Hello Beautiful People,
I’m pleased to introduce you to the next teaching artist in our Ask A Teach series, Justin Cimino.
Justin Cimino received his BFA in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He is an actor in NYC and has been teaching theatre to children for 10 years. He has been with Zara Aina from the very beginning, organizing clown jams, making videos, over-seeing education, and serving as Operations Manager. He has been on all 3 trips to Madagascar and most recently he was part of a 2-person team hired by UNICEF to use Zara Aina’s work to educate Malagasy communities about the polio crisis. Justin has taught Zara Aina’s clown-based work to children in rural Alabama, Central New Jersey, upstate New York, the South Bronx, and Brooklyn. He is a proud volunteer with NYC’s the 52nd Street Project, and is the new Assistant Director of the drama program he was once a member of at his NJ high school.
MM: Just for fun, what sound do you love? What sound do you hate?
JC: I love the sound of a British accent. I love the sound of a record player. I hate the sound of emergency sirens when they’re real close to me.
MM: Just for fun, if we were to walk into your home, what books are permanently on your bookshelf?
JC: The Plays of William Inge, The Plays of Simon Stephens
MM: Just for fun, if you were stranded on a desert island, what movies and/or television shows would you want available to you?
JC: Movies: Never Let Me Go, I Am Sam. TV: The Sopranos, Breaking Bad.
MM: In today’s climate, arts education programs are often under attack. Why would you advocate for keeping arts education programming in schools?
JC: It seems to me like the number of school kids who feel alone, unique, without a place, unseen grows every year; those kids will always exist. To me, the arts are for them. The arts give them a place. The arts give everyone a place, if everyone would realize it. Sports don’t give everyone a place. Arts allow kids to be seen. Arts allow kids to be heard. Arts make kids believe they deserve to be seen and heard. Arts help kids figure out all the Life Stuff they’re trying so hard to figure out.
MM: What’s the best piece of advice you’d want to give to students who wish to pursue a career in the arts?
JC: You deserve to be pursuing a career in the arts. You’re worth a career in the arts.
MM: What do you want the world to know about Zara Aina?
JC: We help out a country that almost no one else is helping out. We’d strongly encourage you to take a look at Madagascar, and the Malagasy people, as well. I think you’ll want to help too.
MM: Who is/was your greatest teacher?
JC: I SWEAR I am not sucking up; I truly always tell people Lucas Rooney is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. In his classroom he made me feel like I was really worth something as an actor and a human, and he made me feel like I was unique (really weird) and that that was just fine, that that could actually really take people aback, but in a good way. Lucas and my mom have been great teachers to me. My mom taught me what it looked like to work hard. And that’s what I believe most in in life, I think.
Thanks, Justin!
Live, Love, Learn,