co-president
AVIS BOONE (SAG-AFTRA)
www.AvisBoone.com
http://avisualconceptphotography.com
https://twitter.com/AvisBoone
https://www.instagram.com/avis.boone
https://www.facebook.com/avis.boone
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in Communications, Avis Boone fulfilled her dream of working as an actor and model by moving to New York City where she quickly was employed in television, film, industrials, commercials, and radio. Avis, loving her career and wanting to be involved in Union service, she ran for and won a seat on the then Screen Actors Guild (legacy SAG) National Board. Her outstanding work within the union awarded her the SAG-AFTRA Joseph C. Riley Award for outstanding service to the union through committee service. Never one to sit idle and wanting to continue to improve the community of artists around her, Avis served and still serves on many committees within SAG-AFTRA and continues her work with SAG-AFTRA NY Local Board.
Through her work with SAG-AFTRA she learned about Women In the Arts and Media Coalition (The Coalition), an organization that promotes and focuses on issues concerning women in the arts and media. That, of course, was a board she jumped to join, doing all she could to work to promote women in the arts. After several years on The Coalition’s board she was unanimously voted in as Co-President of The Coalition and has served in that capacity for the past 5 years and counting.
Avis is also an active member of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT). Always looking for the “new,” Avis took her passion for photography, photographing everything from award events/shows, dance performances, concerts, cabarets, pets and private parties/events, bringing her creative intelligence to promote whatever product or person she is focusing her camera on.
With over ten years of promotional work under her belt, Avis, now a member of IPA (International Press Association), has curated her years of work to be viewed on IPA’s website and Magazine. She is a self-proclaimed geek and as technology expands and evolves in this ever-growing world so does Avis’ work continue to grow and change. When not found in front of or behind the camera Avis can be found on the dance floor perfecting her Argentine Tango.
CO-PRESIDENT
YVONNE CURRY (SDC)
Yvonne Curry, BA Dance, Brooklyn College/CUNY worked fifteen years internationally training dancers and actors for TV, stage and theater as Tap Instructor/Choreographer Ballet of Venevision Channel 4 Caracas, Venezuela. Jazz Instructor/Choreographer, Leona Laviscount School of Dance and Antenna 3-TV Milan, Italy. Faculty:Third Street Music School Settlement, NYC and Harlem School of the Arts. Served as a Cultural Attache at the American Embassy in Venezuela and faculty at Brooklyn College Preparatory Center for the Performing Arts. Board Member/former Co-President, Women in the Arts & Media Coalition, Inc. Member: Union, SDC (Stage Directors & Choreographers Society), SAG - AFTRA, and NY Women in Film & Television.
CO-PRESIDENT
shellen lubin (lptw)
www.ShellenLubin.com Twitter LinkedIn facebook
Shellen Lubin has been onstage—as both a singer/songwriter and an actor—for years, both in and out of New York City. She and her songs have been featured in cabaret, on radio (Woody's Children on WQXR-FM, a one-hour special on WBAI-FM, and various shows on WABC, WOR, and WEVD-FM), cable television, and in Milos Forman's first American film, TAKING OFF. Shellen has directed numerous plays, musicals, and cabaret acts in productions, workshops, and readings, including DOOR OPENS WALK THROUGH by Susan Merson at 13th Street Rep; the 28th, 29th, and 30th Annual Bistro Awards for Sherry Eaker, Producer; BETWEEN PRETTY PLACES, a Musical Ghost Story (by Merson and Lubin) at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, CA, and at Here Arts Center in Soho; Lainie Kazan in a concert reading of BELLE BARTH: IF I EMBARRASS YOU, TELL YOUR FRIENDS by Koch, Levinson, and Kalt at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, CA; and Gretchen Cryer and James Wlcek in a staged reading of her play, IMPERFECT FLOWERS, at Manhattan Class Company. Her plays and musicals have been performed in productions and staged readings at the Public Theatre, Henry Street Settlement, American Jewish Theatre, and many other venues. As a vocal and acting coach, she teaches professionals for stage, screen, and recordings, and has taught and performed at a number of colleges and professional and private schools, most notably Bennington College, her alma mater. As a teaching artist, she has not only developed and taught programs for schools, but worked as a consultant and professional developer for a number of institutions, including Teachers College, Marymount College, Lincoln Center Institute, and Nashville Institute for the Arts.
