ABOUT ISE PROFESSIONAL STAFF
Although currently the ISE employs ZERO full-time staff, the ISE enjoys extraordinary professional Leadership at both the Board and staff level.
In fact, currently the two primary administrative leaders of our non-profit are also members of our Board of Directors, as these leaders are the founders of the Iowa Shakespeaere Experience. Our two ISE administrators also serve multiple capacities within the programming side of our organization, including providing service to our educational programs and as Executive Producers (also with various artistic roles) for our annual Shakesperience Festival.
Our two administrators are known across the state of Iowa as simply consumate leaders in their fields. They maintain a vibrant social presence in the Metro and are active in a variety of different and diverse leadership networks of notable depth and breadth.
Get to know our two administrative founders by exploring some of the interesting information about them found below, where you will find their impressive Bio Sketches. You will find our adjectives do not exceed the reality.
Grant funders or others who wish to review the full professional curriculum vitae of our staff, will also find that material (which is extensive) in these webpages.
The curriculum vitae for our staff include an explicit list of the many nationally published journal articles, artistic works, educational manuals and other professional products our staff have produced.
ISE EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP: BRIEF OVERVIEW
Executive Director (and founding Board member) for The Iowa Shakespeare Experience:
Robin Anne Heinemann, BS. Ed, Certified Prevention Professional, Certified At-risk Youth Professional, Certified Youth Development Professional, Certified Shakespeare Presenter (Folger National Shakespeare Library)
Artistic Director (and founding ISE Board member) for The Iowa Shakespeare Experience:
Lorenzo L. Sandoval, MFA, National Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow in the Arts, Certified Shakespeare Presenter (Folger National Shakespeare Library)
ABOUT ISE PROFESSIONAL
LEADERSHIP:
BRIEF BIO SKETCHES
Lorenzo Sandoval, MFA; Board of Directors and
Artistic Director for The Iowa Shakespeare Experience
Lorenzo Sandoval, Producing Artistic Director/Director for the Iowa Shakespeare Experience AND Playwright, Actor, and Educator: Leadership Bio Sketch
A five-time Prairie Playwright Award winner who has been published by one of America’s largest publishing houses, Mr. Sandoval received an MFA from the internationally-renowned University of Iowa’s Playwrights Workshop, where he held one of the nation’s scant 100 Patricia Roberts Harris Fellowships. He has been writing, teaching, directing and producing ever since.
Mr. Sandoval is a former top executive and Non-Profit CEO who loves theatre so passionately, he returned to school in his late forties to get his MFA. Prior to that time and since, he has provided extensive executive leadership to a wide variety of large agencies and specialized non-profits, such as for Metro Arts Alliance, the Iowa Interfaith Alliance, Proteus, Swift and Company, and in particular to the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. In a way that may allow him an especially broad perspective, his career has significant depth and range: he’s provided training and consultation to both Fortune 500 Companies like Sears, to national agencies like the Red Cross of America and the United States Department of Justice, and to Universities as well as to non-profit start ups. Mr. Sandoval is further an accomplished grant-writer who routinely brought millions of dollars annually into our state during an extensive stint as a lead grant writer for one of our state’s leading social service agencies. His professional achievements have resulted in numerous Board of Director appointments as well as several governmental and Mayoral Appointments, such as service on the city’s Human Rights Commission, where he was elected Vice Chair.
Additionally fully bi-lingual in Spanish, when not engaged with his responsibilites for the ISE, currently Mr. Sandoval is a popular and deeply accomplished teaching veteran who specializes in multi-disciplinary teaching across the humanities, theatre, literature and communication fields at institutions of higher education throughout the Midwest. Mr. Sandoval has taught numerous courses for five different colleges and Universities in the central Iowa area and for additional institutions all across Iowa, including the University of Iowa. He also develops, manages and implements award-winning theatre programming for youth – and is further a notably popular instructor for the area’s Senior Colleges.
Mr. Sandoval’s leadership in the Arts is equally as multi-faceted. He is a rostered artist with the Iowa Arts Council, with Metro Arts Alliance, and with p’ARTners Unlimited, and has provided extensive leadership in the arts and in social services through both elected and appointed service on numerous state and regional Boards, from his election as a delegate to Imagine Iowa 2010 to his recent completion of a term as Vice President for the state’s Humanities Iowa Board of Directors.
Mr. Sandoval’s artistic credits span a wide range of disciplines.
· As an Artistic Director, before founding the Iowa Shakespeare Experience, for half a decade Mr. Sandoval served in dual capacity as the jump-start catylist for the Salisbury House Shakespeare initiative he founded, as well as for the Terrace Hill “Victorian Voices” theatre initiatives – serving as Artistic Director, Director, Producing Director and Playwright for both unique series which continue even now. He is also in his 8th year of directing, writing and producing original theatre for the Des Moines Art Center.
