Scarecrow on Fire

Playwright, Scarecrow

Playwright, author and storyteller Kevin Kling is a proud graduate of Osseo High School and Gustavus Adolphus College. His plays have been produced in local and regional theaters including Illusion Theatre, The Guthrie, Open Eye Theatre, The Children’s Theatre Company, Frank Theater, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Mixed Blood, the Goodman, Kennedy Center, Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, History Theatre, Denver Center, Merrimack Rep Theatre, Spoleto and off Broadway at Westside Arts and Second Stage Theater.

Orchestral commissions include the Minnesota Orchestra and, collaborating with composer Victor Zupanc, the Zeitgeist ensemble and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

Kevin is a frequent performer at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. He appears often on TPT’s Almanac and is featured in two PBS documentaries, Kevin Kling: Lost & Found and Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity. Kevin was named the Minneapolis Storyteller Laureate by Mayor RT Rybak in 2014.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Director (A Pickle, The Postmans’s Daughter, Scarecrow on Fire), Executive Producing Director

Michael founded ILLUSION THEATER in 1974. Over the past 50 years, he has guided nearly 500 plays to production. Most recently Michael directed T. Mychael Rambo's PRESENT, Judy, Joan & Joni (conceived by Michael and Roberta Carlson), the premiere of Michael Egan's stage adaptation Five Minutes of Heaven, and In This Moment...Now. Favorite projects he has directed include Allison Moore’s Ivey award winning My Antonia, Bill W. & Dr. Bob by Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey, James Still’s Miranda, Kate Guentzel in The Pink Unicorn, and Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling’s A Night in Olympus. With Roberta Carlson, Michael created the musical Only One Sophie. Michael is part of the team that created ILLUSION’s Education/Prevention program in 1977 starting with the award-winning play Touch. Michael received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Ivey Award.

Tin Man, Newspaper Man, Toto, Nurse

Dan Chouinard is a St. Paul-based all-purpose pianist and accordionist, sing-along enabler, concert soloist and accompanist, French and Italian teacher and bicycling vagabond.  He's the go-to pianist for a smorgasbord of singers across the Twin Cities and has been writer and host of live history-and-music shows for Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities Public Television. He played on a dozen live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion and has toured with Garrison Keillor and Prudence Johnson over the past three years. Recent favorites include gigs with his classic country band, Lush Country; summertime appearances with various folks at ILLUSION’s LIVE at Lyndale Gardens series; and a new music and history show, Rondo ’56: Remembering St. Paul’s Black Main Street. He started working regularly with Kevin Kling and Simone Perrin in 2008.

Lion, Dry Goods Man, Guy, Man, Wizard, Doctor, Lab Tech

Stephen is a longtime member of the Twin Cities theater community. He is a founding member of the Mixed Blood Theater, appearing in over 30 productions. At the Guthrie Theater, he has performed in over 80 productions including King Lear, Othello, Burial at Thebes, An Iliad, the History Plays. Stephen was in The Children, The Nether, The Night Alive, The Seafarer, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Jungle Theater. He has performed at Pillsbury House Theater, the Playwrights Center, and at Carnegie Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra. Stephen is a recipient of the McKnight Theater Artists award.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater and Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

House of Mercy Band (Chris Larson [Vocals/Acoustic Guitar], Angie Talle [Vocals], Jeremy Szopinski [Baritone Electric Guitar], Doug Trail-Johnson [Vocals/Mandolin]) emerged during the first major wave of Americana music. They hosted a monthly live radio show at the Turf Club and shared the stage with legendary artists like Charlie Louvin (Louvin Brothers), Ralph Stanley, and Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes), along with many other local and classic country and gospel acts. In 2005, they won Best Gospel Group at the Minnesota Music Awards. Throughout their career, they recorded five albums while serving as the house band for House of Mercy church in Saint Paul. Star Tribune music critic Chris Riemenschneider praised their sound, saying, “Spirituality aside, I mean, they're just great songs. I compared them to the Jayhawks. Mix that with their gospel touch, and it's some really nice, beautiful stuff.” https://www.houseofmercyrecordings.com/