Her philosophical musings on artistry as a means of understanding ourselves and living more deeply, truly, and meaningfully have been read by thousands in six cover pieces for Backstage, the Performing Arts Weekly. She also writes a weekly think piece called the Monday Morning Quote which goes out on the internet first thing each Monday to an ever-increasing list of subscribers and is read by many others on facebook. Shellen is a member of most writers', directors', and performers' unions. This is the second time she is serving as Co-President of the Coalition—the first time with Elsa Rael, her longtime collaborator and friend.
VP Communications
Isa Goldberg (Drama Desk)
While serving as President and board member of the Drama Desk, Isa has reviewed New York theater for publications such as The Financial Times, The Advocate and The Daily News, among many other newspapers and magazines. As a broadcast journalist, she has reported for Reuters Television, The Broadway Channel, and PBS (In The Life), as well as a multitude of radio stations in the New York market and on the Web.
Recently Isa ventured into the world of acting, and has appeared in independent films and various television episodes of A Crime to Remember and Monsters Inside Me.
Isa holds a BA cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA from Fordham University.
VP MEMBERSHIP
RIMA de bien (nywift)
Rima De Bien began her career on Sesame Street (PBS) and on the soap opera, Ryan's Hope. While attending Performing Arts High School she appeared in her first film, Bus and Truck, directed by Sir Alan Parker, under the acting direction of renowned acting coach, Anthony Abeson. Rima attended Carnegie Mellon University, and SUNY Empire State College. She holds a degree in Theater, with a concentration in Dance and Education.
Throughout the years Rima has appeared in a over a dozen feature films from Basquiat to the independent film Man in Red, and has done twenty-two commercials and infomercials. In theater she has done two Tours: West Side Story (Anita), and Hair (Tribe).
She produced Cut to the Chase, an evening of one acts, on Broadway--one of the chosen writers for this piece was Stephen Adly Guirgis, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. She also produced Thank You Mr. Douglas, which starred Douglas Santiago.
She wrote, directed, and produced the short film, HisPanic, which was part of the 72-Hour Film Shootout competition, and
premiered at the Village Cinema East and the Time Warner Theatre.
As an Adjunct Professor Rima teaches Theater at Boricua College in New York City.
She is a member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and a Board Member of New York Women in Film and Television.
VP Programming
Lauren Flick (EX OFFICIO)
Lauren Flick is a writer, producer and director who has worked for such notable networks as NBC, CBS, A&E and AMC. Her articles on feminism, environmental causes and social justice are frequently featured on CNBC’s digital platform. Driven by a passion for politics and human rights, she actively creates content for many political organizations and campaigns. She has served on the boards of Women in Media and The Creative Resistance. Currently, she is the Chief Content officer for Friends of the Metro Theater, a proud board member of Women in the Arts & Media Coalition and serves as a contributor to Art Not War. Lauren has shot several short films and her first feature film entitled, Play it By Ear, starred Academy Award Winner©, Rita Moreno. Lauren is now in development on a pilot for a TV series dealing with neurodiversity and autism and penning her next script entitled, Where the Truth Lies. Lauren loves telling a good story, thrives on social activism and can't resist playing with any dog she meets.
TREASURER
Liz Amadio (NLAPW)
With a rich history in the Theatre as dancer, poet, actor, playwright, director, and producer, Liz has produced/directed staged readings, workshops, and productions of 75+ works showcasing 300+ artists, and provides dramaturgical support to colleagues, in a directorial capacity, and as a script consultant.
As DAPLab Moderator (Actors Studio/New School MFA Alumni) Liz produced all reading seasons. (2008-2018). As Cosmic Orchid’s Artistic Director, Liz curates Integrative Theatre, a synergy of performing and visual arts in contemporary culture. Their signature production, The Voire Project, had plays twice chosen for inclusion in the season’s The Best American Short Plays. (The Hoodie Play, 2015-2016) (Guardian of the Field, 2018-2019), four university productions and a Thespian Festival performance. Cycles have integrated paintings, art glass and photography. #∞ (Hashtag Infinity) (2023), developed from interviews of personal stories reflecting women’s oppression, is now in further development.
Liz created iPower Theatre Collective, a student arts program integrating performing and visual art with social justice. The documentary iPower Pandemic Empowerment is currently in post-production.
With 35 years concurrent business experience as a Financial Advisor, Liz has served as Treasurer of the League of Professional Theatre Women, Finance Manager of the LPTW Lucille Lortel Award Endowment, and is now honored to serve as Treasurer of the Coalition. MFA, Actors Studio Drama School. Lincoln Center Education Leadership Lab, 2019. Member: LPTW, NYWIFT, Honor Roll!, Dramatists Guild. President, National League of American Pen Women, NYC Branch.
