Music at Stony Brook University. He studied with bassoonists Abraham Weiss, Laura Koepke, Frank Morelli, Bob Williams, and Michael Ma.
Asma Feyijinmi
Asma Feyijinmi is a Brooklyn born and raised artist who particularly savors facilitating community building. Movement and percussion are her vehicles to explore social justice, history and language. She has worked as a teaching artist with many arts and education programs throughout the five boroughs including: UBW's BOLD, Lincoln Center, The Morris Jumel Mansion, and DreamYard Project. In November of 2018 she joined the Teaching Artist Corps at Park Avenue Armory. Her career as a performer has included working with: Urban Bush Women, Edwina Lee Tyler and A Piece of The World, Forces of Nature, LadyGourd Sangoma and Obba Babatunde. She also performed in "The Love Project" with dancers from 2 to 80 years of age, directed and choreographed by Penelope McCourty. She can be found as the lead actress in: "A Powerful Thang" by filmmaker Zeinabu Davis, and contributed to the soundtrack of Ms. Davis's film "Compensation". Asma has also been a muse for artists: Harvey Dinnerstein, Quimetta Perle and George Staempfli.
Hawley Hussey
Hawley Hussey is is an artist who is working between the visual, the written word, and the performing arts. Throughout her career Hussey has engaged in diverse mediums including painting, printmaking, small press publishing, artists books, sculpture and installation. Ms. Hussey got her BFA from The University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Art where she has been a visiting Workshop Faculty for the Masters Program in Art and Design Education. Arriving in New York City in the fall of 2000 she served as Education Coordinator and Director of Contemporary Art Education at BRIC Arts Media and as an Art Education Mentor for the New York State Council on the Arts and is widely respected in the field. Ms. Hussey is now focused on contemporary art activism engaging recent immigrants and special needs students in immersive art laboratories called the HH:ArtLab. Two writing residencies at The Park Avenue Armory have resulted in a novel that is excerpted in VOLT, the prestigious art and literary magazine from Sonoma State University, and will be published in full by nausetpress.com Ms. Hussey is proudly a founding member of the Park Avenue Armory Teaching Artist Corps.
Larry Jackson
Designer, maker, educator, Larry Jackson makes enduring art education projects, concepts, and experiences. A School of Visual Art fine artist schooled in Illustration, professionally Larry has worked with great clients on numerous collaborative projects. With work experiences from the likes of Gap/Banana Republic (Branding/Presentation design), Lord & Taylor /SAKS 5th Avenue (Window Display concepts) to Design installing and Curation projects with Joni Mitchell and Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Larry works in all media. Currently, he works as the Creative Director of a new television network, Urban Music Report (UMR). His curiosity, resourcefulness and inquisitive nature is what leads him to Arts education. Park Avenue Armory is perfect place to use his professional knowledge, experiences and resources to inspire up and coming students. Every day he hopes to demystify what art could be and to inspire someone to create something that expresses who they are.
Hector Morales
Drummer and percussionist, Hector Morales has performed on important international stages as the Lincoln Center (USA), Smithsonian Folk Festival (USA), The National Museum of Peru (Peru), the "Society of Musicians and Composers of Chile" (Chile), "Festival du Monde Arabe de Montreal" (Canada), Jerusalem Music Festival (Israel), among others. Mr. Morales has performed with distinguished musicians such as saxophone player Oliver Lake and Grammy-awarded bass players John Benitez and Oscar Stagnaro. Mr. Morales is the Author of the The Afro-Peruvian Percussion Ensemble, an instructional book/DVD published by Sher Music Co, and has received a grant from NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Culture) and sponsorship from the Peruvian Government to promote this book within universities in the US. Mr. Morales' book was nominated in the "Best Educational Book of 2014" category by Modern Drummer magazine. Morales currently performs with influential ensembles of the Afro-Peruvian Jazz scene in NYC including Yuri Juarez' Afroperuano Group, and The Afro-Peruvian Ensemble (directed by Morales).
Peter Musante
Peter Musante works at the nexus of immersive theater, dance, music and technology to invent unique performance-based experiences that transform space and create community. His approach, as both a creator and an educator, is highly physical and focuses on discovering new points of connection that allow us to celebrate the complexity and diversity of human experience. His original works have toured internationally and are created collaboratively with a diverse group of artists—most notably Andrew Schneider (Youarenowhere, OBIE Award), and Trusty Sidekick Theater Company. (Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory, Abrons Art Center) where he is a Resident Artist. Peter is also a founding member of Fixed Agency (Brooklyn Navy Yard), a cast member of Blue Man Group (Astor Place Theater) and a frequent collaborator with Spring Street Social Society. Peter studied at UCLA and Brooklyn College's PIMA (Performance & Interactive Media Arts) program. He is a proud Clinical Skill Trainer for Medical programs across NYC and has the greatest dog in the universe, Palo. Peter was born and raised in San Mateo, California.
