WENDY LEMENT is a Professor of Theatre and Director of the Theatre Program at Regis College, where she has directed over thirty-five productions. She is also Artistic Director of Theatre Espresso, an educational theatre company that tours to schools, museums and courthouses with interactive plays. Dr. Lement won a National Endowment for the Arts award in 2012 for her play American Tapestry, Immigrant Children of the Bread and Roses Strike (co-written with Derek Nelson and Megan Cooper), which she directed and produced. Her chapter “TIE* as a Catalyst for Theatre and Civic Dialogue” will be published in the 3rd edition of Learning Through Theatre by Routledge in 2012. She is co-author of And Justice for Some: Exploring American Justice through Drama and Theatre (Heinemann Press 2005). Her children’s book, Keri Tarr: Cat Detective, was published by Breakaway Books in 2004. Dr. Lement’s article “Susanna Rowson (1762-1824): Dramatist, Actress and Educator” was published in Youth Theatre Journal vol. 15, by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (2001). Her production of The House of Bernarda Alba won the 2000 New England Region’s American College Theatre Festival, sponsored by the Kennedy Center. Her many plays include: Woman with the Red Kerchief, published in Plays of the New England Russian Theatre Festival (2010), Salem’s Daughters, and Keri Tarr: Cat Detective, which won the American Alliance for Theatre and Education’s 2002 Unpublished Playreading Project. She holds a PhD in Educational Theatre from New York University.
*Theatre-in-Education
BARBARA F. BERENSON is a Senior Attorney at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. She works on a variety of legal and policy issues for the Justices and, additionally, leads many of the court’s civic education efforts. She created the court’s exhibits titled Sacco & Vanzetti: Justice on Trial and John Adams: Architect of American Government. A life-long student of history, she is the co-author of Walking Tours of Civil War Boston: Hub of Abolitionism (The Freedom Trail Foundation 2011) and an editor of Skirting the Barriers: The Unfinished History of Women Lawyers and Judges in Massachusetts (Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education 2012 (forthcoming)). She is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
BARBARA BURGO graduated from Rhode Island College in 2005 (Magna Cum Laude) with a Major in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Women’s Studies. She is President of the Taunton Area Branch AAUW and President-Elect of AAUW-MA and serves on the board of South Coastal Counties Legal Services. She was a former board member of the Samaritan House, Taunton Cape Verdean Association, Morton Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Committee and Commissioner of SRPEDD. As a third generation Cape Verdean who studied abroad in the Archipelago in 1997 and 1998, Barbara is the Curator of the Cape Verdean Historical Trust cultural exhibit, writing a book on Cape Verdean women, co-authoring a book on Critical Race Thought with Dr. Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban and former classmates from her Critical Race Theory classes, while earning a Master’s Certificate in Gerontology at UMass Boston.
CAROLE DE CHRISTOPHER studied history as an undergraduate. At the graduate level she pursued studies in counseling psychology, social work, and public administration as well as certification in pastoral ministry and child sexual abuse. Her work experiences include teaching, school counseling, pastoral ministry, community work, social work, and administration for a public agency. She is currently active with the Harwich Historical Society and is working with the Cape Verdean Historical Trust to organize an exhibit at the Brooks Academy Museum in Harwich Center for the 2012 season.
JACQUELINE COOPER is a multimedia artist and photographer. Her work includes portrayals of people, place, and events – cultural history stories told through print exhibits accompanied by participatory events and theatre performances. Previously, she worked as a designer and producer in the garment industry from 1970 through 2004. In addition to Follow The Thread: America’s Jewish Immigrants and the Birth of the Garment Industry, her projects include World War II Veterans Voices: An exhibit of images and veterans’ stories told in their own words; You Belong To Me: A WWII era student performance; Fifteen Months After the Levees Broke: New Orleans’ Ninth Wards & Lower Parishes – the land, community, homeless residents, and volunteers; Preserving the Soul of the Highlands: Landscapes & landowners in the western hilltown region of Franklin County – Intrinsic rural character amidst challenging and changing times; Ashfield Elderly Women’s High Tea: Women’s portraits and handwritten stories about themselves and their town; Creating a Sense of Belonging: A multimedia storytelling workshop for people with Alzheimer’s.
