Jo Salas (www.josalas.com), founder and company coordinator of HRPT, was a co-founder in 1975 of Playback Theatre as an original approach to theatre. Her publications include Improvising Real Life: Personal story in Playback Theatre (now in a 20th anniversary edition as well as ten translations); Do My Story, Sing My Song: Music therapy and Playback Theatre with troubled children; Half of My Heart/La Mitad de Mi Corazón: True stories told by immigrants (co-edited with Leslie Gauna); and Personal Stories in Public Spaces: Essays on Playback Theatre by Its Founders, co-authored with Jonathan Fox. Jo teaches Playback internationally and was a keynote speaker at academic symposiums on Playback Theatre held in Germany and Arizona. Her TEDx talk on Playback Theatre, “Everyone has a story,” is available here.
Sarah Urech moved to Ulster County, New York, in 1994 to study Playback Theatre with its cofounders. She immediately joined HRPT and has since performed and taught Playback in 19 countries, including Cuba, India, and Japan. Sarah is a past board member of the International Playback Theatre Network and taught for many years at the Centre for Playback Theatre. Her full-time gig is leading the work of the Omega Women’s Leadership Center at the Omega Institute. Originally from Switzerland, Sarah speaks seven languages and is a certified coach, Master’s social worker, and singer. Watch Sarah speak about what she has learned from playback about the importance of listening.
Lauren Ardman has been performing with HRPT since 1997, and is a graduate of the School of Playback Theatre. She is committed to her Playback career, both as a creative endeavor and a way of being a part of positive social change. She has recently retired as a School Social Worker, working with special needs children of all ages. Lauren is a lifelong student and continues to study in the healing arts as well as in dance. Lauren loves being a mother of her 18 year old son, Tavi.
Ann Belmont has been a freelance musician for most of her adult life. She has played in Off-Broadway shows, led her own band, worked as a sideman and a solo performer, taught guitar and bass, been music director of a church and led a choir. She is also a composer of everything from songs to pieces for jazz orchestra, earning a master’s degree in composition from City College in NY. Her involvement in Playback Theatre dates back to the late 1970s, when she played with Jo Salas and Jonathan Fox in the original company. After a hiatus of many years, during which she moved to Manhattan and worked as a guitarist and singer, she was “born again” as a musician for the Big Apple Playback company, and, coming full circle, now lives in Kerhonkson and works with Hudson River.
Aidan Koehler is an actor, playwright, musician and co-founder of Infinite Arms Puppet Theatre company. Aidan spent more than a decade in regional, touring, and New York City theatre and film before finding her home in the Hudson Valley. She is an adjunct professor in the theatre department at SUNY New Paltz and now a returning education student. Aidan studied at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting before joining the Barefoot Theatre Company where she also served as Outreach Director, helping to design programs for schools and youth groups in the NYC area. While violin is her main instrument, Aidan plays trumpet in the protest band Tin Horn Uprising!
