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Bloomberg Business>How the Sacklers Shifted $10.8 Billion of Their Opioid Fortune-In the middle of a pandemic, it’s easy to forget that there are other things that matter—indeed, other things that have cost more lives while making people billions

8/13/2020

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How the Sacklers Shifted $10.8 Billion of Their Opioid Fortune
As the U.S. bumbles its way through the coronavirus pandemic, it can be easy to overlook the opioid epidemic that’s shattered so many lives. But a trove of documents that Bloomberg Businessweek​ has spent months analyzing helps
By Emma Vickers
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How should art address addiction? Julia Robert's film "ben Is Back"gives us a clue.


NY POST NEWS
"Page Six"
Miami shuns Sackler family: ‘We don’t want you here’
By Paula Froelich February 8, 2020 

Price Group Talent Agent Lisa Price ...America's opioid epidemic is Anytown & Anyone
New York State Attorney General Letitia James filed an amended lawsuit against eight members of the Sackler family.
Price Group Talent Agent Lisa Price ...America's opioid epidemic is Anytown & Anyone

The billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma LP must face a New York lawsuit claiming they triggered the U.S. opioid epidemic

The billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma LP must face a New York lawsuit claiming they triggered the U.S. opioid epidemic,​
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Since OxyContin came on the market in 1996, more than 400,000 Americans have died from opioid overdoses—including some 200,000 from prescription opioids. Millions more continue to struggle with addiction, and entire communities have been devastated by the epidemic. 

 Recovery Boys 

The statistics around the opioid epidemic are terrifying, but Recovery Boys explores the crisis on the ground floor. The 90-minute documentary, also a Netflix original, is one of the few that doesn't dramatize or wallow in the cyclic tragedy of ecstatic heroin highs, the scratching withdrawal pangs. Instead, it honestly follows four young men struggling to recover from opioid addiction over a year and a half at Jacob's Ladder, a farming-based recovery center in Aurora, West Virginia.

JOSS SACKLER — WIFE OF OXYCONTIN HEIR DAVID SACKLER — JUST WANTS HER “F - - KING NEON HOODIES” REVIEWED AT NYC'S FASHION WEEK.

COMBATING AMERICA'S OXY-OPIOID EPIDEMIC: PRICE GROUP TALENT AGENT LISA PRICE RECOVERS, SAMANTHA BEE FLAYS SACKLER FAMILY FOR THEIR ROLE IN OPIOID EPIDEMIC, PAGE 6- JOSS SACKLER JUST WANTS HER “F - - KING NEON HOODIES” REVIEWED AT FASHION WEEK.
COMBATING AMERICA'S OPIOID EPIDEMIC: PRICE GROUP TALENT AGENT LISA PRICE SURVIVES, SAMANTHA BEE PILLORIES SACKLER FAMILY FOR THEIR ROLE IN OPIOID EPIDEMIC, JOSS SACKLER -- WIFE OF OXYCONTIN HEIR DAVID SACKLER -- JUST WANTS HER “F - - KING NEON HOODIES” REVIEWED AT NYC'S FASHION WEEK.
JOSS SACKLER — WIFE OF OXYCONTIN HEIR DAVID SACKLER — JUST WANTS HER  “F - - KING NEON HOODIES” REVIEWED AT NYC'S FASHION WEEK. Mrs. Sackler is married to David Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma, the makers of the prescription painkiller OxyContin. Purdue and the members of the Sackler family behind it have been accused of fomenting, and profiting from, the American opioid epidemic...NY Post Page 6 by Mara Siegler...The Hoodie is featured in the video below.

​Purdue’s Richard Sackler Allegedly Calls Opioid Addicts ‘Victimizers’

The former chairman of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP blamed victims of opioid abuse for their own suffering in emails from 2001 that predicted a liberal backlash if his views were made public, according to a court filings and this report from Bloomberg News 

Best of Late Night

“One of their children likes to grow herbs as ‘a self-taught student of traditional medicines.’ Ha, traditional medicines! What a great hobby for the 40,000 children in foster care because of their parents’ opioid addiction. Maybe they wouldn’t be in this predicament if they just crushed up a wholesome yaro root for Mommy’s headache. Aw.” — SAMANTHA BEE, NY Times quoting from a 2013 Vogue article on Mortimer and Jacqueline Sackler’s vacation home

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The Sackler family and Purdue Pharma’s Project Tango looked into how to profit off opioid addiction

A look at how opioids hijack the brain, from temptation and tolerance to relapse and recovery. Overdoses have passed car crashes and gun violence to become the leading cause of death for Americans under 55. The epidemic has killed more people than H.I.V. at the peak of that disease, and its death toll exceeds those of the wars in Vietnam and Iraq combined. Funerals for young people have become common. Every 11 minutes, another life is lost.

So why do so many people start using these drugs? Why don’t they stop?.
​
...Read The NY TIMES ARTICLE BY  SHREEHYA SINHA

Protesters target OxyContin family at the Guggenheim

..Protests erupted at the Guggenheim in New York City over the museum’s ties to OxyContin. The anti-opioid demonstrations came just as the Massachusetts attorney general implicated the Sackler family — who own Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin — for their alleged role in America’s opioid crisis.

“Sacklers lie, people die,” Goldin chanted.

I don’t know how they live with themselves' – artist Nan Goldin​ takes on the billionaire family behind OxyContin...The photographer became an addict after getting hooked on a prescription opioid. Now clean, she is waging war on the art philanthropists who have profited from the crisis...READ THE STORY

America's Opioid Epidemic Is Anytown And Anyone

The NJ opioid epidemic is the focus of 'Anytown" an educational musical theater offering from George Street Playhouse -Cheryl Makin
Combating America's Opioid Epidemic: Lionhearted Price Group Talent Agent Lisa Price Survives, 'Anytown' A George Street Playhouse Educational Touring Musical On Opioid Abuse Could Be Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace -- Anyone, ABC Overdoses Roseanne On Opioid Painkillers, & HealingNYC
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Carthage College Theater Professor Turns To 'Lombardi' Playwright For Timely Drama About Opioid Addiction.

