About Us

Marilyn brings her commitment of being a dedicated professional and life long entrepreneur in the field of human potential, personal empowerment and transformative change to all areas of her board position at the Becket Arts Center. She loves seeing the evolution and growth of the art center as it becomes a hub for creative engagement for all ages and abilities. She’s a firm believer that the arts, in any form, is a vehicle for the health and well-being of the individual, thus supporting the vibrancy of the community.

Following an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Secondary Education she pursued additional certifications as a childbirth educator, massage therapist and life coach. A natural at networking and bringing people together, she founded and facilitated a regional association for wellness professionals as a means to drive connection and create community. 

Under the umbrella of the Boston Women’s Health Collective she supported pregnant inmates at MCI Framingham as well as birth education and doula services with Jewish Family and Children’s Services in their teen parent program. 

Her interests in mind body connection expanded into a thirty year career in massage therapy alongside a thriving life coaching practice.  To support her coaching clients she penned a monthly blog, created an exploratory and action oriented workbook, “10 Practices of Personal Sustainability. The Savvy Persons Guide to Conscious Living.” As a keynote speaker, workshop and retreat facilitator she was well known for her unique style of creativity inspiring a life of purpose, resilience and personal responsibility. Today, she continues to maintain a limited coaching practice. 

With her husband Stan she has enjoyed life in Becket since 2005. Their home, friends, visiting children and grandchildren are a great joy and inspiration that drive her sense of purpose for the greater good through the arts. Her own art dabbling includes painting, photography, jewelry making, sewing, gardening and cooking. 

Deborah has spent her career serving the Disability Community – as a sign language interpreter, an administrator in the Office of Disability Services on college campuses and most recently as the Director of Development & Communications for American Friends of ALYN Hospital. ALYN is a pediatric rehabilitation facility in Jerusalem for children with both congenital and acquired physical disabilities (www.alynus.org).

Currently, Deborah volunteers with Adaptive Sports New England, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation in sports among New England youth and adults who have visual or mobility impairments (www.adaptivesportsne.org).

From a young age, having grown up outside of New York City, Deborah has always had access to museums, theatres, music venues and vast community spaces. Akin to her passion for providing access to sports to children with disabilities, she believes all forms of the arts should be accessible as well to anyone in the community who wishes to enjoy them. The inherent joy in creating and experiencing the arts benefits all those who are exposed. Deborah shares BAC’s vision to connect the community “through art and cultural experiences”!

Deborah holds an MA in International Affairs as well as an MA in Disability Studies.

When not in Becket, she lives in Boston with her husband, David Levenfeld. Together they have seven children, two granddaughters (so far) and four granddogs!

Judi Gooding has over three decades of nonprofit management experience leading comprehensive national maternal and child health programs and partnerships. Judi’s organizational expertise includes strategic planning, organizational operations, program development, marketing and communications, and volunteer and staff development. She has held leadership positions at the national office of the March of Dimes Foundation; The Fresh Air Fund; United Way of Stamford, Conn. (while teaching English to adult speakers of other languages in Stamford Public Adult Education); and as chief operating officer of the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ).

Since 2021, Judi has consulted with nonprofit organizations, providing strategic and long-term planning; executive team and board development; securing and building partnerships; media and marketing strategy; and fund development and grant writing.

Judi has happily dialed back her national consulting work to become more involved in the community surrounding Becket where she and her husband, Tim, have lived full-time since 2016. They were drawn to the area in 2006 by the rich and diverse cultural environment that fills the Berkshires with music, art, architecture, writing, history, theatre, and more. In addition to their dog, Ginger, and their Pygora goats and chickens, Tim and Judi have three sons and five grandchildren who love to visit Becket to walk through the woods with the goats, kayak on the many Berkshire ponds and lakes, and visit its many cultural offerings.

