Jo Ann Cimato, Stage Director, Acting Teacher & Coach, Dramaturg
photo by Daman Ha
Jo Ann Cimato was born in Brooklyn in 1976. She started dancing at Ms. Francine’s Dance Academy on Flatbush Avenue in 1978 and made her stage debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music not long there after. Her family moved to suburban New Jersey in the eighties where she suffered a traditional public school education until she found the Freehold Performing Arts Center magnet school. A trained classical singer, Ms. Cimato started acting outside of school at age sixteen and continued performing on and off while earning a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Boston University and eventually an M.A. in Theatre and English from New York University.
Since 2004 when she joined the faculty, the Beacon School theatre department has grown under Ms. Cimato's guidance. Most recently Cimato staged the first New York "revival" of The Light in the Piazza in the Beacon Blackbox and in 2012 the Beacon Drama Art Theatre, was honored to produce the first school staging of Spring Awakening, uncut, to rave reviews. In 2009 B'DAT also produced the first high school staging of Rent, School Edition on the east coast only to be followed by another high school debut in 2009 with the Beacon production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In the 2012-2013 academic year B'DAT produced a Jersey Shore staging of Shakespeare's As You Like It, benefitting Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in the fall. In April B'DAT will open their fourth New York high school debut with The Light in the Piazza. Beacon Theatre students produce exceptional work, excel at annual Educational Theatre Association events, graduate to professional training at top ranked conservatories and pursue careers in the performing arts.
In the last 25 years Ms. Cimato has performed in, directed, propped, costumed, written, stage managed, and designed countless dramatic, musical, or opera productions in many states and a few foreign countries. Making plays with B'DAT is her favorite thing to do.
Since 2004 when she joined the faculty, the Beacon School theatre department has grown under Ms. Cimato's guidance. Most recently Cimato staged the first New York "revival" of The Light in the Piazza in the Beacon Blackbox and in 2012 the Beacon Drama Art Theatre, was honored to produce the first school staging of Spring Awakening, uncut, to rave reviews. In 2009 B'DAT also produced the first high school staging of Rent, School Edition on the east coast only to be followed by another high school debut in 2009 with the Beacon production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In the 2012-2013 academic year B'DAT produced a Jersey Shore staging of Shakespeare's As You Like It, benefitting Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in the fall. In April B'DAT will open their fourth New York high school debut with The Light in the Piazza. Beacon Theatre students produce exceptional work, excel at annual Educational Theatre Association events, graduate to professional training at top ranked conservatories and pursue careers in the performing arts.
In the last 25 years Ms. Cimato has performed in, directed, propped, costumed, written, stage managed, and designed countless dramatic, musical, or opera productions in many states and a few foreign countries. Making plays with B'DAT is her favorite thing to do.
