Leslie Fanelli

Leslie (Reuter) Fanelli is the Artistic Director and Founder of Theatre in Motion, an award-winning, non-profit repertory company of the New York City/New Jersey area, although they have performed in South Africa and beyond (including Zoom), and have a new office in Florida. With Ms. Fanelli at the helm, the troupe consists of multi-ethnic, intergenerational creative and performing artists with and without disabilities, serving an equally inclusive audience demographic. In addition to original performances like her play "The Promise of Central Park" (from which her short films/videos emanate), the company offers participatory, arts-in-education workshops in Creative Drama, Professional Development, Universal Design for Learning, and Emotional and Multiple Intelligences. Leslie was the "Theatre for Everyone" Master Teaching Artist at the Tony Award-winning Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey; like all Theatre in Motion programs, this was intergenerational for populations with and without disabilities. The musical short films that she directed and produced, "Song of the Land" and "Back in 1873" with American Sign Language, were featured in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' International Digital Arts Festival. These musical shorts feature the wonderful William Dembaugh from the New York City Opera as "Frederick Law Olmsted" and Broadway's brilliant Gerald Small as the American Sign Language interpreter. Leslie grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and started her career there on the Showboat Majestic. She has traveled the world as performer and avid tourist, and is living happily ever after with her beautiful family.