"Lombardi" playwright Eric Simonson has teamed with Carthage College to create a timely production about opioid addiction- "Up & Away" Here's one staggering fact about opioids and young adults: According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 20 percent of the deaths of Americans ages 24 to 35 in 2016 involved opioids. by Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

​PHARMA OPIOIDS ON BROADWAY:
​
This Past Decade More Than 225 On & Off-Broadway Equity Actors Exited Their Stages Permanently After Sustaining Injuries---Not Because They Did Not Recover From Those Injuries But Because They Did Not Recover From The Opioid's Prescribed To Them For Their Pain From Their Injuries.
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SERIOUS ADDICTION STARTS WITH A SIMPLE PRESCRIPTION

​Roseanne Overdoses On Opioid Prescribed For Her Chronic Pain From A Long-Delayed Knee Surgery.

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However, the name on the bottle wasn’t Roseanne’s. It was the name of a neighbor, Marcy Bellinger.

Dan, feeling a mix of anger and despair, hangs a sign on his truck, calling attention to Marcy’s role in his wife’s death.

“Thank you Marcy Bellinger for the pills that killed my loving wife Roseanne,” he writes.

Marcy, played by Mary Steenburgen, comes to the Conners’ home to ask Dan to remove the sign.

In her request, she unveils another aspect of life at the economic seams. Medication is expensive. Insurance isn’t generous. And some people do things that’re less than legal to get by.

“Nobody can afford their meds. We all help each other,”
a visibly distraught Marcy says. “When Sally Benson needed Lipitor for her husband’s cholesterol, they got some from Maria Ramirez, and they gave her the anxiety meds she needed for her son because they dropped her insurance. Rosie needed painkillers. I had some, so I gave them to her.”

"Respiratory suppression is a common problem with opioid medications, added Stephen Odom, PhD, chief executive officer and chief clinical officer of New Vista Behavioral Health in California and a healthcare and addiction treatment professional with more than 25 years of expertise in the behavioral health field.
“It’s very common for opioid overdoses to result in death due to respiratory suppression,” Odom told Healthline. “During medical detoxification, patients are monitored closely for breathing status, as opioid medications are central nervous system depressants.” read the story at healthline.com
America's Opioid Epidemic: Survivor Lionhearted Price Group Talent Agent Lisa Price & HealingNYC Founder First Lady Chirlane McCray Are Aiming To Prevent Overdoses And Save Lives- Stigmatize Your #OpioToo Friends Suffering From Opioid Demise​.
The White Face Of The Opioid Epidemic Has Forged A More Forgiving Public Reaction.
HealingNYC Founder First Lady Chirlane McCray

HealingNYC Founder First Lady Chirlane McCray

“If we want to end this epidemic we must all be part of the solution, every one of us,” said First Lady Chirlane McCray, who has often spoken about mental health and addiction. “The bottom line is people suffering from addiction need our help and support.”

At least 2.1 million U.S. residents have an opioid addiction, according to government estimates, with those recently struggling with the condition...its a long roster of boldfaced names: Macklemore, Demi Lovato, Rush Limbaugh, Cindy McCain, Matthew Perry, Jamie Lee Curtis, Eminem, Charlie Sheen, Courtney Love, Steven Tyler....
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Lionheart Talent Group Friend Attorney General Josh Stein Is A Holistic Healthcare Advocate & Won't Back Down. ​Lionhearted Holistic Healthcare Advocate Attorney General Josh Stein has aggressive strategies and programs to fight America's Opioid epidemic:"There are more effective, safer and less dangerous ways of treating most kinds of pain. Fentanyl is killing more and more people. It also killed Prince and Tom Petty.” -
​Josh Stein Attorney General
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​Don’t Call Her a Victim: After Surviving Opioids, The Planets Best Photographer Of The Human Condition Nan Goldin Goes After the Makers

Over the course of a decades-long career, Ms. Goldin has pushed the medium of photography to be more honest about the human condition. She has documented domestic violence — including her own battering at the hands of a boyfriend — as well as the scourge of H.I.V. and the death of close friends. But she called withdrawal from OxyContin the darkest time of her life.
--By The NY Times 
COLIN MOYNIHAN
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​10 Years After Heath Ledger’s Death, The Opioid Epidemic Rages On And With No Hollywood Ending.

The Same Deadly Fix, Just Cheaper...Cops and paramedics and judges and drug counselors are overwhelmed. The painkiller epidemic and the heroin epidemic are one and the same. By John Temple at the Huffington Post.
A Brief, Blood-Boiling History of the Opioid Epidemic From OxyContin coupons to fentanyl-laced heroin, this is how the crisis unfolded...
​

1995: The American Pain Society promotes the “Pain Is the Fifth Vital Sign” standard, urging doctors to monitor pain along with pulse, breathing, blood pressure, and temperature. Purdue Pharma is one of 28 corporate donors.

1996: Purdue Pharma debuts OxyContin with the most aggressive marketing campaign in pharmaceutical history, downplaying its addictiveness. Over the next five years, the number of opioid painkiller prescriptions jumps by 44 million.

2004: With input from a Purdue exec, the Federation of State Medical Boards recommends sanctions against doctors who undertreat pain.

2012: Health care providers write 259 million opioid painkiller prescriptions—nearly enough for every American to have a bottle of pills. The increasingly white face of addiction changes how policymakers frame the problem, from a moral failing necessitating prison time to a disease requiring treatment.

