Paul Strickland has been a Cincinnati Favorite since moving here in October of 2014. Most of Paul’s stories were told to him by his Ain’t True and his Uncle False, who live in Big-Fib Cul-de-sac, a small trailer park just off the coast of Factual in the mythical American south. His hilarious and heart-felt tall tales have won “Best of Fest” over fifteen times at Fringe Festivals in the U.S. and Canada. Strickland has performed at theaters, festivals, comedy clubs, and more, including two prisons, where he was not an inmate at the time. Selections from his show Levels of Difficulty can be heard on XM Sirius radio. www.AintTrue.com
Paul Strickland (Artistic Director)
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Megan Hicks
As a self-proclaimed Teller-Without-a-Niche, Megan dives heart-first into every story she tells – fairy tale, personal story, American history, parody, ghost & horror, humor – and magically, her listeners are happy to follow.
She performs throughout the United States, and she recently completed a month-long tour of China, adding a fourth continent – Asia – to her international storytelling credits.
Her awards include a Parents’ Choice® Silver for the CD, “What Was Civil About That War…” which was also a 2005 Finalist for an Audies® award in the category of Best Original Work. She received the Parents’ Guide to Children’s Media Award and Storytelling World Honor for “Groundhogs Meet Grimm,” a collection of her original parodies that was also tapped for Honors by NAPPA. Her collection of fairy tales – “No Tricks. Just Magic” – received a Storytelling World Award, as did her recording "Like You're Really There: Megan Hicks Live at Jonesborough."
Megan is a sought-after workshop presenter and seminar leader, with credits ranging from storytelling festivals and conferences across the U.S., bi-lingual schools in Latin America and China, libraries in Australia and New Zealand, juvenile detention centers, and the FBI Academy.
Antonio Rocha
Antonio Rocha, originally from Brazil, began his career in the performing arts in 1985. In 1988 he received a Partners of the Americas grant to come to the USA to perform and deepen his mime skills with Mime Master Tony Montanaro. Since then he has earned a Summa Cum Laude Theater BA from USM (University of Southern Maine) and studied with Master Marcel Marceau. Mr. Rocha’s unique fusion of mime and spoken word has been performed from Singapore to South Africa and many places in between including 20 countries on 6 continents and 44 US states. Some of the venues include The Singapore Festival of the Arts, Wolf Trap, The National Storytelling Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The National Geographic, The Tales of Graz in Austria, Dunya Festival in Holland as well as many other Storytelling Festivals and educational institutions around The USA.
Antonio has three very entertaining and educational award winning DVDs, a picture book and a few awards including the coveted Circle of Excellence Award by the National Storytelling Network.