2026 LINEUP
Paul Strickland (Artistic Director)
Paul Strickland is a full-time professional storyteller and musician who lives in Covington, Kentucky. Paul was a Featured Teller at the National Storytelling Festival in 2023 and a Teller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center in 2024.
"An hour spent with master storyteller Paul Strickland is an hour well-spent, and one you should not miss." - Cincinnati Enquirer
"Touches the heart and excites the imagination" - Orlando Weekly
Paul's heartfelt and hilarious original tall-tales, reupholstered folk tales and thought-provoking songs have been performed in virtually every imaginable environment, from Off-Broadway to elementary and middle schools, libraries, corporate events and even two prisons - where he was NOT an inmate at the time. AintTrue.com
Kevin Kling
Kevin Kling graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a BA in Theater in 1979. He has written many plays for children and family audiences including Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, by Bernard Waber, (premiered at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis), Busytown, by Richard Scarry, (premiered at Seattle Children's Theatre) and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes, (premiered at SCT). He has also written original works including Mississippi Panorama, (CTC), Perfectly Persephone, (Imagination Stage) and Best Summer Ever, (CTC).
His one person shows Home and Away, 21A, and How How, Why, Why, Why and his full cast plays Lloyd's Prayer and The Ice Fishing Play have been produced in regional theaters, including The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Goodman, Kennedy Center, Denver Center and off Broadway at Westside Arts and Second Stage Theater.
Orchestral commissions include the Minnesota Orchestra's Home for the Holidays and Joyful Echoes. Collaborating with composer Victor Zupanc: For the Birds for the Zeitgeist ensemble and The Burning Wisdom of Finn McCool and The Twelve Dancing Princesses for the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Awards include the Whiting Award, NEA, McKnight, Bush Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board the A.P. Anderson Award, the VSA Jeahny, the Eric Peterson Award, and two regional Emmys for Kevin Kling: Lost and Found and Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity.
Kevin is a frequent storyteller at storytelling festivals across the country. He has written five books and appears often on PBS and Minnesota Public Radio. Kevin is most proud of his work as a teacher, playwright and performer with Interact Center, a company that creates art in the spirit of radical inclusion.
His website is www.kevinkling.com.
Motoko
Recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2017 Circle of Excellence Award, Motoko has captivated audiences of all ages since 1993. She brings to life a rich repertoire of Asian folktales, Rakugo and Zen tales, ghost stories, and oral memoirs inspired by her childhood in Osaka and her journey as an immigrant. Motoko has been featured in the National Storytelling Festival, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, Bay Area Storytelling Festival, and the Provincetown Playhouse at NYU. Storytelling has taken her to China, Japan, Senegal, and the U.A.E. She is the author of A Year in Japan: Folktales, Songs and Art for the Classroom.