Verona Boathouse
Hopelessly in Love: A Theater Conference on Relationships
We all know people who maintain ties and enjoy relationships despite difficult dynamics and complex life circumstances. The presenters, the wonderful acting group who has returned for year 5 to read another amazing, psychological play that speaks to all the stories of relationships we hear and live with untangling the chaos of human relationships.
DIRECTOR
DANNY VACCARO is thrilled to be part of the ACAPNJ Performance Series for the 5th year as Producer, Director, and sometimes actor. Bringing plays to this community has been a pleasure as well as a learning experience. With ACAP: Time Stands Still, Every Brilliant Thing, Three Days of Rain, Jericho. As a performer: Broadway and TourLa Cage aux Folles, Wizard of Oz, Diary of Anne Frank, Nunsense Amen, Streakin’. RegionalForeigner, Sweeney Todd, Lost in Yonkers, Next to Normal, Slow Food, Screwball Comedy. TV- Law & Order SVU, Younger. Danny is a graduate of Northwestern University and a member of Actor’s
CAST
MICHAEL SATOW (Andy) Off-Broadway/NY Stage includes: A Better Place (The Duke) Final Analysis (The Griffin), Hot Season (Sheen Center), Raft of the Medusa (Secret Theatre), Look Upon Our Lowliness (HSA Theatre), Merchant of Venice (Westbeth). Regional Stage includes: Time Stands Still, On Golden Pond (Bristol Riverside Theatre), Rumors, Betrayal (Theatre Workshop of Nantucket), Red (Riverside Theatre), Lend Me A Tenor, Arsenic & Old Lace, Hound of the Baskervilles (Florida Rep), Hannah (Premiere Stages), Shipwrecked! (Capital Rep), Proof (Seacoast Rep), Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet (Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.), Jericho (Florida Studio Theatre). TV/Film includes: Elementary, Instinct (CBS), Recurring as Stark Schiff in The Good Fight (CBS), Last Week Tonight w/ John Oliver (HBO), Manhattan Love Story, All My Children (ABC) Under Jakob’s Ladder, How To Break Up With Your Mother. Numerous commercials and voiceovers. Graduate of Northeastern University and Maggie Flanigan Studio. – AEA, SAGAFTRA.
ELEANOR HANDLEY (Melissa) Eleanor is thrilled to be part of this special program for another year, after directing 'Every Brilliant Thing' and then appearing in the online streaming productions of both 'Three Days of Rain' and 'Jericho'. Her professional credits includeNYC: The Hard Problem (Lincoln Center) Jericho (59E59), Limonade Tous les Jours (Cell Theatre) and A Christmas Carol (Morgan Library). Regional includes Midsummer Night's Dream, Private Lives, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Blithe Spirit, Lend Me a Tenor, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Time Stands Still, Witness for the Prosecution, Lost in Yonkers, Rumors (Bristol Riverside Theatre); and King Lear, The Three Musketeers, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival). TV:
PRESENTERS
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Dr. Annette Vaccaro is a psychoanalyst and a psychotherapist with a general practice, and a specialty in clinical supervision, in Livingston, NJ. She is the Director of Academic Affairs, At ACAP, Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis, and its academic partner ICPS, the Institute of Counseling and Psychoanalytic Studies, and a grant writer supporting community mental health education initiatives for workers who serve vulnerable populations. During COVID-19 she helped form ACAP’s SafetyNet remote, free-of-charge counseling program to help meet the surging mental health needs of the community, and to provide ongoing field placements for advanced students.
Dr. Vaccaro is an Associate Professor at Caldwell University and coordinator of their Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a Specialization in Art Therapy Master’s degree program. She received a doctorate in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Counseling Education and Supervision from Argosy University. Dr. Vaccaro is on the Board of Trustees and the Chair of the Assembly of Psychoanalytic Institutes of the American Board for Accreditation in Psychoanalysis (ABAP).
Dr. Patricia Bratt is a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist practicing in Livingston, NJ, and NYC. She works with individuals, groups, couples, children, and adolescents, meeting in person and virtually. She also specializes in clinical supervision of mental health professionals looking to broaden their therapeutic skills. She is Director of Institutional Innovation and Communication at the Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis (ACAP), and its partner the Institute of Counseling and Psychoanalytic Studies (ICPS). Bratt is President of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP), and, since 2002, President of the New Jersey Certified Psychoanalysts Advisory Committee. She developed ACAP’s Trauma & Resilience Studies program, organized its 9/11 Critical Incident Response Team, and created online support groups for professionals and the community during COVID-19. In 2018 she launched the iStrive Center for young adults on the autism spectrum.
Dr. Bratt has been faculty and training supervisor at several psychoanalytic institutes, and graduate faculty at Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, Drew University, Centenary College, and Union College. She has written on
issues related to trauma/resilience-informed practices, countertransference, and memory impairment, and is a consultant expert on TV and in news media. Her recent book is Mutual Growth in the Psychotherapeutic Relationship: Reciprocal Resilience.
Dr. Vicki Semel is a psychoanalyst, psychologist, and former political scientist, practicing in Livingston, NJ. Her work includes the treatment of individuals, groups, and couples. She has a specialization in geriatric treatment. With 30 years of experience working in clinical practice and teaching in psychoanalytic institutes, Semel addresses the most complex diagnostic and interpersonal problems of patients, as well as the countertransference issues confronting supervisees and students.
Dr. Semel is the Executive Director/President of ACAP, The Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis (Livingston, NJ) since 1987, Program Director of the ICPS Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (NJ’s branch of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis - BGSP), since 2015, and a faculty member at BGSP. She is a former faculty member at CMPS (Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies) and Rutgers University-Political Science. Dr. Semel is on the NJ Psychoanalytic Advisory Committee since 2002. She has published and spoken widely about treatment issues with the elderly, narcissistic patients, effective practices working with difficult people, and on the clinical training of mental health professionals. Her book, Strategies for Therapy with the Elderly: Living with Hope and Meaning is a Springer publication.
Hopelessly in Love: A Theater Conference on Relationships
Story by Landford Wilson
With Michael Satow and Eleanor Handley
Presented by ACAP and ICPS Cosponsoring with NAAP
Saturday September 9th, 2023
2:00-6:00 PM EST
At Verona Boathouse
Directed by: Danny Vaccaro
Produced by: Annette Vaccaro
Conference Chair: Annette Vaccaro
Playbill designed by: Allie Vaccaro
Special thank you to: Katie Fraser, Kaila Hawriluk. Chantel Fletcher, Lori Feigenbaum, and all volunteers
PRESENTED BY:
ACAP serves as a community resource by offering courses, clinical programs and experiences, and Continuing Education (CE) opportunities to help build skills for those working with individuals and groups in the areas of interpersonal relationships, crisis resolution, education and mental health issues, and parenting. ACAP with its partner ICPS, a branch of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis (BGSP), are educational and mental health resources, offering degrees,
empowering individuals, and organizations with practical, successful life strategies.
The National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP) since 1972 has successfully pursued its mission to unite the various schools of psychoanalytic thought and to ensure the independence, advancement, recognition, and sustainability of the profession of psychoanalysis.
