REFERENCES

To Whom It May Concern:
 

I am pleased to submit this letter of reference for Zander Meisner on behalf of myself and the creative team members of

Camp Broadway with whom Zander regularly collaborates.

 

Zander has been a regular seasonal staff member for Camp Broadway’s programs for both our student workshop series as well as for our program titled Shining Stars for children ages 6 – 9. Zander was known to us as a Broadway performer and musician. Through our early conversations, we learned he was enrolled as a master’s Candidate at The Steinhardt School at NYU. Given Camp Broadway’s mission is meet kids of all ages and experience levels in the space between education and entertainment, we were very happy to find an individual who could bring these practices together through both experience and formal education.

 

One of my primary responsibilities at Camp Broadway is the identification of creative instructors for the company’s programs. Meeting a professional like Zander provides us with a talent asset that is not always easy to find in the Broadway community. There are many great performers, who we engage to work with the amateur young people served by Camp Broadway. Because of the specific and rigorous training of a musical theater performer, we often find the teaching component is an area in which we need to train performers. It’s a different but related skill to conducting a rehearsal, so when Zander came our way I was confident he could handle two of our most challenging programs (mentioned above).

 

I introduced Zander to the Workshop Manager (Kathy Campbell, who has recently retired) who included Zander in the roster of Music Directors. The challenges of this program are many; the students are often on a field trip planned by the teacher, so some don’t necessarily want to sing and dance; the students ages, interests and abilities vary greatly even within a single group and often require a bit of crowd control. Zander become a ‘go-to’ instructor quickly. His skills as an educator not only helped him cut through all the above and give the students a valuable 90-minute workshop, but he could also empathize and communicate with the teachers present, giving them confidence that this was not only fun, but a worthwhile educational experience.

 

In the Shining Stars program, it can be difficult to find instructors who wish to work with this age group. One of our challenges as a company is to identify professionals who can give the same respect to a group of 6-9 year-olds as is given to teen students in our pre-professional programs. Zander does not only this, but also cares for their parents. Often these young students are in programs like ours for the first time. For these reasons, they may have some behaviors that need to be managed in addition to learning to sing and dance. Zander leads this team in sensitivity and talent in this area providing a positive influence for staff members without the experience of an educator in this area. He does this while filling the role of Music Director teaching 5-6 songs over 5 half days culminating in a performance. The students have solos, perform in groups all with very minimal support from the adult performer in the show.

 

All of our team especially, Director of Shining Stars, Anna Raful as well as our Program Manager Barb Domue appreciate and have commented on not just Zander’s creative talent, but his work with parents and children interpersonally. The owner of the company, Susan Lee, who has seen nearly 1,500 artists come through Camp Broadway in the 25 years of operations, has remarked on Zander’s interaction with kids and families as well as the quality of the end product in the programs of which he has been a part. For me, in managing 50 seasonal creative staff members at our peak season each summer, Zander is positive, hard working and talented. I hope he remains on our roster of artists and educators for many years.

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or if I can provide additional information.

 

Best regards,

 

Melissa