Faculty
Charles Alsdorf is a director at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, LLC, where he leads project teams in providing professional services to many of Deloitte’s corporate and government clients. He is a longtime student and practitioner of the methodology of Newman and Holzman. In his corporate career, he has blended his skills in building quantitative business models with his skills in organizing effective group dynamics.
Douglas Balder is an architect, fundraiser and political activist. Among his architectural designs are the All Stars Project's youth development and performing arts center on 42nd Street, the Dinosaur Halls at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Indiana State Museum Permanent Exhibition and the Museum of Prehistory in Taiwan. Balder has worked with some of the world's leading designers to create internationally recognized museum exhibitions and learning environments.
David Belmont is a musician, community organizer and long-time volunteer with electoral reform efforts. Since the 1970s, when he was active in Manhattan’s rock and performance art scenes, Belmont has been writing background music for poetry, mime, theatre, film and dance and has independently produced 21 albums of his work. He is musical composer and arranger for the Castillo Theatre, The WindWater Ensemble, and co-leads Live Music Continuum workshops with Mary Abrams.
Dan Friedman, PhD, has been active in political and experimental theatre as actor, director, playwright and scholar for four decades. He is a founder of the Castillo Theatre and serves as the theatre's artistic director. Most recently he has added working with youth to his cultural projects, as founder and artistic director of Youth Onstage! and the director of Becoming Producers. Friedman has worked closely with Fred Newman for over twenty years, and is editor of Still On The Corner and Other Postmodern Political Plays by Fred Newman. He received his doctorate in theatre history from the University of Wisconsin.
Esther Farmer, MS, is founder and partner of Lateral Strategies, an international consulting and training firm for community development, staff development and crime prevention. She is a former ombudsman for the New York City Housing Authority. Farmer received a Masters in urban affairs from Hunter College, City University of New York.
Alvaader Frazier, Esq., is a long time community organizer. She received her law degree from Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, California and has worked as a human rights attorney. Frazier is also a prolific poet, writer and patron of the arts.
Mary Fridley has been an independent lesbian political activist and community organizer for more than 30 years. She is currently the Institute’s pro bono director of development and special programs. Ms. Fridley trained in performance social therapy and worked as a therapist and workshop leader for 12 years. She is on the directing staff of Castillo Theatre, where over the last 16 years, she has been involved in more than 25 productions - many of them concerning lesbian and gay issues. Ms. Fridley has also produced an award-winning feature film, Nothing Really Happens (Memories of Aging Strippers).
Lenora Fulani, PhD, is a community and political leader and youth development specialist. She has initiated dozens of projects to engage issues of poverty, particularly in communities of color, among them the All Stars Project, which she co-founded. Fulani currently leads Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids, a series of workshops that uses performance to facilitate dialogues between New York City police and youth. She received her doctorate in developmental psychology from the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. As America's leading Black independent, she has twice run for President of the United States.
Ann Green, RN, is a long-time therapist now practicing at the Social Therapy Group in Brooklyn. As a health professional, Green worked as a visiting nurse and as a head nurse in psychiatric facilities. She is currently enrolled in the Hunter College Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program.
Christine Helm, MA, MEd, is director of the Enterprise Center at the Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of New York and teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate level. She earned her graduate degrees in anthropology from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Lois Holzman, PhD, is director and co-founder of the East Side Institute. She is a researcher/writer and international trainer and speaker. Her areas of expertise include social therapeutics; development and learning across the life span; play and performance; and postmodernism and activity theory. Holzman initiated and remains chief organizer of the Performing the World conferences and she leads the Institute’s International Class. She received her doctorate in developmental psychology and psycholinguistics from Columbia University.
Joan Ingalls, Ed. D., has a private social therapy practice in the West Village in New York City. She is a licensed Creative Arts Therapist and Mental Health Counselor. She has BA in philosophy and pre-veterinary medicine from The Ohio State University, an MA in psychology/dance therapy from Goddard College, a doctorate in sport counseling from Teachers College Columbia University, and is a graduate of the Institute's Therapist Training Program. Prior to becoming a social therapist, Dr. Ingalls worked in the fields of mental retardation and sport counseling, and taught psychology courses at several New York and New England area colleges and universities.
Maureen Kelly, MA, is a principal with Performance of a Lifetime. She has extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies as an executive leader and management consultant, and previously held positions with Citibank and JPMorganChase. She earned her MA in organizational psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, and BS in finance and international relations from the University of Delaware.
