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Clay James
Assistant Professor
Musical Theater
Program Coordinator
973-736-7341
jamesbr@mail.montclair.edu

Director and choreographer Clay James teaches musical theater in MSU's Departments of Music and Theater/Dance. He came to Montclair in 2005 after serving as head of musical theater for the Department of Theater Arts at the University of Miami. He has also taught at Florida Atlantic University, Miami Dade Community College and New World School of the Arts. His directing and choreography credits include the St. Louis Muny Opera, Playhouse in the Park, Shores Performing Arts Center, North Shore Music Theater, and Walt Disney Productions, among many others.

Stephen Oosting

Tenor Stephen Oosting has been hailed as an interpreter of Britten and Bach, Strauss and Mozart, Puccini and Wagner. He has had a long career in opera, where he has sung more than forty leading roles, and in concert work, where he has appeared frequently as an oratorio soloist and recitalist. In addition he has been a frequent champion of new music premiering works for numerous composers. His concert appearances include those with the Aspen Festival, the Madeira Bach Festival, the Vermont Mozart Festival, the Basically Bach Festival, and with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony an the Rochester Philharmonic. He has recorded for RCA, Newport Classics, and the Albany labels (the first recording of the American composer Stephen Albert's orchestral song cycle Into Eclipse). Prof. Oosting holds a doctorate and a performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master's from Michigan /state University. He is also the current NJ State Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Scott Richards

Scott Davenport Richards holds a Bachelors degree from Yale University and a Masters in Fine Arts from New York University Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program. He is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson and the Frederick Loewe awards and has written many musical theater works including music and libretto for Charlie Crosses The Nation - a Jazz Opera, music for Coyote Goes Salmon Fishing and Sanctuary DC, a rap musical about the homeless in Washington (Helen Hayes Award nomination.) Works for children include a number of commissions from Theatreworks USA: Corduroy (music, lyrics, orchestration), Sundiata! The Lion King of Mali (music, lyrics, orchestration), Island of the Blue Dolphins (orchestrations) and Junie B. Jones (orchestration.) His playscores have been heard at resident theaters around the country including the Public, Old Globe, Alliance, and Madison Rep. Highlights include the world premiere of Lee Blessing's Cobb at the Yale Repertory Theatre directed by Lloyd Richards and the US premiere of Nikos Kazantzakis's Christopher Columbus at the New Federal Theater. As an actor, Mr. Richards originated the role of Sylvester in the original Broadway production of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Aaron Jodoin
Music Direction
Musical Theater
973-655-7212

Stephanie Samaras
Visiting Specialist
Voice
Musical Theater
973-655-7212

Stephanie Samaras is a pioneer in applying healthy classical technique to the training of voices in the pop field. Her lecture and video, Classical Training Applied to the Pop Voice, has been presented at the First International Congress of Voice Teachers in Strasbourg, France, and also at the National NATS convention in Los Angeles. Professionals from the world of Broadway - among them directors Tommy Tune and Jeff Calhoun, and the casting agencies of Hughes/Moss and Johnson/Liff - send singers to work with her. Her students have included Tony Award winner Scott Wise (who acknowledged Stephanie in his acceptance speech), Broadway performer Evan Pappas (star of My Favorite Year and Parade), Patrick Swayze and his wife, actress Lisa Niemi, soap star Ricky Paull-Goldin (Another World, Days of Our Lives and also star of the Broadway revival of Grease!), Jennifer Garner (Ally McBeal and Alias), Vanessa Ferlitto (CSI New York), and others whose faces are familiar from the TV screen. She has also worked with Carol Leifer (comedienne and Seinfeld writer), Mark Weiner (Weinerville Cable TV), Hiram Kasten (Seinfeld character) and the late comedian Dennis Wolfberg.