2016: An estimated 64,000 Americans die of drug overdoses—more than all US military casualties in the Vietnam and Iraq wars combined. In December, Congress passes legislation allotting $1 billion to fund opioid addiction treatment and prevention efforts over two years

Read more from Mother Jones Author Julia Laurie

The Magnitude Of America's Opioid Epidemic: Survivor Price Group Talent Agent Lisa Price, Filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon's Netflix Documentary “Heroin(e), And Celebrities Addicted To Oxycontin.
A PREVENTABLE DEATH- Petty Dead From Opioid Overdose

Filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon's Netflix Documentary “Heroin(e)

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​It chronicles the lives of three women in Huntington, W.Va. — a fire chief, a drug court judge and a street missionary — who are battling America's opioid epidemic at the epicenter in Huntington WV.
​According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the total “economic burden” of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is over $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement. 

Celebrities Addicted To Oxycontin

Celebrity and entertainment industry drug addicts are nothing new, there's always someone that's going to rehab for some addiction or another. But now these celebrities and entetainment industry professional are not addicted to just any drug, they are addicted to Oxycontin- an oral dose pill form. The pill is supposedly time released in order to block pain for 24 hours and help lower dependency, but that didn't work out so well for over 500,000 Americans the last few years who died by self overdosing. Jamie Lee Curtis, Eminen ​Matthew Perry...the list goes on and on of the survivors for the celebrities addicted to opiates, and there's a long road to recovery ahead. ​Some veer off the road to recovery and crash, burn and die.
​Article by Ranker's John Barryman

The Magnitude Of America's Opioid Epidemic: Breast Cancer Victim Talent Agent Lisa Price, Higher Institutions Dealing With The Opioid Crisis, Pa. Declares A State Of Natural Disaster And Wall Street's Secret Opioid Epidemic.
Ohio’s Otterbein Has One Of, If Not The Best, BFA Musical Theater Program In The Country. Double the entire undergraduate population at Otterbein University, more than 4,300 Ohioans died of opioid drug overdoses in 2016. As states and the nation continue to grapple with a deadly opioid epidemic, higher education institutions are.
-​Article Written By Columbia's Ariel Hurley

Why Wall Street Stays Silent About Its Opioid Epidemic.

Breast Cancer Survivor Talent Agent Lisa Price And The Bronx’s Quiet, Brutal War With Opioids Is Shared With Wall Street's Hidden Scourge Of Opiate Addiction; America's Efforts To Combat Opioid Abuse.
"Why aren’t more professionals seeking help? The fear of losing their clients and jobs, the fear of stigma and shame and the lack of information on how to handle treatment while abiding by their professional standards and ethics among peers....”
-By
 Gregory Bresiger NY POST

The Bronx’s Quiet, Brutal War With Opioids

The Magnitude Of America's Opioid Epidemic: Breast Cancer Victim Talent Agent Lisa Price, Higher Institutions Dealing With The Opioid Crisis, Pa. Declares A State Of Natural Disaster And Wall Street's Secret Opioid Epidemic.
"On Bronx streets, the epidemic’s devastation is next door, down the street, all around..."
​Written by JOSE A. DELREAl NY TIMES

The Scourge Of Opioids And Heroin Has Reached Disastrous Proportions In Pennsylvania.

With opioids killing more people than any other health crisis in Pennsylvania's modern history, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday declared a disaster emergency that suspends regulations hindering access to addiction care.


The Magnitude Of America's Opioid Epidemic: Breast Cancer Victim Talent Agent Lisa Price, Higher Institutions Dealing With The Opioid Crisis, Pa. Declares A State Of Natural Disaster And Wall Street's Secret Opioid Epidemic.

"Worst Drug Crisis In American History"
-Donald John Trump 

President Donald Trump declares the opioid crisis a national public health emergency at the White House in Washington on Oct. 26, 2017.​ Every day, hundreds of Americans die after ​overdosing on opioids.1 The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total "economic burden" of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.


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Teshuvah Effect: The story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals, and the first in-depth documentary that chronicles the life and themes of this iconic offering of American culture and the value of returning to TRADITION.

9/18/2019

 

Fiddler on the Roof Explores Return To Tradition and It's Compromise

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technologies designed to refine our souls and boost our readiness to do what's right- TRADITIONALLY.

Imagine a new child taking his first steps in front of the proud parents. He gets to his feet, takes a few steps ― and falls flat on his face. The parents clap with excitement and joy. But if you analyze the scenario, shouldn't the parents be upset? After all, the child fell down!

The answer is obvious. A parent doesn't judge a child based on whether he walks or falls, but rather on whether he took a few steps in the right direction.

Returning means going back to somewhere you've been, somewhere familiar.

"The benefit of compromise — and the reason to explore where and to what extent it should apply — is that it forces one to improve, update, and appreciate one’s position without destroying the good in it. Change is not just necessary. It’s inevitable."  THE NATIONAL REVIEW

L‑rd who made the lion and the lamb
You decreed I should be what I am
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan
If I were a wealthy man?

Mitzvahs are for Muslims, too: committed to social action and social justice, Refuge, is a powerful and moving tale of survival during the Holocaust where Muslim Albanians risked everything to protect thousands of Jewish World War II refugees.

5/7/2019

 

Baruch Performing Arts Center Presents The World Premiere Of REFUGE

Did you know there was an entire country in Europe that helped to save thousands of Jews during World War II? Can you conceive that this tiny country in the Balkans, this Muslim country, actually contained more Jews by the end of the war than at the beginning? This is the true, little known story .
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The young Jewish family is led by the father Yakov played with mesmerizing authority by The Lionhearted Perri Yaniv -with the panache of an old-time leading man movie star. Period.
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Refuge is at the Baruch Performing Arts Center through May 11

Documentary Filmmaker Boaz Dvir's "Cojot": History's Most Daring Hostage-Rescue Operation screening at nyu april 29th & “A WIN​G AND A PRAYER": the untold true story of WWII aviators who carried out a secret operation.

