* ‡ Linda Fang

Storyteller

A storyteller since the age of ten, Linda has told stories to audiences of all ages. She has been featured at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, The National Theatre, and the Smithsonian, as well as at storytelling festivals in Canada, Austria, Singapore, and the Caribbean. Linda is the award-winning author of “The Ch’i-lin Purse,” a collection of Ancient Chinese stories, many of which are now being used as teaching material in American textbooks. In 1998, she was named the National Storyteller of the Year, and in 2004 she received the Solo Theatrical Performer Award from MSAC. Her CD, “Tales From Ancient China,” won the 2006 Parents’ Choice Award.

* Kevin Gift

Pianist

Kevin Gift began studying the piano at the age of four in Caracas, Venezuela, and first performed in public at age seven. He received his professional training at Emory University and at the Northwestern University School of Music. A winner of numerous prizes and awards, including a Steinway Society Grant, Kevin has performed throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe.

NEW! Gunstwork Puppet Mask Theatre

Visual and Performing Artist

Touring Artist/Limited Availability

Michael Gunst created “Four Wishes” for the 2007 Boulder International Fringe Festival, and received the “Encore Best of Fest” performance. Michael has toured, taught, and performed both internationally and nationally across North America, Scotland, England, Switzerland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Michael has performed with Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s “Living Shakespeare”, Studebaker Movement Theater Company, MA, Faustwork Mask Theatre, Toronto, Asolo Theater, FL, Castlehill Festival, MA, Circus Flora, MO, The Big Apple Clown Care Unit, NYC, Pocket Mime Theater, MA, and the International Pantomime Company of New England, Mexico.

Caryl Henry-Alexander

Visual Artist

Visual artist and educator, Caryl Henry-Alexander has been commissioned to create murals, sculp­tures, site-specific installations, and paintings both here and abroad. She has exhibited exten­sively throughout the United States as well as the American Cultural Center in Ibadan, Nigeria. Caryl was a lecturer at the California College of Arts and Crafts where she taught West African YORUBA Art and Culture and Mixed Media painting. Since relocating to Maryland, Caryl has been active in the art education community, offer­ing curriculum integrated residencies in schools throughout the state and teaching at MATI.

Illstyle & Peace Productions

Hip-Hop Dance

Brandon “Peace” Albright and Forrest Webb founded Illstyle & Peace Productions in 2002. Their affiliations and performing credits include Crew Scanner Boyz, Boys II Men, Will Smith, LL Cool J, and Renee Harris Pure Movement. The company, based in Philadelphia, PA, is a multicultural, mixed-gender dance company whose work focuses on the movement and spirit of hip-hop with a variety of performance disciplines such as ballet, jazz, and tap. The company delivers a positive message of individual expression to worldwide audiences young and old.

Click to watch a preview of their performance.

Jali-D

The Drum Talker

David Foreman, aka ‘Jali-D,’ is an accomplished percussionist and spoken word artist who simultaneously combines his talents into an art form he calls “Rappercussions.” His intelligent and creative rhymes have entertained and educated both children and adults nationwide. Along with his work in schools, Jali-D has recorded an educational music CD called “Mind Rhymes,” and has written a score for an FDA/Cartoon Network health campaign.

* Carolyn Koerber

Puppeteer/Storyteller

Since 1970, Carolyn has presented puppet theatre that excites the imagination. A truly unique and outstanding artist, actress, and storyteller, Carolyn reaches the hearts and minds of everyone in her audience. She has appeared at the Smithsonian, The National Theatre, and thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers in the Mid-Atlantic region.

* Mark Lohr

Actor/Vaudeville Comedian

An entertainer who has studied the masters of his craft - Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Bill Irwin - Mark has more than two decades of performing experience wowing audiences around the globe! He has performed everywhere from the stage of the Kennedy Center, to the center ring of the circus, to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. A featured act at the largest clown festival in the world -- The Kimtom International Clown Festival in Shanghai, China -- Mark’s unique comic style brings together many disciplines of performance art in hysterical ways that are guaranteed to wow audiences of all ages!

Tim Marrone

Actor

Tim received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City and has appeared on stage throughout the Northeast, most recently in the Baltimore/Washington DC area.  For ten years, Tim served as a founding member of the Maryland-based clown/theatre troupe Theatricks.  He has appeared as a silent comic character in and around the Baltimore Area and has co-written and performed productions as a physical comedian.  Tim is currently a theatre/movement instructor at the Baltimore School for the Arts.

*‡NEW! Herb Massie

Visual and Clay Artist

Herb Massie is a co-director and arts instructor at Baltimore Clayworks, and a community arts activist who has a passion for connecting art with community. His art work has been featured throughout Baltimore City and at the World Trade Center. While Herb is a professional artist best known for his functional and sculptural clay works and mask making, he is also an experienced educator, facilitating workshops in various recreational and PAL Centers, libraries, museums, and schools for more than twelve years. Herb is a master of engaging people of all ages in the art-making process, and has the particular ability to help middle and high school students reach their full potential through the arts.

* Anna Menendez

Classical Spanish Dancer

Anna Menendez is an experienced Flamenco dancer and choreographer who has studied extensively in Spain. She was the 2003 recipient of the Artists’ Fellowship award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for excellence in Flamenco dance. She has held dancing roles in many operas, and also performed with the “La Truco Flamenco” dance company in Madrid, Spain. Her other credits include appearances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and performances with Carmela Greco (daughter of late, great Jose Greco) in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Key

*: Artists with this symbol are MSAC approved! MSAC funding may be available!

‡: Artists with this symbol have arts integration training through YA’s Teaching Artist Institute!