Ronnie Tharp-Garber
Ronnie has taught Academic Writing at the College of Southern Nevada and at BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College, NYC). She teaches ESL (English as a Second Language) at the Open University, Jerusalem, and she teaches novel and screenplay writing at the Jerusalem Center for Artistic Development (JCAD). As president of this non-profit organization, she continues to devote her life to promoting the literary arts in Jerusalem. Using role play for character and dialog development, hand-outs of tracked screenplays and DVD clips, participants gain an appreciation of writing techniques. Finding the key to masterful storytelling means finding the inner story and allowing it to play out through characters and plot. The result can be a cathartic and thrilling experience!
Ronnie earned a B.S. in Education, at Kent State University, with a double major of French and English. She earned an M.A. in English at Kent State University, and she earned a certificate in screenwriting at UCLA. She is a credentialed Secondary Education teacher and has a Community College Teaching Credential. She can tailor a segment of her classes to English as a Second Language speakers, as she has many years of experience with this sector. She currently resides with her family in Jerusalem.
Robert Cochrane
Robert is an award-winning filmmaker with several narrative and documentary features to his credit. “The Playaz Court” (Artisan Entertainment, 2002), which he wrote and starred in, was his break-through project. Two years later, Robert wrote, directed and produced “Boys of Summer,” his first documentary feature. Ten years later, he has completed three other award-winning feature documentaries and is in production with the sequel to “Boys of Summer.” He has also adapted and directed two Stephen King projects, “Lucky Quarter” and “Roland Meets Brown”. The latter won Simon & Schuster’s Grand Prize.
Robert originally studied screenwriting at UCLA, earning a professional post-graduate certificate. He earned his Master’s Degree at UNLV in the Journalism and Media Studies department with honors. He hosted a radio show, “Nobody Knows Hollywood,” earned a scholarship and an assistantship during his tenure. He is currently a Marketing Copywriter for LightSpeed VT and continues to teach television and film courses at the Art Institute of Las Vegas.
He is blessed to have a beautiful, loving wife and two wonderfully rambunctious children.
Chana Lubin-Bernstein
In 1999, Chana created Techno Photo Media Services, a multimedia company providing marketing solutions for indie filmmakers, production companies, and entertainers. She has spent 10 years developing and producing videos and marketing materials for the Orthodox Rabbinic in the Las Vegas area, focusing on fundraising and outreach programs that helped build Las Vegas Jewish Synagogues and educational institutions. Projects included “The Rabbi Show” and the book “Life is Great!” by Rabbi Yitzchak Wyne. Recent projects include Shows4You Productions “Bustin’ Out Broadway” for dinner theater and “Front & Center” for Crystal Cruises.
Growing up with her grandfather’s bottle pipe organ that provided background music for silent pictures on the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk and her father’s audiovisual business, which supplied sound and lighting for large-scale productions that included Broadway’s “Cabaret”, The Beatles, and Coca Cola. Chana is no stranger to the entertainment business. She received her B.F.A. in Visual Communications and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada with her loving husband, Ira and her favorite pooch, Schmoozie.
