UBC2C NYC presenters include:
Gary Brocks ’71
Jazz vocalist/songwriter/lyricist/trombonist Gary Brocks has a wide background in jazz, R&B, rock, Latin, Haitian, and world musics. He has performed or recorded with Roswell Rudd, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, the Jazz Composers Orchestra, the Sam River’s Jazz Orchestra, Peter Fish, and many more. He has performed at the Newport, JVC and Kool Jazz Festivals, The New York Loft Jazz Festival, The World Festival of Music & Dance (Nagasaki, Japan), and on National Public Radio, Jazz Radio WBGO, the WBAI Free Music Store, and arranged and produced music for TV commercials and cartoons. As an educator, Brocks has taught Jazz Improvisation, Music Theory for Singers, and Jazz History at the professional, university and high-school levels.
Bobby Collins ’73
American Comedy Award winner for Best Male Stand-up, Collins has hosted VH-1’s Stand Up Spotlight, A&E’s An Evening at the Improv, and Showtime’s A Pair of Jokers. He has opened for Frank Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, and Dolly Parton, to name a few. Collins has lectured extensively on the art and business of comedic writing and performing.
Harry Ferris ’78
Executive director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ferris previously headed the Nevada Ballet in Las Vegas and New Jersey’s American Repertory Ballet, where he was managing director to the affiliated Princeton Ballet School. As a dancer, Ferris enjoyed a 13-year professional career at the Empire State Ballet in Buffalo. He earned an MBA from Rutgers University.
Robert S. Fingerman ’80 (BS Accounting, UB School of Management)
Managing partner of Fingerman & Macke, CPA, PC, a Long Island-based CPA firm, Fingerman has more than 28 years’ experience providing accounting and tax services to entrepreneurial, high net-worth companies and individuals, primarily in real estate and the arts. Clients of the firm include artists, actors, film producers, directors, writers, agents, publishers, recording stars, music producers, and fashion designers. He is also the founder & president of Independent Films Production Consultants, Inc., which provides a wide range of services to the motion picture industry.
Jeanne Fornarola ’00 (UB Faculty)
Clinical assistant professor in dance at the University at Buffalo, Palmer-Fornarola is the director of the Dance Program in the Department of Theater and Dance. She instructs courses in ballet, dance history, teaching methods, and research in dance. She serves as secretary on the board of directors for New York State Dance Educators Association, is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to the Journal of Dance Education, Dance Teacher/Spirit, and Dance Studio Life. A New York State certified teacher in dance, Palmer-Fornarola holds a master’s degree in dance from UB.
Gelman started her career as a dancer, having taken classes at UB in spite of being a Russian history major. She earned an MA in dance education at Columbian University Teachers College, went on to teach and choreograph, moved on to acting, and finally to improvisation. She is one of the original New York cast of Chicago City Limits (CCL); in addition to performing, she directed its National Touring Company, and is currently producer and director of the CCL Training Program. Linda teaches improvisation to adults, children, and senior citizens, as well as to corporate clients throughout the country.
Jody Kleinberg Biehl
Jody Kleinberg Biehl became the director of UB’s Journalism Certificate Program in January 2009. Before coming to UB, she worked as an editor at Der Spiegel Online, Europe’s largest news magazine and Germany’s most popular source for online news. At Der Spiegel she was part of an elite team of three journalists hired in 2003 to create an English-language Web site. The site, based in Berlin, now attracts millions of readers per month. www.spiegel.de/international is one of the only successful English supplements to a major European newspaper or magazine. Before joining Der Spiegel, Biehl worked as a European correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle and as a freelance correspondent for USA TODAY and the Boston Globe. She also spent four years as a general assignment reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, a New York Times-owned paper in Northern California. She won numerous journalism awards during her time at the Press Democrat and in 2000 received an Arthur F. Burns fellowship, which took her to Berlin for three months as a reporter.