PROACTIVE MERCHANDISING EXECUTIVE WITH MULTIFUNCTIONAL BACKGROUND AND HANDS-ON MANAGEMENT STYLE. SOLID EXPERTISE IN PLANNING, BUDGETING, ANALYSIS, COST CONTAINMENT, ASSORTMENT PLANNING, TREND IDENTIFICATION AND PROBLEM SOLVING.

Ann is a former editor for Time Inc. magazines in New York (Fortune), Hong Kong (Asiasweek) and London (Time). She has also taught journalism in the Global Business Journalism Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing and at Sciences-Po in Paris. She is an advisory board member of the American Library in Paris, a frequent conference moderator, and she continues to freelance for various publications.

Jim is Professor Emeritus with Boston University's College of Fine Arts. He served as a professor and as director of the BU School of Theatre from 2002 - 2018. He also served as artistic director of the Boston region's New Repertory Theatre from 2012 - 2018. Petosa has directed Tom Stoppard and André Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at NYC's Town Hall and the operas Carmen (Peter Brook adaptation) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat among others. PTP/NYC credits include Monster, Spatter Pattern, A Question of Mercy, Therese Raquin, Somewhere in the Pacific, Marisol, Dog Plays, Statements After an Arrest, Good, Brecht on Brecht, among others. He also served as Artistic Director for the Olney Theatre Center, where directing credits include Democracy, Brooklyn Boy, Copenhagen, The Laramie Project, Art, The Miracle Worker, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Theatre J’s Collected Stories (received a Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Direction), and Look! We Have Come Through! (Charles MacArthur New Play nomination, Co-created with Carole Graham Lehman). A member of the Actor’s Equity Association and the Society of Directors and Choreographers, Petosa is the current President of Stage Source, the New England association of theatre organizations and practitioners. He teaches acting and directs for the Boston University Opera Institute.

Ken Cheeseman is a full time Becket resident, an actor who was a Senior Artist-in-Residence at Emerson College for 17 years, a guest lecturer for several colleges and universities and now teaches privately for the World Economic Forum and the Obama Foundation at Columbia University and at the Linklater International Voice Center in Orkney, Scotland. Ken has been seen off-Broadway in Scapin, Dr. Faustus, The Cherry Orchard and Amphitryon (Classic Stage Company), The Master Builder (Brooklyn Academy of Music), King Lear (La Mama ETC, Actors Shakespeare Project), A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Measure for Measure (Shakespeare in the Park/Public Theatre). Film and TV credits include: Shutter Island, Mystic River, Leaves of Grass, Joy, Next Stop Wonderland, Big Night, Monk, Law and Order, The Time Traveling Bong, Defending Jacob and the award-winning HBO series Olive Kitteridge. He recently finished filming a romantic comedy starring Emma Roberts, About Fate, in which he plays her Dad. He was seen this past summer at Shakespeare and Co. in debbie tucker green’s play hang, which ran from Sept. 19th to Oct. 3rd.

Paula is a professional Actor and Voice teacher currently residing full time in Becket, MA. In Fall of 2020 she was awarded the honor of Professor Emerita at Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre where she was Associate Professor, taught for 24 years and served as Head of the BFA Acting program. She is currently teaching voice, acting, improvisation and storytelling privately and through Kristin Linklater Voice Centre, Orkney Scotland. Additional Teaching Credits: The Global Leadership Fellows at The World Economic Forum - Columbia University, Emerson College, University of Massachusetts, Wheaton College,Trinity Rep Conservatory, Shakespeare & Company, Actors' Shakespeare Project, Vineyard Playhouse, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, Festa Di Teatro Ecologico - Stromboli, Italy. Acting Credits: American Repertory Theatre, PTP/ NYC, La Mama, etc. NYC, New Rep, Olney Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, LA Women's Shakespeare, Actors' Shakespeare Project, Company of Women, Boston Playwrights, Nora Theatre, Gloucester Stage, Charles Playhouse, Festa Di Teatro Ecologico, Italy. She is in the documentary "Giving Voice: An Actor's Journey with Kristin Linklater." Member: Actor's Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild , Voice and Speech Trainers Association.