Drew Petersen
Drew Petersen is a New York City based artist and educator. He currently is an educator with Park Avenue Armory and The New Victory Theater. As an artist, he is the Artistic Director for Trusty Sidekick Theater Company, a theater company devoted to creating high quality, original work for young audiences and their families. He has been commissioned by, presented at, and created original work for Lincoln Center Education, The Kennedy Center, Park Avenue Armory, New Victory Theater, Classic Stage Company, Abrons Art Center/Henry Street Settlement, Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Miami Theatre Center, Cleveland Playhouse Square, PACE University, The Tank and Curio Theater Company in Philadelphia. He is the 2018 and first recipient of the National TYA/USA Artistic Innovation award.
Leigh Poulos
Leigh is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator, working in fields including performance, writing, illustration, film, voiceover, and puppetry. Born and raised in the Bay Area, California, she has been a New Yorker since 2002, and a member of the Park Avenue Armory staff since 2012. With a BFA in Acting from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Leigh has worked regionally and locally at theaters including Lincoln Center, Classic Stage Company, St. Ann's Warehouse, Mabou Mines, The New Ohio, The Tilles Center, Portland Stage Company and several comedy festivals across the country. She has been an actor, director, and teaching artist with The Story Pirates since 2010, and is a contributing writer and performer on their chart-topping podcast, with over 1 million monthly downloads. Her work for young audiences also includes pioneering work in devised, immersive, and multi-sensory small batch theater for those with developmental differences, with both Trusty Sidekick and Bluelaces theater companies. She wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in two seasons of the award-winning LGBTQ web episodic Dates Like This, as well as wrote and performed in her debut solo show, Splendid Devils, an ambulatory piece inspired by the lives of three forgotten women artists and performed in an art gallery, for which she created an accompanying portrait installation. She has also served as a contributing writer for Reductress, a satirical feminist website with nearly 2 million monthly global visits. When not telling stories, Leigh is creating edible visual art through the medium of custom buttercream cake decorating. Capitalizing on her illustration background, Leigh began decorating at The Two Little Red Hens Bakery, and now serves as Artistic Director, lead Decorator, and Social Media Manager for Violet Handcrafted Cakes in Philadelphia. Through both her art and her teaching, Leigh strives to take people from a feeling of isolation to a feeling of community.
Neil Tyrone Pritchard
Neil Tyrone Pritchard is a New York-based Actor/Singer/Teaching Artist. His most recent acting credits include: Halfway Bi***es Go Straight To Heaven (LAByrinth Theater Company/Atlantic Theater Company), There's Always The Hudson (The Goodman Theatre), The Berlin Electric (Park Ave Armory/Trusty Sidekick Theater Company) , The Prizefighter of P.S. 217 (New Victory LabWorks), The Mendelssohn Electric (Park Avenue Armory/Trusty Sidekick Theater Company), The Stowaway (Classic Stage Company/Trusty Sidekick), Clover (La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club), Queen Latina and Her Power Posse (Cherry Lane Theater), AT BUFFALO (NYMF). He has been a part of workshops and concerts at Sundance TheaterLAB, Manhattan Theater Club, Dorset Theater Festival, Joe's Pub, Bowery Poetry Club, Lincoln Center Theater, and Primary Stages. He is currently on staff at Park Avenue Armory where he brings Arts Education to public schools throughout the five boroughs. Pritchard is a proud New York City Public School Kid and a member of LAByrinth Theater Company, where he has served on the Leadership Committee for the past three seasons.
Vickie Tanner
Vickie Tanner received a BFA in Theatre from CSU, Long Beach and studied Meisner with Maggie Flanigan in NYC. Among her theatre credits are STOMP (Orpheum Theatre, National and European Tours); TANTALUS, Denver Center Theatre and British tour the RSC, written by John Barton, directors: Ed Hall and Sir Peter Hall, TWO DAYS, Long Wharf Theatre, by Donald Margulies, director: Lisa Peterson, and THAT DAMN DYKSTRA at Access Theatre director: Margarett Dykstra. She has performed her solo play, RUNNING INTO ME in New York at 59E59 Street Theaters, La Mama, Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, Queens Theatre in the Park, Dixon Place Theatre, the United Solo Festival 2011 & 2012, NuBox Theatre, in Los Angeles at Whitefire Theatre and at Edinburg Fringe Festival, Underbelly, Cowgate, Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music as part of Brooklyn Beat Festival and most recently in a two-week run at Irondale Ensemble's Women's Festival to rave reviews.(Directors: Padraic Lillis and Bruce McCarty.) Her film credits include Paris is in Harlem, Acts of Worship, Drop Back Ten, No Way Out, and The Apology. Television: NYPD Blue, STOMP Out Loud, Wonderland (Writer/dir. Peter Berg), Law and Order SVU, One Life to Live, Mercy and protagonist of Mainland music video: I Found God. Vickie has written and is currently producing a new web series: One Cuckoo. For more information, visit: www.Vickietanner.com or @Onecuckooflew (Instagram).