Rhythm & Verse: A Literary and Music Salon
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Friday, April 4th, 2025, 6:45pm
at Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse
20 E. Mermaid Lane, Chestnut Hill, PA 19118
(Suggested Donation - $20 - of which 100% goes to the Performers)
Featured Musicians
Phyllis Chapell and Ken Ulansey

Featured Actors
Emma Gibson and Marcia Saunders


Theme for the Salon Evening:
The Artist’s Task in Perilous Times:
Duty of the Artist to Humanity - to the Planet -
to Illuminate the Power of Community


The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.
~ James Baldwin

This is precisely the time when artists go to work.
~ Toni Morrison

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
~ Margaret Mead

Henry Beston points to the power of community as our greatest saving grace in the face of meaninglessness and destruction.
~ Maria Popova

They want you to feel powerless and to surrender and to let them trample everything and you are not going to let them. You are not giving up, and neither am I.
~ Rebecca Solnit

I’m so tired of waiting, aren’t you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind?
~ Langston Hughes

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? … for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.
~ Amanda Gorman

 

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Ken Ulansey & Phyllis Chapell
 Ken Ulansey and Phyllis Chapell have been blending their instruments and voices together for over 15 years, recording in each others many projects, mixing influences, and broadening each others musical outlooks. As a duo, they draw from traditions as diverse as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Brazil, Ireland, India and, of course, the American songbook. Their travels through most of these cultures lend an authenticity to their music that's wonderful and rare!

Phyllis Chapell plays and sings songs from around the world. Her repertoire features songs in 13 languages from Brazil, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. Her 3-octave vocals are supported and complemented by her acoustic guitar, capturing the essence of musical styles from percussive

Brazilian sambas and explosive flamenco to elegant folk, jazz, contemporary, and original ballads. She has been named one of the top 500 jazz vocalists of all time and has won awards for her original songs.

Ken Ulansey, Penn Council for the Arts winner, plays alto and soprano sax and pennywhistle. He is a musical chameleon, having played contemporary classical music with Relache, jazz with his own award-winning band, Latin and folk music with most of the area’s--and even the nation’s--leading songwriters. Besides leading his own wedding band (Philadelphia Magazine's Best of Philly!) that specializes in Swing, Motown, Klezmer, Latin, Pop, Zydeco and Oldies, Ken has toured extensively in Europe, Asia and the States, played on nearly 200 recordings, and worked in collaboration with dancers, film-makers, poets and storytellers.

Websites: www.kenulansey.com and www.phyllischapell.com


Emma Gibson
Emma Gibson is a writer, director, actor and producer, originally from the UK but now living in Philadelphia. In the UK she worked as an actress in London, Edinburgh, on tour and regionally around the UK in both new writing and classical theatre, for BBC radio drama, and film.

In Philadelphia she has worked with many local companies, and most recently performed in the Barrymore nominated production of Perfect Blue. She has also directed multiple classical theatre productions at The Shipley School. As the founding producing artistic director of Tiny Dynamite she has produced over 20 productions ranging from Scottish one acts, to full length plays that integrate complex technology in performance.

She is also the proud Mom to Oscar and Willow. Thanks to Susan for this wonderful opportunity. www.britishemma.com


Marcia Saunders

People’s Light: Over 85 productions including Cora in Morning’s at Seven, Ethel in Moon Over Buffalo, Mrs. Jennings in Sense and Sensibility, Stella in Stella and Lou, Mrs. Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, Dotty in Noises Off, Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Skin of our Teeth, My Mother Said I Never Should, A Room Of One’s Own, Heartbreak House, Abelard & Heloise, Toys in the Attic, Memory of Water, The Stonehouse, Hamlet, The Misanthrope, The Taming of the Shrew.

Theatre Includes: Recently Paige in HIR at Simpatico Theatre, made her directorial debut at Candlelight Theater in Delaware directing Steel Magnolias. Off Broadway: The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow (Atlantic Theatre Co.) Regional: The Wilma, Arden Theatre, Two River Theater, Quintessence Theater. Playing Claire in A Delicate Balance garnered Marcia a Best Supporting Actress award and she has received numerous Barrymore nominations including Best Actress for Stella and Lou and A Man from Nebraska.


