Theater Garden: About Us

About Us

Theater Garden, Ltd. is a Not-For-Profit 501(c) 3 company committed to the development of new works for new audiences. Our mission is to produce entertaining, educational theater that brings history to life for students of all ages.

Theater Garden, Ltd. began in October of 1999 as a means of producing Lady of Copper, the musical story of the Statue of Liberty and the immigrant experience. In the year 2000, we were very proud to have six paid bookings. Since then, Lady of Copper has been performed over 200 times and been seen by thousands of children and adults. It enjoyed off-Broadway runs at The Culture Project and The Cherry Lane Theater. The show has been featured in stories in the New York Times (pdf 668k) and Big Apple Parent (pdf 400k), on the Metro Channel (mpg 4.5mb) and NY1. Many schools continue to bring the show back every year. It has become a regular part of their American History curriculum.

In addition to Lady of Copper, Theater Garden has added three more original shows to our repertoire:

Enough For All — The Musical Story of the First Shared Thanksgiving

First Lady — Eleanor Roosevelt and the Changing Role of Women in American History

The Road to Freedom — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement

We currently employ over 35 actors, writers, directors and designers, many of whom have worked on several of our shows.
All Theater Garden productions are under an hour in length and are flexible enough to be performed in any school setting. Comprehensive study guides are included. Discounts are available for multiple bookings.

Mission Statement:

Theater Garden, Ltd. is dedicated to the development and production of new works, as well as re-interpretation of classic drama. We believe in a theater which connects us to our history and heritage, which uses the power of live performance to bring a community together in dialogue, debate and celebration. We are committed to the arts in education, as well as art as education. Our mission is to produce entertaining, relevant, curriculum-based educational theater with an American theme that brings history to life for students of all ages.

Board of Directors

Jill Cornell
President

Alison Fleminger
Vice President

Theresa Wozunk
Treasurer

Riley Jones-Cohen
Scott Parker
Jeanne M. Whelan

Resource Council

Michael Alden
Jonathan L. Fried
Alma Whitford

Executive Staff

Dana Leslie Goldstein
Co-founder and Artistic Director
Dana’s plays and musicals have been seen at The Cherry Lane Theater, The Culture Project, The Julia Miles Theatre, New Dramatists, Hartford Children's Theatre, The York Theatre, Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center, Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center, Center Stage, BMI, Bickford Theatre, Vineyard Playhouse, Pulse, Theatre Row Theatre, Jewish Theatre of the South, Gene Frankel Theater, Different Voices, The Lark, Neighborhood Playhouse, WorkShop Theater Company, Pacific Theatre (Vancouver) and on Equity TYA tours in NY/NJ/CT through Theater Garden. Dana’s work has won the New England New Play Competition, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Prize for Excellence in Playwriting, The Different Voices New Play Award, The ACTF New Play Award, The Henry Hoyns Fellowship in Poetry, The Associated Writing Programs' Intro Award for Poetry and an Academy of American Poets Prize. She holds Master of Fine Arts degrees in both Playwriting and Poetry and has been a lyricist in the BMI/Lehmann Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a long-time member of the Playwrights’ Lab at The Women’s Project. Dana is a member of The Workshop Theater Company and The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.

Jonathan Goldstein
Co-founder and Artistic Director
Jon is the composer/co-lyricist of Lady of Copper, Liberty, Spark & The Strangers, author of The Road to Freedom, and composer/set designer for Enough For All. Jon’s work has been seen at The Cherry Lane Theatre, The Culture Project, Hartford Children’s Theatre, WorkShop Theater Company, The York Theatre, Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center, Flushing Town Hall and on Equity TYA tours in NY/NJ/CT through Theater Garden.

Robert Bruce McIntosh
Co-founder and Artistic Director
Rob’s directing credits for Theater Garden include Enough For All, First Lady, Lady of Copper, Liberty, Road to Freedom and Romeo & Juliet. He is also program coordinator of The Children’s Aid Society’s Advantage Theater and Film Program, which was recently awarded the Boys & Girls Clubs’ National Award for Excellence in the Arts. Acting credits include lead roles in Hamlet, The Suicide, Kingdom of the Sun and The Angry Young Man, a modern Misanthrope. Rob holds an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University.

Mark L. Smith
Managing Director
Mark has been involved with Theater Garden since its inception, having originated some of the roles in Lady of Copper. In addition to acting in Theater Garden productions, Mark has held the position of stage manager and production manager for the company. Outside of Theater Garden, Mark has directed, stage managed and performed in productions for the New York Rennaissance Faire, the Central Park Zoo, The Westchester Broadway Theater, Gorilla Rep, The Village Light Opera Group and TheatreworksUSA.

Artistic Members

Paul Aguirre
Kristen Alberda
Robert Anton
Jonathan Bayer
Noel Marie Berkofsky
Jennifer Blood
Barry Brisco
John Bronston
Nicholas Cacciola
Ben Chinn
Josh Collins
Marc de la Concha
Seth Cooperman

Nick DeMatteo
Alexandra Devin
Cheryl Dowling
Peter Farrell
Avi Fox-Rosen
Trey Gibbons
Richard Kent Green
Bridget Harvey-Glander
Robby Johnson
Jennifer Kidwell
Garret Lambert
Jeremy Lawrence
Lindsay Levine

Victoria Malvagno
Elysa Marden
Gregory Marlow
Kyle J. Martin
Nedra McClyde
Erin McCready
Kevin McKelvy
Kyle Minshew
Nicole Mitzel
Annie Lee Moffett
John Morton
Sonja Perryman
Brenda Phelps

Trina Price
Krystle Pyram
Brandi Rhome
Daina Schatz
Cara Samantha Scherker
Matt Semrick
Chris Sena
Bernard Shropshire
Darcie Siciliano
Jason Strong
David Tacheny
Bill Weeden
Cydnee Welburn