Freddy Acevedo is a KC-based Chicano actor, writer, and theatre creator. He is a graduate of the MFA Acting program at UMKC. Freddy is also an alumnus of NYC’s LAByrinth Theatre Intensive Ensemble. Locally, Freddy has worked with The Coterie (Jack & The Bean Mágico, Secret Soldiers), Unicorn Theatre (Blind Faith), Kansas City Actors Theatre (King Lear, Dracula), Heart of America Shakespeare Festival (Hamlet), KC Public Theatre (El Amor Que Mueve El Sol y Las Demás Estrellas, The Avocado Tree), and KC Rep (A Christmas Carol). Non-local work includes acting at the William Inge Theatre Festival (Octavio Solis Tribute), acting/directing new-play workshop and development with LAByrinth Theatre, and a national tour in Bolivia (Pachakutec).

JESS ANDREWS (Storyteller) KCRep: The Village of Vale(staged reading). Local: Brainstorm (The Coterie);12th Night, The Moors, The Italian Straw Hat (UMKC Theatre). Regional: Cymbeline (Great River Shakespeare Festival). Education: MFA Acting and Directing (UMKC). jessandrewsactor.com. Instagram: jessanndrews

Bùi Ngọc Hiếu is a Vietnamese actor, playwright, and director. He loves playing tennis and telling stories. He was recently in Bomb’itty of Errorsat The Blackbox Theatre. This past summer, he was also in The Coterie’s production of Dragons Love Tacos!His play “The Medicine Man” was produced Kansas City Actors Theatre and read on the radio. His play can still be heard on KCAT’s podcast (kcactor.org).

Much can be said about Duncan. He is a talented artist, musician and producer. Duncan got his start in music very early in life by being introduced to the drums. Playing on his first drum kit at the young age of 7, Duncan has since toured the country with several bands and more recently went international on an arena stage.
With an eclectic taste for music and versatile creativity to create and produce his own music, Duncan has created a sound individual to him. Always a stickler for perfection and with incredible attention to detail, Duncan has revamped his percussion style to a level of musicianship you are sure to love. Duncan is a showman at heart and providing fans with a live show is vital to him.

Money never being the objective Duncan aims to make a positive impact in the hearts and minds of our generation's youth.

Isabella Rose Burch attends Guadalupe Centers Charter High School and has been a Member of The Art As Mentorship program since 2019. She is a singer/song writer who has performed at The Record Bar, Knuckleheads, The Nelson Art Gallery Summer on the lawn, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Isabella is 15 years old and aspires to be on Broadway one day.

Juan-Carlos Chaurand is the percussionist and keyboardist for Making Movies and a dancer, having been dancing traditional Mexican ballet folklorico for over 25 years. He started at a very young age performing in Ballet Folklorico Atotonilco, the dance troupe founded by his mother Maria Chaurand 40 years ago in Kansas City. At the age of 19 Juan-Carlos went to study folclor at the University of Guadalajara where he spent a year under the guidance of the late Co-Director Fernando Delgadillo. Dancing continues to play a big part in Juan-Carlos’ life and is also incorporated in the Making Movies performances and in university workshops he facilitates. He started playing percussion at the age of 15 where he learned by watching and getting live experience with local salsa bands performing at festivals and clubs. His skills have garnered the attention of Los Lobos, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Los Texmaniacs, Bright Light Social Hour, Ozomatli and Los Lonely Boys, who invite him to tour and to record.

Credits include:Making Movies‘A LaDeriva’ (2014) -Released by United InterestsInstruments: Conga, Vocals, PianoMaking Movies ‘I Am Another You’ (2017) -Released by 3/2 RecordingsInstruments: Conga, Bongo, Vibraphone, Vocals, Keyboard,Hurray For The Riff Raff ‘The Navigator’ (2017) -Released by ATO RecordsInstruments: Congas, BongoThe Bright Light Social Hour‘Missing Something EP’ (2018) -Independent

Diego Chi is a bassist, pianist, singer, and co-founder of immigrant rock band Making Movies. The band is ending a landmark year celebrating the Latin Grammy nomination of No Te Calles, a collaboration with Rubén Blades that Rolling Stone called "a rollicking ode to the right to resist" and NPR Music labeled one of the Best Songs of 2019.

