DT | Women in Arts Leadership: Working Women Artists discuss Work/Life Choices - 5:30 p.m.
All professional women make choices. There is a large body of research which says that women have challenges in the workplace rising to the top because employers are reticent to invest in a labor pool that goes away. And at the same time we read of women who choose not to “go for it” because they have other values that are more important—relationships, children etc. One can find research to support either point of view. Men have families too, but until recently, they did not take leave for parenting.
What happens when you are an artist and you work very different hours? What happens when your body clock and your short window to have a career coincides with your biological clock? What happens when we are married to our jobs and must juggle relationships and childrearing?
We will be chatting with three different artists who will talk about their choices and how they and their peers manage this intricate balance.
Join us for a panel discussion featuring:
Deborah Sandler, Moderator -- Director at Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Tempe Ostergren – Ballet dancer at KC Ballet
Sidonie Garrett – Stage Director and ED, Shakespeare Festival
Marissa Wolf -- Director of New Works, KC Rep
Deborah Sandler, Moderator -- Director at Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Deborah Sandler became General Director of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 2012. She is known throughout the opera industry for her strong commitment to artistic excellence, company growth and deepening community connections. Lyric Opera of Kansas City is the third company for which she has served as General Director.
Previously, Ms. Sandler served as General Director of Kentucky Opera where her expertise as both the artistic and management leader of the company gained acclaim for productions of high artistic quality. Deborah Sandler began her career as General Manager of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and later moved to the Opera Theatre of New Jersey as General Director, managing both the artistic and administrative functions.
In service to the future of opera and the American Opera service organization OPERA America, Ms. Sandler’s passion for opening doors to expand the role of women in professional opera was the impetus for the first ever field wide conversation on this topic, which took place this past May in Washington, DC. She has been a leader and catalyst regarding the convening of women to advance this cause and now chairs a new initiative, Womens Opera Network , a national forum which she chairs.
Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Ms. Sandler is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in music; Ms. Sandler earned a Master of Arts degree in musicology from New York University, completing all of her doctoral course work. She has also studied at the Mandel Center for Nonprofits at Case Western Reserve and at the Fundraising School at Indiana University.
Tempe Ostergren – Ballet dancer at KC Ballet
Tempe Ostergren studied on full scholarship at The School of American Ballet in New York City. After graduating, she went on to join the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle where she danced numerous solo and principal roles. Among some of her favorites were Sugar Plum in Stowell’s Nutcracker, Balanchine’sDivertimento #15, Martin’s Fearful Symmetries, Stowell’s Quaternary, and Caniparoli’s Torque. She then joined Boston Ballet where some of her repertoire included Dew Drop and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Stepsister in Kudelka’s Cinderella, Effy in La Sylphide, Jumping Girl in Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, soloist ballerina in Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Kylian’s Falling Angelsand Six Dances as well as numerous roles in the classics such as pas de trois in Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, and Amour in Don Quioxte. With Kansas City Ballet, Ms. Ostergren was thrilled to perform the title role in Giselle, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Titania in Whitener’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Allegro Brilliante, Mina in Michael Pink’s Dracula, and Waltz Girl in Serenade. This is her fifth season with Kansas City Ballet .
Sidonie Garrett – Stage Director and ED, Shakespeare Festival
Sidonie Garrett is the Executive Artistic Director of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival where she directed The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet (awarded Best Play by Pitch Magazine), Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, King Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor , King Richard III, Macbeth, rotating repertory productions of Antony and Cleopatra and A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It The Winter’s Tale and last season’s King Lear (awarded Best Play in Pitch Magazine’s BEST OF KC). Last year, she directed the collaboration project, The Merchant of Venice, presented by the J and JCCC, the first HASF indoor production. Prior to joining the Festival, Sidonie worked as a freelance director. Her experience working with new plays took her to New York City, where she directed the off-off Broadway production of Thanatos. Sidonie also assistant directed the off-Broadway premiere of the interactive Aunt Chooch's Birthday Party. Locally, she directed I’ll Eat You Last, Other Desert Cities, The Motherf*&#%er With the Hat, Time Stands Still, In the Next Room: the vibrator play, Faith Healer, Rising Water, Iron Kisses, Retreat from Moscow, Omnium Gatherum, the world premiere of Thanatos, SubUrbia, The Waiting Room, Desert Holiday, Spinning Into Butter, SantaLand Diaries and co-directed Light/Damage with Cynthia Levin, at the Unicorn Theatre. At The Coterie she directed The Macbeth Project: In Spite of Thunder, the U.S. premiere of After Juliet, Mr. A's Amazing Maze Plays, Little House on the Prairie, Little House by the Shores of Silver Lake, Of Mice and Men, Playing for Time and co-directed The Hobbit. Sidonie directed Rose’s Dilemma and Greater Tuna for the American Heartland Theatre, Reckless and Too Clever By Half for UMKC's Rotating Repertory, and co-directed Tony & Tina's Wedding (Kansas City and St. Louis) for Fourth Wall Productions. She directed Jason Chanos as Hamlet, in the Kansas City Symphony’s Supremely Shakespeare concert, and was the stage director for four seasons of “Magic of Christmas” and How the Symphony Saved Christmas. Sidonie was the stage director for Kansas City Civic Opera’s productions of The Marriage of Figaro and Falstaff. Recently she directed One Touch of Nature, a collaboration with the Bach Aria Soloists, a collaboration of music and words. She most recently directed Dancing at Lughnasa at the J, a Script-In-Hand reading of Much Ado About Nothing as part of the First Folio exhibition at the KC Public Library and eight plays in the first KC One Minute Play Festival. In addition to her work with the Festival and onstage as a guest director, Sidonie serves on the Board of Directors for the Midwest Dramatist Center. In March, she will direct The Whale at the Unicorn
Marissa Wolf (Director of New Works, KC Rep)
In her first year as Director of New Works/Associate Artist at Kansas City Rep, Marissa is launching Origin KC, a program that supports the creation, development, and production of new work from a diverse body of major national playwrights. In KC Rep’s 2015-2016 season, Marissa is directing both The Diary of Anne Frank, and the world premiere of Fire in Dreamland by Rinne Groff (co-commissioned by The Public Theater and Berkeley Rep) as part of the Origin KC New Works Festival. Marissa previously served as the Artistic Director of Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco for six season, where she developed and produced work by a vanguard of top emerging playwrights including Christina Anderson, Lauren Gunderson, Young Jean Lee, Christopher Chen, Aditi Brennan Kapil, Caridad Svich, Thomas Bradshaw, and Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. Other directing credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Cutting Ball Theatre, The Magic Theatre, and Berkeley Playhouse. Marissa was nominated Best Director by Broadway World San Francisco and the Bay Area Critics Circle Award. Marissa previously held the Bret C. Harte Directing Internship at Berkeley Repertory Theatre for two years. Marissa has her degree in drama from Vassar College, and received additional training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Date and Time
Tuesday Feb 9, 2016
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM CST
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Location
Central Exchange
1020 Central
Kansas City, Missouri 64105
Fees/Admission
Members: $0.00
Non-Members: $0.00
Contact Information
Millie Knopp, Program Coordinator
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