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Selected Authors - April 4, 2025

Ashini J. Desai (What We Learned) is a co-founder/editor of Dandelion Revolution Press and while she does not write for a living, she writes to live. Her poems have been published in four poetry collections, as well as in journals like River Poets, Philadelphia Poets, and Thema. Her short stories have been published in the Dandelion Revolution Press anthologies Not Quite As You Were Told, The Secrets We Keep and Every Breath Alight.

Lisa DeVuono (Poetry Magnets) is the current Montgomery County Poet Laureate. She has produced multi-media shows incorporating song, music, poetry, and dance, including Rumi in Song at the Sedgwick Theater; and Whole Heart Home, and Breaking Open, Breaking Free, part of the IceHouse Tonight series. She has three publications: This Time Roots, Next Time Wings, Poems from the Playground of Risk, and Poetry as a Tool for Recovery: An Easy-to-Use Guide in Eight Sessions.

Fran Gilmore (In Lakota tradition) is a sometime poet and painter, an activist for social justice and a retired teacher and industrial hygienist. She has taught anti-racism in community settings, emotional healing in a prison, yoga, health and safety to blue- and white-collar workers, and high school biology.

Jane Edna Mohler (Rare Beasts) is the 2020 Bucks County Poet Laureate (PA), winner of the 2016 Main Street Voices, and second place in the 2023 Crossroads Contest. Recent publications include Gargoyle, One Art, and Verse Virtual. Her collection, Broken Umbrellas, was published by Kelsay Books. Her second, Autumn Clears is forthcoming in 2025. She is Poetry Editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal. www.janeednamohler.com.

Steve Nolan (The Artist Will Save Us) spent 30 years in the military and 25 years as a mental health professional. He has published in numerous journals and his poetry was featured on National Public Radio, Morning Edition, upon his return from Afghanistan in 2007. He is the author of "Go Deep," "Base Camp," and "American Carnage, An Officer's Duty to Warn," and "A Palace of Ruins." His work reflects his commitment to social justice.

Faith Paulsen (Poem Inspired by a Bloomingdales Ad "Beauty Lovers! Take 25% off on almost all beauty."-Bloomingdales ad) author of three chapbooks and mother of three sons, Faith Paulsen's day job is in insurance, Her work appears or is upcoming in Scientific American, Poetica Review, Poetry Breakfast, Milk art journal, Philadelphia Stories, Book of Matches, One Art, Panoply, Thimble, Evansville Review, Mantis and others.

Steve Pollack (Infinite Faculty) rode the El to Drexel University, advised local governments, directed a housing co-op, built hospitals, science labs and public schools. Poetry found him later. His work has appeared on print and web pages. His chapbook, L'dor Vador-From Generation to Generation, was published by Finishing Line Press. His poem, "December 26, 1960", was accepted for the forthcoming anthology, Keystone: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania. He sings bass with Nashirah-the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia.

Drs. Susan Schaefer, APR, (Light Saber and Dark Star) is a creative thinker, writer, poet, workshop leader, consultant, and spoken word performer. She taught writing and poetry at Temple University, Drexel University and Philadelphia Community College. Her book of poetry, Ride the New Morning, is available online and in select area bookstores such as Big Blue Marble in Mt. Airy. Schaefer co-published and edited Philadelphia's South Street Star bi-weekly and is a widely published independent journalist. Her essays and columns appear in PBS' online magazine, Next Avenue, Philadelphia's Broad Street Review and East Falls Now, and have been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Southwest Journal and Minnesota Good Age Magazine and the Netherlands' Crossroad Magazine.

Julie Standig, (A Deer on Cold Spring Creamery Road) writer of The Forsaken Little Black Book, (Kelsay Books) and her chapbook, Memsahib Memoirs (Plan B Press). Her poems have appeared in Schuylkill Journal Review, Gyroscope Review, Sadie Girl Press, Macqueen's Quinterly, One Art as well as online. A lifetime New Yorker, she now resides in Bucks County with her husband and their springer spaniel.

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