When not touring with Making Movies, Diego works as a studio musician and touring musician for various acts including Jesse & Joy, Los Rakas, Mireya Ramos of Flor De Toloache, and Las Cafeteras, as well as produces and mixes projects at his home studio in Los Angeles.

Enrique Chi was born in Panama and moved to Kansas City when he was six. He’s the leader and songwriter for Making Movies, a Kansas City-based band with an international following, and he’s making a big difference for kids in his community. In 2011, Enrique and the band, in collaboration with Mattie Rhodes Center, created a week-long music education camp for youth from under-resourced communities. Recently, they launched a new nonprofit, Art as Mentorship, to offer a three-month music education program that focuses on songwriting as a vehicle for self-expression. Throughout the program, students learn from world-class artists, producers, and engineers about writing, recording, and performing original works.Energy, mysticism, roots —it’s hard to describe the music of Making Movies, a band that Rolling Stone says is “breaking down walls in the United States,” with a mix of Afro-Latino rhythms and psychedelic rock’n’roll that makes the group’s sound something unique. The connection between the Chi brothers (hailing from Santiago, Panama) —together with their Mexican bandmates, the Chaurand brothers —results in an overwhelming musical presence that takes you through landscapes festive, furious, refreshing, and dark.Whether he’s touring the globe or working with youth on smaller stages, Enrique is known for bringing people together and building community.

Ozzy has been interested in music most of his life. He is a drummer, and now a front person for the band The Geins. He loves listening to old punk and metal and going to shows when he can. He is 13 years old.

Tessa Gratton is genderfluid and hangry. She is the author ofThe Queens of Innis LearandLady Hotspur, as well asseveral Young Adult fantasy series and short stories which have been translated into twenty-two languages. Her most recent YA novels areStrange GraceandNight Shine,as well as the forthcomingChaos and Flame. Though she has traveled all over the world,she currently lives alongside the Kansas prairie with her wife. Visit her atTessaGratton.com.Bibliography: (Young Adult and Adult SFF) LADY HOTSPUR (2020 Tor), MOON DARK SMILE (2022 McElderry), CHAOS & FLAME (2023 Razorbill), TREMONTAINE (REALM 2016-2019)

Huascar Medina (Café Oscuro as storyteller and story writer)is a poet, writer and performer living in Lawrence, KS. He’s the current Poet Laureate of Kansas (2019-2022), Lit Editor for seveneightfivemagazine, creator/host of Kansas is Liton 785live.com, Op-Ed writer for Kansas Reflectorand a staff editor at South Broadway Press. He's published two collections of poetry Un Mango Grows in Kansas(2020) and How to Hang the Moon(2017). His words have appeared in The New York Times, Latino Book Review, Flint Hills. As an actor Hauscar has appeared in The Wild Partyand Tick, Tick...Boom!(Ad Astra Theatre Ensemble); Jesus Christ Superstar (Topeka Performing Arts Center); The Toxic Avenger(Helen Hocker Theater); Memphis(Topeka Civic Theatre). Review and elsewhere. https://huascarmedina.com/

Natalie C. Parker is the author and editor of several books for young adults among them the acclaimed Seafiretrilogy. Her work has been included on the NPR Best Books list, the Indie Next List, and the TAYSHAS Reading List, and in Junior Library Guild selections. Natalie grew up in a navy family finding home in coastal cities from Virginia to Japan. Now, she lives withher wife on the Kansas prairie. nataliecparker.com

VI TRAN (Ghost Light Author/Performer) Local:The Butcher’sSon(The Buffalo Room); with their eyes, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, Sideways Stories from Wayside School(The Coterie); King Henry V(Heart of America Shakespeare Festival); M Butterfly(Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre). The Busy World is Hushed(The Theatre Gym); Take Me Out, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Oldest Boy, Vietgone(Unicorn Theatre); Regional: Vietgone (American Stage); The Butcher’s Son (Chicago Musical Theatre Festival). Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon(Our Perspective/Steppenwolf/Lookout);Miss Saigon(Paramount); Take Me Out(Playhouse on the Square); Miss Saigon(Western Playhouse); Upcoming: Four Children(Kansas City Actors Theatre). Education:BA & MA, Kansas State University.