Broward County Cultural Division

2007 Winner: Michelle Rosenfarb

Michelle Rosenfarb

Michelle Rosenfarb is a Master’s graduate of Nova Southeastern University, where she received notable attention for her original play, 100 GATES, the reading which she directed and produced at the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center. During her Master’s program she served as assistant stage manager to Mosaic Theater’s productions of Amadeus and Memory of Water and worked at Art and Culture Center of Hollywood as the education public programming coordinator. She has also directed and choreographed their musical theater programs for adolescents in such performances as Fiddler on the Roof, Aladdin, Once on This Island Jr., The Music Man and Annie. In May 2007 the New Vista Theater selected Rosenfarb’s original work Beyond the Gates, to be read as part of the South Florida Theater Festival at the Lake Worth Playhouse. Rosenfarb’s winning project is a playwright’s forum that will support emerging playwrights in the inception and development of new plays that speak to an increasingly diverse society.

About the Artist

After graduating from the George Washington University in May 2001, Michelle decided to pursue her passion in writing by teaching English and Literature at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School. She went on to receive her Masters degree in Interdisciplinary Arts At Nova Southeastern University where she received notable attention for her original play, 100 GATES. Michelle directed and produced the reading at the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center to a 250 member audience. During her masters program she served as an Assistant Stage Manager to Mosaic Theatre’s productions of Amadeus and Memory of Water and also worked at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood as the Education Public Programming Coordinator. As the Coordinator Michelle facilitated their visual and performing art programming and instructed drama and playwriting classes. Additionally, she directed and choreographed their musical theatre programs for adolescents; performances included Fidder on the Roof, Aladdin, Once on This Island Jr., The Music Man, and Annie.

Shortly after, Michelle joined the New Vista Theatre Company as their Associate Artistic Director as well as the Project Director for the National Center for Jewish Cultural Arts (NCJCA, the umbrella organization for the theatre company). In May 2007, the New Vista Theatre selected Michelle’s original work, BEYOND THE GATES, starring Avi Hoffman and Lisa Morgan, to be read as part of the South Florida Theatre Festival to a sold-out 300 plus member audience at the Lake Worth Playhouse. During her time as the Associate Director of New Vista Theatre Michelle wrote grants to create her original program, The Play-In, Play-Out Theatre Arts Academy, an interdisciplinary theatre training program for underserved teens. As the Project Director for the NCJCA she also spearheaded The Dachau Album Project, a project design for one of the world’s last and potentially most significant Holocaust discoveries since the end of the war. Michelle recently coordinated and joined a research team, including world renowned Holocaust scholar, Dr. Michael Berenbaum and a long-standing CNN Senior Executive Producer, Peter Tedeschi, and traveled to Germany for a week long documentary series to uncover mysteries behind the album. The fascinating findings from this moving trip were recently published by the Associated Press.

Michelle now proudly joins the David Posnack JCC of Davie within their Cultural Arts & Adult Services Department and will be working on projects such as their Jewish Book Month and Film Festival. She also anticipates working with a team of both regional and national directors, actors, and writers to create an Israeli Playreading Series as part of their programming as well as her Emerging Playwright’s Forum, for which Michelle has received a grant from the Broward County Cultural Arts Foundation.

The Cultural Foundation of Broward announces the winner of the 2007 Fellowship Award.
“The Foundation is pleased to honor and assist artists who are committed to advancing their professional career in the area of theater arts,” says Peter Palin, president of the Cultural Foundation of Broward County Inc. “Artists make a significant contribution to our community. We encourage Broward artists in the beginning of their careers to apply.”