The transition has been an interesting and incredibly rewarding one. Each challenge has been met with a happy result and I'm finding my new life to be exactly what I had hoped it would be.
Before I even submitted an CV and resume, I was hired by Nazareth College in Rochester, NY to teach in their new BFA Musical Theater program. I designed a Vocal Technique class for the curriculum, which I am currently teaching, and I'm also responsible for nearly 20 private vocal students in the two days I spend on campus.
I directed the first production of the season at Nazareth, Titanic - Maury Yeston's epic musical tale. We had a very short rehearsal period and we had sold-out performances. It was also a nice opportunity to meet and bond with the students with whom I am now working.
I was also recently recruited by Cayuga Community College to design and teach a Voice For The Actor course which I'll institute in the Spring semester of 2016. In it, students will learn the mechanics of the voice as well as articulation and vocal health & maintenance. We'll be working with sonnets and monologues in order to put into practice good vocal skills for the theater and public speaking.
My schedule has afforded me the opportunity to really concentrate on my writing and I am currently juggling a number of novels - over a dozen - in various states of completion. Also in the hopper are a number of plays and several musicals. I will be self-publishing two of my books in the Spring of 2016 with others to follow. After 40 years of writing for myself, I've decided it's time to dig into the vaults and offer them up for eyes other than my own.
With a group of incredibly decent and loving folks that have come into my life since moving to this community, I feel at home in my new digs and loved by my new family of friends.
Change never has to be something one fears. In embracing the whole process, I've learned how to now say "yes" when opportunities present themselves.
And the benefits are tangible.
Onward...
Before I even submitted an CV and resume, I was hired by Nazareth College in Rochester, NY to teach in their new BFA Musical Theater program. I designed a Vocal Technique class for the curriculum, which I am currently teaching, and I'm also responsible for nearly 20 private vocal students in the two days I spend on campus.
I directed the first production of the season at Nazareth, Titanic - Maury Yeston's epic musical tale. We had a very short rehearsal period and we had sold-out performances. It was also a nice opportunity to meet and bond with the students with whom I am now working.
I was also recently recruited by Cayuga Community College to design and teach a Voice For The Actor course which I'll institute in the Spring semester of 2016. In it, students will learn the mechanics of the voice as well as articulation and vocal health & maintenance. We'll be working with sonnets and monologues in order to put into practice good vocal skills for the theater and public speaking.
My schedule has afforded me the opportunity to really concentrate on my writing and I am currently juggling a number of novels - over a dozen - in various states of completion. Also in the hopper are a number of plays and several musicals. I will be self-publishing two of my books in the Spring of 2016 with others to follow. After 40 years of writing for myself, I've decided it's time to dig into the vaults and offer them up for eyes other than my own.
With a group of incredibly decent and loving folks that have come into my life since moving to this community, I feel at home in my new digs and loved by my new family of friends.
Change never has to be something one fears. In embracing the whole process, I've learned how to now say "yes" when opportunities present themselves.
And the benefits are tangible.
Onward...