3/1/2019

 
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Penn State 2019

The final rough-cut screening of Penn State assistant professor Boaz Dvir’s post-Holocaust film, “Cojot,” will be conducted at 6 p.m. April 29 2019 at New York University. The event, which is free and open to the public, concludes an 18-month process during which Dvir screened the rough cut of his latest documentary to more than 1,500 people in Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, Virginia and France.  ​
"Cojot" tells the little-known story of a Holocaust survivor who set out to kill his father’s Nazi executioner and wound up playing a pivotal role in history’s most daring hostage-rescue operation. Dvir’s previous project, the critically acclaimed PBS documentary, “A Wing and a Prayer,” has screened around the world and won Best Feature Documentary at the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
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Actor Judd Nelson Narrates Final Cut "Cojot"

"I was drawn to the project by the powerful gravitational pull of an incredible story,” said Nelson, who has recently done voiceover work for the “Transformers” TV mini-series. “‘Cojot’ proves once again that real life is more fantastic than fiction, and that second chances often come in disguise"
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Actor Judd Nelson
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Cojot (L) & Dvir (R)

Penn State Professor Boaz Dvir teaches writing and production in the journalism and film departments and is an award-winning filmmaker.


Penn State 2017 Summer

DirecTV and Sling TV have made available Penn State assistant professor Boaz Dvir’s "A Wing and a Prayer," the critically acclaimed film that aired on PBS stations around the country the past two years.
​
Named Best Documentary at the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, "A Wing and a Prayer" tells the little-known story of World War II aviators who risked their lives and U.S. citizenships in 1948 to prevent what they viewed as a second Holocaust.read more

Woodstock 2015 Summer

​“A wing and a prayer” is what I had to guide me in an attempt to get my good friend, Boaz Dvir's, film with the same title into the prestigious Woodstock Film Festival, running September 30th thru October 4th, 2015. 

A dozen local notables with connections to the event smiled and said to me "way too late, Jonny-- Shoot for next year.”

Nope. I would have to hear "negative" from a much higher and reliable source, and I did not. 

My message on it came from Rabbi Jonathan of the Woodstock Jewish Congregation temple. 

Rabbi Jonathan's message was to "align to the highest purpose and then apply your best effort." That is exactly what Adolph Schwimmer and his crew in the film. I did the same and the result is that this film was viewed during this prestigious festival at Mountain View Studios in Woodstock,.

​I
 was visiting the temple with a new Woodstock friend,(Special thanks to Chef Sarah Francesca Chianese for her wonderful hospitality during my stay. xoxox :)) & who hosted me for the celebration of the festival of Rosh Hashanah. 

WING AND A PRAYER clip from Boaz Dvir on Vimeo.

"For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic." -HEROES & INSPIRATIONAL FIGURES OF LIONHEART FRIEND ROBERT DE NIRO.

1/15/2019

 
Robert De Niro Is A Lionhearted Actor - Lionheart Talent Management Group NYC

Robert De Niro is a Championing, Courageous, Brave, Heroic, Bold, Daring, Stouthearted, Fearless, Ballsy, Valiant Lionhearted Actor. Period. But where does he get it?


"We all know that, but where does he get it? In a Hollywood Reporter Interview recently he reveals his sources. 

As for his heroes and inspirational figures, De Niro cites Shimon Peres — the ninth President of Israel from 2007 to 2014— as his primary one. 

Researching famous quotes by Shimon the single one that resonated most was this:

"For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic."

So here it is
  1. Act realistically, and think about what you can actually achieve.
  2. Dream big, and  the details will fall into place.

"By combining the best of both the pragmatic and visionary worlds, we can be effectively “moving towards the stars, without tripping."   ​--Shimon Peres
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Lionhearted Actor Robert DeNiro Loving His Work & Inspiring Young Actors On Set Of "A Bronx Tale" — with Robert DeNiro.

Award Winning: Arab-Israeli Unity Born At The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan & Bred On Broadway By ‘The Band’s Visit’ Produced By Lionheart Talent Group Friend Producer Orin Wolf.

12/10/2018

 

TONY COUP-- ‘The Band’s Visit’ Finds A Common Humanity.

Lionheart Talent Group
​Mr. Wolf, center, accepting the Tony for best musical on Sunday.
Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
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The origin of the story begins in 2007, when Mr. Wolf took his wife, who was born in Israel, to the Other Israel Film Festival at J.C.C. Manhattan on the Upper West Side. There was a new Israeli film playing that they wanted to see — “The Band’s Visit,” a fictional story about an Egyptian police orchestra that gets stranded for a night in an Israeli desert town. 
By Michael Paulson of the NY TIMES
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​Andrew Polk, center left, and George Abud, playing the violin, onstage at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.

The Lionheart Talent Groups Favs @The 6th Annual Israel Film Center Festival.

check out the rest

Are Musical Theatre Casting Directors The "Best Crossover Performers" For Film, TV And New Media Productions? Bernard Telsey Proves It True. Period.

11/18/2018

 
Lionheart Talent Management Group NYC Blog On Bernard Telsey
FILM TV & NEW MEDIA GENIUS BERNIE TELSEY
I Met Bernie Telsey At The Artios Awards Show Celebrating The Casting Society Of America & He Is Hot. (Yes devastatingly handsome and I get that often actually so we are similar in that respect)
As a casting director though he and his group are scorching.

