A multi-hyphenate artist, educator, and administrator, Jermaine is currently the Dean of the School of Drama at The New School where he holds the concurrent appointments of Associate Dean of the College of Performing Arts and Associate Professor of Theater. Prior to The New School, he served as the Assistant Chair and then the Interim Dean of the Theater Division at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Before moving to Boston, he was an assistant professor, music director, and coordinator of the musical theatre program at Columbia College Chicago. From 2015 to 2017, he was an assistant professor of theatre and coordinator of musical theatre and dance at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.
Outside of academia, he is an award-winning music director, vocal coach, and actor. He recently music directed and conducted The Color Purple at The Muny, and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company premiere of Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy (Joseph Jefferson Award winner for Best Ensemble). Other regional credits include: Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre); The Colored Museum (Umbrella Arts); The Music Man (Goodman Theatre); The Color Purple (Drury Lane Oakbrook); the North American premiere of Nell Gwynn (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); and Memphis and Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies at Porchlight Music Theatre. In 2017, he music directed and served as pianist/conductor for Ragtime at the Griffin Theatre (Non-Equity Jeff Award nom for Best Musical Direction and wins for Best Musical and Best Ensemble), and Madagascar: A Musical Adventure at CST. Other Chicago music directing credits include Too Heavy For Your Pocket at TimeLine Theatre, the Midwest premiere of The Gefilte Fish Chronicles at the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, and the Summer Musical Theatre Intensive at the Actors Training Center in Wilmette, where he music directed their productions of Godspell and Bonnie & Clyde.
From 2013 - 2015, he was the Assistant Director, Accompanist, and Arranger for the Purdue Varsity Glee Club, Director and Arranger for the Heart & Soul gospel ensemble, and music director and arranger for the Lighthouse gospel quartet, the 50's and 60's tribute group Ba Na Na, the 70's and 80's tribute group Flashbacks, and the six-voice contemporary acapella group Voiceovers. He also served as a Creative Consultant, Vocal Arranger, Orchestrator, and Script Writer for the Purdue Christmas Show, attended by more than 18,000 people annually and broadcast nationwide on public television and radio stations.
As a singer, he has performed with such diverse groups as the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Cornerstone Chorale and Brass (MO), The Orchestra of Saint Luke’s (NY), the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble (NY), and Ithaca Opera (NY). He has appeared at Chicago’s Symphony Center and Grant Park, New York's Carnegie Hall (Weill), Boston's Jordan Hall, Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Aldeburgh Festival in the United Kingdom, and has sang under distinguished conductors Bernard Haitink, Michael Tilson Thomas, Richard Egarr, and Duaine Wolfe. He has participated in master classes with internationally renowned coaches Martin Katz, Della Jones, and Pierre Vallet, and in concerts, recitals, and competitions throughout the United State and Europe.
As a music director and arranger, vocal coach, and show co-creator, he worked extensively with Royal Caribbean Productions, contributing to and creating hundreds of productions shows, concept shows, and musical events throughout their fleet. He continues to work privately as a voice teacher and vocal coach for professional actors, including Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley, and is an active master class facilitator and competition adjudicator. As an actor, his credits include a guest spot on NBC's Chicago Med; commercial and industrial work with The Onion Labs, BlueCross and BlueShield, and the National Restaurant Association; the role of Sam in Breathe With Me (Erasing the Distance); and readings with The Other Theatre (formerly known as The Other Theatre Company).
Orchestrating and arranging work began with early internships at Music Theatre International, where he worked on the 1994 re-orchestration of West Side Story, the Paper Mill Playhouse premiere of Stephen Schwartz’ Children of Eden, and the early development of Broadway Junior. Equally proficient in Finale and Sibelius notation software, he has arranged and orchestrated scores of all sizes and configurations for recital, concert, and theatrical performance.