· As a Director, Mr. Sandoval has directed and produced for a wide variety of theatre companies including Stage West here in Des Moines - -and in extensive teaching residences in other states.
· As a veteran scriptwriter and playwright, Mr. Sandoval receives frequent commissions, such as a 2008 radio script writing commission from the University of Alabama or the 2009 work that he is completing for a statewide theatre project under prestigious funding from the Iowa Arts Council. His work has been published by one of the nation’s largest dramatic publishing houses: Dramatic Press.
As a media personality, Mr. Sandoval has anchored two television shows, most notably the weekly public affairs series “Insight Iowa” for Iowa Public Television. He makes frequent appearances across the state in various capacities as an MC for numerous events – such as his five year stint as MC for International Day at Drake University. Currently his voice-over media work can be heard on both coasts and in such special projects as a 2009 film made in honor of former US Attorney General Janet Reno. He is also the on-air host of the World Food Prize.
· As an actor, Lorenzo Sandoval has appeared in more than 90 industrials and films as well as on regional stages all across the Midwest. Recent roles include a pivotal role in Caucus the Musical which was featured on CBS National Television -and the title role of Mark Twain in his original play, Twain at Twilight, produced in 2008 at Terrace Hill. He’s also been a guest artist in residency out-of-state.
· As a multi-disciplinary performing artist, Mr. Sandoval has been a featured musician at the Iowa State Fair mainstage and has danced on stage across the US – including on the United Nations stage.
· As a Shakespearean artist, Mr. Sandoval has been involved in several Midwestern Shakespeare companies before founding The Iowa Shakespeare Experience. He is noted for his seamless adaptations of Shakespeare as well as for the creation of new Shakespearean-based works, such as the acclaimed “Romeo and Juliet: Thrice Told Tales”; “The Regina Monologues”, and “Much Adoo-wop About Something”. (All titles copyrighted with full rights reserved.)
Mr. Sandoval also has completed a variety of prestigious artistic residencies – some as close as a recent residency at the Des Moines Arts Center with nationally-acclaimed artist Enrique Chagoya. Other residencies took Mr. Sandoval all across the country, such as his 2002 residency at Theatre-On-the- Bay with the University of Wisconsin in Marinette.
As astute observers of the Midwestern cultural scene have observed, truly Lorenzo Sandoval is one of the relatively few artists in this region able to derive his living completely from his chosen art form. He is a passionate advocate and patron of all things theatre- he lives the Dream.
SUMMARY OF MR. SANDOVAL'S TEACHING AND WRITING CAREER
EDUCATION: I received my BA from Grand View University (1994) and my MFA from the University of Iowa (1998) where I was a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow in the Playwrights Workshop.
Since 2002 my employment experience has comprised contractual work primarily in education and theatre. The majority of my employment in this period has been with colleges in the Des Moines area; in fact, I have taught 93 sections, averaging 5 courses each Fall and Spring semester. I have produced and directed Shakespearean and other classic plays since 2004 for such prestigious cultural institutions as Terrace Hill and Salisbury House. Since 2009 I have been the Artistic Director of the Iowa Shakespeare Experience. In addition to engaging in the aforementioned employment, I have performed hundreds of hours of contractual work providing theatre experiences to culturally diverse and adjudicated youth, and assisting nonprofit agencies with writing grant applications. Below is a summary of my major employment experience.
Below is a summary of my theatre experience:
Taught 17 sections of theatre at 5 colleges/universities
4 sections at UIU
5 sections at DMACC
5 sections at GVU
2 sections at U of I
1 section at Morningside
Directed 42 plays since 1992
Produced or co-produced 14 plays
Acted in 56 productions in my lifetime
Plays written by Sandoval have had 38 productions
Robin Heinemann, Board of Directors and
ISE Executive Director: Leadership Bio Sketch
Text: Chrysalis Foundation "The Power of Her" 2010
Photo by Bill Nellans
Robin Heinemann, Executive Director for the Iowa Shakespeare Experience, Founding Executive Producer for the Iowa Shakesperience ™ Festival, has significant experience in founding and jumpstarting ground-breaking programs which almost without exception, have gone on to win major state and federal level awards. She is also a talented artistic designer who has designed and provided a wide variety of leadership roles for 14 different theatrical productions since 2004, as well as for two different television series in Iowa and a variety of television-based initiatives in New York City.
Ms. Heinemann is a former associate of Showmakers, a New York City based international Television production studio which garnered a record-breaking number of Emmy Awards. Indeed, Ms. Heinemann worked in various associations with the judging process for the International Emmy Awards, an experience which exposed to her to the highest standards of artistic quality around the world- and which gave her an intimate familiarity with the processes which create award-winning quality.
