Leila Cabib is a professional cartoonist, illustrator, and animator. Her clients include The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Gannett newspapers, Time-Life Books, and many other publications and organizations. She has written and illustrated two nationally syndicated comic strips. She has been teaching cartooning in after-school programs for 29 years and cartooning and animation as an artist in residence in elementary, middle, and high schools (grades 2-12) for 20 years. Her students’ animated videos have been honored with several national awards and shown at international film f
John Morogiello has been a teaching artist in Maryland since 1997, offering residencies in playwriting for students in grades 3 and above that integrate curricular subject matter with performance and dramatic story-telling. His plays (including Engaging Shaw, Blame It On Beckett, and The Consul, The Tramp, and America's Sweetheart) have been produced off-Broadway, in Europe, and at some of America's premier regional theaters. John is also the artistic director of Best Medicine Rep Theater Company in Gaithersburg.
InterAct Story Theatre is a theatre for young audiences and multidisciplinary arts-in-education organization based in Wheaton, Maryland.
Cantaré, Latin American Music performs songs in Spanish and Portuguese, while sharing the music’s cultural background. Cantaré introduces a variety of string and percussion instruments from different Latin American countries. Audiences learn about geography and history of Latin America and about the different cultures that shaped its music – Indigenous, European and African.
"In my almost three decades of teaching, I have heard a wide variety of internationally known authors, many of them award recipients. Marc was easily the most engaging and inspiring presenter I have ever heard. He held the rapt attention of the entire auditorium—students and staff alike. He is such a gift!"
—Adrienne DeMichele, Taipei American School, Taiwan ***
Author Marc Tyler Nobleman has inspired audiences of all ages - including the most reluctant students - in 30+ states and almost 20 countries with his twist-filled true story of overcoming odds and speaking up for others.
Barry Louis Polisar is an author, songwriter, poet, and story-teller for children who also writes songs and books for adults. He performs his songs on two different Grammy Award-winning albums and sings his song All I Want is You in the opening credits of the Academy Award winning movie Juno.
His books and poems have been translated into other languages and his songs have been recorded and performed by singers and musicians internationally. He has written songs for Sesame Street and The Weekly Reader and starred in a television show for children that won two Emmy awards.
Mark Jaster served as teaching assistant to Marcel Marceau. He brings over 40 years of performance experience, including over 30 years as a featured act at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, thousands of performances and hundreds of residencies for school-age audiences. He is also Artistic Co-Director of the award-winning Happenstance Theater, and has served as movement consultant to many regional theaters.
Maura Dwyer was born and raised in Baltimore and attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. She creates work that supports place-making/keeping through teaching mural workshops, creating visual campaign material, and co-designing community art projects that fuse history, political action, and personal narrative.
I am a fiber and ceramic artist whose artwork is inspired by Byzantine and medieval art. I stitch hand embroidered images set in architecturally inspired frames of hand built ceramics and found objects. Along the way I have engaged in a number of related pursuits.