| Claude
Danner - Production Manager, French, of Basque origin, with a masters degree in electrical
engineering had a 31 year worldwide career at IBM in computer design and
development mostly in management. Beside French, her mother-tongue and
English, Claude is also fluent in German and some Japanese. After years
of traveling the world, she came to the United States with her husband
to raise a family. In 2001 they left New York to be on Cape Cod year round.
Since then she has channeled her energy and social skills into more creative
arts. For the last three years she has joined Karen Dowcett and Big and
Small and its creations as a seamstress and designer, a fulfilling and
fun endeavor. |
| Josephine Astone-Madera-Rupert born in 1920 and raised in Brooklyn in
the midst of a large family of Italian immigrants, quickly applied her
handiwork talents on piecework at the Manhattan Garment District as a
seamstress and a milliner. She also enjoyed dance, music and Broadway
shows. Josie moved to Cape Cod doing full-time clothes alterations and
reached a professional level of quilting and cross- stitching which she
taught to her forever increasing circle of friends. Josie joined Big and
Small in 2004, sewing most of the costumes for Tales of the Ark. She loves
the excitement of preparing a show with the creative, younger artists
and dancers. Her 85 years, filled with experience, hard work, good humor
and wisdom, established Josie as Big and Small's beloved and venerated
Sensei. |
| Sarah Pirtle, M.Ed. – Master Mentor: Sound, Is an award winning songwriter and author. One of the hallmarks of Sarah’s work--her books, recordings, concerts, workshops--is that she speaks to all generations. She is the youngest recipient of the Children’s Music Network’s Magic Penny Award for lifetime achievement in children’s music. "Sarah's body of work in children's music about peace, conflict resolution and the environment, and her influence around the world are extensive,' Magic Penny Award organizers said, who described her songs as inspiring and meaningful, with music that is sophisticated enough to appeal to parents and children alike. She is also the recipient of the Olive Branch Award for the outstanding book of the year on world peace for An Outbreak of Peace. She attended Oberlin College, after which she toured for five years with the Big Mama Poetry Troupe from Cleveland, Ohio, published two anthologies of poems and performed at venues including NYU, Columbia University, and Rutgers College. She focused on peace education in her Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts, and taught the first graduate course on conflict resolution in New England in the 1980’s, beginning sixteen years of graduate school teaching. She currently teaches how to integrate music into the classroom for the Creative Arts in Learning Program of Lesley University. Her book, "Liking Up: Using Music, Movement and Language Arts to Promote Caring, Cooperation, and Communication,' which comes with a recording of 46 songs, is used in college courses for training teachers. The heart of her work is connecting with the earth and bonding with the natural world through the expressive arts. In her programs for adults she underscores that we can listen for our own personal connection to the fruitful life-force of the Universe. For fourteen years she has directed Journey Camp held at Woolman Hill in Deerfield which emphasizes that “We aren’t just on the earth. We are part of the earth creating and growing.” She co-founded the Tree of Life School at Red Gate Farm, now in its third year. Each keynote speech, each workshop, each concert, brings together the themes of building our communities, caring about justice, and fervently loving the earth.
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| Helen Warren, M.F.A., M.Ed.– Visionary Artist, Facilitator, & Slated Master Mentor: Image ,
brings over 25 years of experience as a teacher, facilitator, painter and printmaker to her healing work. Her life-long research into the philosophy and psychology of the creative process includes
Masters Degrees in Fine Arts and Art Education. Study with Seneca elder Twylah Nitsch and medical intuitive Carolyn Myss have deepened her understanding of the creative capacity and the relevance of
its expression to the evolution of all life on this planet. She is certified as an Advanced Facilitator of Soul Recognition through Soul Support Systems, Inc. and is endorsed by Debra Koff-Chapin,
founder of the Center for Touch Drawing, as a facilitator of Touch Drawing. Helen is dedicated to foundationing the "Essential Space of Creation" through her life, teaching and the powerful
imagery of her paintings. She presently teaches at the Maine College of Art and at her studio and teaches workshops throughout New England. |
| Lynn Ellison-Murphy – Management/ Consultant , holds a B.A. degree in Sociology from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Her graduate work was in
Dance/Movement Therapy at Antioch/New England Graduate School in Keene, N.H. She completed her internship at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, in Roslindale, MA, working with
elderly residents using dance as a therapeutic healing modality. Dance/Movement Therapy is based on the integrative theory of the mind/body connection. Lynn worked in both
individual and group therapy sessions with the elder population. Currently, she works as a Life Skills Counselor in a residential milieu, with Traumatic Brain-Injured Adults.
Lynn has taught Creative Movement with grades K thru 4 for five years in the Harwich After School Program, encouraging children to connect with their inner dancer. Lynn has
studied dance, her true passion, since the age of 5, starting with ballet, tap and toe. She later studied Modern Dance while in college, performing with Terpsichore Dance Co.
She studied jazz, ballet and modern at the Joy of Movement Center in Cambridge and attended Harvard Summer Dance program as well. Most recently, Lynn was a member of the Back
Road Performers, directed by Trish Newby, for five years. She has performed with the Big & small in Missa Gaia, Tales From the Ark, The Red Thread, Cirque de Sea, and As the
Sowing, The Reaping: The Legend of the Cranberry Harvest. Were it not for her involvement with dance and theater performances, Lynn believes she would be aging far more rapidly. |
| Jean MacKenzie – Consultant, LICSW, CADAC is a Licensed Social Worker with Cape Cod Hospital, Hyannis, MA, having worked on the Psychiatric
Inpatient Unit, and has previously had a private practice specializing in substance abuse and codependency recovery. She is a graduate of Boston College School of Social
Work and is certified as a Chemical Dependency Counselor in the state of Massachusetts. She is an experienced clinician who has worked in various modalities, such as
individual, group and family systems therapy. Her supervisory roles have included serving as the Director of Home-Based Family Services and the Mental Health Day Treatment
Program for Cape Cod Human Services. In her private practice, Jean also led an Expressive Movement Group for Women.
