Meet the Talent

Keyboard Town PALS productions are screenwritten and produced by owners Rita Herman and Donna Katz. With years of experience in grade school education, Donna and Rita saw an opportunity to revolutionize the way that children learn how to type.

Their flagship educational kid's typing software product, Keyboard Town PALS Learn To Type, presents a new method teaching children of all ages to type on a computer keyboard, using the proper finger technique, in only one hour. Their proprietary method captures the imagination of all types of learners, ages 7 to adult, and helps kids learn to type. Memory technique and association replace stressful drilling and speed time testing found in traditional programs. This greatly accelerates the learning process and children enjoy learning to type again!

THE FOUNDERS

Ms. Rita Herman Keyboard Town PALS™, LLC is guided by CEO Ms. Rita Herman, who has developed a method to teach children to touch-type in 1 hour. Ms. Herman is a professional educator with over three decades of teaching experience with a specialization in reading and creative drama. She is an expert in the Purposeful Associative Learning System (PALS) which serves as the pedagogical foundation for Keyboard Town PALS™.

Ms. Donna Katz The President of Keyboard Town PALS™, Ms. Donna Katz, has years of experience as a school administrator in Pittsburgh PA, and did private consulting for non-profit organizations. Ms. Katz has been the moving force for the production of a software package and its distribution to elementary schools throughout the country.

THE TEAM BEHIND THE PRODUCTION

Keyboard Town PALS has put together an outstanding creative team to produce our children's typing software package. These professionals come on board with years of experience in children's educational programming. Several members of our crew were part of the Emmy-Award winning 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.'

Jeff Bergman, Voice Actor Our most famous artist, Jeff Bergman, is the voice of 18 puppets in the Keyboard Town story including voices inspired by Groucho Marx, Woody Allen, Walter Cronkite, William F. Buckley, Cary Grant, John F. Kennedy, Larry David and Jimmy Durante. He also does regional accents for the show: Southern, New Jersey, Brooklyn, European and British. Bergman is best known as the voices of the classic Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera characters. He provides voice work for the Fox show, The Family Guy. His level of expertise and talent greatly increased the entertainment value of our program.

Adrienne Wehr, Producer Adrienne Wehr spent 10 years as Associate Producer of the Emmy-award winning Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. She has served as producer, writer & art director for such companies as Family Communications, HBM/Creamer, and Gateway Studios, and is an educator. As a performer she works in film, television, stage, radio & and print. Recent film performance credits include Disney’s Inspector Gadget, Kevin Smith’s Dogma, & The Bread, My Sweet. She has a BA in Writing/Literature with a Performing & Visual Arts minor from Denison University. The Legacy of Amenartas, a short she produced, directed and performed in, continues to screen internationally as well as in the States. The Bread, My Sweet is the first feature film she has produced. She was recently honored for her achievements in the arts as one of 40 Under 40 by Pittsburgh Magazine and along with Melissa as among the Top 50 Cultural Forces in Pittsburgh by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Currently Adrienne and Melissa are in development for their next feature, along with a documentary and a TV pilot and a series of shorts.

Melissa Martin, Director Melissa Martin has written and directed plays produced in New York, Chicago, Toronto and at home in Pittsburgh. Her plays include The Shriveled Arm of Uma Kimball, The Last Bridge, and The Convalescence of Marge among others. Martin holds an MFA in playwriting from Carnegie Mellon’s school of drama, where she also studied directing, and a BFA in acting from University of Illinois. She is a university professor and has begun to direct commercials. The Bread, My Sweet is her first film. Melissa & Adrienne were recently honored to be named among the Top 50 Cultural Forces in Pittsburgh by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Currently they are in development for their next feature Nights of the Tutu Parties, along with a documentary and a TV pilot and a series of shorts

Amy Marsalis, Associate Producer, Voice Actress Amy Marsalis is an actress and served as Associate Producer of Keyboard Town PALS and provided the voices of Dora, Helen and Emma. Amy is a film and stage actress, and has acted in commercial, industrial and print work for Fisher-Price, DelMonte Foods, and Pampers among many others. She is a member of The Screen Actors Guild and The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Mark Knobil, Director of Photography For more than 20 years, Mark Knobil has worked with 16mm, 35mm, & video formats. As a documentarian he has over two dozen credits as DP for National Geographic, Nova, other PBS specials and the Discovery Channel. Credits include: Volcanoes of the Deep (Nova, PBS); TITANIC: Anatomy of a Disaster (Discovery Channel); The Shape of Life, Cats: Caressing the Tiger, and Bali: Masterpiece of the Gods (all National Geographic). Other projects range from Mister Rogers Visits the USSR (Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood) to I Ain Cha Hoe (music video for The Missfits/Saturn). Two of his projects have been Emmy-nominated. His corporate clients include USAirways, IBM, Westinghouse and PPG Industries.

Leah Blackwood, Scenic Artist Leah Blackwood painted Mister Rogers' sets for over a decade.

John Friedman, Set Designer John Friedman is presently designing and building sets for Pittsburgh City Theater.

Batpack Studios Batpack Studios' state-of-the-art facility and its professional staff made the production process run smoothly.

Capezzuti Studios Our puppets were designed by Puppetorium of Utah. Capezzuti Studios created the full-body "Sunny" costume. The head puppeteer Sam Turich, brought years of puppeteering experience to the production.