While we draw from the rich resources of artists in NYC for our work, below are some of the outstanding Founding Members of ArtsCare.

MARYELLEN KERNAGHAN
Artistic Director, has spent over 25 years working in the not for profit performing arts as a director, producer, manager and advocate.
After receiving her Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in NYC, Maryellen went on to work for some of this country’s most illustrious performing arts companies such as The Acting Company (founded by John Houseman), The Shaliko Company at LaMaMa E. T. C., The Big Apple Circus, The Limon Dance Company as well as producing works for Off Broadway and regional theatre. In addition, Maryellen has long been an advocate of using the arts as an instrument in healing and, as such, has developed and delivered arts programming on partner/domestic/elder violence, care giving for the caregiver, the signs and “sighs of” Alzheimer’s and home and traffic safety for seniors, to name but a few, for such organizations as HIP, Fire Department Of New York (FDNY) First Responders, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Henry Street Settlement House, domestic violence safe houses and various other companies and organizations nationwide.
Maryellen has also been an invited speaker at the Knight Foundation and is a member of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Family Caregivers Association, DiVaBetics and is a professional spokesperson and model for women over 50.
Artistic Director, has spent over 25 years working in the not for profit performing arts as a director, producer, manager and advocate.
After receiving her Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University in NYC, Maryellen went on to work for some of this country’s most illustrious performing arts companies such as The Acting Company (founded by John Houseman), The Shaliko Company at LaMaMa E. T. C., The Big Apple Circus, The Limon Dance Company as well as producing works for Off Broadway and regional theatre. In addition, Maryellen has long been an advocate of using the arts as an instrument in healing and, as such, has developed and delivered arts programming on partner/domestic/elder violence, care giving for the caregiver, the signs and “sighs of” Alzheimer’s and home and traffic safety for seniors, to name but a few, for such organizations as HIP, Fire Department Of New York (FDNY) First Responders, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Henry Street Settlement House, domestic violence safe houses and various other companies and organizations nationwide.
Maryellen has also been an invited speaker at the Knight Foundation and is a member of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Family Caregivers Association, DiVaBetics and is a professional spokesperson and model for women over 50.
STEPHEN PICKOVER
Artistic Advisor, has directed numerous operas, musicals and plays both in the U.S. and abroad. He recently returned from directing Tristan und Isolde at the Teatro Reggio in Turin, Italy. He has worked with Pittsburgh Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, English National Opera, San Francisco and Minneapolis Symphonies and is a guest stage director at the Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Pickover was an Artistic Director of Riverside Opera Ensemble, where he conceived and directed Where or When, a new Rodgers and Hart Off-Broadway Revue, produced by Maryellen Kernaghan. He developed and directed the new musical Street Sense by Migdalia Cruz and Linda Eisenstein at the Cleveland Public Theatre and was the Artistic Director of Struthers Library Theatre in Pennsylvania, a 1000 seat historic professional theatre where he directed Evita, The Sound of Music, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Man of La Mancha, Oklahoma, The Boyfriend, Camelot, The Music Man, and The Fantasticks. A native New Yorker, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from Columbia University. JEFF GOLDSTEIN
Founding Member, has been a teaching artist in the theatre arts for over 25 years. Throughout the New York area, she has created and directed residencies on topics ranging from conflict resolution to Shakespeare, in settings ranging from colleges to storefronts, to folk ages 4 to 80. She was a founding member of the Foundation for Children in the Classics as well as designing and running their highly successful teen residency program. Through PASE she designed curriculum for national Phillip Morris initiative, The Sidewalk Arts Program. In collaboration with NYU she designed and ran a two year arts in literacy residency at Salk Middle School. Highlights of her role as Education Director for Plays for Living included Program Supervisor for 3 HS DOE/TASC AIDP programs as well as site supervisor and production associate on their much lauded collaboration with the United Way Literacy Arts Initiative that culminated each year in city wide youth performances at the Apollo theatre. Currently she is teaching socio-drama to at-risk and learning disabled populations ranging from 7 year olds at the Lighthouse for the Blind to visually and memory impaired senior citizens at Jewish Home LifeCare in the Bronx. |
JENNY SEAQUIST
Founding Member, has been a teaching artist in the theatre arts for over 25 years. Throughout the New York area, she has created and directed residencies on topics ranging from conflict resolution to Shakespeare, in settings ranging from colleges to storefronts, to folk ages 4 to 80. She was a founding member of the Foundation for Children in the Classics as well as designing and running their highly successful teen residency program. Through PASE she designed curriculum for national Phillip Morris initiative, The Sidewalk Arts Program. In collaboration with NYU she designed and ran a two year arts in literacy residency at Salk Middle School. Highlights of her role as Education Director for Plays for Living included Program Supervisor for 3 HS DOE/TASC AIDP programs as well as site supervisor and production associate on their much lauded collaboration with the United Way Literacy Arts Initiative that culminated each year in city wide youth performances at the Apollo theatre. Currently she is teaching socio-drama to at-risk and learning disabled populations ranging from 7 year olds at the Lighthouse for the Blind to visually and memory impaired senior citizens at Jewish Home Life Care in the Bronx. ANGELA KARIOTIS
Founding Member, is a writer, performer, and educator. Her acclaimed and nationally touring solo shows include Reminiscence of the Ghetto & Other Things That Raized Me; SAY LOGOS SAY WORD; and Stretch Marks. She is winner of the Tennessee Williams Theater Fellowship, a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, a Puffin Foundation grant, and a National Performance Network Creation Fund Award. She has been presented by venues like UCLA-Live, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The University of Texas at Austin and Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kariotis also has written and directed issue-based plays for corporate clients like GE, Godiva, NY Department of State and Lockheed Martin while working for Plays For Living Inc. She has been teaching writing, theater and speech communication skills and literacy through the arts for the past decade. She is committed to diversity and leadership in her work environment. |