About now, you're saying to yourself, “Is this guy for real?” Okay, were coming clean.
Vinny Verelli is actually Jonathan Schwartz. With his degree in Marketing Jonathan decided there's no business like show business, and has been performing professionally for the past 33 years!
Some of the highlights of Jonathan’s performing career have been:
In 1973 Jonathan’s fledgling company, Bacchus Productions, was awarded a National Humanities Grant to mount a production of Samuel Becket’s Waiting For Godot which toured Florida State Prisons. The production received national acclaim.
In 1979 Jonathan had the honor to work with Tennessee Williams in the world premiere production of Tiger Tail at the Hippodrome State Theatre in Gainesville, Florida.
In 1981 after a national tour with the Claude Kipnis Mime Theatre, Jonathan played the title role of Renard with the Kipnis Company at Carnegie Hall.
In 1979 Jonathan started working on cruise ships as an entertainer. In 1982 Jonathan put his improvisational skills to work and started developing his motivational skills as Cruise Director. You try motivating 1,500 seasick passengers while dodging a hurricane in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. Jonathan worked on cruise ships for 11 years. This is where he met his wife, former Broadway performer, Ginny King.
For the past 15 years Jonathan and his wife Ginny have been producing shows for the event business in Atlanta. Jonathan has written, produced and directed fourteen interactive mysteries that have been produced at over 350 corporate events. Jonathan and Ginny have won 6 Allie Awards (awards given by the special events industry) for entertainment in the past 5 years.
Jonathan is currently president elect for the Georgia Chapter of NSA. (National Speakers Association) In February of 2004, Jonathan as Vinny Verelli won the NSA Comedy Idol Competition in St. Louis. In 2006 Jonathan won first place in the Toastmasters' Humour competiion in the State of Georgia and in 2007 took first place in the Table Topics. Vinny has been asked to be the closing keynote speaker at the 2007 CAPS (Canadian Association of Professional Speakers) convention.
