Meet Our Faculty & Staff
David Tripold, PhD
Associate Professor, Chair, and Department Advising Coordinator (DAC)
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Liturgical Studies – Drew University
B.M., M.M. – Westminster Choir College of Rider University
PROFILE
Dr. Tripold is a nationally recognized choral conductor, voice teacher, organist and liturgical scholar who chairs Monmouth University’s Music and Theatre Arts Department, oversees departmental advising, and directs the university chamber and concert choirs. For over thirty years he has been engaged as a church organist and choir director and has performed as a baritone soloist and organist in the United States and in Europe. His scholarship focuses on American church music, especially church choirs and their repertoire.
E-Mail: dtripold@monmouth.edu
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Sheri Anderson
Specialist Professor, Theatre Stage Management
EDUCATION
M.F.A. – Theatre (Stage Management), University of California, San Diego
B.A. – Communication, William Jewell College, Kansas City
PROFILE
Professor Anderson began her Broadway career with the musical Play On! for which she was the assistant director. To date, she has done 13 Broadway productions, two national tours, and numerous regional and off-Broadway shows. Highlights include the Broadway productions of The Phantom of the Opera, Little Me, and The Full Monty. She has been privileged to work with such theatrical legends as Neil Simon, Cy Coleman, Jerry Herman, Marvin Hamlisch, Terence McNally, John Guare, Chita Rivera, Rob Marshall, and Horton Foote, as well as with Hollywood heavyweights Martin Short, John Lithgow, John Ritter, Henry Winkler, Kevin Spacey, and Madeline Kahn. Postgraduate study includes Shakespeare in Performance at Oxford University. Fields of interest include musical theatre and postcolonial drama. She is featured in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the American Society for Theatre Research, MLA, and Mensa. Anderson is the author of The Ultimate True Blood Trivia Guide.
E-Mail: shanders@monmouth.edu
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John J. Burke, PhD
Associate Professor, Theatre; Producer/Artistic Director, Shadow Lawn Stage
EDUCATION
Ph.D. – Michigan State University, Theatre
M.A.T. – New Jersey City College, English and Theatre Education
M.A.L.S. – New School, Liberal Studies
B.A. – English, Seton Hall University
PROFILE
Dr. Burke is a theatre generalist, who teaches a wide variety of theatre courses. His specialties include directing, theatre management, and theatre education. His research interest is Irish Theatre and incorporating theatre methods in all areas of teaching. Dr. Burke has been the Executive Director of the Monmouth County Arts Council & Arts Center and has taught at Trenton State College and Olivet College. At present, Dr. Burke is Director of Theatre Arts for Monmouth University, teaches acting, creative dramatics, tech theatre, and improvisation classes, and directs department productions. He developed the department’s Theatre Major. Dr. Burke is the Artistic Director/Producer of the Shadow Lawn Stage, the professional Actors’ Equity theatre of Monmouth University. He has directed or produced more than 200 plays and musicals.
E-Mail: jburke@monmouth.edu
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Fred Del Guercio
Technical Director/Set Designer
EDUCATION
BFA, The Maryland Institute College of Art
PROFILE
Fred holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. After a brief career in film making, Fred opened a stained glass studio in Staunton, VA where he left many of his glass creations in churches, commercial and residential architecture. He has shown his glasswork in the Virginia Museum in Richmond, the Statesville Museum in Statesville, NC, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC, The Birmingham Museum in Alabama, and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA. He has taught photography, stained glass, and jewelry/metal craft at Mary Baldwin College and here at Monmouth University.
Moving back to his home state of New Jersey in 1984, Fred started an interior design and remodeling business in Monmouth County, making "architectural enhancements" in wood, stone, glass, mosaics, and metal. Fred continues his private work in sculpture where he employs his collected skills of working with various materials in his home studio. His recent work has been included in exhibits at The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, and the exhibit “Trenton Metals” at Trenton’s Artworks Gallery.
As the technical director for the Lauren K. Woods Theatre since 2002, Fred has designed and helped students build more than 45 sets for academic productions, as well as for the Shadow Lawn Stage. He teaches art appreciation and 3-D design, as well as stagecraft, at Monmouth University and notes: “My early stage designs were substantially influenced by my sculptural work, now my sculptural work includes theatrical elements.”
E-Mail: fdelguer@monmouth.edu
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Ronald G. Frangipane
Associate Professor
EDUCATION
M.F.A. Goddard College
B.A., Eastman School of Music
PROFILE
Professor Frangipane attended and assisted Master classes with Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland, and studied with Paul Creston. Received more than 30 gold and platinum albums as an arranger-producer in the record industry. Received an Emmy award for his musical score “This Was America” created for the NBS series with William Shatner, arranged or produced recordings for notable artists, including John Lennon, Diana Ross, Kiss, The Monkees, the Rolling Stones, Janis Ian, Neil Diamond, Dusty Springfield, and Grace Slick (Jefferson Starship). Specializes in music in America culture: Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, American Musical Theatre, and Performance.
