Staff

Drama Program

Dorothy Toman has toured nationally with Landis and Co. Theater of Magic and worked summer stock in North Carolina with Flat Rock Playhouse, in addition to performing and directing regionally for the past 12 years. Locally, she has directed theater workshops for kids through Poughkeepsie Day School Summer Camp, Woodstock Youth Theater, UCCC, The Saugerties Art Lab, Riccardi Elementary's "Discover" Program, Onteora High School, The Boys and Girls Club of Kingston, and Shandaken Theatrical Society.

Allyson Uzzle trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and ensemble Class and Performance with Gene Fiest at the Roundabout Theatre in New York City. In addition to years of professional stage work as an actress, she has taught acting to and directed children ages six through sixteen in many community theatres as well as school programs over the last ten years. She is the middle school drama teacher at High Meadow School.

Music Program

Dean Jones has lead his own bands and ensembles, including Dog on Fleas (smart music for kids), the For Sale by Owner Orchestra (combinations of primitive and modern music played on toys and non-instruments), the Car Tune Orchestra (music for car horns and percussion), and the Harmonica Virgins (almost pop).
As a musician, Dean has worked with Uncle Buckle, Ari Up, George Clinton, Perfect Thyroid, the Big Sky Ensemble, Emily Curtis, Varnaline, Sonando, Earmight, Lucky Timson, the Fighting McKenzies and many more.
Dean's music has inexplicably ended up on TV: from A&E to Oprah to Noggin, and with Ken McGloin he scored 8 episodes of MTV Real World and 8 episodes of Road Rules.

Daniel Littleton has been recording and performing music for children for ten years with his wife and musical partner Elizabeth Mitchell. Their latest album, "You Are My Little Bird" was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in August 2006. Daniel is also a founding member of the NYC band Ida, and has toured the US, Japan and Europe as a solo performer. As a composer, Dan has scored several independent films, most notably "Umbilical Cord" by Angel Velasco Shaw. Daniel has several years of experience as a guitar teacher, and has played in rock, punk, funk, and improvisational groups and ensembles for the last 20 years.

Debbie Lan is a Singer, Pianist/keyboardist, Songwriter, and Recording Artist. Born in South Africa, Lan Released the album "Debbie Lan" on the Mountain Records Label - Nominated for 3 Scotty and 3 Sarie Awards. In Nashville TN, Lan Wrote, performed and, recorded solo and with other artists. Then in Woodstock NY she Released the album, "Looking for the World", on the Pioneer, Japan Label. She writes produces, performs, and records solo and with Doggon Fleas, is the current musical director at High Meadow School, and is the Musician, Musical Director for Hudson River Playback Theatre.

Peter Smith AKA: Peter Head BFA Fine Arts Ceramics with minor in Art Ed from Alfred Univ. 1988. Potter, Poet, Painter, Sculptor, Musician, Cartoonist, Carpenter, and Owner/Operator of Pitchfork Wreckerds - Pitchfork Publishing, a home spun record label that is home to the Pitchfork Militia, as well as an extensive line of ambient CDs using traditional and non-traditional instruments. Have done several workshops teaching kids of various ages simple instrument building and playing with Potential Unlimited, Poughkeepsie, and the Deep Listening Space, Kingston. Have been making "bean can guitars" and "coffee can kalimbas" inspired by various third world cultures (West African to Mongolian), for nearly 10 years.

Visual Arts/Video Program:

Leslie Arouh worked for many years as a professional colorist and textile designer for the apparel industry in NYC. Starting out with a strong background in various printing and dyeing techniques, Leslie then went on to pursue her love of travel and ethnic textiles by creating her own line of innovative batik clothing in Bali, Indonesia. As a teaching artist, she has worked extensively with children of all ages at High Meadow School, the Woodstock Day School Summer Adventure, NJ State Teen Arts Festivals and various summer camps.

Susan Perrin is a multi-media artist with a degree in Creative Expression from Empire State College. She studied ceramics in Japan and New York and has exhibited and taught in both NY and NJ. Working primarily in ceramics, Susan paints and creates mixed media sculpture as well. She founded and directed the O Roe Electric Art Space in Hoboken New Jersey (described as a "unique cultural institution" by the New York Times) and has helped create Urth Arts Center - an interactive art and learning space located in Samsonville, NY. She has taught art to children of all ages for over 20 years.