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Salvatore Lucca – Consultant, M.Ed. in Counseling , has worked with adolescents and adults in Chemical Dependency Treatment in both
individual and group modalities, and was the Director for Prevention and Intervention Programs for Youth at Cape Cod Human Services. He is completing the Licensure for
Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) through Bridgewater State College, and also received his initial Master’s Counselor Training at the University of New Hampshire. He received
his Bachelor’s Degree from the College of the Holy Cross.
Jean and Sal have co-directed HumorUs Associates, and have co-facilitated weekend retreats since 1991. Their purpose is to foster laughter and humor in recovery from
life’s bumps and bruises, and they have also led weekend retreats for couples’ who are recovering from substance abuse and codependency issues. They are married and live in
West Yarmouth, MA.
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| Jennifer Cramer – Consultant, holds a BA degree in history from Dartmouth College and an AAS in physical therapy assisting from Newbury College.
She is a Professional Business Organizer and founder of Organized for Business, a business consulting practice. She is also a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. In both
capacities, Jennifer has helped individuals to overcome physical and mental barriers to success. As a PTA, Jennifer has helped rehabilitate neurologically impaired individuals
as well as seniors recuperating from major surgeries and illnesses. Through her business, Jennifer has worked with several clients with mild brain injuries and has given
presentations on essential organizing life skills. As an active member of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, Jennifer has received specific training for
addressing the physical barriers facing seniors and providing the support and solutions needed to improve their lives and businesses. Jennifer is a member of the National
Association for Professional Organizers, NAPO New England.
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| Dierdre Marie Drennan – Consultant, holds certification as a Master Healer & Teacher in Reiki, and in Magnified Healing. She holds a
certificate in Quantum Touch, is a Hospice volunteer musician and has participated in the national Music for Healing and Transition Program, administered from Hillsdale, NY.
Deirdre has a Masters Certificate as a Mental Health Rehabilitation Technician and is in the process of starting her own business Attune for You. She believes that music
serves as a bridge for our connection with our deepest self, our Creator, each other and all life. Deirdre is an intuitive musician who has been singing since childhood
and has come to understand this unifying power of sound and vibration. Over more than 30 years, she has created musical interactive programs for children and adults in
residential settings, day care, special education classes, family resorts, and holistic centers as well as for retreats, worship services and weddings. In the last 10
years, she’s incorporated sound healing with her voice and unique 38 stringed lap harp.
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| Janet (Rowan) Scott – Consultant , studied Philosophy and Literature at and received a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, and a Masters in
Education. She worked in research physiology, taught high school English and raised her two children in an intentional farming/crafts community where she was potter,
baker, cook and goatherd. She had never thought seriously of dancing until she moved to the Findhorn community in Scotland, where she became a part of the original
Sacred Circle Dance group with Professor Bernhard Wosien. Since then she has taught SCD in many places to people of all ages and helped to organize the first weeklong
Sacred Circle Dance camp in North America. Rowan brings her years of experience in the dance and a dedication to offering the gift of Sacred Circle Dance as given to
Findhorn by Professor Wosien.
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| Michele
Whittier has an M.A. from Lesley College with a concentration
in Dance from SUNY. She has studied movement and dance for over 20 years,
choreographs for several community theaters on the Cape and runs a Summer
Musical Theatre Dance Workshop. Her dance background is rooted in ballet
with jazz and modern experience as well. She studies Stott Pilate's and
Yoga at Kripalu. Her enthusiasm for joining Big and Small stems from her
holistic approach to fusing movement, education and centered living, key
elements within Big and Small's mission. |
| James
Dowcett - Consultant is an accomplished composer, conductor,
teacher, and performer. He composed the music for the New York production
of "Moliere", and music for productions in the Mid-west including
"Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Bitterroot", a production
commemorating the Lewis and Clark expedition, and productions of Shakespeare's
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Twelfth Night". Jim
wrote the music for "Twin Towers Anthology" premiered on Cape
Cod, September 2002. For Big and Small, Jim composed "Out of the
Ark", a work of choir, soloists, and orchestra, commissioned by the
Chatham Chorale. Jim brings his Ph.D. studies in musical styles, contexts,
myths, and celebrations from around the world to Big and Small. |
|
Karen
Dowcett – Founder/Leading Director (B.S., M.S.)holds degrees in Theatre Design and Educational Leadership/Experiential Education
focused on community building through performance art and pageantry. Theatre and education have been at the center of her professional
life. She owned and directed a private school in New Hampshire, and directed capacity based development programs that included theatre
arts, all finding a natural convergence in originating mythic teaching tales utilizing the art of the mask. While working at the college
level, she received recognition by the Governor of Illinois and the Director of the Department of Corrections for the State of Illinois
for her innovative integrated arts programming. She has written and performed original legends centered on themes of unity in the mid-west
and on Cape Cod where she has taught adult puppetry and mask-making at Cape Cod Community College and public and private schools. She has
also worked with Arun Gandhi, grandson of M.K.Gandhi, incorporating principles of non-violence, native traditions, and environmental
awareness in theatre pieces performed in and around Memphis and inner-city Detroit. In addition to writing, producing and directing,
Ms. Dowcett has also performed leading rolls and collaborated with former New York director and international mime artist, Richard Morse
and composer Jim Dowcett on traditional theatre repertoire and original works. Most recently, she received the Outstanding Achievement
in Drama Award from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She is devoted to the arts and community breathing life and voice into both.