Get this:
  • For 2018 his group was nominated for many and won several
  • Out of the 10 major categories posted by the Artios Awards Group(Casting Society Of America) for the 2017 year Bernard Telsey was nominated in 6 of them. Several are for film and TV.
  • In 2016 the CSA released this: "Accepting the Hoyt Bowers Award will be Bernard Telsey of Telsey + Company. The honor recognizes esteemed casting professionals who elevate the profession “by embodying the unique spirit, ideals and creativity of famed casting director, Hoyt Bowers,” according to a statement. “Telsey has spent more than 30 years casting some of the most recognized and acclaimed productions in Broadway history.” Such work includes “Rent,” “Hairspray,” screen projects including “Into the Woods” and “Ricki and the Flash,” and recently, the hit musical “Hamilton.”
  • For 2015 Bernard Telsey earned seven Artios Award nominations across the film, TV and theater categories.
  • In less than 2 years Telsey's LA office is one if not the busiest casting centers on the west coast.

Actors are to put their strongest and most impressive credit at the top. Bernard Telsey's Resume has his credits listed in the following order
  1. Film
  2. Television
  3. Broadway

Well we all know now what Bernie considers his and staffs(below listed) "Core Competencies" to be(the harmonized combination of multiple resources and skills that distinguish a firm in the marketplace)

A few quotes from a recent article on Bernie titled "A Day in the Life of a Casting Director: Telsey + Company Take on New York’s TV Scene" done by the OBSERVER:

"It’s still the profession that someone can’t put their finger on what we do.”
---yep and we will never get what Eddie Van Halen does either

"Our job is to try to get inside the imagination and inside the brain of the people we’re casting for”
---from Steven Spielberg "Casting sometimes is fate and destiny more than skill and talent, from a director's point of view and I dream for a living. "

“But that’s the great thing about TV now- It’s in the prime. I’ve been casting for a long time now, and sure, television always took a theater person or a film person, but now it’s like a swinging door. It’s no longer ‘Oh, she’s only in theater,’ or ‘Oh, she’s too fancy, she only does feature films.’ Everyone does television now.”
-Bernie Telsey

​Bravo Bernie Don't Stop What You Are Doing - The World Needs You.

​Best

-Jonny

Telsey + Company Staff: Bernie Telsey CSA, Will Cantler CSA, David Vaccari CSA Bethany Knox CSA, Craig Burns CSA, Tiffany Little Canfield CSA, Rachel Hoffman CSA, Justin Huff CSA, Patrick Goodwin CSA, Abbie Brady-Dalton CSA, Cesar A. Rocha CSA, Karyn Casl CSA, Kristina Bramhall, Adam Caldwell, CSA, Josh Einsohn, CSA, Conrad Woolfe, CSA, Rachel Nadler, Rachel Minow, Rikki Gimelstob, Rachel Dill, Ryan Tymensky, Rebecca Scholl, Scott Galina, Madison Sylvester, Lauren Harris, Laura Wade, Ally Kiley, Rose Bochner, Jaime Jaget, Kristian Charbonier
no hollywood ending

Super Heroic Character Actor Guy Fortt Is The "Fearless At 50 Guy". No Doubt.

10/9/2018

 

Broadway Veteran GUY FORTT- An authentic and genuine, global caring and compassionate, dedicated, uplifting, inspiring, firm, strong, disciplined & heroic man, husband, father, civil servant, artist and Lionheart Talent Group friend.

Supports Lisa Price Breast Cancer Victim

​Broadway Veteran "Fearless at 50," Firefighter Guy Fortt Shines During Last Years AARP NFC/AFC Championship & Super Bowl Ads.


"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
-Albert Einstein


Guy Fortt on booking his BROADWAY GIG:

"I have always believed in the law of attraction"
  • ​​One day my wife suggested that I go and audition for The Color Purple but they were only auditioning people for the Chicago tour. I knew that I couldn't do the Chicago tour because of my job at the fire department, but my wife encouraged me to go and show my stuff because she believed that maybe they would want me for the Broadway show.
  • I went in, I sang and to make a long story short, my agent calls me the next day and tells me that they didn't want me for the Chicago tour.
  • I said "That's O.K... No problem"
  • And then he said "They want you for the Broadway show". 
  • Boom. Guy books a Broadway show -The Color Purple.

Guy Fortt, a seasoned theater presence who studied at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, has been featured on Broadway in Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple. For years he has brought his unique flavor to an impressive variety of roles in New York City and Connecticut, commanding the stage in productions of Charles H. Fullers A Soldiers Play, August Wilson's Seven Guitars, and Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire among others. 

GUY IN HOLLYWOOD: ...  READ MORE

"A" List Great Guy Type & For Real --- Kharii Fortt Of The Washington Redskins

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"A' List Great Guy Type - Washington Redskin LB Kharii Fortt Is An Actor And Healthy Living Model

Dying to Entertain Us: Celebrities Keep ODing on Opioids and No One Cares. 

10/1/2018

 
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"The deaths of Prince, Tom Petty, Heath Ledger, and Michelle McNamara haven’t galvanized attention to the prescription drug crisis"

On/Off Broadway Performers Injured Face Early Exits From Opioid Addiction​
​This Past Decade More Than 225 On & Off-Broadway Equity Actors Exited Their Stages Permanently After Sustaining Injuries---Not Because They Did Not Recover From Those Injuries But Because They Did Not Recover From The Opioid's Prescribed To Them For Their Pain From Their Injuries. ​
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Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. fearlessly fights the war on opioids. "This is ultimately about saving lives"
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"This is about saving lives, reducing criminalization, and improving public health" -Mayor Bill de Blasio
Top 10 Side Effects Of The Acquired Opioid Lifestyle​
  1. Patients with a history of opioid addiction may develop cancer​​. (1)
  2. Opioid Abuse And A Professional Or Personal Working Relationship Mix About As Well As Dynamite And A Match
  3. More likely to have a late term abortion or any term abortion
  4. A Life or Death Physical, Mental, & Spiritual Desperation To Increase The Intake Of Pills
  5. Seeking out black market sources and finally moving to other drugs
  6. Likely to overdose from a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, another narcotic
  7. Your own skin revolts against you
  8. Every part of yourself is in terrible pain
  9. Opioid dependent individuals have co-occurring psychiatric disorders. The most common co-occurring psychiatric conditions of opioid addicts are depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder. (2)
  10. Once an Opioid dependent individual progresses from occasional use to addiction, they are likely to have a single focus: obtaining & using the substance. (3)​​
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Holistic Care models are trending as effective addiction treatment programs

