About
I wear a lot of hats and am passionate about a lot of different topics. I am a historian, theatremaker, playwright, arts administrator, lyricist, photographer, and educator.
Currently, I am a graduate student at Florida State University working towards a PhD in History. My major field is Modern European History, and my minor fields include Public History, War & Society, and Gender & Sexuality. My advisor is Dr. Nathan Stoltzfus. I am a recipient of the Baumgarten & Gibbons Greatest Generation Graduate Fellowship. In addition to my studies, I serve as an Ambassador for the Gulf Coast region for the Dramatist Guild and as the Marketing Director for White Mouse Theatre Productions.
My most recent work experience includes serving as the Early Childhood Education Program Coordinator for the Jewish Community Alliance, the Project Manager for the Rosenstrasse Foundation, as an adjunct faculty member of the History Department at Jacksonville University, and as the Associate Managing Director for a leading regional theater in Vermont.
In addition, I have an MA in Modern European History with a minor in Public History, a Graduate Certificate in Publishing & Editing, a BA in Theatre, and a BA in English (Creative Writing Emphasis) with a minor in History. My passion is using theatre as a platform for public history.
During my earlier studies, I worked as a graduate assistant, served as the Founding Artistic Director of White Mouse Productions, served as Communications Officer for the History Graduate Student Association, and Campus Editor of the FSU branch of Uloop News. I was also named a Young Theatremacher Fellow by the Alliance for Jewish Theatre.
I am also a playwright and librettist. I have written the books/lyrics for three musicals and my plays have been performed across the United States as well as internationally. My favorite productions include ones at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in NYC, the Stage Arts School in Viborg, Denmark, and with Rabbit Riot Theatre Company in Sligo, Ireland, just to name a few. I am particularly passionate about writing about historical people, places, and events in order to use theatre as a platform for public history and as a tool for education.
Photography is another passion. In 2021, my partner, Donald Gjoka, and I founded 3 Muses Photography and have our own in-home studio. Additionally, our photography was published in 23 different fashion magazines and exhibited in six different galleries over the course of 2021. In 2018, I was selected as one of the top photography artists in North Florida by St. John’s Magazine.
If you are interested in checking out my undergraduate thesis, which was the research, creation, and production of an original musical geared towards Holocaust education, it was published online and can be viewed here.
My Masters thesis focused on female spies of WWI and WWII as a framework to explore how the the lives of British women at large during this time also changed. It can be read online here.
Recent Projects
Danielle presented her research at the Stony Brook University Graduate History Conference and the International Conference on Gender & Sexuality in the Fall of 2021 Her photography is currently on exhibit in the Tallahassee Photofest at the Tallahassee International Airport as well in “The Sky is the Limit” in FemArt Gallery’s exhibit at the University … Continue reading Recent Projects