Mission Statement
of
PEACH ORCHARD, INC.
AKA MASQUE THEATRE

Peach Orchard, Inc. is a non-profit organization established in 1997 to create and produce quality performance combining masque, puppetry, movement, music, dance and related arts; to broaden the audience for these art forms and to instruct others in performance and craft. Collaborations with United States and international organizations and artists is imperative for the growth of Peach Orchard.

Jeanette Perlman, MS LNHA

Experienced in developing and managing a range of facilities inclusive of pediatrics, psychiatric, tertiary care, long term care, assisted living, independent living, congregate care and Alzheimer’s.  Currently functions in the capacity of Chief Operating Officer for MMR Associates, LLC, a company dedicated to the development and management of senior properties including but not limited to assisted living, independent living and Alzheimer’s.

Concurrent with the responsibilities of property management, Ms Perlman provides educational workshops for professionals in the health and human services industry.  The broad range of subjects include leadership development, improving residential care and understanding between care providers and residents,  communication dynamics, cultural influences on human behavior, to name just a few.

In addition, Ms Perlman has maintained her academic involvement through a regularly scheduled teaching position at New York University in the School of Continuing Professional Studies in the health sciences division which provides a Bachelor of Science degree.  She also continues to write articles for several professional journals.

Barbara Grossman

Career/Associations:
• Currently teaches at Yale University and Chautauqua School of Art. Has taught at
Western Carolina University, University of Pennsylvania, New York Studio School,
Western Connecticut State University, and the National Academy School of Fine Arts.
• Recent exhibitions include Rider University, NJ; A Survey, Wright State University,
which traveled to Lafayette College; Washington & Lee University, and the New York
Studio School; New Arts Gallery, CT; Atrium Gallery, Union College; Hollins
University; About Paint, Westport Arts Center; Lohin-Geduld Gallery; Dartmouth
College; Wadsworth Atheneum; numerous shows at the Bowery Gallery; Wayne Art
Center, PA; Pennsylvania School of Art and Design; New Britain Museum of Art; Butler Institute of American Art; 55 Mercer Street Gallery; State Museum of Pennsylvania; and the New York Studio School.
• Represented by Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia, PA
• Her work is included in the collections of the Arkansas Art Center; Hood Museum;
Corcoran Gallery of Art; Housatonic Museum; State Museum of Pennsylvania; MattatuckMuseum; and the Weatherspoon Art Gallery.

Awards
• 2002 Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Artist fellowship grant
• 2001 Henry Ward Ranger Fund Purchase Award. National Academy of Design
• 2000 The Adolph and Clara Obrig Prize. National Academy of Design
• 1995 Grumbacher Art Award and Gold Metal. National Academy of Design
• 1982-83 Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship Award for painting
• 1978-79 Connecticut Commission on the Arts
• 1967-68 Fulbright Grant, Munich, Germany

Barbara M. Washer :

Barbara comes to the Board of Directors with an extensive background in theater as an educator, director, performer, and consultant.

Recently she joined the Judy Dworin Performance Project in Hartford as the new Director of Community Outreach and Programming. Locally, Barbara has also served as the Theatre Coordinator at Renbrook School in West Hartford, CT; taught in area colleges; designed and implemented workshops for teachers as an education consultant for Hartford Stage; and written/directed original children’s musicals for Renbrook Summer Adventure and Hartt Community Division. Born in Connecticut, Barbara grew up in North Carolina and has also lived in Louisiana where she earned an MA and MFA from the University of New Orleans and in Spokane, Washington where she and her husband Steve performed with the regional theatre, Interplayers Ensemble. It was there that she first met and worked with Larry Hunt. With a passion for the value of arts education for all populations, a strong belief in the collaborative creative process, and as a long time supporter of the work of Masque, Barbara is thrilled to bring her energy and expertise to the task of furthering the vision of Peach Orchard, Inc.

Jack Sheedy

Jack Sheedy is a journalist, an actor, and playwright.  Jack has penned more than 400 articles for newspapers and magazines and, with his wife, Jean Sands, reviews plays for The Register Citizen. He is currently News Editor at The Catholic Transcript in Bloomfield, where he has won several journalism awards.

Jack has appeared in numerous community theater events since the 1970’s, including a one-man show, "Mark Twain Speaks Out." He also played ten characters in the two-man play “Greater Tuna,” for which he won an ActConn award for his acting. In 2000, his one-act play “Guardrail Nikes” was a winner in the Warner Theatre One-Act Play Festival, a statewide competition. That play also won an award from the Mad River Festival.