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Who We Are
| "My students are especially excited to
be working on this adventure. It is not often that our small rural
school has the opportunity to participate in a quality, exciting program
like this one." |
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-Denise Terry, 5th Grade, Hickman County Elementary, Clinton, KY |
The Accompany family of professional artists and educators is dedicated
to your students learning in and through integrated arts programs of the
highest quality.
 Meet
the Playwrights
Broadway playwrights and Hollywood screenplay veterans are creating the great
plots and lines that become your class play. They're going through rewrite
after rewrite until your final script is minted in perfection.
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Vincent Delaney
Vincent Delaney has been flip-flopping between acting, teaching,
and playwriting for the last twenty years. Sometimes it's fun
to be in a play, and sometimes it's more fun to write one; sometimes
it's way more cool to teach kids to do both. He earned his MFA
in Playwriting at UC Davis and earned a teaching certificate
from the University of Washington. His plays have been seen around
the country, in New York, Seattle, Minneapolis, Alabama, and
California. He currently lives in Seattle, where he works for
the Seattle Rep Company, and continues to flip-flop on a regular
basis.
vincentdelaney@accompanypublishing.com |
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C. Denby Swanson
C. Denby Swanson is a fine arts graduate, which means that she can ask, "Would
you like fries with that?" in seven languages. She has very expensive
degrees from Smith College and the University of Texas at Austin, where
she was a Michener Fellow in Playwriting and Screenwriting, where she
learned that playwrights are ranked just above poets in terms of general
usefulness (YES!). She is also an experienced writing teacher, as well
as the recipient of a Jerome Fellowship and a McKnight Advancement Grant.
cdenbyswanson@accompanypublishing.com |
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Alison Moore
Allison Moore is a displaced Texan who has been the recipient of both
the Jerome Fellowship and the McKnight Advancement Grant at the Playwrights'
Center. Her plays include Eighteen, Urgent Fury and The
Sad Misadventures of Patty, Patty's Dad, Patty's Friend Jen and a Bunch
of Other People. Her work has been developed or produced at the
O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Kitchen Dog Theatre, InterAct Theatre,
Madison Rep and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Her latest work, Hazard
County, was mainstaged at the prestigious 2005 Humana Festival.
Allison received her MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.
allisonmoore@accompanypublishing.com |
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John Schaidler
A big-shot filmmaker and screenwriter, John spends most of his time hopping
from island to island in the Caribbean. In John's words,
"you never know when the next great genius idea will strike in 83
degrees and sunny skies and island breeze and bathing suit." His
commercial work includes producing major TV ads for such companies as
Target and Best Buy. When not working for the screen, John has written
several plays, including a stage adaptation of the popular book The
Very Persistent Gappers of Frip.
johnschaidler@accompanypublishing.com |
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Aldo Velasco
Aldo Velasco is a writer and director living in Los Angeles. His short
film, Crabgrass Manifesto, was an official selection at the
Sundance Film Festival in 2000. Born in Mexico and raised in Oregon,
Aldo is the co-author with Patrick Scott of The True History of
Coca-Cola in Mexico, and The Good News About Sweatshop Shoes,
both of which were produced at numerous theaters around the country.
Currently, he can be found writing and producing feature films around
the glamorous Hollywood scene.
aldovelasco@accompanypublishing.com |
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Joey Madia
Joey Madia has been called many things—Renaissance Man, jack-of-all-trades,
a guy who just can’t say no…He works in several areas
of the Arts as an actor, director, playwright, creative writer, and
teaching-artist with students of all ages, and his teen theatre company
travels to schools doing interactive workshops and plays on a variety
of social issues. Joey has a B.A. in Theater and English (he never
could choose) from Arcadia University. His plays have been produced
around the country. He has written a series of books on using theatre
in the classroom for Accompany.
joeymadia@accompanypublishing.com |
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Meet the Band
They're hip...super funky...and almost in tune! Each soundtrack features
a true Broadway pit power band with some of the top musicians around. No
show is complete without a tune and we're giving you all the hits!
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Sam Graber | vocals, piano,
bass
Sam has been writing, recording and performing music ever since grabbing
hold of that first shiny red bass guitar. Sam has toured with national
acts, played concert halls across the country and has written over
150 songs for commercial release. He even done and gone himself a
lil' stint in Nashville, TN. After realizing that musicians would
never earn enough to own the little things in life (like health insurance),
Sam got an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He currently serves on
the Executive Board for the American Alliance for Theatre in Education.