Lionheart Talent Group Friend Attorney General Josh Stein Is A Holistic Healthcare Advocate & Won't Back Down. ​Lionhearted Holistic Healthcare Advocate Attorney General Josh Stein has aggressive strategies and programs to fight America's Opioid epidemic:"There are more effective, safer and less dangerous ways of treating most kinds of pain. Fentanyl is killing more and more people. It also killed Prince and Tom Petty.” 
---Josh Stein Attorney General

Holistic Care models are trending  as effective addiction treatment programs that take a “whole person” approach to treatment rather than focusing on the “symptoms” of addiction.

"The SusTus Holistic Healthcare Group supports and defends the National Institute on Drug Abuse's position that what is preferred is a holistic care model for effective addiction treatment programs and to take a “whole person” approach to treatment rather than focusing on the “symptoms” of addiction.
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​Don’t Call Her a Victim: After Surviving Opioids, The Planets Best Photographer Of The Human Condition Nan Goldin Goes After the Makers Over the course of a decades-long career, Ms. Goldin has pushed the medium of photography to be more honest about the human condition. She has documented domestic violence — including her own battering at the hands of a boyfriend — as well as the scourge of H.I.V. and the death of close friends. But she called withdrawal from OxyContin the darkest time of her life.--By The NY Times COLIN MOYNIHAN
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​10 Years After Heath Ledger’s Death, The Opioid Epidemic Rages On And With No Hollywood Ending.The Same Deadly Fix, Just Cheaper...Cops and paramedics and judges and drug counselors are overwhelmed. The painkiller epidemic and the heroin epidemic are one and the same. By John Temple at the Huffington Post.

A Brief, Blood-Boiling History of the Opioid Epidemic From OxyContin coupons to fentanyl-laced heroin, this is how the crisis unfolded...
​
1995: The American Pain Society promotes the “Pain Is the Fifth Vital Sign” standard, urging doctors to monitor pain along with pulse, breathing, blood pressure, and temperature. Purdue Pharma is one of 28 corporate donors.

1996: Purdue Pharma debuts OxyContin with the most aggressive marketing campaign in pharmaceutical history, downplaying its addictiveness. Over the next five years, the number of opioid painkiller prescriptions jumps by 44 million.

2004: With input from a Purdue exec, the Federation of State Medical Boards recommends sanctions against doctors who undertreat pain.

2012: Health care providers write 259 million opioid painkiller prescriptions—nearly enough for every American to have a bottle of pills. The increasingly white face of addiction changes how policymakers frame the problem, from a moral failing necessitating prison time to a disease requiring treatment.

2016: An estimated 64,000 Americans die of drug overdoses—more than all US military casualties in the Vietnam and Iraq wars combined. In December, Congress passes legislation allotting $1 billion to fund opioid addiction treatment and prevention efforts over two years

Read more from Mother Jones Author Julia Laurie
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Filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon's Netflix Documentary “Heroin(e)
Celebrities Addicted To Oxycontin---Celebrity and entertainment industry drug addicts are nothing new, there's always someone that's going to rehab for some addiction or another. But now these celebrities and entertainment industry professional are not addicted to just any drug, they are addicted to Oxycontin- an oral dose pill form. The pill is supposedly time released in order to block pain for 24 hours and help lower dependency, but that didn't work out so well for over 500,000 Americans the last few years who died by self overdosing. Jamie Lee Curtis, Eminen ​Matthew Perry...the list goes on and on of the survivors for the celebrities addicted to opiates, and there's a long road to recovery ahead. ​Some veer off the road to recovery and crash, burn and die.
​Article by Ranker's John Barryman
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Ohio’s Otterbein Has One Of, If Not The Best, BFA Musical Theater Program In The Country. Double the entire undergraduate population at Otterbein University, more than 4,300 Ohioans died of opioid drug overdoses in 2016. As states and the nation continue to grapple with a deadly opioid epidemic, higher education institutions are.
-​Article Written By Columbia's Ariel Hurley
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Why Wall Street Stays Silent About Its Opioid Epidemic.
"Why aren’t more professionals seeking help? The fear of losing their clients and jobs, the fear of stigma and shame and the lack of information on how to handle treatment while abiding by their professional standards and ethics among peers....”
-By Gregory Bresiger NY POST
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The Bronx’s Quiet, Brutal War With Opioids
"On Bronx streets, the epidemic’s devastation is next door, down the street, all around..."
​Written by JOSE A. DELREAl NY TIMES
The Scourge Of Opioids And Heroin Has Reached Disastrous Proportions In Pennsylvania.With opioids killing more people than any other health crisis in Pennsylvania's modern history, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday declared a disaster emergency that suspends regulations hindering access to addiction care.

Longtime Lionheart Friend & Client Ron Siebert On Playing King Lear "Tragic Heroes Make Fantastic Complicated Heroes-- and Terrible Boyfriends"

2/28/2018

 
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"To play King Lear is, for an English speaking actor, the last great role to assail.  It's the Mount Everest of acting." -Ron Siebert

"All the experiences that an actor has lived through in his life must be called upon and used in his portrayal.  

