Tempest Productions About Us Staff

Artisic Directors: Cynthia Mazzant, Jo Wadsworth
Managing Director: Kathleen P.Powers
Producing Director: Roxanna Arrojo
Photography: Francis Przygoda
Design Team: Billy Atwell, foreHead Productions-James Colbert-Cynthia Mazzant
Development: Mark R.Wile, MRW Consulting
Strategic Planner: Jo-Ann Zaccarelli, JAZ Consulting
WebDesign: GregC

Cynthia (co-artistic director) is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, an independent national labor union and a member of The Dramatists Guild, Inc. Cynthia is a registered consultant artist for the NY Foundation for the Arts and for the PA Council on the Arts. Cynthia is also a lecturer at Penn State University and works as a theatre consultant for the Jersey City Visual & Performing Arts Program.
Cynthia has spent the last 15 years working in Theatre-In-Education (TIE), Drama-in-Education (DIE) and Conflict Resolution Through Drama (CRTD). She has served as the Artistic Director for Teens-n-Theatre and has worked extensively with the NYC Board of Education and the NJ Education Association to train classroom teachers on the uses of drama in the classroom and literacy through the arts. Cynthia was part of the NY State Council on the Arts Initiative in Arts Assessment and Practice, where she was one of the original members of the program working with Jane Remer (Nat'l Consultant) and Terry Baker (EDC Center for Children and Technology). She holds an MA from New York University in Theatre/Educational Theatre. As an actress & director, Cynthia has toured regionally throughout the US, Europe and South America.

Jo Wadsworth (co-artistic director) has a Master's Degree from New York University where she studied with Lee Breuer from Mabou Mines, Joan MacIntosh and Richard Schechner from The Performing Garage, and director Anne Bogart among others. Jo was a founding member of Teatron, a New York-based theatre company under the direction of Rina Yerushalmi. The company performed original work at LaMama in the village. In 1989, Jo began working with Christian Aubert at Le Studio Theatre in the research and development of his idea of a new approach of teaching theatre to the actor. Besides Mr. Aubert, Jo is the only authorized instuctor for this technique.

After receiving her BA in children's theatre from Penn State, Jo traveled the east coast performing various children's theatre and teaching creative drama. She had the opportunity to work with Dr. Seuss at The Minneapolis Children's Theatre Company in 1979 when it produced the world premiere of The 500 Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Jo has taught creative drama, acting and play development to children and adults for summer camps, schools, and various organizations.

Jo has also offered workshops throughout New Jersey in Conflict Resolution through Drama and Peer Mediation and served as the Assistant Director of Teens-N-Theatre, a socio-political youth theatre company in Jersey City. Jo specifically designed curriculum and performances on racism and substance abuse and directed a TNT Video for substance abuse which has been distributed to schools and shown on local cable stations as part of the Governor's Council for the Prevention of Substance Abuse.

Jo is an active member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild).Jo L. Wadsworth

Kathleen Powers has worked with Tempest since its inception as a Director and Producing Director. Kathleen holds a BA in Theatre from Fordham College at Lincoln Center. Kathleen has directed varioous priductions, served as a technical advisor and has taught theatre for the past several years for various companies and serves as the Managing Director for Tempest.
Credits include direction of Genet's The Maids and Durang's The Purpose and The Actor's Nightmare by Durang, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, A.A.Milne's The Ugly Duckling and Dorothy Parker's Her We Are for Tempest.
Kathleen is the Assistant Program Director at ENACT, a drama-in-education company tha uses creative drama and drama therapy techniques to foster personal growth.

Roxanna graduated from New Jersey City University with a BA in Musical Theatre. She has performed in numerous plays, musicals and operas in NY/NJ.

Off-stage she participated as production manager for NJCU for two years, has directed, stage managed, and was a consultant on hair & make-up for many theater companies. She currently works for the Education Arts Team located in Jersey City, where she spends time with the third and fourth graders teaching Pop-Up Puppet Theatre and Storyteller's Hat workshops. She loves to inspire these children to write and perform as well as to help the children lose their inhibitions on public speaking. Roxanna also teaches voice lessons at Serrano's Music Academy. Past teaching experiences have included: NJCU’Äôs College Bound/Upward Bound program as a drama teacher and voice teacher at Holy Family Academy.

Roxanna has been involved with Tempest Productions since the beginning as an actor in Chekhov's Three Sisters and is thrilled to be a part of the company. She has taught acting classes in Tempest's children's series and assisted with script development for the interactive theatre pieces.