Kevin Kling
Author, Playwright, Storyteller
Sessions
Keynote: Kevin Kling presents: The Art of Storytelling
12:45 PM - 1:45 PM Wed
Playwright, author and storyteller 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), Best Summer Ever, (CTC) and most recently Invisible Fences with Gaelynn Lea. 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 Emmy Awards for PBS documentaries Kevin Kling: Lost & Found and Art + Medicine: Disability, Culture and Creativity. Kevin is a frequent performer at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN and appears often on PBS and Minnesota Public Radio. He was named the Minneapolis Storyteller Laureate by Mayor RT Rybak in 2014 and has authored five books. 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.