Past Performances & Experiences

The following is a brief history of some of my projects, my education, and my experiences as a performing artist, historian, educator, journalist, and actor:

I was honored to perform as part of the cast of Steady She Goes, a new play from playwright Erica Berman, at The Overture Center in Madison, WI in March 2026. This was a world premier stage reading with blocking at The Playhouse in The Overture Center, Madison’s premier performing arts venue. This was a production of Four Season Theatre, produced by Sarah Marty, directed by Katherine Norman, and with musical direction from Scott McKenna Campbell.

In 2025, I performed twice with members of The Blue Canvas Orchestra (BCO), the house band for the iconic Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, WI. I was honored to perform a special sea shanty and maritime music gig with the BCO at The Backstage, the Big Top’s smaller stage venue, and then again as a special guest artist on the mainstage at Big Top.

In 2023, I had the honor of contributing to Dr. Amy Ressler's book Social Emotional Learning Through Drama: A Practical Guide to Immersive Devised Story Drama, which allowed me to combine my passion for music, education, and storytelling.

I have been a guest lecturer at schools and universities, most recently including the California State University at Bakersfield.

I’ve had the privilege of performing at the following festivals and venues:

• The Milwaukee Irish Festival

• The Irish Fest in the Barn/Madison Irish Festival

• The Dubuque Irish Festival

• The Dubuque Irish Hooley

• The Oshkosh Irish Festival

• The La Crosse Irish Festival

• The Kansas City Irish Festival

• The Dublin (Ohio) Irish Festival

• The Gays Mills Folk Festival

• The GottaGetGon Folk Festival (Ballston Spa, New York)

• The Davis, California International Festival

• The Madison, WI International Festival

• The Dubuque, IA Storytelling Festival

• The Whitewater, WI Storytelling Festival

• The Rockford, IL Irish Festival

• Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, WI

• The Door County, Wisconsin Tall Ships Festival at The Granary in Sturgeon Bay, WI

• The Mazomanie, WI Music Conservancy

• The String Gathering in Baraboo, WI

One of the most humbling experiences of my life came in 2012, when I was asked to perform in a ceremony at The Wisconsin Sikh Temple in Oak Creek following a tragic mass shooting. Joining other musicians and dancers in a ceremony of peace and healing was deeply moving. Not long after, I was asked to host an Irish Wake at Paddy’s Pub in Milwaukee, where I brought together the Milwaukee Sikh community, local police, and Irish musicians to honor the lives lost. A year later, I organized a one-year anniversary Irish Wake, where victims of mass shootings from across the United States joined to heal and share in music and community.

Since 2019, I’ve contributed to many music projects with songwriter and filmmaker Frank Sommers. These projects allowed me to explore new sounds and to grow as a working studio musician.

For many years, I worked as a newspaper reported for Morris Newspapers and their weekly papers around southwestern Wisconsin, namely The Boscobel Dial and The Crawford County Independent and Kickapoo Scout. I have received two first place awards in journalism from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for my work.

I’ve also spent time in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, where I worked with Paul Marshall and Paul Phillips building instruments for the Lost and Found Orchestra!, a production of Stomp. I also was involved in building instruments for playgrounds as part of Paul Marshall’s company BingBangBong!

For over 16 years, I have worked with The Great Midwestern Educational Theater Company out of Dubuque, Iowa. This work has included storytelling festival as well as The Frogwarts School of Wizardry, an immersive imagination-play theater camp, where I have taught wordplay, social dancing, instrument building, wild foraging and plant identification, and have led numerous other theater and summer camp activities.

Over the course of two years, I spent significant time at The University of Limerick in Ireland, and with The Irish World Music Academy, where I focused on Irish traditional music. I was specifically interested in Sean Nós singing, an unaccompanied Irish singing style with melodic ornamentation and regional variations. I received a certificate in Irish traditional music from the Blas International Summer School and the Irish World Music Academy at the University of Limerick. I also completed a course in the Irish language from the Oideas Gael Irish Language Centre in Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal, Ireland. I have also received a Celtic Studies Certificate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

I began my theater training with Tom Collins at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, then home of The Wisconsin Shakespeare Festival. I later studied classical theater at St. Mary’s College of the University of Surrey in Strawberry Hill, Teddington, London, England. I have gone on to work in professional theater development with The Great Midwestern Educational Theater Company, as an actor with Four Seasons Theatre in Madison, WI, and will be a member of the Forward Theater Company (The Overture Center’s professional theater company) in Madison, WI in August 2026.

I also studied music (saxophone, clarinet, and voice) at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and was involved in many ensembles, including music theater productions. My studies at UW-Platteville also saw me heavily involved in the history and English departments, and I organized and hosted two academic festivals while there: The UW-Platteville Storytelling Festival and The UW-Platteville Irish Studies Conference. While at UW-Platteville, I was also the student coordinator of the Center For the Arts’ Performing Arts Series, and was instrumental in expanding that series from four to eight shows a year, including more than doubling the amount of funds available for the series, in order to bring in high-quality performing arts groups from around the world. I also served as a representative on the Student Advisory Council, and was instrumental in bringing in a microbrewery to the university’s new student center - the first microbrewery at any UW school.

Aside from in-depth theater and world history studies, my time at St. Mary’s College also saw me heavily involved in Irish studies, including Irish film, literature, history, and music, and I was the founder of the St. Mary’s College Celtic Music Society. While in London, I also participated in the Irish Action Youth Project, which involved work with members of the British government and conferences at the parliament building in London. My participation involved bridging communities of Protestant and Catholic Northern Irish and London Irish youth through traditional music. During this time, I also spent significant time working with Dr. Colm Power to understand some of the traditions of the Irish Traveler Community in England, specifically in Greater London and in Liverpool.

In the summer of 2002, I worked as an intern journalist with Morris Newspapers and the weekly newspapers based out of Lancaster, Wisconsin. During this time, I uncovered a Confederate flag stored in the Grant County, WI courthouse building. Over the course of that summer, I researched and then published a history of the flag, including details of its’ capture at the Battle of Gettysburg and a timeline of how it came to southwestern Wisconsin. That research led to a preservation project, and the flag is now preserved and housed at the Grant County Courthouse. For my work on this project, which I called “The Huftill Flag” (after the man who captured the flag…Richard Huftill of Ellenboro, WI), the University of Wisconsin-Platteville recognized me for my independent study.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville selected me as Valedictorian of the class of Dec. 2004, and I gave the valedictory address at that graduation ceremony.

Whether performing at international festivals or contributing to educational and historical research projects, every step of my journey has been fueled by a deep love of community and our shared humanity. From my early days as a young musician to collaborating with educators, performers, and communities around the world, I’ve been lucky to share this incredible journey.

Performing with The Blue Canvas Orchestra at Big Top Chautauqua’s Backstage venue in 2025