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Marcus Young
Lead Artist
Born in Hong Kong, Marcus Young is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist living in Minneapolis. He received his BA in music from Carleton College and his MFA in theater from the University of Minnesota. Past works include Pacific Avenue, a lifelong slow-walking and smiling project; Break, a fortune cookie project for Chinese restaurants; Untitled Painting, a moving art object at the Walker Art Center; and And, a work of Zen-theater that explores the performer-audience relationship. Marcus is a recipient of awards from the Bush Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Drama League, and Franklin Furnace. His most recent works include From Here to There and Beyond, a drawn two-mile line from the gallery to the Mississippi River, and untitled works performed at live art festivals in Manchester, England, and Sete, France. He is currently Artist-in-Residence for the city of Saint Paul, a program of Public Art Saint Paul.

Virginia Nugent
Producer
In 20 years of arts management and event production, highlights include festivals in the Aboriginal, Greek, Chinese, Italian and GLBT communities; stadium-sports ceremonies (once before a live audience of 104,000!); opening the Adelaide International Festival of Arts with fire and river procession by a cast of 600; Opera In The Park; and leading a candlelit parade to gather in the City Square for a free evening of massed community choir singing. Virginia has served with the St Paul Rotary Club Board of Directors, Minnesota State Arts Board Peer Review Panel, Opera America National Technical and Production Committee, and represented the Twin Cities at the Performing Arts Research Coalition. Virginia was managing director of History Theatre in St. Paul for five years where she initiated a new works festival, and building improvements. Virginia chairs the Marketing Committee for Minneapolis MOSAIC.

Shen Pei
Collaborating Artist
Born in Nanjing, Shen Pei is a dance artist who has received the high honor of National Choreographer of the First Rank (China). In the U.S., Shen is former Artistic Director of CAAM Chinese Dance Theater where she served for 11 years. In 2005, the Children’s Theater Company produced The Monkey King, her adaptation of the Chinese epic classical novel. She has received the St. Paul Companies Leadership Initiative in the Neighborhoods award and two McKnight Choreographers Fellowships.

Mary Ellen Childs
Composer
Mary Ellen Childs has been acclaimed for creating exuberant instrumental works and kinetic compositions that integrate music, dance and theater. She has created work in public spaces both for her ensemble CRASH and New York’s “Art for the People” at Kennedy Airport. Mary Ellen has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Kitchen, the Walker Art Center, and Rockefeller Multi-Arts Fund. She has received two Bush Artist Fellowships, as well as fellowships from the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and grants from the NEA, and Meet The Composer.

Peter Kramer
Architect
Principal Architect with Roark Kramer Kosowski/DESIGN, Peter Kramer is involved primarily nonprofit and community-based projects including moderate-cost housing, childcare centers and charter schools. He is also artist/author/publisher of several coloring books promoting color therapy and President and designer for OUCH! a folding furniture company.

Cody Anderson
Sound Engineer/Designer
Cody Anderson has worked as a sound engineer, designer, and installer of sound systems for 30 years. In live performance he has worked for Prince and Maxwell, Marc Anderson and Steve Tibbetts, Mary Ellen Childs’ CRASH and countless others. He was the sound engineer for the TimeZones international music festival in Bari, Italy for five seasons, and there he worked with dozens of world-class musicians including Robert Fripp, David Byrne, and Nusrat Ali Khan.

Christopher Baker
Audio Software Engineer
Christopher is an artist whose work engages the rich collection of social, technological and ideological networks present in the urban landscape. Baker creates artifacts and situations that reveal and generate relationships within and between these networks. Baker’s award-winning work has been presented at the Kitchen Budapest, Huset i Magstræde in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Minnesota Museum of American Artists, the Southern Theatre, the Minneapolis Fringe Festival, the Kinetic Kitchen Dance series, the Fallout Urban Art Center and the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art.

Aki Shibata
Artistic Assistant
I am Aki Shibata, a multimedia artist from Tokyo, Japan, and a recent graduate from the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul. I came to the United States to study art when I was 18 years old. My interests include teaching art to youth, making books, and investigating sleep, private space and the corporate idea of identity. I am inspired by questioning myself, wondering where I stand, who I am, what am I doing, as well as making audiences question themselves. I have exhibited my works at Disco Girl Gallery (Tokyo), Brandon Museum (Fort Dodge, IA), Soap Factory, IFP Gallery, Northrup King Gallery, College of Visual Arts Gallery, and the office of the Mayor of St. Paul.

Travis Spangler
Artistic Assistant
Travis is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana and a recent graduate of the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. As an artist he uses a variety of techniques and materials, including photography, video, installation, and web, to explore this interplay of space, time and human connection. His work has been shown at IFP, the Soap Factory, and the College of Visual Arts, as well as at Huntington College in Huntington, Indiana and Columbia University in New York City.

Erik Paulson
Set Designer
Erik Paulson is a Scenic and Lighting Designer. His work has focused on collaborating with local Twin Cities and regional theatre companies including History Theatre (Kirby!), Park Square Theatre (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill), Nautilus Music-Theater (Man of LaMancha), SteppingStone Theatre (Heartbeat of the Drum), and North Star Opera (Countess Maritza) to name a few. He is the founding member Technical Director of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, Minnesota. Erik graduated from UW-River Falls majoring in Art and Theatre.