The play, although very dark in tone, is actually about enlightenment; about having gone through fire and having been burned clean of all illusions and misperceptions about who one is, and what others really are in relationship to one another.  It's one of Shakespeare's last plays and you can see what he experienced in his life, and how he was able to mold the events of his time into this horrifying and magnificent portrayal of man's endurance and acceptance of what fate has in store for him and to finally resolve the conflicts of his life before he faces his own ending, purified. 
​
An Aristotelian tragic hero must possess specific characteristics, five of which are below:
  1.  Flaw or error of judgment (hamartia). Note the role of justice and/or revenge in the judgments. 
  2. A reversal of fortune (peripeteia), brought about because of the hero's error in judgment. 
  3. The discovery or recognition that the reversal was brought about by the hero's own actions (anagnorisis). 
  4. Excessive Pride (hubris).
  5. The character's fate must be greater than deserved. 

It's a great privilege and pleasure for me to have the opportunity to play King Lear and the capstone of a career in which I've had the good fortune to have played Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, Cassius and Bassanio, to name a few of Shakespeare's great creations.  I've never had to work so hard and long on a part as I've done for King Lear;  this includes daily, rigorous workouts as well as a constant examination of the text of the play along with vocal work.  How rewarding."

-Ron Siebert
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Ron Siebert In "The Merchant of Venice"

The Renaissance Of Cabaret To A Contemporary Performer Based Art Form Provides A Platform To Communicate More Effectually To The Audience.

2/5/2018

 

(CABARET) Musicals Have the Power to Change Minds, Attitudes & Behaviors.

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Cabaret is currently undergoing a renaissance in the United States as new generations of performing artists version the traditional form in both music and theatre.

In Los Angeles, New York & Seattle producers & performers are striving to and connecting with their audience. Once the connection is made attitudes and then behaviors can be changed or modified. Nothing’s needed except the singer, the song, a musician or two, and the give and take of the audience.

This is a very good thing. This is the way I see it:

Cabaret
  1. Influences the way we think and feel about our own lives and encourages us to take a hard look at ourselves, our values, and our behavior
  2. Creates the atmosphere of sophistication and drama without layers, without extra stuff, without redundant spectacle, without barriers
  3. Focuses on human reality -- direct feelings, ideas, & contact
  4. Is a special world about virtuosity, technique and excellent musicianship
  5. Is a journey through a life & the most personal expression of a performer's heart and soul and accumulated knowledge

​I performed a cabaret style piece some time ago at the Penn State Downtown Theatre in a mash up Cabaret of Eric Bogosian's Drinking In America. What I found as a performer in that piece is that I was able to have a sophisticated performance and connect with my audience without the usual production barriers.

Instead, I Was Able To Focus On The Human Reality Function---Direct Feelings, Ideas & Contact With My Audience.

Alright, Alright, Alright---Break Some Legs

-Jonny


Supports Lisa Price Breast Cancer Victim

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The Legacy Of MARLENE MEYERSON: The Entrepreneurial, Kennedy Advising, Fashionista, Texas Longhorn, Alpha Epsilon Phi Sister's Mission Of Defining Social Networks "Community” And Chiseling Them Unto Marble & Stone.

2/2/2018

 
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MARLENE MEYERSON (1940-2017)
​"The crown of a good name is superior to them all" -Pirkei Avot

In the spirit of inclusivity, openness and a $20 million gift, Friday, February 2 and Saturday, February 3 2018 the JCC sprang into the future as the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. Read More From NY Times Feature Writer ROBIN POGREBIN

Pearl Gluck Is A Filmmaker & Penn State University Film Professor. Pearl's Film THE TURN OUT Will Help Combat Truck Stop Sex Trafficking.

11/15/2017

 
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NOVEMBER 13 2017--FILM FINISHED
In a small town in Southern Appalachia, a trucker must decide if he will stand up and take action against sex trafficking at his truckstop

January 31 2016
I am sitting and having a Sunday brunch with Lionheart friend, Pearl Gluck, east of Union Square in a second avenue diner in New York City. Speaking clear and direct, she shares with me the agenda of finishing her remarkable film, The Turn Out. Pearl is a pretty much totally awesome friend and what I appreciate most about her is her momentum— Pearl has a driving force and advancing strength that enables her to complete tasks and finish projects. (And here I thought I got stuff done. Fuggedaboutit.)

Pearl is a Brooklyn girl, a self-discovered creative genius confirmed by many, and all-around fascinating. Pearl has a fast, decisive pace and it really pumps me up.

More about Pearl:

​Pearl Gluck calls her process of making films "personal archeology." Each of her films combine an element of autobiographical storytelling with a crafted three-act structure, whether it be her debut film about her own trajectory from her Hasidic upbringing in Brooklyn to her latest film, The Turn Out, which turns the lens on domestic sex trafficking in Southern Appalachia. Pearl and her work have been part of the Sundance Lab, as well as played at the Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and PBS.

Pearl founded Palinka Pictures, which is a multimedia production company with a twist— creating, writing and producing productions involving artists, media makers, and educators to make a difference through the arts.

Now she is raising finishing funds for her latest film, a documentary-fiction hybrid, which is nothing short of remarkable. The Turn Out tells the story of a trucker who discovers that an under-aged girl is being sex-trafficked at his local truck stop in Mineral Wells, West Virginia. He must decide if he will be moved to get involved or if he will remain a bystander. The cast includes truckers, trafficking survivors , and activists. It is a fictionalized storyline which emerged from her documentary research and shot on location where efforts are being made to combat local trafficking at truck stops.
pearl on facebook
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Women Speak For Themselves: Sara Cooper Of Tisch's School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program

10/1/2017

 
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The New Studio on Broadway integrates foundational acting training with vocal and physical techniques drawing upon the repertoire of the American musical, contemporary American plays, and the traditional classical canon to hone the actor's instrument in all aspects of all three disciplines essential to be an actor in the Musical Theatre: Acting, Singing and Dancing. Collaboration with the Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program teaches students how to work with composers, lyricists, librettists, choreographers and directors on readings, workshops and full productions of new works. This is the only theatre collaboration training program in this country.


The Real Star Of The Phantom Of The Opera On Broadway Is The Score And Conductor Richard Carsey.

