Workshop Instructors
Since joining the Theatre Within Workshop in the late 1970s, Joe Raiola has had a flourishing career as a comedian, comedy writer, producer, speaker on first amendment issues, and workshop leader.
For 33 years, through the end of 2017, Joe was an Editor at MAD Magazine, churning out a steady stream of pointed political satire and pure silliness.
As a performer, he continues to appear around the country in The Joy of Censorship, his long-running first amendment program, which he has performed at professional conferences, public libraries, colleges, and regional theaters in 44 states.
In addition, Joe has appeared in benefits for many non-profits and charitable causes, including the Henry Miller Memorial Library, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, and Stand-up for Charlie Hebdo, a benefit for families of the victims of the attack on the French humor magazine.
As a producer, Joe co-created the Annual John Lennon Tribute with Theatre Within Workshop Founder, Alec Rubin, in 1981.
Throughout his success, Joe has remained true to his Theatre Within roots. In 2006, shortly after Alec’s death, he established Theatre Within as a non-profit dedicated to having a positive social impact through its workshops and productions.
Under Joe’s visionary leadership, the Annual John Lennon Tribute soon evolved from a small neighborhood gathering to an important New York City charity concert, attracting top artists, fans from around the world, and raising funds for local and international charities.
In 2008, Joe brought Yoko Ono and WhyHunger together, resulting in the launch of the “Imagine There’s No Hunger” global campaign. In 2014, in recognition of his achievements, he was a recipient of TimeWarner’s prestigious Richard D. Parsons Community Impact Award.
In 2015, Joe set Theatre Within on a new course, focusing on providing ongoing, free workshops for those whose lives have been impacted by cancer at Gilda’s Club, NYC. Theatre Within now offers workshops in meditation, songwriting, art and more to children who have lost a parent to cancer and adult cancer survivors. For his overwhelmingly positive community impact, Joe was chosen as one of NY1’s “New Yorker of the Week” in 2017.
After 40+ years, Joe remains committed to furthering Theatre Within creative and life-affirming mission.
JoeRaiola.com
Konrad Ryushin Marchaj
WORKSHOP:
Meditation aS the Sill Point
Rev. Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, Sensei is a Zen priest in the tradition of Zen Buddhism, and a Dharma heir of the late John Daido Loori, Roshi. Ryushin Sensei was the Abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, he immigrated to the United States in 1967. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from Yale University in 1976. He received his medical degree from Albany Medical College in 1980, working first as a pediatrician in Portland, Maine, and then serving in the US Navy as a physician for three years. He then returned to Albany for postgraduate training in psychiatry. After completing his residency, he served as medical director for a community psychiatric outreach program, the Mobile Crisis Team, which served Albany County’s disenfranchised and homeless population.
He entered full-time residential training at the Monastery in 1992. In addition to his roles as the Monastery’s Abbot and Director of Operations, he explored contemplative practices in higher education, collaborating with several liberal arts educators and administrators in the Northeast to look at ways for college students to engage religious practice as part of their education. He has been practicing Buddhism since 1983. Drawing on his background as a physician and psychiatrist, Ryushin’s infectious interest and thorough training in the workings of the mind, combined with his skill at translating complex concepts into the accessible, everyday language, characterize his unique teaching style.
Stephanie Carlin has been the catalyst for countless children being able to express themselves through song and music. As a singer/songwriter, teacher, and producer Stephanie joined the Annual John Lennon production team in 2010 and has been a core member ever since.
Stephanie is the Founder and Director of Free Spirits Music, a mobile songwriting program for children designed to build confidence, develop self-esteem, and empower creative expression. With over 35 students working closely with Stephanie each semester, Free Spirits Music is one of the most flourishing songwriting programs in New York City.
Soon after founding Free Spirits Music in 2012, Stephanie joined the Theatre Within Workshop. “The Workshop surprised me,” she says. “It activated my most intimate callings and revealed layers of my own desires – desires to enrich my own life and desires to assist in the transformation of other people. Without The Workshop, I don’t think I would have been able to tap into my own voice so quickly.”
Stephanie is the bandleader of the unruly folk-jazz quintet, AVIDYA. Buddhist texts describe “Avidya” as “the fog in our consciousness, the mental states that cloud the mind.” Translated from Sanskrit, this incapacity to see reality for what it is defines “Avidya,” creating a mental barrier between humanity and enlightenment.
In 2014, Stephanie created the curriculum for The John Lennon® Real Love Project, which launched that September at the Children’s Hospital in Montefiore in the Bronx. This visionary Theatre Within Workshop, led by Stephanie, uses John Lennon songs as the inspiration to teach children to compose songs of their own.
The workshop is provided at no cost to children undergoing long-term medical treatment and in communities in-need.
Pete and Maura Kennedy met in Austin, Texas, joined forces with Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra for a couple of years, and then set out on a road that has led them all over the US and UK many times. They recently celebrated their 20th anniversary as a married couple and performing duo by writing and recording 40 new songs and releasing three albums: Pete’s Heart of Gotham, Maura’s Villanelle: Songs of Maura Kennedy and B.D. Love, and West, their 14th album together. Currently residing in New York City, the Kennedys have carved out a unique niche for themselves as touring and recording artists.
Sam Viviano
Workshop:
Mad Art
Born in Detroit, Sam Viviano moved to New York in 1975 to pursue a career in the arts. For over 20 years, he was a successful illustrator specializing in caricature and cartooning, his work appearing in magazines, books and advertising. Most notably, he was a regular contributor to MAD. In 1999, Viviano joined the MAD staff as Art Director — a position he held for the next 19 years.
Viviano won the prestigious National Cartoonists Society award for Best Magazine Illustration in 2009. In 2014 he was inducted into the Media Industry News Design Hall of Fame.
Viviano has lectured extensively throughout the world on his career and the history of MAD. He is proud to have been a member of six USO tours to draw caricatures for U.S. troops stationed in Europe and the Middle East.
He lives in New York City with his wife Diane, their daughter Alicia and an exuberant cairn terrier named Jason.
Scott Bierko is a performer, guitarist and songwriter with the award-winning arts-in-education team, Beth & Scott and Friends. Since 1993, Scott and his wife, Beth Bierko, have been using music to teach character education and school curriculum via assembly programs and songwriting workshops. Their small-group workshop, “Sing About Learning” teaches children how to successfully collaborate with one another to write and record songs. To date, they have written nearly 300 songs with children throughout the New York metro area. Scott is also a singer-songwriter for big people and the leader of The Scott Bierko Band.