ELIZABETH DUCLOS-ORSELLO is a publically-engaged social-justice driven scholar who directs the American Studies program at Salem State University where she is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Faculty Fellow for Service-Learning and an Affiliated Faculty member with the Center for Economic Development and Sustainability. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University and her areas of expertise include theories of community, cultural geography, 19th and 20th century social and cultural history, as well as immigrant and ethnic history and literature. She has taught undergraduate and graduate students at a number of institutions including at the University of Luxembourg where she was a Fulbright Faculty fellow in 2010. In addition, she has directed two Teaching American History grants, presented numerous workshops for K-12 educators, taught theatre in an Upward Bound program and has worked as a consultant for and scholar at numerous museums and historic sites in MA and MN. She began her career as a social worker in Kansas City, Missouri and has worked and volunteered for nearly two decades with community organizations, non-profits and neighborhood groups wherever she has lived. She is the descendant of French-Canadian immigrants who came to New England seeking employment in the 1890s and her work on this topic is being conducted in partnership with Dr. Elizabeth Blood, Chair, Department of Foreign Languages at Salem State University.
ROBERT FORRANT is Professor of History at UMass Lowell, co-director of the University’s Center for Family, Work and Community and chair of the Lawrence-based Bread & Roses Centennial Committee. He received his PhD in history from UMass Amherst in 1994. Before receiving his PhD, Forrant worked as a machinist at the now-closed American Bosch plant in Springfield, MA and was Business Agent for International Union of Electrical Workers Local 206 at Bosch for several years. His latest research includes: Ethnicity in Lowell: Ethnographic Overview and Assessment, with Christoph Strobel, Northeast Region Ethnography Program National Park Service Boston, MA (2011); The Big Move: Immigrant Voices from a Mill City, with Christoph Strobel, Loom Press (2011); and Metal Fatigue: American Bosch and the Demise of Metalworking in the Connecticut River Valley (2009). He serves as an historian to numerous Teaching American History grants designed to improve high school history teaching and works with the Tsongas Industrial History Center on its National Endowment for the Humanities summer residency program for history teachers.
BETSY FRIEDBERG has directed the National Register of Historic Places program for the Massachusetts Historical Commission since 1987, coordinating the activities of one of the most active National Register programs in the nation. Her responsibilities include supervising all evaluation and registration activities within the State Historic Preservation Office, and she has worked on a wide variety of National Register nominations, ranging from parks, cemeteries, industrial complexes, and historic schools, to modern subdivisions, diners, farmsteads, and Underground Railroad sites. Betsy holds a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College and a master’s degree in American Studies from Boston University.
JULIA GREENE, scholar of The Highlands History Project, has recently been appointed Policy Director for Cambridge Mayor Henrietta Davis, combines her extensive knowledge and enthusiasm of Lynn History with her wide expertise in social politics. Together with Videographer Jeff Mulumba, Wendy Joseph and Julia Greene have created a program for the Youth which aspires to excite and engage them on a number of levels in order to empower them to be the bridge between disparate cultures and generations throughout the storied Highlands area.
BOB HILDRETH is the Founder and Board Chair of Families United in Educational Leadership. Following a career in Latin American finance at the IMF, Citibank, Drexel Burnham Lambert, and his own brokerage company, International Bank Services, Bob turned his sights to active philanthropy. He focused his energies on education reform in the US with particular attention to underserved communities. Coming from a family of educators, Bob knows the importance of family in educational attainment. Through his philanthropic investments, he realized that low income families do save. Using his financial background, he created a matched savings program to encourage parental involvement in education that became the basis for FUEL. Bob earned a BA in government from Harvard College, an MA in economics from George Washington University, and an MA in advanced international studies from Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of the board of trustees of Boston University, where he formerly chaired the board of overseers.
