Faculty

Lynne Kurdziel Formato is an Associate Professor of Performing Arts. Prior to her appointment here, she developed and directed the BFA in Music Theatre at the University at Buffalo. Lynne served two terms as the Vice-President for Conferences, and three terms on the Executive Committee of MTEA - Music Theatre Educators Alliance International.

As a professional Director/Choreographer, Lynne is a proud member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) and has more than 300 productions to her credit including Aida, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, Blood Brothers, Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, The Merry Widow, The King and I, Copacabana, West Side Story, A Chorus Line, Swing!, Anything Goes, Grease, Forever Plaid, Smokey Joe's Café, The World Goes Round, Cole, The Full Monty, Joseph and the Amazing ..., All Shook Up and Fame at Artpark in Lewiston, N.Y.as well as West Side Story (Tennie Award for Choreography), Evita and Ain't Misbehavin' for the Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville, The Full Monty, A Chorus Line, My Fair Lady, Evita and Tommy (Director/Choreographer) for Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, directed more than 20 productions for the University at Buffalo including the first regional production of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party and choreographed seven seasons of the award winning Christmas in The Smokies for Dollywood Theme Park in Pigeon Forge, TN.

She directed & choreographed the world premiere of Beatsville and in June 2011, Chicago for the Danish Musical Academy in Fredericia, Denmark. In Fall 2008, Lynne traveled to Moscow as an invited music theatre specialist for their third annual Music Theatre Festival, where she taught a week of master classes to students and professionals from across Russia, and returned in 2010 for their summer school for which she also directed & choreographed the closing showcase.

From 1991 to 2004 she was a sixteen-time nominee and six-time recipient of the Buffalo New York Artvoice Artie Award in the areas of direction and choreography, recipient of the 2004 Artvoice Career Achievement Award, a 2006 Katherine Cornell Award presented to visiting artists for her choreographic work on Musicalfare’s Urinetown, the 2005 Milton Plesur Award for Excellence in Teaching from the University at Buffalo, the 1996 "Individual Artist of the Year" awarded by the Buffalo and Erie County Council on the Arts, was a Co-recipient of the Elon College Excellence in Scholarship Award in 2007, was inducted into the St. Joseph’s Collegiate Fine Arts Wall of Honor in 2008,  and in 2011, along with the entire Formato clan, was inducted into the “Legends of Cradle Beach” for their many years of service to this camp for special needs children.

Lynne also is an accomplished performer and a member of the Actor's Equity Association (Lynne Van Remmen). Her most recent on-stage credit was at Universal Studios Florida where she was part of the 1990 opening team of actors. Lynne has taught master classes in theatre dance for organizations across the United States, including the Dance Masters of America National Convention,  Dance Masters of America National Teachers Training School, Gus Giordano's World Jazz Dance Congress and the Southeast Theatre Conference.