CORPORATE SECRETARY
TEDDY KERN (LPTW)
Ms. Teddy Kern has spent most of her youth and virtually all of her adult life in the theater, and the dance world. She was inducted into the National Living Legends of Dance in 2004, in recognition of her work as a choreographer, master teacher, stage director and dance history scholar. She has worked in every major and regional opera company (including Juilliard, Santa Fe, Chicago Lyric and Eastman) working with young artists, as an expression of her dedication to training singers to move confidently, gracefully and with authenticity. She has staged/ choreographed/ reconstructed several historical dance events at Lincoln Center’s Library for the Performing Arts, and in the Dance Division. She has been a part of the Chautauqua Opera company since 1996, working with the Young Artists’ program as director-choreographer/ stage movement teacher and Musical Revue Director. She has joyously choreographed several period/historical dances for Chautauqua main stage operas and a multitude of musicals. She is a published author, dance adjudicator, “teacher of teachers”, and serves on the Board of several dance organizations, as well as serving as Recording Secretary for the Women in the Arts and Media Coalition. She was the Artistic Director/co-owner of Dance Manhattan Ballroom dance studio for 24 years where she created several style-specific dance companies, choreographed and directed Revues and performances, and reconstructed social dance styles for a new generation of dancers. She lives and works in New York City.
Corresponding Secretary
Alexandra Nader (Lambs)
Alexandra Nader is a Librarian at the Bronx Library Center and is happy to represent The Lambs on the board of the Coalition.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Member-At-Large
TIA DE SHAZOR (BOLD)
Tia DeShazor is an actor, singer and lyricist. Onstage she has played barrier-breaking leading ladies and she is actively creating change by developing new musical theatre projects as a lyricist in the BMI- Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. She is moving the inclusion conversation forward as the co-Founder of BOLD.
BOLD is an organization for black women in the Performing Arts to cultivate community and contribute creative to the telling of our stories. Tia is also on the AEA committee for Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity.
She is currently producing an instagram series called #teawithtia. It’s a vibrant 60-second dose of Tia, in which she finds ways to laugh at and make sense of it all... @tiadeshazor #teawithtia tiadeshazor.com
BOARD MEMBER
FORTUNA CALVO-ROTH (WICI)
Fortuna Calvo-Roth is president of Coral Communications Group, LLC, producers of Nueva Onda Audiobooks, established in 1989 as the first U.S. company exclusively devoted to audiobooks in Spanish. A SAG-AFTRA member, she acts in commercials and the occasional film (Friends & Romans, Swimming with the Fishes) and TV series (The Blacklist.) After studying acting with Stella Adler and film, radio and TV at NYU, she acted in and produced a number of plays for The Stella Adler Repertory Theater and was Public Affairs Director at Radio WJIT, with her own program. Her first career was in journalism. She was editor-in-chief of Visión magazine and, as editorial director of Vision, Inc., jump-startedVision/Europe in partnership with Hachette. She was also a partner and board member of Canal 2/Latinoamericana de Radiodifusión in Lima, Perú, and ofVista, a Sunday newspaper magazine supplement for Hispanic Americans in the U.S. She has also taught Politics at Hofstra University and NYU. She won a Sigma Delta Chi/Society of Professional Journalists award in the Best Editorial Category and an Earphones award from AudioFile magazine for one of Nueva Onda’s audiobooks; and was named a Woman of Distinction by Senator Liz Krueger in 2014 as well as one of 50 outstanding Hispanic women in the U.S. by El Diario de Nueva York in 2002. She also received a Humanitarian and Arts Award from the Simon Daro Foundation at the University of Miami.
BOARD MEMBER
JOANNE DORIAN (SAG-AFTRA)
Born in St. Paul, MN, and raised in Los Angeles, Joanne holds a degree in Theatre Arts from UCLA. A member of the actor’s unions SAG-AFTRA, and AEA, for fifty years, her career has included film, television, commercials, voiceovers, and stage, from Broadway to theaters across the United States. A few highlights are: Standby for Glenda Jackson on Broadway in Eugene O’Neill’s Tony-nominated STRANGE INTERLUDE; performing for the USO in CAROUSEL throughout Japan, Korea, Okinawa, and Guam, during the Vietnam War; starring on OLTL as Viki Lord Riley in the early ‘70’s; the making of The Amazing Panda Adventure, starring her godson, Ryan Slater, shot on location in the remote highlands of China; and the distinction of being the first national spokeswoman in commercials for Weight Watchers Frozen Foods and Johnson's Baby Shampoo.
