first experienced the power of live theatre as a child/teen. After receiving her BA, she taught high school English and Theatre, later performing and designing costumes at Syracuse Stage while earning her Masters. In 1967 she joined SUNY/Albany’s Theatre Dept.to establish a children’s theatre.  In 1972, Patricia coordinated the ASSITEJ Congress that engaged 500 delegates from 45 countries in a festival of professional theatre for young audiences. In 1974, her production of The Wizard of Oz was the first American theater for children presented in the USSR. Upon the return the NYS Legislature with Governor Rockefeller’s support created The Empire State Youth Theatre Institute, a professional theatre for young people with associated educational programs. For 37 years The Empire State Theatre Institute (later named NYSTI) produced more than 200 productions, including A Tale of Cinderella which was produced by Warner Home Video and broadcast on PBS nationwide for 3 years. In 1985, the USA State Department selected the Institute as the first American company to travel to Moscow to perform Rag Dolly under the resumed Cultural Accords followed by performances at the Kennedy Center. Patricia led cultural exchanges with 11 countries to build peaceful bridges between cultures.  The Institute performed at The Egg in Albany, in schools in all 62 counties, at Sage Colleges, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, on and off Broadway, serving more than nine million young people who benefitted from live theater. She is a Ph. D from NYU in Arts Professions. She received an Honorary Doctor’s Degree, The Corey Medallion for lifetime achievement from the Children’s theatre Foundation of America, Citations from the Kennedy Center, and an Emmy as Producing Director for Hizzoner!, a PBS docudrama about Fiorello La Guardia, and she is the author of Most of It Was Beautiful, a personal history of the first State created theater for young people.