MAGGIE HOLTZBERG is Manager of the Folk Arts & Heritage Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council (1999 to the present). As a folklorist, she works closely with traditional artists and communities through documentary fieldwork, grant programs, presenting, and technical assistance. She is curator of Keepers of Tradition: Art and Folk Heritage in Massachusetts (2008), The Lost World of the Craft Printer (1992), Portrait of Spirit: One Story at a Time (1996), producer of the sound recording Georgia Folk: A Sampler of Traditional Sound (1990), and co-director/producer of the documentary film Gandy Dancers (1994). Holtzberg holds a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania and served as Folklife Program Director of the Georgia Council for the Arts prior to coming to Massachusetts. Through an Intergovernmental Agreement, Holtzberg is currently on loan to Lowell National Historical Park to support the development and expansion of traditional arts programs. Building on the energy of the Lowell Folk Festival, Maggie established the Lowell Folklife Series, which presents free craft, music, dance, and foodways programs throughout the year. She is also working on the possibility of re-establishing a folklife center at the Park.
MARILYNN JOHNSON is professor of history at Boston College where she teaches modern US social and urban history. She is the author of several books including Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City (2003) and The Second Gold Rush: Oakland and the East Bay in World War II (1993). For the past two years, she has been working as a historical consultant for the National Park Service developing films and exhibits for the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, California. Here in Boston, she is a co-organizer of the Urban and Immigration History Seminar at the Massachusetts Historical Society and is currently completing a book on the history of new immigrants in greater Boston since the 1960s.
WENDY JOSEPH is the Coordinator of The Highlands History Project in Lynn. Her second project with Mass Humanities, she has gathered community leaders and youth from several Lynn programs to create a new narrative of Lynn for these emerging audiences. Together with Videographer Jeff Mulumba, Wendy Joseph and Julia Greene have created a program for the Youth which aspires to excite and engage them on a number of levels in order to empower them to be the bridge between disparate cultures and generations throughout the storied Highlands area.
SARAH D. KELLY has been Executive Director of the Boston Preservation Alliance since 2006. Under Ms. Kelly’s leadership, the Alliance has sought to bring awareness regarding Boston’s built and cultural heritage to a broader audience, and to better integrate historic preservation into Boston’s real estate development and city planning activities. New programmatic initiatives have included neighborhood preservation workshops to bring historic preservation services to traditionally underserved populations. Prior to joining the Alliance, Ms. Kelly had been Project Manager and Interim Director at The Boston Harbor Association. She has also worked as a city planner at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and at Murray O’Laoire architects in Dublin, Ireland. Ms. Kelly received a B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College, and a Master of City in Planning from MIT.
NEIL LARSON is President of Larson Fisher Associates, a consulting firm specializing in historic preservation, planning, architecture, and museum services. He has prepared scores of National Register of Historic Places nominations, historic properties inventories, historic structures reports, and other preservation planning documents. Prior to establishing his practice he served as Adjunct Professor and Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Study Center at SUNY New Paltz, and as Curator and Acting Director of the Dutchess Country Historical Society. Earlier in his career he was on staff at the New York State Historic Preservation Office. He has completed documentation and planning projects for dozens of communities in Massachusetts from Pittsfield to Eastham, and co-authored the Massachusetts statewide National Register Historic Context for resources associated with the Underground Railroad. Larson has special expertise in the contextual interpretation of a broad range of resources, and his work also includes development of museum exhibitions. He holds a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.A. from the University of Delaware.