Lamoreaux, has written, developed, and produced some of the most popular animation series for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and ABC Family including ‘Totally Spies,’ ‘Hey Arnold!,’ the Annie Award-nominated ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ and ‘Catdog.’ Robert has also worked on the generation defining animated hit, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’
Lawrence started his career in the mailroom at KTTV Los Angeles but progressed from an associate producer on the Les Crane Talk Show for Metromedia TV L.A. in 1968 to owner and president of the Conference of Personal Managers, which was renamed Rebel Entertainment Partners in 2003. In addition to his career experience,Richard is currently on the Board of Directors for the Malibu Township Council, and has recently been re-elected to the Board of Directors for the Association of Talent Agents,earning the most votes of any talent agent on the ballot.
Robert Lieberman ’71
Lieberman has shot over 2,000 commercials, directed or produced 27 television films and shows, and has been recognized for his work in every area of business. He has been nominated four times and twice won the DGA award for Best Commercial Director Award; won an Emmy for Best Commercial Director; and is the recipient of 29 Clio Awards, as well as numerous Cannes Film Festival Awards, Mobius Awards, Addy’s, Andys, CEBA’s, IBA’s and the award for Best Commercial of the Year from Ad Age. Lieberman has directed numerous feature films and recently completed The Tortured, The Stranger and three episodes of a new series for the CBC, Republic of Doyle.
Leslee is considered one of the leading composers of music for Shakespeare in the world. His musicals have been produced by the Shubert Organization, Playwrights Horizons, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Acting Company, Theatre for a New Audience, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Vienna Chamber Opera and many others. He was the composer in residence at Shakespeare In Delaware Park from 1976-1990. His a cappella musical “Avenue X” has had over 50 productions, winning Best Musical awards at the Dallas Theatre Center, the Wilma Theatre, ACT Seattle and many others. His “Standup Shakespeare” was Off-Broadway starring F. Murray Abraham, Alfred Molina, Alice Ripley, and directed by Mike Nichols.
Veteran actor/writer/director Riegert has appeared in more than 30 films such as ‘The Mask’ and ‘Coldblooded.’ He was nominated for an Emmy for his role in ‘Barbarians at the Gate,’ (CBS), played Richard Nixon in the Emmy-winning ‘Concealed Enemies’ (PBS), and played Herbie to Bette Midler’s Rose in ‘Gypsy,’ (CBS). He was part of the award-winning short ‘The Response,’ about military tribunals in Guantanamo, which received the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award.
Ken Tabachnick ’77
Tabachnick has worked in all areas of entertainment for some 30 years. After a long career as a lighting designer for opera, dance, theater, and television, he earned his JD from Fordham Law School. He practiced law for seven years, working mostly in the intellectual property area. Most recently, Tabachnick was the general manager at New York City Ballet, where, among other things, he oversaw a $100-million renovation of the company’s theater at Lincoln Center, directed the Company’s strategic planning process, and began building its new media department. He is a second Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo Do.
Don Zakarin
He is chairman of the litigation department at New York’s Pryor Cashman “having attained the position mostly by clean living and inertia.” He considers himself a general litigator, having represented clients in a wide variety of areas, including securities law cases, antitrust cases, commodities law cases and general corporate and commercial cases. However, over the past 35 years Zakarin has developed an expertise in representing both individuals and corporate clients in the entertainment field, with a particular focus in music. He has represented Mariah Carey, Enrique Iglesias, Jermain Dupri, Kanye West, Britney Spears in copyright infringement cases and contractual disputes. He regularly represents EMI Records and EMI Music Publishing as well as Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. He has also represented executives in the music business, including the legendary Clive Davis and L.A. Reid.
Zuckerman trained with Del Close at the Second City in Chicago and helped bring Chicago City Limits to New York in 1980. He performed with the company for 15 years and is artistic director and producer. He continues to write and direct for the group and occasionally graces its stage. Zuckerman received his BA in psychology from UB and holds a doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Michigan.
Multi-Emmy Award-winning writer/producer/director, Alan Zweibel began his career as part of the original ‘Saturday Night Live’ writing team. His TV credits also include ‘It’s Garry Shandling Show,’ ‘Monk’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Zweibel’s adaptation of his best-selling book ‘Bunny Bunny : Gilda Radner: A Sort of Love Story’ became an off-Broadway hit, and he collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning Broadway show ‘700 Sundays.’ In 2006, he won the Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel ‘The Other Shulman.’ Zweibel is working on his next theatrical venture titled ‘Sunday Nights at 8:00.’ In February he received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Writers Guild of America.
