LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER TWIN CITIES 2022
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT -- GRATEFULLY -- TO ANN MARIE PHOTOGRAPHY
LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER TWIN CITIES
2022 CAST
Stacey Dinner-Levin
Stacey Dinner-Levin is the mother of four boys — now adults — the eldest of whom has autism. For over 25 years she’s worked with children with disabilities including PACER Center’s “Count Me In” program where she wrote several scripts. Her play Autistic License was named one of 2007’s Ten Best Plays by St. Paul Pioneer Press and was featured in American Theater Magazine. Autistic License was remounted for film and won “Best Educational” at the IFFF in 2010. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband Michael, her son Geordy, and the world’s strangest dog, her Chinese Crested, Birdie.
Ayesha Downs
Ayesha Downs is originally from India and now lives in Minnesota with her husband of 12 years, 5 year old daughter, and her dear Mother. She is a busy dentist running two practices and a laser skin clinic, but finds time for things she loves like talent modeling and doing all mediums of Art. She also chairs the board of St Francis. Her favorite part about her profession is the human interaction and the stories that make all humans so alike no matter where or what we come from. And she loves to cook and feed, it's all about the mouth.
Meghan Marrinan Feliciano
Meghan Marrinan Feliciano was born and raised in Minneapolis. She studied and volunteered internationally for a few years in her 20s, then returned home to nest. Meghan is a loyal library patron, a trial-and-error gardener, a notebook writer, and a State and National Park enthusiast. She is a part-time attorney, part-time stay-at-home mom. Meghan sort of enjoyed her family’s little pandemic bubble, but is ready for more connections. Also, after a year and a half of helping her kids with distance learning while her husband worked in a hospital, she has a profound appreciation for teachers and healthcare workers.
Lisa Harris
Lisa Harris is an author, storyteller, narrative coach, and CEO/founder of Lisa Harris & Company. Lisa’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2016 after publishing, Unveiled Beauty: Handwritten Stories From a Poetic Heart. Prior, she spent 18+ years in leadership roles working for and with many Fortune 500 companies. Today, Lisa uses storytelling elements and narrative therapy principles to help women shift narratives and reclaim their power through the lens of their own life stories. Lisa also co-hosts the Life In Our Skin podcast. Lisa resides in Minneapolis with her husband, two kids, and their beloved Yorkie, Rosie.
Melanie Quetone Hensold
Melanie Quetone Hensold has been fascinated by storytelling her whole life. She has spent decades studying stories, both oral and written, and contemplating the dynamic relationship between language and worldview through earning a degree in communication arts and literature from Augsburg University, teaching high school English for a time, writing her clients' stories for their discrimination cases in her current job as a Paralegal, and researching stories from her Native and European lineages. Melanie lives in Champlin with her husband, two kids, and five pets, enjoys traveling and gardening, and has begun writing and sharing her own stories.
Katie Holman
Katie Holman is the lucky mother of four amazing, mortifying, glorious, half-adult/half-teen humans who she shares with her husband, Steve … please pray for her. She enjoys anything that includes them, her dog, Abe, the game closet, the boat, the camper, or the open road. Along with her friends and family, Katie is a co-author of some of the greatest text threads in existence. She is fueled by Diet Coke fountain pop and carbs, and her love for writing is only outmatched by her hatred for public speaking.
Sarah McNally
Sarah McNally has spent the last 13 years helping companies create cultures where people WANT to go to work as an external organization consultant. Sarah is now the Sr. Manager of Learning & Development at Endeavor Air where she gets to put the last 13 years into practice creating learning and development for Endeavor’s leaders.
Sarah was the founder of Lady Boss Virtual, an online networking group for women that she passed on to a new Lady Boss in 2021. In her spare time, Sarah loves traveling with her family or enjoying delicious food and wine with her siblings.
Katie Newgard
Katie Newgard is a successful businesswoman here in the Twin Cities. Her success in the business world means nothing to her two expressive and rambunctious little girls, affectionately known as “double trouble” for their shenanigans. She has found the key to surviving the “terrible twos” is to find the humor in each moment, laugh often, and drink wine. Lots of wine. She lives in South Minneapolis in a house much too small to contain her exuberant and boisterous family, which explains why they’re always going on vacation.
Katie Pfaff
Katie Pfaff grew up in Saint Paul, the youngest of her parents' five children. After some typical young adult wanderings, she discovered and committed to midwifery, a profession that allows her the privilege of witnessing motherhood in-the-making. Her writings can only be found in her dusty and numerous personal journals dating back to the 4th grade, and in the travel blog she kept during a South American family sabbatical that probably only her mom and best friend ever read. She is married to her high school sweetheart and soul mate, and they live with their two delightful sons.
Melanie Schultz
Melanie Schultz is a full time medical professional and a full time mom, who cares for her mental health full time. She is fully aware that life is tricky – and there is no decent handbook for surviving it. Her desire is to offer transparency and genuine connection to everyone she meets. When she isn't working her job in orthotics and prosthetics, investing in her family, or advocating for kids in foster care, she is busy co-hosting a podcast called Mangled Spaces, where she speaks publicly about living life in the messy and confusing areas of modern life.
Paula Sadler Fuhr
Paula Sadler Fuhr, in her day job, is a middle school math teacher who would love to see the phrase, "I'm not good at math" eradicated from all people’s vocabulary. When not wrangling teenagers at school, she can be found trying to convince her own teen and tween to do things they don't want to do (like eat Grandma Barb approved snacks). She also enjoys walking, talking, and solving the world’s problems with the other family members: Bryan (husband and healthcare technology guy) and Captain (dog). She still is a runner, but no longer high jumps.
Michelle Trotter-Mathison
Michelle Trotter-Mathison loves to do whatever creative projects sound fun in the moment, travel, garden, and go on adventures with family and friends, especially her husband and two boys, who live their lives with their whole hearts. Michelle is a psychologist in private practice and is committed to helping people increase resilience through self-compassion, mindfulness, and shame resilience. Michelle is dedicated to practitioner resiliency and enjoys working with practitioners in the relationship-intense professions and speaking on the topic. Michelle is co-author of The Resilient Practitioner and co-editor of Voices from the Field: Defining Moments in Counselor and Therapist Development.
Jen Wittes
Jen Wittes is a writer turned postpartum doula who now works in marketing. She was a longtime contributor and monthly columnist for Minnesota Parent, where she earned four MMPA Awards and two Society of Professional Journalists Page One Awards. Her work has also been featured in skirt! and Pregnancy and Newborn. She is the proud mama of two interesting, curious, funny, resilient teenagers, who she absolutely adores. She’s happily married to the first boy she kissed, a space physicist she reclaimed two decades after said puppy love. Jen loves cats, waterslides, yoga, Oula, nature, and the show Impractical Jokers.
EMCEE: DANIELLE DANIELS
ALUMNI: 2017 MAY CAST
2018 HOLIDAY SHOW CAST
2019 HOLIDAY SHOW CAST
2021 SUMMER ALUMNI PANDEMIC CAST
Danielle Daniel is a motivational storyteller, creative writer, and teaching artist. She believes our stories can nurture, inspire, and heal; they are like air and water — we need them to survive. Her Connecting through Stories programs and tour shows have been presented in Europe and the United States. She has worked and performed in many schools, colleges, corporations, and community organizations. Danielle uses the art of storytelling and drama to entertain, educate, motivate, and empower people of all ages. Her plays highlight experiences of African American women over 50, who are often unheard, and are unsung heroes.