ANNE LOURO is Historic Preservation Planner for the City of New Bedford, where since 2006 she has been responsible for the administration and direction of the City’s historic preservation activities. She has overseen the expansion of historic districts, procured and directed numerous grant projects, and been responsible for formulating new policies, regulations, ordinances and economic strategies aimed at protecting the City’s historic resources. As a New Bedford native, Anne is pleased to be in a position that allows her to leverage her leadership, planning and technical skills to promote an agenda that preserves, enhances, and markets New Bedford’s heritage and cultural resources, while promoting economic development and improving the quality of life in its neighborhoods. Anne received a B.S. in Historic Preservation from Roger Williams University.
DEREK LUMPKINS is the Executive Director of Discover Roxbury. During his tenure, he has expanded and diversified Discover Roxbury’s portfolio of programming, including adding new biking and walking tours of Roxbury’s heritage, and the revitalization of community-wide events including Roxbury Open Studios and the Franklin Park Kite Festival with a creative community of partners. Derek is also increasing Discover Roxbury’s sustainability and social capital with a pair of annual events: Heart of the Hub, a celebration of Roxbury’s food, music, art and interactive experiences, and the Black & White Party, a nod to the energy, vibrancy, and color that artists bring to our lives every day. As the head of Discover Roxbury, Derek also serves as the chair of the Roxbury Cultural Network, a collaboration of organizations and businesses around Roxbury, which collectively promote and develop new audiences for Roxbury’s physical, cultural, culinary, and historic assets. A native of Boston, Derek Lumpkins graduated from Boston Latin School. Afterwards, he attended Swarthmore College, earning a BA in English Literature, and the University of London (SOAS) earning an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy. He returned to Boston determined to make an impact at a local level and remains committed to this goal.
ANNE MAKEPEACE has been a writer, producer, and director of award-winning independent films for more than twenty-five years. Among her films are: We Still Live Here, Independent Lens/PBS 2011, winner of the Inspiration Award at Full Frame and the Moving Mountains award at Telluride Mountain Film; I.M. Pei: Building China Modern, American Masters/PBS 2010; Rain in a Dry Land (POV 2007, Emmy Nomination, many awards); Robert Capa in Love and War (American Masters, National Primetime Emmy, BBC, more); Coming to Light (Oscar shortlist, American Masters, ARTE, Best Doc Telluride, etc); Baby It’s You (Sundance, POV, Channel 4, Whitney Biennial); and many others. Her films have been screened at festivals from Sundance to Munich, and have been broadcast on PBS, Showtime, Bravo, HBO, USA Network, Channel 4 (UK), ABC Australia, ZDF Germany, and screened at the Whitney Biennial, the Smithsonian, the Musée de l’Homme, the Museum of the American Indian, as well as many other museums, schools, colleges, and movie theaters around the country. Makepeace’s work has been funded by the Pulitzer Foundation, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, ITVS, the NEA, the NEH, American Masters, Showtime Networks, HBO, PBS, A&E, and the American Film Institute. She has twice been a writer/director fellow at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. She has been a resident of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio center, the MacDowell Colony, and Blue Mountain Center, and served on the Sundance 2001 Film Festival’s documentary jury. In 2008 she was honored with fellowships from both the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
KIM MANCUSO is the Artistic Director of Pilgrim Theatre, which she co-founded with Kermit Dunkelberg in Poland in 1986. Previously she was director of the International Company of the Second Studio of Wroclaw, Poland. For Pilgrim she has directed most productions including Faust 2002 (USA, Poland), Letters from Sarajevo (featured internationally on a Monitor Radio special report); Guys Dreamin’ (NY Top Ten of 1997); Moon Over Dark Street (Boston, NY); The Tibetan Book of the Dead (or how not to do it again) by Jean-Claude van Itallie, which premiered at the Boston Center for the Arts in August, 1998; The House Not Touched by Death; Gertrude Stein’s Look and Long (Smith College); The Life You Save (Laura Harrington) for the Boston Theatre Marathon; and productions for MIT’s Shakespeare Ensemble. Her work with Pilgrim Theatre and J-C van Itallie is featured in Susan Letzler Cole’s book, Playwrights in Rehearsal: The Seduction of Company (Routledge 2001). She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and teaches theatre at MIT and Smith College.