Bryan Perrin is a second generation American Artist: a prodigious painter, an engaging speaker, a gifted sculptor, a struggling writer and an occasional performer. He has enjoyed moving in the inner circles of the art world's outer fringe of Toledo Ohio, Cocoa Beach Florida, Jersey City New Jersey, Woodstock New York. Exhibiting in galleries and clubs and private collections, Bryan also has had an extensive career both as an illustrator and scenic artist as well as a decorative finish painter. Check out his website www.bryanperrinstudio.com.

Roberta Ziemba works in various different mediums including painting, sculpture, collage, mosaic, puppet making, screen-printing and others, to help students think and feel like artists investigating materials, developing ideas, sharing, and exhibiting their work. Arts experiences are linked to literacy or cultural themes.
Some examples of projects are, Art and History, a mosaic map of the community combining mosaic art with local history and culture; The Arts of Australia, muraling inspired by the traditional Aboriginal style; Art and Science where students create clay sculptures and their habitats, and The Arts of Japan, block printing, brush and ink painting and designing kimonos inspired by nature.

Brian Farmer, Video educator, musician, environmentalist

  • Six years at Children's Media Project
  • Producer of DROP-TV
  • Media/Music Production
  • Media Literacy Curriculum Development
  • Media Literacy Workshop Teacher
  • Dia:Beacon Outreach Collaboration Coordinator
  • classroom instructor teaching in a variety of areas including Paper and Clay Animation, Video Documentary, Experimental Video, Music Production, and Media Literacy workshops for students and classroom teachers. produced 20 half-hour student TV program, DROP-TV (Direct Revolution of Programming) broadcast on the Cablevision and Time-Warner Cable Networks, Manhattan Neighborhood Network and Triangle TV in Auckland, New Zealand.
  • Formed Club Media: 2 week Media Literacy camp in Burlington, Vermont
  • Musician/percussionist:Big Sky Ensemble, Nego Gato Afro-Brazilian Band, La Sangua Ya Bato Drum and Dance.
  • Environmentalist: Community Gardening Program for Cornell Cooperative Extension which creates and maintains large urban gardens with teenagers in and around Poughkeepsie, NY
  • Founder, Rimas Farm

Timothy Sutton, Video educator, musician

  • Five years as Media Guild Director at Children's Media Project, Poughkeepsie, NY
  • Worked to empower inner-city youth with spoken word poetry and media technology.
  • Taught after-school media production and media literacy workshops for high school and middle school students.
  • Produced, edited, and directed short documentaries for use as promotional tools for Children's Media Project and for Public Service Announcements.
  • Developed and co-directed the young people's Talking Walls pilot program.
  • Guitarist and music collaborator with various bands throughout the area.

Dance Program

Jodi Amato has been teaching dance for over 20 years. She is currently the Director of Blanche's Off Broadway School of Performing Arts where she teaches classes in Tap, Jazz and Ballet & coaches Blanche's Dance Troupe a competition and performance team comprised of over 25 young dancers and teaches Dance at High Meadow and has been the Regional Director of National Dance Week for the past three years.
Studied with such greats as Gus Giordano, Frank Hatchett, Debbie Dee & Gil Stroming. Sam Schikowitz Capoeria Teacher at Living Seed, New Paltz. Sam Schikowitz is also NABNE board a certified and Connecticut State licensed naturopathic doctor, as well as an NCCAOM board certified and New York State licensed acupuncturist. He is also a member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), and on the board of directors of the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians (NYANP).

Camp Founder/Co-Director

Amy Poux - Theatre Educator/Arts Activist
Amy Poux believes that no childhood is complete without artistic expression. Poux has taught drama programs in schools to children of all ages since 1991, when she marched into NYC public schools and provided drama programs for free to teenagers. Soon after she founded Working Playground, Inc., a NYC non-profit organization which provides arts education programs and staff development citywide, serving more than 3,000 students, teachers and community members annually.

In addition to her leadership and development of arts education programs, Poux has provided numerous trainings in arts-integration and student-centered assessment techniques to arts teachers and specialists, faculty, school administrators, cultural organizations, and school districts in Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, Stone Ridge, and Boiceville, New York. In 1998, she received an Award of Merit from the New York State Council on the Arts and last spring, founded High Meadow Arts, Inc. where she currently provides after-school drama programs, still her first love.