Literary Resume

LITERARY RESUME

Proficient in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres including articles, press releases, play writing, blogs and greeting cards. My work has also appeared in The Buffalo News, Oatmeal Studios, Buffalo Rising, ehow.com, trails.com.

Writing

Employed full time as a copywriter for an marketing firm since 2013.

More than 20 years freelance writing experience. Publications include:

Is Productivity Culture Making Your Staffing Firm…Unproductive?

Return Anxiety: Allaying fears and getting your people back to work

Auditing Your Recruitment Website: Overdue for an Update or Still Making a Great Impression?

Social Media Marketing for Staffing Companies Top Trends for 2021

Too Late to Save the Statler?

Green Builders Come Together at Buffalo Forum

NYSCAR Unveils New Software Program

Jamestown Gals Delights Full House at MusicalFare

Love Triangles Span a Century at RLTP

Eclectic Improv Electrifies Opening Night Crowd

MusicalFare Sondheim Production a Success

Buffalo Quickies Titillates Alleyway Audience

Hell Hole Honeys Bawdy Fun at Alleyway

Bedouin Soundclash Headlines Reggae Lineup at Town

Old School Punkers Rock The Town Ballroom

Demand Studios/eHow Archive

 

Books & Writing Blog

Check out my personal blog on books and writing here: https://pensivepelican.com/

 

Produced Plays

One Act Play – Love and Landmines – Performed by Williamsville South High School 2009

One Act Play – Mixed Signals – Performed by Amherst Players 2007.

 

Other Plays

Full Length Play – Unwelcome Guests – currently under development as part of Road Less Traveled Production’s New Play Workshop.

Ten Minute Play – Tastefully Stuffed – appearing January 2016 as part of WNY Playwrights Celebrate the Work of Charles Burchfield at the Burchfield Penney Art Center

Education

Graduated Cum Laude University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Bachelor of Arts in Communication with High Distinction

Honors and Awards:

TANYS Awards – Mixed Signals received the 2007 Meritorious Award for Ensemble work and director.

 

Is Productivity Culture Making Your Staffing Firm…Unproductive?

Is Productivity Culture Making Your Staffing Firm…Unproductive?

Have you ever gotten your car stuck in the snow or a ditch? You have two choices: continue to spin your wheels, digging deeper, and getting further entrenched in the muck, or find smarter alternatives like rocking or finding a way to add traction. The latter strategic approach will get you out of the ditch faster and with less frustration than continuing to dig yourself deeper.

Mindless productivity is much like this. When we get behind or are overwhelmed by our to-do lists, it’s tempting to double down and put our shoulders to the wheel to work even harder…

Return Anxiety: Allaying fears and getting your people back to work

As employers attempt to get back to business, many struggle to find people willing to return to work. It’s tempting to blame work ethic or the extra $600 per week unemployment booster provided by the CARES Act. Realistically workers who are reluctant to go back to work may have well-founded fears. Here are some of the worries that may be keeping them up at night…

Return Anxiety: Allaying fears and getting your people back to work

Auditing Your Recruitment Website: Overdue for an Update or Still Making a Great Impression?

Auditing Your Recruitment Website: Overdue for an Update or Still Making a Great Impression?

Does your recruitment website look as good as it did when it went live?

Just as meaningful, does it function as well as it could?

Trends in website design change frequently, making today’s recruitment websites more aesthetically pleasing, easier to navigate, and mobile-friendly. Sites are expected to be ADA compliant now as well.

Take a walk through your website. It should:

  • Load in three seconds or less
  • Be easy to get to any content you want with just a click or two
  • Include clear and bold calls to action 
  • Use forms that go to appropriate recipients
  • Feature quick and easy job search and application…

Social Media Marketing for Staffing Companies Top Trends for 2021

Social Media Marketing for Staffing Companies Top Trends for 2021

By now, most staffing companies have embraced social media, but many are not using it wisely. If events of 2020 revealed anything, it was the need to reach people where they are. In-person networking events became nearly impossible last year, and they are often expensive and always geographically limiting.

Social media has become more valuable to your agency than ever – and that’s not likely to change any time soon. So, here are some of the best ways to use social media to market your staffing firm in 2021….

Social Media Marketing for Staffing Companies Top Trends for 2021

Jamestown Gals Delights Full House at MusicalFare

Jamestown Gals, a playful revue of the careers of Lucille Ball and Peggy Lee is the latest creative effort from veteran choreographer Michael Walline. The show is now playing at MusicalFare at Daemen College in Amherst.

Kathy Weese and Kelly Jakiel played Lucille Ball in her various incarnations while Terrie George and Arin Lee Dandes appeared as Peggy Lee. John Fredo and Marc Sacco played Desi Arnaz and most any other male roles called for.

Walline cast the actors as the “essence” of Ball and Lee, his goal being to capture the spirit of the performers without impersonating them exactly.

“By the Waters of the Minnetonka” will delight fans of “I Love Lucy”. It’s the familiar shtick of Lucy trying to weasel her way into Ricky’s act at the club. Fredo, as Ricky, manages to capture Ricky Ricardo’s accent and attitude without being campy.

Those only familiar with Lucille Ball’s comedy may be surprised by her musical background. Jamestown Gals features songs from her starring role in the movie version of Mame and her Broadway performance in Wildcat.

Peggy Lee received an Oscar nomination for “Bye Bye Blackbird” from Pete Kelly’s Blues and won a Grammy for “Is That All There Is?”

Walline’s father, who served as the catalyst for this musical once mused to Michael that these two talents were both from Jamestown- Lee was from Jamestown, ND and Ball from Jamestown, NY.