He can still be seen playing the occasional late-night jazz club.
sam@accompanypublishing.com |
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Steve Price | studio engineer
Steve has been in the music business for the better part of 20 years
as a musician, songwriter, promoter and producer. Currently, Steve
is the owner of Infinite Justice Studios and an instructor at the Institute
of Production and Recording. Having spent a good part of his career
on the road with his band, Rex Daisy, Steve also recorded with a variety
of labels including Geffen Records and was privileged to have performed
in the prestigious Austin City Limits.
drsteve@accompanypublishing.com |
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Eric Wangensteen | trumpet, horns
A first call trumpet for many national acts, Eric is currently Bette
Midler's lead trumpet on her Kiss My Brass tour. Through that
tour and other gigs, Eric has possibly played live this year in front
of more people than any other trumpet player in the world! He has recently
appeared on The Tonight Show, Ellen Degeneres Show, Rolling
Stone and Entertainment Weekly. Eric has perfect pitch,
except for the insidious D#, which still eludes him to this day.
ericw@accompanypublishing.com |
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Andra Suchy | vocals
Andra Suchy was raised on a farm in North Dakota. Her parents are farmers
and professional musicians, which resulted in Andra singing professionally
at the early age of 6, but not while operating heavy farm machinery.
A Female Vocalist of the Year nominee, Andra now works at milking cows
by morning and as a voice-over actress and singer by night. She sings
with several bands including Lola and the Red Hots, Tina Schlieske
and the Salvation Band, Billy Johnson's Roadshow, The Honeydogs, Club
Lucky, as well as singing jingles and freelance recordings.
andrasuchy@accompanypublishing.com |
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Brad Draper | drums, percussion
Brad is a native of Denver, Colorado. He earned his undergraduate degree
in Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado in 1996.
Brad taught K-5 music and performed professionally in Denver before
moving to the Twin Cities in 2000 for the warm and balmy winters (not!).
Since then, he has earned his masters degree in Percussion Performance
at the University of Minnesota. Currently, Brad performs in a number
of different bands and ensembles throughout the Twin Cities.
braddraper@accompanypublishing.com |
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Meet
the Teachers
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Rita Wigfield | teacher dynamo
After 35 years of service, Rita finally decided that it was time to retire
from classroom teaching and move on to something more challenging...but
what could be more challenging? A Minnesota Teacher Of The Year, Who's
Who in American Education and Presidential Award for Mathematics Finalist,
Rita has spent her life dedicated to improving the elementary learning
environment. She has been seen across the country speaking at over 400
workshops on thematic teaching and arts integration. A writer and director
of many class plays, Rita is proud to be working with Accompany and making
sure the materials use proper English.
ritawigfield@accompanypublishing.com |
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Barb Stoflet | teacher dynamess
Also a Teacher Of The Year recipient for a certain cold and windy Midwest
state, Barb is widely recognized as an expert in learning development.
Barb has served on committees with the state Secretary of Education,
two state commissioners, as well as many standards and testing committees.
She is currently a district math and science Curriculum Coordinator,
where she helps teachers improve student learning through various methods...such
as arts integration! Barb produced a musical play during each of her
20+ years as a classroom teacher. Barb is proud to be working with Accompany
and piloting scripts before they are released to the general market.
barbstoflet@accompanypublishing.com |
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Meet
the Designers
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Karen Kopacz | graphic & web
designer
Karen is an art director and designer living in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
She was co-curator of Re:Connect, a multi-media event featuring work by
visual artists, filmmakers, writers, and musicians, and a panel member
for Fostering New Culture on the Internet in SXSW's 2005 Interactive
Festival. She has been featured on KFAI's radio program Art Matters,
also heard as a podcast on mnartists.org. A member of AIGA and MIMA, her
Web design has been featured in the design anthology Portfolios Online.
karenkopacz@accompanypublishing.com |
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Faith Ferrel | backdrop designer
Faith Ferrel is the renowned hand that draws all the wonderful set
backdrops for each Accompany show. Having worked as a set designer
and production specialist for many productions at the Children's
Theatre Company, Faith has since opened her own art gallery and
musically toured as part the twisted-twin duo sensation Double
Ding Dongery (in full lederhosen). Also, and we are being totally
truthful here, Faith was recently crowned the national 2006 Spam Recipe
Champion. On a sunny afternoon, Faith can usually be found painting
at a nearby urban lake.
faithferrel@accompanypublishing.com |
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 CLASS
PLAY KITS
INSIDE
THE KIT
SALES
PACKAGES
STAGE-LEARNING
SERIES
HOW
TO ORDER
WHO
WE ARE
CONTACT
US
Learn More About Us
Official Order Form | PDF
Contact Accompany!
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Call us toll-free at 866-543-1367 |
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Email us for
ordering or product support |
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