E-Mail: rfrangip@monmouth.edu
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Michael Gillette
Specialist Professor of Music
Director of the Chamber Orchestra
EDUCATION
M.M., Yale University
B.A., Hamilton College
PROFILE
For thirty years Michael Gillette has been a professional violinist in New York City. He is currently the Assistant Concertmaster of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and is a member of the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center. He has performed numerous solo, chamber music, and orchestral concerts in New York and New Jersey, and has toured in Japan, the UK, Italy, and Venezuela.
Michael has played for many Broadway productions including Les Miserables, Annie, Beauty and the Beast, Sunset Boulevard, and The Phantom of the Opera. He has performed with such diverse talents as Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Andre Watts, Renee Fleming, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., The Modern Jazz Quartet, Jimmy Page, and Puff Daddy.
E-Mail: mgillett@monmouth.edu
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Christine Reder
Program Coordinator for the Department of Music and Theatre Arts
EDUCATION
BA, Monmouth University
PROFILE
Christine has been with the Department of Music and Theatre Arts for twelve years. She handles all of the administrative requirements of the department.
E-Mail: creder@monmouth.edu
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Nicole Ricciardi
Assistant Professor of Theatre
EDUCATION
MFA, Carnegie Mellon University
BA, Drew University
PROFILE
Specialization includes all areas of acting and directing with a particular interest in Shakespeare and early Modern English Drama. Nicole Ricciardi is a professional theatre actress and director. She was formally the Head of the Acting Program for the New York Film Academy and an Assistant Professor of Drama for Syracuse University, where she coordinated the study abroad program at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. She has taught workshops and classes around the world and locally at Drew University, Eastern Connecticut State University, and Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. Nicole is the director of “Old Face New,” a company of NYC theatre and music artists whose goal is to take old stories and present them in a new way. She is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and the Circle East Theatre Company in NYC.
E-Mail: nricciar@monmouth.edu
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Gloria Rotella, EdD
Professor – Music (Piano)
EDUCATION
PhD - Rutgers University
MA – Jersey City State College
Music M/A – Administration, Monmouth University
BA – Jersey City State College, Music
PROFILE
Dr. Rotella was nominated for Outstanding Music Educator in 1986 by Westminster Choir College, received Teacher of the Year Recognition from Long Branch School District in 1991, and was the recipient of the Outstanding Adjunct of the Year at Brookdale Community College for 2005-2006. She has been a motivational speaker for the New Teacher Institute at Rider University, and an educational consultant for the New Jersey Department of Education as a Collaborative Assessment and Planning for Achievement (CAPA) team member. Dr. Rotella was inducted into the School Masters Association of N.J. February, 2007.
As a full-time specialist professor, Dr. Rotella has served on the Monmouth University Arts & Sciences Advisory Committee since 2006 and is a contributing member to the NCATE review for fall 2011. She is chair of the Academic Scheduling Committee for the Department of Music & Theatre Arts for Monmouth University and is advisor of the Curriculum & Instruction Committee for the department.
Dr. Rotella has implemented a Job Shadowing Program at Monmouth University’s Department of Music & Theatre Arts for Long Branch High School seniors from spring 2008 to present. As professor of Music Education, she has expanded the Music Education methods classes to include guest lecturers in the teaching methodologies/philosophies of Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Orff/Schulwerk. Additionally, she helped to re-establish a partnership with the Long Branch Public School district which grants our music students the opportunity to do their Early Field Placement/Student Teaching.
As Director of Applied Music, she helped to increase Monmouth University student enrollments in Applied Music classes by 50% from spring 2007 to fall 2011. Under Dr. Rotella’s direction, enrollment in Performance Class has increased from 10 students per week (spring 2007) to 50 students (fall 2011); and senior Recitals have increased by 20% from 2007-2008 to 2010-2011 school year.
E-Mail: grotella@monmouth.edu
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George Wurzbach
Specialist Professor
EDUCATION
M.A., Hunter College
PROFILE
I earned my Masters in Music Composition at Hunter College, CUNY in 1984 with a concentration in choral writing, musical theatre and electronic music. For the past two decades I have worked as a musician, composer and producer on projects including; theme and segment music for the Time Warner PBS Series Real Simple, the award winning Scholastic Professional Culture Kit (a multi-ethic audio and book series used by schools worldwide), and I am currently composing a Christmas oratorio, The Scullery Girl, with American folk music legend Tom Paxon. As a specialist professor at Monmouth University I teach Advanced Music Theory, American Music Traditions, and music direct the department’s Spring Musical. In addition I supervise Music Industry Students though their business internships to ensure that their experiences are productive, rewarding and preparatory for a career in the industry. As well I conduct first semester Record Production, a course I hope will be the beginning of a future music technology program here at Monmouth University.
E-Mail: gwurzbac@monmouth.edu
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