Karen Bell has had a 36-year career as a Professional Circus clown. She is the only female clown with a ring gag on Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus. As a ‘Producing’ Clown for Ringling. Karen created material to perform for herself and other clowns on the show. She has toured the world clowning with Ringling and the Department of Defense. In 2005, Ms. Bell moved to Florida to work as Outreach and Education Manager for The Circus Arts Conservatory and has been instrumental in expanding Humor Therapy outreach program, to include “Memories…Lost and Found” a program to aid dementia and late-stage Alzheimer’s patients. Additionally, she is responsible for the design, development and implementation of The CAC’s Education Program. Creating and teaching circuits curriculum for elementary and middle school students. Along with her partner, Robin Eurich, Karen has presented at the National Science Teacher Association’s STEM conference for two years in a row. One of Ms. Bell’s proudest accomplishments has been being a part of an amazing team that has created circus curriculum for Sarasota High School’s Circus Arts Magnet program and Booker Middle Visual and Performance Arts Circus Magnet program. Karen coaches clowns for the Sailor Circus Academy.

Rashida Forman-Bey, a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP), is a native of Baltimore and one of the founding artistic directors of WombWork Productions, Inc. a nonprofit Baltimore based social justice theater company, established in 1997. WombWork’s performances focus on relevant social issues endemic throughout the world such as gun violence, domestic abuse, grief, drug/alcohol abuse, gang violence, HIV prevention, sexual assault, health disparities, and racial inequities. “ Mama Rashida” as she is known in the community, has been dedicated to making positive changes in our city, nation and the world.

Mama Rashida is a community activist as well as a visual and performing artist, who utilizes the arts to assist in the healing and upliftment of communities that have been marginalized and oppressed. Working many years as an African Rites of Passage facilitator, Master Virtues Project facilitator and Reiki practitioner, she brings the essence of healing, justice and transformation into every space that she enters. She has worked as a teaching artist and group facilitator for over 30 years in schools, universities, and community centers throughout the United States. She has travelled internationally to places such as Cuba, Kenya and Tanzania, teaching and sharing the power of the arts and social justice theater in healing communities.

Mama Rashida has been the recipient of numerous awards such as the 2022 Community Healing Award, Aya Education Institute, Atlanta GA, 2021 Sue Hess Legacy Arts Advocate of the Year, Alkebulan Lifetime Achievement, Legendry Healer Award, MUSE 360 “Community Healer Award” from Rewired, Positive People Award , Baltimore Times. She graduated from Coppin State University with a degree with a BA in Urban Arts, Theatre and a minor in Nonprofit management. As the inaugural Distinguished Community Arts Fellow at Maryland Institute College of Art, she graduated with MFA in community arts in 2022.

Donning many hats, Mama Rashida is a director, actress, visual artist, teaching artist, community activist, song writer and storybook author. Mama Rashida has acted in numerous productions, including Under the Skin, Tell Pharaoh, and For Colored Girls . . She has directed many productions, among them “For Colored Girls” by Ntozake Shange at Coppin State University. Her paintings, songs and stories tell of the deep love that she has for her culture and her people. They encourage others to see the beauty of a people who are strong, resilient and courageous.

Utilizing the performing arts as a tool for healing and transformation, Mama Rashida has been committed to healing our world community. In her spiritual walk, Mama Rashida considers herself a lifelong learner who companions others in their spiritual journey through drama, meditation, rituals and the most powerful religion in the world, LOVE.

Maria is a Brazilian-born educator and artist with extensive work experience and knowledge in theater, music, arts and literacy, mindfulness, meditation, and cross-cultural engagement. She studied with acclaimed director Augusto Boal and has taught classes and workshops that focus on Theatre of the Oppressed techniques for the American Repertory Theater, Harvard Extension School, Lesley University, and several other organizations. Maria worked at the Harvard Art Museums developing and teaching gallery classes to immigrants in English, Portuguese and Spanish. She is a National Arts Integration Consultant and one of the recipients of the 2019 Arts Leadership Award from The Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County and the winner of the 2022 Appleton Arts Integration Award from the Van Wezel Foundation. Maria has served as the Manager for Arts Integration for Any Given Child Sarasota at Sarasota County Schools. Maria is a certified Chopra meditation teacher and Ayurvedic Health Counselor. She studied at The American Musical Dramatic Academy in NYC and has a Masters in Intercultural Relations and Arts for Social Change from Lesley University.