Chris Larson is a multimedia artist and musician based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. From 1996 to 2006, he was the leader and primary songwriter for the House of Mercy Band. In 1999, he co-founded House of Mercy Recordings, a local independent label specializing in Americana music.  He also performed as a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist with Ang and the Ranch Hands.  Larson earned his MFA in Sculpture from Yale University in 1991. Since then, his work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and biennials across 17 countries. He has received numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and a Bush Artist Fellowship.  He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Minnesota. In 2019, Larson co-founded Second Shift Studio Space in Saint Paul, a nonprofit residency program and gallery supporting artists, makers, and thinkers whose gender identities have historically been marginalized. chrislarsonstudio.com and secondshiftstudiospace.org 

Jeremy Szopinski is an electric guitarist who has played with numerous roots-rock bands in the Twin Cities including The Urban Hillbilly Quartet, The House of Mercy Band, The Blood Washed Band, Matt Arthur, Romantica, Ang and the Ranch Hands and Mercy Machine. His latest musical project, “The Bullet”, is an experimental instrumental rock album born out of the pandemic and can be found here:  https://thebullet.hearnow.com/. By day, Jeremy is an artist who is currently painting abstracted landscapes in oil, examples of which can be seen at www.jeremyszopinski.com. He lives in South Minneapolis.

Angie Talle is a visual artist and singer who finds her greatest joy in collaborating with others to create beautiful things. Whether she’s adding sparkle to an alleyway with her mosaics, writing and singing songs with other musicians, or sharing the stories of inspiring artists in her podcast, Angie’s creativity thrives in community. Most days you will find her crafting handwritten notes to encourage and connect with others, off adventuring with her fun pre-teen boys or beginning a new art project!  @angietalle.art and @bealovemessenger

Doug Trail-Johnson is a master woodcarver specializing in Byzantine art for Orthodox Churches, as well as high end furniture and cabinetry for homes and businesses. He was honored to receive a Bush Artist Fellowship for his original designs and exquisite, detailed carving.

From 1996 to 2006 he was a founding member of the House of Mercy band and contributing song writer. Whether contributing bright riffs on mandolin, laying the groundwork with guitar, or adding warm harmonies, Doug loves making music with others. He can also often be found whistling in the woods or on the lakes of northern Minnesota with his wife and family.

Cellist

Cellist and composer Michelle Kinney is most inspired when working in improvisational cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary contexts. Recent collaborative creations for dance include with Laurie Van Wieren, Ananya Dance Theater, Black Label Movement, BRKFST; and in theater, with Kevin Kling, Michael Sommers, Theater Latté Da, and Marya Hart’s Fidgety Fairy Tales.

Michelle also performs her original music with many bands (currently the Tamarack Stylites and Purple Orange) and is a regular contributor to some of the Twin Cities’ most interesting music projects led by genre-pushing artists such as Zeitgeist, Mary Ellen Childs, Douglas Ewart, Nirmala Rajasekar and Dylan Hicks. Michelle has been recognized for her work by The Schubert Club, The McKnight Foundation (Composer Fellowship), Two Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Fund grants, The Bush Foundation (Bush Artists Fellowship), The Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board (with Jelloslave), NEA/Rockefeller, Harvestworks/Studio Pass, and American Composers Forum.

More at michellekinneymusic.com.

Stage Manager

Jeffery returned to Stage Management last year for Scarecrow on Fire after a 28-year absence. The in-between times were spent in Information Technology and owning his own fitness nutrition retail store. He has stage managed at Theatre L’Homme Dieu, Alexandria, MN; The Guthrie Theater and Frank Theater, Minneapolis, MN; Playwrights’ Horizons and Phoenix Theater, New York, NY; Actors Theatre of Louisville, Louisville, KY; Arena Stage, Washington, DC.