Christine LaCerva, MA, is director of the Social Therapy Group in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She has a highly diverse, group-based practice with clients from ages 4 to 74, and has pioneered a unique approach to helping children and adolescents diagnosed along the Autism Spectrum. LaCerva completed her graduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University in community psychology and special education (including education of the deaf) and has a performance background in dance.
Pamela A. Lewis is the director of youth programs for the All Stars Project and has expanded its youth development programs from coast to coast. Lewis is one of the country's leading organizers and developers of inner city youth, and has worked with tens of thousands of young people supporting them in building the All Stars and teaching them that they can perform in new ways and be builders of their neighborhoods, their cities and their society.
Carrie Lobman, Ed.D., is associate professor of education at the Graduate School of Education Rutgers University and the Institute’s director of pedagogy. She is an educational researcher and trainer who explores the value of improvisation and play for learning and develoment. Lobman received her doctorate in early childhood education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Gwen Lowenheim is an educational consultant who brings creativity and innovation into schools through performance-based learning. She is the founding director of The Snaps Project, an educational consulting firm specializing in leadership development among school-based administrators, faculty, students and parents. Lowenheim has been a staff member of the East Side Institute for 20 years.
Susan Massad, MD, is a medical educator and general internist at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. She has taught and lectured widely on postmodern and humanistic approaches to the practice of medicine. In 2004, she was named by New York Magazine as one of NYC's top-10 doctors for her expertise in doctor-patient communication and her groundbreaking work in bringing improv and performance into the medical education of resident physicians.
Rafael Mendez, PhD, is a therapist at the Social Therapy Group in Brooklyn and associate professor and coordinator of psychology at Bronx Community College, his alma mater. Mendez earned his doctorate in clinical-community psychology at Boston University in 1983 and was a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital.
Melissa Meyer is programs coordinator of the East Side Institute. She has a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of California at Davis and graduated from the Institute’s Therapist Training Program.
David Nackman is the creative director of Performance of a Lifetime – and an actor, director, improvisational comedian, visual artist and instructional designer. He sees the social therapeutic approach as a transformative influence in his work – challenging his individualistic bias as an artist, teaching him to help groups realize their creativity, and providing the methodological engine for his company's creative work in designing innovative growth experiences for corporations and non-profit organizations around the world.
Fred Newman, PhD, is co-founder of the East Side Institute. He is the creator of social therapy and currently leads two social therapy groups in Manhattan. Newman is also a philosopher and founded the Developmental Philosophy Group, which he leads weekly in New York City. The former artistic director of the Castillo Theatre, he is an active playwright and director. Newman received his doctorate in analytic philosophy and foundations of mathematics from Stanford University.
Hugh Polk, MD, is a psychiatrist and social therapist with 25 years of experience in bringing the social therapeutic approach to community mental health centers and hospitals throughout New York City. He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, received his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed his psychiatric residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Cathy Rose Salit is president of Performance of a Lifetime. An activist since the age of 13, she is also a singer, improviser and actor who, in the mid-1990s put her performing talent, passion for creating cutting-edge, developmental learning environments, and entrepreneurial ability to work in creating Performance of a Lifetime – and now works with a broad range of global companies and organizations.
Barbara Silverman, LCSW, has created innovative programs using the social therapeutic approach in community-based agencies, mental health centers and schools. She currently has a clinical practice at the Social Therapy Group in Brooklyn and is director of mental health services, Erasmus High School Student Health Center. Silverman received her MSW from the Adelphi School of Social Work.
Lew Steinhardt, LCSW, has over 30 years of experience in the field of mental health; specializing in work with developmentally disabled/special needs young people. He practices at the Social Therapy Group in Brooklyn and Manhattan and works as a school social worker. Steinhardt received his MSW from the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.
Gloria Strickland, MA, is the director of the All Stars Project of New Jersey. Prior to heading up the All Stars, Strickland was the executive director of the Somerset Community Action (SCAP) and the Somerset County Head Start programs. She has a Masters degree in education from New York University.
Barbara Taylor is a progressive educator with over 50 years of classroom teaching experience. She has taught grades K-12, was a district reading specialist, a principal, and worked in one of the first Head Start programs in the country. In 1985, she founded—with the East Side Institute—The Barbara Taylor School, the first Vygotskian-inspired elementary school in America. She is currently a professor of education and psychology at Touro College.
East Side Institute
an international research, education and training center for human development and community.
Performing the World
Performing the World is more than a conference; it's an international community. Visit www.performingthworld.org.
First Nations Youth Perform at Performing the World 2008, New York City
Performing the World
Performing the World is more than a conference; it's an international community. Visit www.performingthworld.org.
First Nations Youth Perform at Performing the World 2008, New York City