Joanne’s passion for children’s literacy has led to a twenty-four year ongoing involvement as a volunteer with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation outreach program, Book PALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools); a six year stint in the NYC elementary schools as a substitute teacher and teaching artist through the United Federation of Teachers; and almost six years as Executive Assistant at Harcourt Trade Publishers New York Children's Books Division.
Joanne is currently serving as a New York representative on the SAG-AFTRA National Women’s Committee and SAG-AFTRA local women's committee and is a former VP of Membership on our Executive Board. Ms. Dorian is a proud founding member of the award-winning Articulate Theatre Company in New York City.
BOARD MEMBER
HOLLI HARMS (DG)
Holli is a Dramatists Guild Fellow recipient 2009-2010. Her play Naples, FL was a finalist with the Great Plains Theatre Festival as well as New York’s Summer Play Festival. Palmetto was a finalist with Ojai Playwrights Conference. Holli was co-founder of The Lexington Group – a group of writers/performers who co-wrote Step in and Stand Clear (winner Backstage Critics Award). The group’s ensemble show The Ballad of Larry the Flyer was invited to both the New York Fringe Festival and Piccolo Spoleto festival in Charleston, SC. Her play The Lying Game was part of the summer conference in Steamboat Springs, CO, and her one woman show, It’s All Dash-A-Wu was part of New York Theatre Space solo series. She was co-writer for the short film, Connections now on DVD. Holli is a writer and performer with Monologues and Madness series at NYC’s Cornelia Street Café.
BOARD MEMBER
NEETA RAGOOWANSI (WIM)
Neeta has been an entertainment attorney and music business professional for over twenty years, and is President of the national non-profit organization, Women in Music. She was formerly SoundExchange’s Director of Artist-Label Relations, TuneSat’s VP of Business Development and Legal Affairs, and Assistant General Counsel for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra. She currently is in private practice representing the interests of technology start-ups, entertainment content creators, rights owners, and business owners – including television and theatrical production companies, music publishers and composers, digital marketing professionals, non-profit organizations, record labels, recording artists, filmmakers, festival organizers, producers, venues, app and game developers, streaming services, and talent managers. She also provides consulting services to investment firms in the digital streaming space. In addition, Neeta serves on the Legal Steering Committee of the Music Biz Association as well as the boards of the Recording Academy's (Grammy), NY Chapter, and the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Industries. Neeta is a frequent speaker at industry conferences including South by Southwest, (SXSW), MIDEM, Digital Music Forum East, SF Music Tech, American Bar Association's Forum on Entertainment and Sports Law Annual Meetings, Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), Latin Alternative Music Conference, CMJ, Folk Alliance, Austin Film Festival, Future of Music Policy Summit, Billboard R&B Hip Hop Awards and Conference, and ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo.
BOARD MEMBER
HESTER SCHELL (Ex Officio)
MFA author, award-winning artist and academic. Favorite directing gigs include: Bernard Slade’s Same Time, Next Year, the award-winning world premier of Patrick Brennan’s farce Singulariteen at the San Francisco Fringe; and a multi-media co-creation Earth in Crisis, or Good Planets are Hard to Find for De Anza College where she was tenured faculty. Her documentary short Blankets for Afghanistan was broadcast by Free Speech TV and Positive Spin. Hester created the Hysterical Housewives, a stand up comedy training ground for middle-aged women, selling out from 2004-2015. She co-created Adventures in Staying Young, a web series for seniors on the health benefits of laughter. Hester published Bay Area Casting News from 1995-2015 and authored Casting Revealed: A Guide for Film Directors, 2nd edition, Routledge Press 2016 (1st edition, Michael Weise, 2011). She writes screenplays with roles for women in social good stories. “The Arts are the eggs in the batter, not the icing on the cake.” SAG-AFTRA, Harvard Square Script Writers.
BOARD MEMBER
DANA WEISSMAN (WGAE)
Dana Weissman is the Director of Programs at the Writers Guild of America, East. She has worked in the nonprofit/arts world—specializing in cultural communications, audience development, and business development—for 10 years. Dana directs all member events and programs for WGAE including elections, seminars, workshops, panel discussions, social events, screenings, film festival outreach, and the annual WGA Awards competition and celebration. Previously, she held positions at the 92nd Street Y, The Educational Alliance, and Care2.com. A graduate of the Arts & Business Council of New York City’s Arts Leadership Institute, she is a founding member of Emerging Leaders in New York Arts and the co-founder of the Tufts Alumni Nonprofit Roundtable.
special advisors
