Jeremiah is a playwright, librettist, songwriter, singer/actor, storyteller and producer who has worked professionally in the Twin Cities for 25 years. He runs two theater companies with his wife, Vanessa – Theater for the Thirsty and Bucket Brigade. Jeremiah is a published children’s author, former adjunct professor in playwriting, voice over and on-camera talent, member of the Dramatist Guild, participant in Nautilus Music-Theater’s Composer Librettist Studio, and proud father of three.

Raki is a queer, Jewish fiction and poetry writer. She's the author of The Things You Left, The Memory House (a 2020 MN Book Award finalist), and The Other Body. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for fiction among others. She lives in Minneapolis. Miriam was born in Ireland and raised in the Southern United States. She is the author of two queer historical novels, An Impossible Distance to Fall and The Unbinding of Mary Reade. She lives in Minneapolis, but also calls Asheville, North Carolina home.

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay is a Lao American writer. She was born in a refugee camp in Nongkhai, Thailand and immigrated to Minnesota in 1985. Because of her unique background, her work is focused on creating tools and spaces for the amplification of refugee voices through poetry, theater, and experimental cultural production. Recorded at the end of her 2020 Artist Retreat, listen in on our conversation about her new play, zombies and cannibals, and spirits of the land.

Our first 2020 recipient of the Aspiring Artists Fund is Olivia Willett. Olivia is the Choir Director at Osceola Middle and High School and her application sought to expand the depth of her choral library with sheet music from composers diverse in race, gender and age. She explained, "because music is the expression of the human experience through sound, everyone who is touched by music should be able to see a representation of themselves in the music and find ways to connect to it."

Kate is a Creative Director and Designer specializing in environmental, exhibit, and stage design for both live events and permanent installations. At the time of this conversation, she is finishing a week in the Artist Retreat with long-time collaborator and director Peter Rothstein. We talk about what it feels like to create in the barn, as well as her connection to nature and beauty. 

Peter works extensively as a director of theater, musical theater, opera and new work development. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Theater Latté Da, a Twin Cities-based company dedicated to adventurous music-theater. We've had the good fortune of producing two Latté Da shows at Everwood, "All Is Calm - The Christmas Truce of 1914" and "Underneath the Lintel" with the amazing Sally Wingert. Recorded at the end of his time on the farm, listen in on our conversation about the new work he and collaborator Kate Sutton-Johnson have been working on, the good and hard challenges of these days, and the power of nature.

In 2019, we met Christopher Thomson when he performed with S. Carey during Everwood's summer Artist Series. We were delighted that he applied for an Artist Retreat in 2020. For seven days, all of us on the farm have enjoyed the beautiful saxophones floating from the barn. He's been combining digital music with his acoustic instruments to beautiful effect. S. Carey even popped in from Eau Claire to create with him for a day. 

Recorded at the end of his time on the farm, listen in our our conversation about his journey back to woodwind instruments after a bicycle accident, and the realities of social-distancing as an artist in these challenging times.