Founding Board of Directors

Joe d’Angerio is an actor and producer with over 50 credits. Some of his acting credits include Clint Eastwood’s MILLION DOLLAR BABY, Tony Scott’s TRUE ROMANCE, OF MICE AND MEN, and the T.V. series 24. His producing credits include ABOUT CHERRY, LIFE OF CRIME, and MIDNIGHT SEX RUN. In April 2015, MERRY XMAS, produced by Mr. d’Angerio and Matthew Modine and starring Dick Van Dyke, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Mr. d’Angerio has served on the Board of Directors for the past 15 years of the Screen Actors Guild and presently on the Board of SAG-AFTRA. He resides in Los Angeles.

Richard Harrell has served in the performing arts for more than 30 years as a teacher, stage director, and performer. His experience includes artistic direction, production, and the training of young artists, culminating in employment as senior staff by various internationally renowned organizations.

As the Founding Director of Heroes’ Voices, a non-profit service organization for veterans, Richard currently produces therapeutic music and poetry workshops for veterans with PTSD and other challenges. He is the Associate Director of the Orfeo Foundation, an international organization based in Amsterdam which supports the careers of young opera singers.

Richard Harrell has served as the Director of the Juilliard Opera Center, the Director of the San Francisco Opera Center, Artistic Advisor and Head of Faculty for the Opera Training Program of the New National Theatre in Tokyo, Director of the Opera Program for the San Francisco Conservatory, Artistic Consultant and Principal Stage Director for the Bangkok Opera, and senior faculty for the Opera Studio of the Netherlands. He was a professor of music at the University of Richmond, City College of San Francisco, and a teacher at San Francisco State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

As a stage director, Richard has produced more than 60 operas for companies in Europe, Asia, and North America, and has been a stage director, voice teacher,
and guest master class instructor at universities and training programs including Yale, Indiana University, Polish National Opera Studio, Chautauqua Institution, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Festival di Roma, Loyola University, and the University of Florida.

Mr. Harrell performed as a baritone soloist with such companies as La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Washington National Opera, Baltimore Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Skylight Opera Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre Company, New Jersey Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and National Symphony. He performed the role of Bernardo on the Deutsche Grammophon recording of WEST SIDE STORY and is featured on the recording of Leonard Bernstein’s last opera, A QUIET PLACE.

A frequent judge for vocal competitions, he annually adjudicates for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was a founding member of the Singer’s Services Committee for Opera America and his essays on artist training and the business of opera have been published in Opera America publications.

A daughter of the theater, Glenn grew up in the back of the house at the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey watching every show from a folding chair next to her dad’s sound booth. The hours spent in the theater from a very young age instilled a deep love of live performance.

She is a fiction writer, an artist, a gardener, a customer service director, and a solo mom of two magical girls with their mom’s gift of drama.

Named one of “The Five Who Make Runways Run” NY Times Sunday Cover Story ”Fashion of The Times” 1994.

Labeled as an eccentric by the “Times,” Yvonne is an interdisciplinary artist, trained in theater. She landed in New York on the Upper West Side in 1977, immersing in quirky, sometimes prescient projects, and painted in her downtime.

In 1991 Yvonne integrated art into action, climbing, blindfolding, and wrapping black armbands around various statues in NYC, as an anti-war statement during The Gulf War. ”We are blind to peace and should all mourn.” Her efforts resulted in photographs entitled, “Peace in Mourning.”

She owned a high-profile business in fashion for twenty years with a cortège of dressers, supervisors. tailors, and pressers. Known to see trouble before it happened, Yvonne managed backstage for major fashion shows. A sampling of clients included – Versace, Armani, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, she traveled internationally on photoshoots as a tailor and stylist for star studded magazine cover stories, video, and film. A sampling of talent includes Woody Allen, Al Pacino, Madonna, Tom Hanks, Sylvester Stallone, Jim Carrey. Photographers included, Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Bruce Weber.

In 2001, Yvonne sold her business, became certified as a Creative Arts Therapist, and was subsequently hired by Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City, as an arts facilitator. She spearheaded workshops for adult patients, repurposing donated materials, taught fine art and crafts, and led relaxation-based music circles.

Presently, Yvonne is volunteering her time to Dorot NYC, a unique community service organization. She is assisting the writing and editing of memoirs by seniors who want to leave a legacy for their loved ones.

Denise Simone is a founding member of Company of Fools in Hailey, ID, and from 1996-2016 she served as its Co-Producing Artistic Director helping to guide the company in becoming one of the leading arts organizations in the state. She was awarded the Idaho Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2014 and an ICA Performing Arts Fellowship in 2018. Simone served as a commissioner for the Idaho Commission on the Arts (2003–2010), as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and served on the boards of the Migration Theory, Wood River Arts Alliance, and the Hailey Chamber of Commerce. In addition to her work as an arts leader, Denise also works as an actor, voice actor, teacher, and arts consultant.

Christopher Stowell, the son of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, was born in New York City, and received his training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. In 1985, he joined San Francisco Ballet where he danced for 16 years, appearing in theatres throughout the world including the Paris Opéra Ballet, New York’s Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. As a Principal Dancer, Christopher performed leading roles in the full-length classics ROMEO AND JULIET, THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, LA FILLE MAL GARDEE, and OTHELLO, and had roles created for him by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, as well as contemporary choreographers including Mark Morris, William Forsythe, and James Kudelka. An established interpreter of the George Balanchine repertoire, Christopher appeared in almost every Balanchine ballet performed by San Francisco Ballet.

In 2003, Christopher was named the Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT), a position he held until 2012. During his tenure, Christopher made significant additions to OBT’s repertoire, bringing to Portland works from some of the world’s most celebrated choreographers, including Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor, Helgi Tomasson, James Kudelka, Christopher Wheeldon, and Lar Lubovitch.

Christopher has taught and coached in San Francisco, New York, Japan, China, and across Europe. He has created works for San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Diablo Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, as well as the New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute. He has also staged the works of George Balanchine, Mark Morris, and Christopher Wheeldon. In addition to serving as Ballet Master and Assistant to the Artistic Director at San Francisco Ballet for the 2014/15 season, he recently worked in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Beijing, and Copenhagen, and created his first work for Los Angeles Ballet, and his first film for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. In 2017, Christopher joined The National Ballet of Canada as Associate Artistic Director. In this role, he oversees the artistic staff, teaches, coaches, and stages works for the company, and works closely with Karen Kain in realizing her vision for the National Ballet. Christopher is a member of the creative team for Karen Kain’s new production of SWAN LAKE which will premiere in June 2022.