About
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About M.E.
For Dr. Santo D. Marabella…
Teaching has always been the heart of his passion.
Practicing what he teaches – as a consultant, community organizer, playwright, producer, author or speaker – is what gives voice to this passion.
Engaging his “students” – clients, readers, audiences and employees – through the performing arts energizes and enlivens his message.
Marabella Enterprises (Marabella Entertainment & Education Enterprises, LLC) is the entity that brings it all together. Marabella Entertainment & Education Enterprises, LLC (MEEE) is the hub from which all activities emanate: The Practical Prof, theatre projects, film projects. MEEE creates, produces and distributes edu-tainment that makes a difference for business, not-for-profit organizations, communities and individuals everywhere. The Practical Prof® A real-life college management professor at Moravian College, Marabella enjoys being your personal work-life advisor. Through his newspaper column, funshops (like workshops only more fun), lectures and book, The Practical Prof teaches simple lessons for anyone who works. Theatre and Film MEEE creates and produces theatre and film that provokes and inspires social change, while entertaining its audiences. Whether it is helping senior citizens stay safe from scammers or create new dialogue to diminish bullying, MEEE develops performing arts properties that make a difference. In addition, Marabella selectively chooses outside projects to produce which are consistent with the MEEE mantra of “edu-tainment that makes a difference.” Two such projects he produced include A Perfect You (Sue Lange, 2016) and American Standard (Justen Patrick Lander, 2014).
Biography Dr. Santo D. Marabella has more than 25 years’ experience researching, consulting, teaching and speaking for, about and with business and not-for-profit organizations. Recognized as a leader in the arts community, he is professor of management at Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in management, leadership, marketing, ethics, diversity and strategy, and is a former department chair and director of the MBA program at Moravian. Marabella holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Villanova University, an MBA in management from St. Joseph’s University and a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. His “practical” experience and consulting includes work and research in business management, social work, the performing arts and not-for-profit boards. Marabella successfully lead (and is some cases founded) more than six organizations – including a film commission, arts council and a community leadership program – all of which flourish today, in addition to his own consulting and production management company. He has consulted for, or spoken to, more than 75 regional and national organizations and companies.
Even his research is “practical.” Some highlights include creating an orientation program for new members of not for profit boards of directors; a model that uses theatre for training customer service personnel; studying how performing arts impact individual empathy. He is author of the book The Lessons of Caring: Inspiration and Support for Caregivers (2019) in which he shares the lessons he has learned as a caregiver for his parents. His first book was The Practical Prof: Simple Lessons for Anyone Who Works (2014). Written to “renew and recharge,” Marabella writes in an easy, light and humorous style to engage and teach “simple lessons” that can be applied right away. Marabella has been a columnist for the Reading Eagle’s Business Weekly since 2012. His column, Office Hours with The Practical Prof® can be found in the business tabloid on the third and fourth Tuesdays each month.
Marabella loves the arts! He created and produced a musical, short, film and seven plays; producer of four short films and two TV pilots; and, director of more than 25 community theatre productions.
Named by the Reading Eagle as the 2017 Entertainment Newsmaker of the Year, Marabella splits his creativity among TV, film and theatre. He was a Producer of This Is Reading, a multimedia performance arts installation about and set in his hometown of Reading, PA, written and conceived by Lynn Nottage, two-time Pulitzer-Prize winning and Tony-nominated playwright. His current project, a TV pilot is “Franklin Street Station,” about employees and a passenger who are stuck in 1981 waiting for the train to return. Shot in an actual train station, it is being shopped to traditional and streaming television networks. His most recent one act plays include “There’s No Place Like Home,” and “Work will Bring You Home” (both 2019). “Metis and the Man,” (2017) calls attention to the power we have to manage our fear, if we are open to re-perceiving it as a force to reckon with in our present, that is relegated to our past, so it doesn’t impact our future. He most recently was a producer for This Is Reading, a multi-media performance arts installation, conceived and written by Lynn Nottage. Other projects include: “Gays in the Workplace – The Clear and Present Danger,” (2016) a one-act play with a different perspective on the corporate closet, and his latest full-length play in development is “My Dad’s First Dog,” (2016) which wonders why is it so easy for dogs and humans to share unconditional love, yet so difficult for people to love each other the same way; full-length play, “Getting: COMPLETE!” (2014) tells what happens when the bully grows up; and, a film-play, Senior Exploits (2013), a film-play, helps active senior citizens protect themselves from shrewd scams; “Symphony of Dreams,” (2011) a musical using his father’s original songs; and, a short film, “Location! Location” (2010) for ReadingFilm as a location destination presentation for location scouts and managers.
Marabella founded and served as the Film Commissioner for ReadingFilm (2006-2018), a division of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance. He is the former Chair of the Alumni Council of the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania; Past Chair, Board of Trustees, Greater Reading Alliance of Community Theatres. His professional memberships include: The Lambs®, the Dramatists Guild of America, the Theatre Communications Group, the Academy of Management and the National Association of Social Workers.
A native of Reading, PA, but born in Italy, Marabella is the only child of Anna & Sam, and resides in Fleetwood, with his fur-child, Rafaelle, a flat-coated retriever who is a certified therapy dog and all-around best buddy!