JOE MANNING is a freelance journalist, historian and genealogist, poet, photographer and songwriter. His book, Steeples: Sketches of North Adams (Flatiron Press 1997), is in its third printing. It has been required reading for several courses at Williams College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He followed that with Disappearing into North Adams (Flatiron Press 2001). His most recent book is Gig at The Amtrak (Flatiron Press 2005), a collection of his poetry. Manning created and was the advisor for several oral history programs in the North Adams public schools from 1998 to 2007. From 1998 to 2009, he helped plan and run Neighborhood EXPO, an all-day interactive celebration of North Adams neighborhoods and history sponsored by the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. Over the years, he has been a frequent lecturer about North Adams history for Elderhostel programs in Western Massachusetts.
LYNNE MANRING serves as the Youth and Living History Programs Director for the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA). She is responsible for a diverse, hands-on educational program for grades K-12 in a history museum setting. Several thousand school children learn about Connecticut Valley history either through in-classroom programs or field trips to PVMA’s Memorial Hall and Indian House Children’s Museum. In addition, Lynne also serves as a Historian in Residence for PVMA’s Deerfield Teachers’ Center where she leads workshops on a variety of topics, assists teachers with their history and social studies curricula, and helps present seminars.
BARBARA MATHEWS is the Academic Director of the Deerfield Teachers’ Center at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA), a regional history museum in Deerfield, MA, where she has worked since 1998. She holds a doctorate in American History from Brown University and has researched and written content for PVMA’s award-winning history websites: American Centuries, Raid on Deerfield, and Shays’ Rebellion and the Making of a Nation. She has designed, directed and taught in six U.S. Dept. of Education Teaching American History projects, and writes and presents on effective strategies for teaching history to diverse audiences, and on creating boundary-spanning partnerships among institutions of higher education, museums and K-12 schools.
MARY BETH MEEHAN is a Providence-based photographer whose work is deeply engaged with her own communities. She uses photography to create a connection with the people of those communities, whose identities are often obscured by economics, politics, or race. Meehan’s current project, City of Champions: A Portrait of Brockton, which documents her post-industrial hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts, was awarded a Crisis, Community and Civic Culture grant from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities in 2011. Twelve photographs from that project were printed as 12×16-foot banners and mounted on buildings in Brockton’s distressed downtown core, sparking community-wide conversations about evolving urban identities, community dislocation, and the possibilities for social change. Work from City of Champions has been featured in the New England Photography Biennial at the Danforth Museum of Art, has been published and exhibited in Tokyo, Japan, and has received financial support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Meehan’s past work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post, has been exhibited internationally, and has been honored by Pictures of the Year International and the National Conference for Community and Justice. She teaches Documentary Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, in Boston.
JAMES DAVID MORAN is Director of Outreach at the American Antiquarian Society where he oversees the Society’s promotional activities and programming aimed at the general public and K-12 educators. Jim has over twenty years experience creating cultural and educational programming including designing and presenting teacher training programs. He is also a writer, director, and producer who has created thirteen plays, eleven of which have been produced; most of these have been commissioned and are based on historical themes. Additionally, he has created a wide variety of video, audio, and theatrical presentations for corporations, cultural institutions, and individuals. His plays, Beating the Demon, about the nineteenth-century temperance orator John B. Gough, and Isaiah Thomas-Patriot Printer, about the founder of the American Antiquarian Society, are currently touring to schools and civic organizations throughout New England. He also developed an innovative radio program entitled The History Show, which appeared on 151 public radio stations in 47 states.