With his father’s inspiration, Walline studied the musical histories of the two legends and put together this revue.

Walline said that he “tried to be true to the original choreography” which runs the gamut from samba to cha-cha to waltz.

The performers were accompanied by a five-piece band led by saxophonist Jim Runfola under the musical direction of Allan Paglia.

The costuming was a collaborative effort, according to Walline, with Loraine O’Donnell and Olivia Ebsary. “I tried to give them a silhouette and a color (red for Ball, yellow for Lee) and trust Loraine creatively”. Each female character had five dresses; each male had two tuxes and six vests, Walline said.

“It was really hard to let go after living with it for a year,” Walline said. His biggest challenge was “staying true to my dad’s vision while still making original entertainment.”

The closing of act one is priceless. It seems that it can’t get any funnier that the duets “Friendship,” “Sisters,” and “Bosom Buddies,” but “I’m a Woman” is worth the price of admission on its own.

The show continues through December 7. Performances are staged Wednesday through Sunday with “meet the cast” talkbacks after Wednesday performances. Tickets are available at www.musicalfare.com or a by calling the box office at 716-839-8540

Originally appeared in buffalo.com

Love Triangles Span a Century at RLTP

Jon Elston’s Elliptical, the highlight of Scott Behrend’s concept production, Triangles, is now playing at the Road Less Traveled Theater in Buffalo’s theatre district.

Elliptical is a fast-paced journey thorough the lives of three twenty-something friends who began their relationship in high school.

The dynamic, ever-reconfiguring friendship between Ches (Todd Benzin), Michelle (Bonnie Jean Taylor) and Camille (Kelly Meg Brennan) begins during high school drama club. Here the awkward Ches has finally found his home away from the jocks and popular kids. Lifelong friends Michelle and Camille compete for roles and boys, with Camille the usual victor.

The relationship takes unexpected twists and turns over the years that are alternatively intriguing, funny and cringe-worthy.

Triangle opens with the haunting guitar chords of Buffalo’s local musician, Alan Kryszak from behind the dark scrim. The actors enter through three triangular openings recite a series of monologues that tie the trilogy together. This triangle theme is repeated throughout the show.

The first one act play is The Stronger by August Strindberg set in the late nineteenth century. Lisa Virtanen plays Madame X, who alternately harangues and cajoles Madame Y (Kristen Tripp-Kelley) who remains stubbornly silent. Madame Y boasts about winning her husband away from X, but who has struck a better bargain?

Emanuel Fried’s Triangle follows, a fifties era piece with Tripp-Kelley as Mary Ann, the other woman, and Vitrano as Jackie, the long-suffering wife. Mary Ann tries to convince the wife she should give over her husband and return to New York. Like Tripp-Kelley in the previous sketch, Vitrano frequently says more with stony glares and rolling eyes than her pacing co-star does with rambling monologues.

In both plays the third character is the conspicuously absent husband.

Jon Elston’s contemporary Elliptical closes the trilogy.

The grouping of the three plays was the brainchild of Director, Scott Behrend. According to Elston, “Scott gets the credit for conceiving of the trilogy. Manny wrote Triangle as a response to The Stronger, and Scott suggested a third, modern piece to give the evening its third angle.”

The show continues through December 7th. See www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org or call (716) 683-1260 for more information.

Originally appeared in buffalo.com

Old School Punkers Rock The Town Ballroom

NOFX fans packed The Town Ballroom in Buffalo Thursday night, many of them younger than the twenty-five year old band.

Fans sported facial piercings and black clothing and hairstyles ranging from mohawks or spikes to the classic emo bowl-cut.

Ontario punkers Ceremonial Snips opened the sold-out show followed by The Toronto-based Flatliners. The Flatliners signed last year with Fat Wreck Chords, the independent punk label founded by Mike Burkett of NOFX in 1991.

Chris Cresswell, The Flatliner’s lead man on guitar, performed as the crowd erupted into an awkward mix of skanking and slam dancing, some skank dancers shuffling off after a few slams too many.

Cresswell, backed by Scott Brigham on guitar, John Darbey on bass and Paul Ramirez on drums, spoke about a recent trip home to Toronto. After a brief stop at a local Tim Horton’s, the band headed to the border where they were pulled over by customs for inspection, “They didn’t find any drugs,” said Cresswell, “but their dog ate Jon’s bagel.”

Minnesota-based Dillinger Four appeared next. Vocalist Patrick Costello did everything he could to keep the audience’s attention, from fellating the microphone to invoking the name of Joe the Plumber, but the crowd began chanting “NOFX” only fifteen minutes into the Dillinger Four performance.

Band mates Erik Funk and Bill Morrisette on guitar and vocals, and drummer Lane Pederson also shared the stage.

Much of the audience remained in Town’s bar during the set, watching the Buffalo Sabres defeat the band’s home team Minnesota Wild on the big screen.

Security was beefed up considerably before NOFX took the stage. A total of seven bouncers lined the barrier, prepared for the enthusiastic crowd surfers who lunged for the stage.

NOFX Front man and Fat Mike (Mike Burkett) joked that guitarist “El Hefe likes playing here even better than selling oranges” but he was “lonely because there are no Mexicans” in Buffalo.

The band, including founding member Eric Melvin on guitar and drummer Erik Sandin, played a mix from their considerable play list featuring both older music and songs from their latest CD, released in November 2007, “They’ve Actually Gotten Worse Live”.

NOFX next heads to Baltimore and Richmond before beginning their European tour.

Originally appeared in buffalo.com