Kathleen Mucciolo is best known for her portrayals of historic figures such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Amerigo Vespucci in theatrical events as a member of the Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge in New Hyde Park
But Mucciolo, who spent her younger years performing in off-Broadway productions, had a bigger goal for the long-term – helping to maintain the American musical theatre tradition.
So in 2009 she established the Music and Theatre Foundation to further young people’s education in music and theatre arts and “to keep the great legacies of music and theatre alive of years to come.”
A major part of that effort involves students performing with established musical artists.
“To me there is no more powerful way of learning the performing arts than to get the to perform and to get them to perform with professionals on stage,” Mucciolo said.
Her first effort in this vein was to produce a concert in the NYCB Theatre at Westbury in 2010 featuring he friend and artistic collaborator tenor Michael Amante performing with 60 students from the Garden City Middle School Festival Chorus.
Mucciolo said she hopes her program will help preserve “the great American songbook.”
Another part of the foundation’s mission is to provide scholarships to promising young performers for training in voice and theatre.
Earlier this year the foundation presented its first scholarship, an award made to New Hyde Park Memorial High School junior Nicole Kemmet for performance studies. Mucciolo presented the scholarship award to Kemmet during a performance by Amante at the Westbury theatre in June.
Kemmet met the foundation’s standards for the award as a member of the National Honor Society who had done community service and participated in several schools performance groups, Mucciolo said. She has appeared in several plays at New Hyde Park Memorial and had sung in its Chamber Chorus and High School Chorus.
“They have to have the extracurricular activity of performing,” Mucciolo said.
The foundation relies on donations and grants to provide scholarships and meet its other objectives.
At each performance Amante has given, Mucciolo has made discounted tickets available to students at local high schools to allow them to attend. In 2011, the foundation co-sponsored a concert, “Show Stoppers from Broadway to the Met” featuring Amante at the Tilles Center in which Mucciolo served as emcee.
Mucciolo’s own interest in the theatre began when she was attending Floral Park Memorial High School. The encouragement she received there motivated her to study drama at Hofstra University as an undergraduate and earn a masters degree in fine arts from Adelphi University, she said.
Mucciolo also has a teaching certificate from the Lincoln Center Institute and has been a teaching artist in several schools, including the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan portrayed in “Fame” and the LaGuardia School.
Mucciolo said she would like to work with a high school lacking the means to maintain full-scale performance programs. But her overall objective is to plant a seed of inspiration about great music and performance.
“If I touch five kids, then my mission is accomplished,” she said. “I’m very passionate about the arts because I’m an artist.”