8/9/2017

 
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera holds a special place in the hearts of actors, casting directors, agents, producers and the general public of theater goers.

Why? Because they are left in awe of the music--the score. 

​Bravo to Richard and thanks in advance for the invite to see this magnificent production once again.
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Go Go  BoCo - Musical And Contemporary Theater Programs With Focus On Preparation, Collaboration, And Exploration.

3/21/2017

 

Founded in 1867, Boston Conservatory at Berklee trains exceptional performing artist for careers in music, dance, and theater. 

Brava To The BoCo Communities Excellence In Education & Performance.
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For Performance Opportunities At Boston Conservatory At Berklee
​Click Here

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A BoCo 2017 Best - Javier Cabrera

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ABOUT COACH OF THE YEAR KENT GASH - Director of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ New Studio on Broadway.

10/1/2016

 

KENT GASH is the founding Director of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ New Studio on Broadway and the director of the late fall 2016 Senior Showcase Production of THE RIOT OF THE TIPSY BACCHANALS!

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A member of the Tony Award Nominating Committee, Professor Gash is a graduate of the Carnegie-Mellon University School of Drama with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and the University of California at Los Angeles’ School of Theatre, Film and Television with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Directing for the Theatre and Television.

Kent has put together the most amazing senior showcase I have ever scouted and I have been witness to over 300 senior showcases. His kids hustled. His kids were intense. His kids executed. His kids were talented. His kids took no prisoners. From the brilliant opening scene with the brilliant Portia Boston (singer & movie star) to the end with Panda bear rising worship, I was standing and applauding this group. You don't get results like that unless the head coach (Kent Gash) possesses some or all of the following listed below. I'm sure he has all of those traits plus more. It was a pleasure to meet him after the show. ​
  1. ​Unrelenting work ethic
  2. Recruiting and development
  3. Ability to adapt
  4. Attention to detail
  5. Making the process fun

NYU at the New Studio on Broadway for Acting senior Ram Kanneganti's  performance as a hopeful romantic is like the force of a thousand mountains.

Ram Kanneganti is often times mistaken by people for the infamous Russian bad boy, Johnny Fire---I Love this kid.
Ram Kanneganti Is A Great Actor
Ram Kanneganti

“Cojot: A Second Chance Comes Only Once.” Penn State Professor, Boaz Dvir, Produces a PBS Documentary on Michel Cojot, Narrated by Judd Nelson

3/26/2016

 
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Messenger To Mankind & Nobel Peace Winner Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel
By David Shankbone - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19251042

"Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately." ​-- ELIE WIESEL

"There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win." -- ELIE WIESEL

" Every Murder Is A Suicide" -​​-ELIE WIESEL


Penn State Professors are— with the leadership of Boaz Dvir—  producing a PBS documentary on unsung hero, Michel Cojot, narrated by Judd Nelson.

A preview of the film will be presented by the American Jewish Historical Society on  March 23, 2016 in New York City.

The documentary, which Dvir fashions as a “suspenseful character study,” will focus on two pivotal events in Cojot’s life.  

​One, after his lifelong obsession of hunting down ex-­Gestapo Commander, Klaus Barbie. Cojot has a clear shot and when he was about to pull the trigger, Goldberg relates that he was unable to kill Barbie for a number of complex psychological reasons, including a haunting quotation from Elie Wiesel that impeded his action: “Every murder is a suicide.”  

​The second tells the story of playing a pivotal role in one of history’s most daring and successful hostage-rescue operations.

​
documentary FILMMAKER boaz dvir

Musicals Have the Power to Change Minds, Attitudes & Behaviors

12/16/2015

 
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Almost everybody knows the story of the Romeo and Juliet-inspired musical, WEST SIDE STORY.


ABSTRACT: Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol. 6(3), Aug 2012, 224-230.

“Research in the field of entertainment-education demonstrates that narrative forms such as TV and radio can impact prosocial behaviors and attitudes. The current study addresses whether attitudes can also be affected by musical theater. Attitudes were assessed in 171 audience members before and after a professionally produced musical comedy that used social–cognitive principles to explore the theme of deer hunting. Measures included an 8-item Hunting Attitude Scale and an instrument assessing audience engagement (captivation, intellectual stimulation, emotional resonance, spiritual value, social cohesion/insight, and specific emotional reactions). A significant change was observed in attitudes targeted by the show. Audience members' reports of emotional engagement and insight were significantly related to hunting attitude change. Participants who had complex emotional reactions to the show (e.g., feeling both happy and sad) were significantly more likely than those who had only positive reactions to score higher on multiple engagement measures. Although previous research has found a link between strength of audience emotional involvement and personal efficacy, present results suggest an important additional role for complexity of emotional reaction.”

Overall, the study indicates that musical theater may be a promising method for promoting attitudinal change.

“So what’s the relationship between attitude and behavioral change?” you may be asking.

Behaviors usually, but not always, reflect established beliefs and attitudes. For example, a man who believes strongly in abstinence before marriage may choose to remain a virgin until his wedding night. Under other circumstances, that same man may engage in premarital sex despite his convictions after being influenced by social messages that his masculinity is dependent on sexual activity. Attitude is a feeling, belief, or opinion of approval or disapproval towards something. Behavior is an action or reaction that occurs in response to an event or internal stimuli (i.e., thought). People hold complex relationships between attitudes and behavior that are further complicated by the social factors influencing both. 

Behavior can be influenced by a number of factors beyond attitude, including preconceptions about self and others, monetary factors, social influences (what peers and community members are saying and doing), and convenience. Someone may have strong convictions about improving the public school system in their town, but if it means a hefty increase to their property taxes, they may vote against any improvements due to the potential for monetary loss; or they may simply not vote at all because their polling place is too far from their home, or the weather is bad on Election Day.  Psychology Journal Archives
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