Originally from New York, he holds a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College, where he studied voice with Patrice Pastore, conducting with Lawrence Doebler and Janet Galván, acting with Barbara Anger, and opera and musical theatre with Patrick Hansen. He received his Master of Music with Academic Honors from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice with the late Helen Hodam and Michael Dean, opera and art song with the late John Moriarty, and musical theatre with Marc Astafan.
Outside of academia, he is an award-winning music director, vocal coach, and actor. He recently music directed and conducted The Color Purple at The Muny, and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company premiere of Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy (Joseph Jefferson Award winner for Best Ensemble). Other regional credits include: Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre); The Colored Museum (Umbrella Arts); The Music Man (Goodman Theatre); The Color Purple (Drury Lane Oakbrook); the North American premiere of Nell Gwynn (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); and Memphis and Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies at Porchlight Music Theatre. In 2017, he music directed and served as pianist/conductor for Ragtime at the Griffin Theatre (Non-Equity Jeff Award nom for Best Musical Direction and wins for Best Musical and Best Ensemble), and Madagascar: A Musical Adventure at CST. Other Chicago music directing credits include Too Heavy For Your Pocket at TimeLine Theatre, the Midwest premiere of The Gefilte Fish Chronicles at the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, and the Summer Musical Theatre Intensive at the Actors Training Center in Wilmette, where he music directed their productions of Godspell and Bonnie & Clyde.
From 2013 - 2015, he was the Assistant Director, Accompanist, and Arranger for the Purdue Varsity Glee Club, Director and Arranger for the Heart & Soul gospel ensemble, and music director and arranger for the Lighthouse gospel quartet, the 50's and 60's tribute group Ba Na Na, the 70's and 80's tribute group Flashbacks, and the six-voice contemporary acapella group Voiceovers. He also served as a Creative Consultant, Vocal Arranger, Orchestrator, and Script Writer for the Purdue Christmas Show, attended by more than 18,000 people annually and broadcast nationwide on public television and radio stations.
As a singer, he has performed with such diverse groups as the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Cornerstone Chorale and Brass (MO), The Orchestra of Saint Luke’s (NY), the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble (NY), and Ithaca Opera (NY). He has appeared at Chicago’s Symphony Center and Grant Park, New York's Carnegie Hall (Weill), Boston's Jordan Hall, Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Aldeburgh Festival in the United Kingdom, and has sang under distinguished conductors Bernard Haitink, Michael Tilson Thomas, Richard Egarr, and Duaine Wolfe. He has participated in master classes with internationally renowned coaches Martin Katz, Della Jones, and Pierre Vallet, and in concerts, recitals, and competitions throughout the United State and Europe.
As a music director and arranger, vocal coach, and show co-creator, he worked extensively with Royal Caribbean Productions, contributing to and creating hundreds of productions shows, concept shows, and musical events throughout their fleet. He continues to work privately as a voice teacher and vocal coach for professional actors, including Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley, and is an active master class facilitator and competition adjudicator. As an actor, his credits include a guest spot on NBC's Chicago Med; commercial and industrial work with The Onion Labs, BlueCross and BlueShield, and the National Restaurant Association; the role of Sam in Breathe With Me (Erasing the Distance); and readings with The Other Theatre (formerly known as The Other Theatre Company).
Orchestrating and arranging work began with early internships at Music Theatre International, where he worked on the 1994 re-orchestration of West Side Story, the Paper Mill Playhouse premiere of Stephen Schwartz’ Children of Eden, and the early development of Broadway Junior. Equally proficient in Finale and Sibelius notation software, he has arranged and orchestrated scores of all sizes and configurations for recital, concert, and theatrical performance.
Originally from New York, he holds a Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College, where he studied voice with Patrice Pastore, conducting with Lawrence Doebler and Janet Galván, acting with Barbara Anger, and opera and musical theatre with Patrick Hansen. He received his Master of Music with Academic Honors from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice with the late Helen Hodam and Michael Dean, opera and art song with the late John Moriarty, and musical theatre with Marc Astafan.