As both Producer and Director of Big Splash Productions, Joani is the author of three published books. She has also been an actress and directed numerous regional and community theatre productions. She was a member of the Watergate Symphony Singers in Washington, D.C. She studied dance with Leon Fokine for twelve years. Before forming Big Splash Productions, she was the owner of Center Stage Studio, a drama school for children. She has also served as the first Ombudsperson for Disabled Citizens for the Township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It was in her township position that Joani met Andrea Green and had her first exposure to The Rainbow Sea, the play that served as the inspiration for Blue Lou and the Bullyfish. She dedicates this project to her husband, Stephen, who helps her sail through everything and her five little "grandfish": Madeline, Gabriel, Samuel, Sadie and Maxwell.
Stephanie Arasim Portnoy
Author
Stephanie is a writer who received a BFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Having spent close to a decade in Los Angeles, she worked as a development executive on sitcom pilots for Fox, Sony, and Carsey-Werner-Mandabach. She was a production associate on television shows including Roseanne and has several produced writing credits on Cybill, starring Cybill Shepherd. She is also a member of the prestigious Warner Bros. Comedy Writing Workshop. Most recently, she has written for outlets such as American Online, Americanbaby.com, Modernbride.com and Philadelphia Style magazine. Blue Lou and the Bullyfish is her first children's book. Currently she is the Executive Editor of South Jersey Magazine and Editor in Chief of Suburban Family.
Andrea Green is the composer and lyricist of Blue Lou and the Bullyfish and the playwright/composer of the original children’s musical, The Rainbow Sea, on which Blue Lou and the Bullyfish is based. Andrea is nationally known for her work as a music therapist, director and composer/playwright, creating musicals for children that promote tolerance, self-esteem and character education. Her musicals, Homeroom the Musical (co-written by Selma
Tolins-Kaufman), On the Other Side of the Fence and The Return of Halley's Comet, are publishedby Samuel French Inc. and are being produced nationally and internationally in theaters and schools. Her other musicals include: Under the Fence, People of the Light, The Same Sky, The Mulberry Bird, Lenapo (co-written with Sara Feigenbaum), Same City, Gadfly and Skimmer and Budge (co-written by Janet Sclaroff). Andrea is the creator, musical director and music therapist of the Something Magical Project, a 30 year old nationally recognized musical theatre and character education program in Philadelphia, that partners children from Germantown Friends School with youngsters from the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy. Her musicals serve as creative springboards for these diverse groups of youngsters to work together as partners and friends.This unique project has expanded and serves as a model for other programs. It received national attention in the PBS Emmy-award winning documentary, Something Magical. Andrea received a Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida and a Masters degree in Creative Arts in Therapy, from Hahnemann University (now Drexel), in Philadelphia, PA. She is a member of The Dramatist’s Guild, The Children’s Music Network, The International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People, and ASCAP.
Robert L. Jefferson received a diploma in illustration and decoration from the Philadelphia Museum College of Art. He studied in Paris at the L’academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Sorbonne. Presently self-employed as a commercial illustrator, he prepares art for book illustration, advertising, and editorial art. Mr. Jefferson has exhibited his work in numerous one-man and group shows on the east coast, including the Rittenhouse Art Annual, the Philadelphia Water Color Club, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, the National Academy of Design in New York and Roth’s Silver Spring Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Robert Jefferson
Illustrator
"Fitz" is a successful conductor, composer, arranger and producer, as well as a full-time choral director and teacher at the prestigious William Penn Charter School in Philadelplhia. He is also the founder and artistic director of Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Youthchoirs. Fitzmartin has had original choir/orchestral works performed at Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. The Philadelphia Orchestra also performed one of his works at the Academy of Music. He holds writer and publisher memberships in the American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers. He was arranger and musical director of the CD for Blue Lou and the Bullyfish
Steve is a graduate of Colgate University and Case Western Reserve University School of Law. During his 35 year legal career, Steve watched patiently while Joani succeeded in one enterprise after another. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and engineered a not-so-hostile takeover of Big Splash Productions, becoming its CEO. He is delighted that his personal partnership with Joani now extends to the business world as well.