Ms.Heinemann also worked various production and audience/ticket management roles for award-winning TV shows such as Saturday Night Live (then with Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Jane Murray and frequent guests Steve Martin, et al) - work which led to her selection for a prestigious role in the New York City Flagship offices of one of the nation’s most recognized industry leaders: the NBC television network. There, she was one of an elite-five member team which served as the personal staff for the Executive Office of NBC’s then-President and CEO, the television wunderkind leader Fred Silverman, first in association with industry mogul Brandon Tartifkoff and later for entertainment industry legend Grant Tinker. There, she mastered client and customer management skills for the likes of King Huessien of Jordan and guests ranging from Ted Kennedy to Raquel Welch- skills she later applied for several other industry leaders such as Hyatt Hotels and Embassy Suites hotels, where she served in over 28 different capacities for several hotel openings and for prototype properties.
Following her time in New York and an 8 year stint in Austin, Texas, where Ms. Heinemann was involved with that city’s renowned music video production and music festival scenes (in association with the Kerrville Folk Festival and appearing on MTV music videos with Bob Wills and also with the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Robin returned to her family’s home in Des Moines. Here, she turned her significant familiarity with top-notch productions across multiple genres to helping produce a wide variety of community special events, such as the $300,000 White House Millennium Communities project she founded for Metro Des Moines– and served as Tri-Chair, in association with the Office of the Mayor and the City of Des Moines, the Downtown Community Alliance- and 5 other major Metro-area businesses and banks. Ms. Heinemann was awarded the “Key to the City” of Des Moines for this initiative, which involved working with Mayors from 28 metro-area cities. To date she has been involved as an Event Chair, Committee Chair, or sub-committee chair on over 50 different special events and fundraisers across the Metro.
Upon Ms. Heinemann’s return to Des Moines, she turned her professional talents to the development of national prototype programs that would serve some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations- particularly inner city families and youth. She designed prototype programming for multiple federal agencies in association with key positions she held for 8 years within the Des Moines Public Schools and then for 10 years at Iowa State University. Her work with these programs led to one of America’s rare 20 “Exemplary in the Nation” awards (and Iowa’s first) - -a testament to her experience and proven ability in creating innovative, effective ways to address some of the nation’s most pressing problems- such as the methamphetamine prevention project she served for many years. She could be found on the leading edges of the initial national movement to create research-based prevention initiatives and is bona-fide expert in a foundational field known as “programming fidelity” – involving the use of Logic Model outcome analysis. Her seminal work is nationally published and disseminated and has resulted in national recognition and leadership in conjunction with prototype projects at Harvard University, the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Alexandria Virginia, and in Washington DC at the United States Department of Education, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the United States Department of Justice, and the United States Department of Defense. For the later agency, Ms. Heinemann was one of only 6 federal-level consultants selected from all across America, entrusted to analyze issues on US Military bases located all over the world.
Ms. Heinemann’s work in Iowa has involved a wide breadth of other activities that speak to her multi-faceted interests- from the nascent development of programs at Salisbury House and Terrace Hill to her service as Arts and Cultural Liaison to the Office of the Mayor (Des Moines) and her appointment as the founding Chair of the Des Moines Public Art Task force, work which received one of the state’s highest arts awards- the Iowa Arts Council “Arts in Community” award. She further distinguished herself in the field of law at Drake University, where she received two American Jurisprudence Awards for highest scholarship and also was named a national Rockefeller Foundation Alternate Scholar in Divinity. Previously, Ms. Heinemann was a President’s Scholar at Drake and with John Cabot International College, she also attended university in Rome, Italy and Paris, France as well as the L’Abris Institute in Huemoz, Switzerland.
Ms. Heinemann is a member of both the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute and Leadership Iowa, institutions which during the time of her election, annually elect less than 50 individuals from across the Metro and the State in any given year. She has served on 32 different national, regional, state and metro Boards; particularly related to her work for the ISE were her two full terms on the Board of Directors for the Des Moines Community Playhouse and service as a founding Board member for one of Iowa’s largest initiatives for utilizing the arts to reach at-risk youth: The Iowa Arts Council Take-A-Step project.
The breadth and depth of Ms. Heinemann's accomplishments and achievements provide Ms. Heinemann with a perspective at once wide and focused - and with unusual range. Ms. Heinemann’s work for the ISE encompasses the development and supervision of all ISE youth educational programs as well as resource development and lead grant writing services for the ISE, where she maintains the laudable (and rare) 99% proposal acceptance rate she established for Des Moines Public Schools and Iowa State University. She is a member of some of the most prestigious social clubs and community service networks in the city and also leads the ISE in the development of special events and public relations, and is largely responsible for the ISE's notable growth to date.
In summary: Both Lorenzo Sandoval and Robin Heinemann are consummate strategic planners, out-of-the-box thinkers, and accomplished professionals skilled in both big-picture thinking as well as in detail-oriented work production. Their work routinely wins major awards whether at the city, state or national levels. The ISE is fortunate to have the benefit of professional skills of this nature, and under this type of leadership firepower, we look forward to continued strong growth that matches the extraordinary growth we have, thanks to leaders like these, already seen to date.