MITCHELL MULHOLLAND is a Research Professor Emeritus of Anthropology (retired in June 2011). He was Director of UMASS Archaeological Services from 1984 to 2011, serving as Principal Investigator for numerous archaeological projects in Massachusetts and other New England states. In these projects, archaeological sites and information were protected. Thousands of artifacts were recovered, and are curated for public research. Mulholland now serves as a consultant in archaeology.
JIM O’BRIEN is the Coordinator of Special Events and Performance at Old Sturbridge Village overseeing all major special events and the daily performance program. He also was one of the site managers for the Outdoor Living History Museum Interpretation Project in conjunction with the American Association for State and Local History and the Institute for Learning Innovation. This national three year study focused on visitor reaction to presentation of first person, third person, and museum theater interpretive presentations. As a result of the project, Jim has been on panels presenting results at national conferences for the American Association of Museums, the Association for State and Local History, National Association of Interpreters, the Association for Living History Farm and Agricultural Museums, and the New England Theater Conference. He is co-author of the article Why Research? You Might Get Some Surprises! which was published in the August 2009 issue of History News. Jim has also had the pleasure of doing extensive media work representing Old Sturbridge Village on television and radio since he joined the staff of Old Sturbridge Village in 1980 after getting a degree in Music Performance from Annhurst College.
STANISLAW (STAS) RADOSZ is Executive Director and founder of the Polish Center of Discovery and Learning at Elms College. Today, much of his energy is directed toward renovating and converting an 18-room, 140-year-old building which serves as a museum and cultural center. While at Elms College, he taught a course entitled “Introduction to the Polish People”, which introduced students to the contributions of the Polish people to both European and American societies. This course was originally taught by him for a number of years at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Slavic Department. He has also taught Elementary Polish for the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Slavic Department, Greenfield Community College Evening Division and Holyoke Community College. For 31 years, he was employed as Slavic Bibliographer and Coordinator for Collection Development, at the University, where he developed the Slavic and East European collection. Stas has worked in Poland as an interpreter for the US Information Service and has translated for US JPRS and others. He is also a story-teller of traditional Polish legends and tales, which are presented in a way that introduces children and adults to the history and culture of the Polish people.
CHRIS SKELLY is Director of Local Government Programs at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, where he has been on staff since 1997. A primary responsibility at the Commission is assisting the volunteer local commissions around the state in community-wide historic preservation planning. MHC publications prepared by Mr. Skelly include the Preservation Planning Manual, Preservation through Bylaws and Ordinances, A Guidebook for Historic District Commissions as well as two educational DVDs for local commissions. He regularly conducts regional educational workshops around the state for local commissions, elected officials and the general public. His interest in historic preservation goes back to growing up in Northborough, Massachusetts and exploring old buildings, stonewalls and farms. His degrees include a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a Master in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
MICHAEL STEINITZ is Director of the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s Preservation Planning Division, which includes the office’s historic properties survey, National Register, State Register, local government assistance, database, and geographic information system programs. He oversees the MHC’s annual Survey and Planning grant program, and works closely with local communities, state and federal agencies, and advocacy organizations on a variety of planning initiatives and issues. He also manages MHC’s state statutory review and approval of historic preservation easements agreements. Trained in cultural geography, with a PhD from Clark University, he has special interests in early architecture, cultural landscapes and industrial archeology. He has been on staff at MHC since 1989.
WEN-TI TSEN is a painter and public artist. He was born in China, lived in Paris and London before coming to the U.S. to study at the Boston Museum School. Since the mid-1970s, he has been engaged in making art that explores cultural connections. It can take the forms of studio art, as paintings and sculptures, of public art, as large-scale installations in public places, as well as of working with communities, in designing publications, exhibitions and theater sets. His more recent works are: “Water of Life”, the Millennium Plaza in Yakima, Washington; “Dream Catching”, the façade sculpture for Boston Arts Academy; and, “Pilgrim Father/Illegal Son”, a digital mural exhibit representing the lives of a Chinese worker and of William Bradford, of the Mayflower.