Andrew Morton is an award-winning playwright and theatre-maker who creates socially engaged theatre with and for vulnerable populations. His plays have been featured or produced nationally at the Write Now Festival, the New England Theatre Conference, and Flint Youth Theatre, and internationally at the Blue Elephant Theatre and the Hampstead Theatre in London. Andrew previously taught playwriting at the University of Michigan-Flint and served as the Region III Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) National Playwriting Program from 2017 to 2020, after which he received the KCACTF Gold Medallion Award, one of the highest honors in theatre education. Originally from the UK, Andrew has a master’s degree in cross-sectoral and community arts from Goldsmiths College-The University of London. While living in London he worked with several educational theatre companies and served as the education officer at the Blue Elephant Theatre, where he ran the Young People's Theatre and the Speak Out! Forum Theatre project. Andrew is currently based in Detroit, where he is a program manager for TimeSlips, an award-winning international nonprofit that promotes creative engagement techniques for older adults and their caregivers. He also works as a teaching artist and facilitator with various social service and arts organizations, including University Musical Society at the University of Michigan, the Ennis Center for Children, and the Detroit Phoenix Center, and was recently named a Kresge Artist Fellow.

Runako S. Robinson has been a performer and educator who has infused arts into her curriculum for over twenty years. Runako received her Masters of Science in Counseling from National Louis University and she is a proud graduate of Alabama State University, where she earned a Bachelors of Science in education. Runako chose to major in Language Arts Education as opposed to English Education because the Language Arts major incorporated more theater and arts. Runako’s early lessons were generally centered around the arts. If it was early African history, there was a lesson on traditional dances from Angola that culminated in a master class of modern Angolan dances that the students actively participated in. During Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations, Runako was charged with creating productions and interactive programs for students ranging from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Her programs were steeped in the rich oral traditions of Africa and spanned the African/African American diaspora. Runako’s teaching philosophy can be summed up as such: Every child is capable of learning. If you take the child from “where they are” you can help them to grow and develop; If you incorporate music, dance, poetry and art into your lessons, the children will flourish! Runako’s greatest treasure is her 5 year old daughter, Zuri Adia Soyini.

Clifford Sykes was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. The youngest of seven children, he is a graduate of Father Flanagan's Boys Town High School (Nebraska). Clifford received both a BA Degree in Music Education and a BS Degree in Mass communication from Lincoln University of Missouri. Clifford earned the MA Degree in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) as a student of Dr. Portia Maultsby, and has done extensive work toward the PhD. in Ethnomusicology (African American Musics) from the University of Pittsburgh where he studied with Nigerian Great Chief Fela Sowande, Dr. Nathan Davis and Dr. Kwabena Nketia. Clifford has an extensive (40 years) career as an educator in the Public Schools of Missouri, and Michigan where he has served as Band Director, Department Head (Music), Lead Teacher for Fine Arts, Assistant to the Supervisor, and on the Curriculum Development Committee. His Middle school and High School Concert, Jazz and Marching Bands have traveled extensively winning many awards.

In addition to his Musical Life, Clifford is also an experienced Thespian, having acted in numerous stage plays and movies throughout his career, most notably (as an Extra) 'Real Steel' in 2011 and 'OZ The Great and Powerful', 2013. Clifford is a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., he is Treasurer for The Association for the Study of African Life and History (ASALH), serves on the Board of The Consortium for International Management Policy And Development (CIMPAD) and is a charter member of his Community Block Club in Flint, Michigan. He currently serves as a member of The New McCree Theater Repertory Group and teaches Music and Theater Classes in after school programs both at New McCree and at Beecher High School. Clifford A. Sykes is a Teacher, Lecturer, World Traveler, Actor, Musician, Photographer/Videographer, a Lover of Knowledge and World History, Documentaries and The Power of MUSIC.

As a past FST student and intern, Kate has been a part of Florida Studio Theatre for over six years. She is a graduate of Flagler College’s Theatre Arts program, where she acted in and directed several productions. She has served as a Teaching Artist at the Tony award-winning Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Her main goals as a Teaching Artist are to instill self-worth, creative independence, and curiosity through engaging interdisciplinary theatre lessons.