Performers & Credits

Jodie Arnold is a third-year creative writing graduate student at UWEC. She writes plays, creative non-fiction, and poetry and has been published in Volume One, Twig, Nourrir Magazine, and has blogged for BabyFirstTV. She recently won the Lakefly Writing Contest for her poem, A Dead Mother’s Child. When she’s not writing, she’s co-hosting a podcast, Tell Me Something Weird, planning women-centered literary events, and drawing hotdog comics for the Eau Claire zine, Fanboy. She is a poetry reader for Barstow and Grand and producer and host of WisWomen.
storytelling 2018

Steve Betchkal is an Eau Claire ornithologist who is fluent in bird, and the author of All of This & Robins Too, Make Birds Not War, Wisconsin Birding Trails, and Cat Tales. In his 30 years as a professional journalist he produced 11,000 TV stories and was nominated for 22 Emmys. He worked last year for National Geographic in the Galápagos Islands.
storytelling 2018

Nickolas Butler is the author of three novels and one short story collection. His third novel, Little Faith, will be published in early March, 2019. His work has been translated into over ten languages and two of his books have been optioned by Hollywood. He lives south of Eau Claire.
storytelling 2018

Sean Carey has built his career as a touring and recording musician, producer, and songwriter. He is best known as the drummer and supporting vocalist for the indie folk band, Bon Iver, and as the frontman of his own band, S. Carey. He is joined on stage by some of the areas most talented and versatile musicians: Jeremy Boettcher, Josh Gallagher, and Shane Leonard.
music 2018

Tom Giffey, managing editor of Volume One, has spent his career writing stories about the people, places, and events of the Chippewa Valley. He lives in Eau Claire with his wife, Tiffany, and their two young children. He wants to express his gratitude to Michael Doran for being so generous in helping share Barry Lynn’s story.
storytelling 2018 Volume One

Brent Gonyea is a product of the Chippewa Valley and has a sculpture degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a creator of avant-garde puppets, and he’s excited to be working with Volume One and Jake on this project. Brent recently created a 15-foot interactive puppet, Vital Energos, who will be used to bring some of the many stories in his repertoire to life. His web site is soulchassis.com.
art 2018

Jake Huffcutt is a Wisconsin-based animator and illustrator. He mainly gains work ethic energy from wildflowers, sparkles, the primary colors, and anything pulpy. He has done fun jobs for Charlie Parr, Wealthy Relative, Static Panic, and Hellavision Television. You can say hi to him at jacob.huffcutt@gmail.com(jacob.huffcutt (at) gmail [d0t] com,).
art 2018

Josh Ingersoll performs around town in local bands, improv troupes, and films. His piece tonight, originally performed by The Heart Pills will feature bassist Silas Thompson, who’s sound check go-to riff resulted in tonight’s song of which you will bear witness. You can catch Josh playing bass in folk band Pit Wagon, and taking the stage with Eau Claire Improv Company at some of our local venues.
music 2018

Nishant Jain is a cartoonist and Sneaky-Artist. Sneaky Art is drawn from the people around him, finding moments of accidental beauty in ordinary places on ordinary days. Nishant grew up in India and studied in Europe before moving to the US. He lives in Eau Claire with his wife. His art displays at local galleries, and on Instagram @thesneakyartist.
art 2018

Yia Lor is an academic advisor at UWEC, and when she is not mapping out the lives of her students, she is writing or storytelling. She believes in the power of literature and is one of the cofounders of Family Conversation Kits, which offers sets of books to help guide conversations around diversity and equity.
storytelling 2018

Ali McMahon shared the stage with Kobi during her first performance at the Grand Theater in Eau Claire, so it is only fitting that she continue that tradition for her debut at the new Pablo Center. She feels fortunate to join in an evening of personal, poignant, and playful storytelling from the heart of the Chippewa Valley.
performance 2018

Jake Pritchard is a lifetime resident of the Chippewa Valley. You may know him from his many theatre credits including, Out of Order (CVTG), or Thieves and Bad, Bad Lies (Speck of Dust Theatre). Jake works as a coworker at Kwik Trip. Jake is ecstatic to work with all of these incredible voices of our community.
performance 2018

Kobi Shaw is currently half of the comedy juggling duo In Capable Hands. Professionally, she has worked as an actress, a singer, a clown, an ice skater, a writer, and more. For two years, Kobi worked as a teaching artist using circus skills to teach elementary curriculum. She has also been a TEDx presenter speaking in praise of whimsy.
storytelling 2018

Ward Rubrecht left Wisconsin for the Twin Cities for college, where he learned how not to write while pursuing a degree in philosophy. He’s been slowly unlearning those lessons in the intervening years. He’s the 2011, 2012, and 2013 SlamMN! Story Slam champion and the 2014 and 2016 Twin Cities Moth GrandSlam champion. He teaches workshops on slam storytelling and story structure and in spring of 2018 was a featured teller at the Florida Storytelling Festival.
storytelling 2018

Brooke Jee-in Newmaster was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. She owns and operates Kgam Studio (pronounced “Gahm”), a collaborative art space and Korean dance, drum, and music studio in Eau Claire. Brooke hopes to provide space and time for collaboration to happen for people of diverse backgrounds. Her philosophy focuses on the meaningfulness within the art making.
storytelling 2018

Stuart Ryan is a sixth grader at DeLong Middle School where he participates in Best Buddies and plays violin in the orchestra. Stuart was most recently seen onstage in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s State Fair (CVTG ‘18). He enjoys horror films, tabletop games, and science.
performance 2018

Jake Lindgren has a BA in Comprehensive Theatre from UW-Eau Claire, with a focus on directing and design. He is the founder of the Eau Claire-based theatre company, Downstage Left, which will be producing God of Carnage in the spring. Jake was also the director of the world premiere and tour of Michael Perry’s adaptation of his New York Times bestselling memoir Population 485.
director 2018

Sarah Hammes-Murray is the Creative Director at Tangled Up In Hue as well as a bartender at Clancy’s. While her jobs take up most of her time, she still manages to make room for local theatre both on stage and behind the scenes. Most recently, she was the stage manager for Michael Perry’s Population 485.
stage manager 2018

Tyler Edmondson is employed at UWEC as an Event Production Coordinator for University Centers. After graduating with a Theater Degree from UWEC, Tyler moved to Boulder, Colorado to work for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and as an outdoor educator/facilitator. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Adventure Based Experiential Education from UW-La Crosse and will be graduating in the spring.
lighting design 2018

Mackenzie Kavanagh is a graphic designer, born and raised in Eau Claire. After spending a handful of years away from home, she recently moved back to the area to work at Volume One. Her favorite days at work are spent creating event branding + promotion, as well as hanging upcoming gallery shows.
graphic design 2018 Volume One

Joel Pearish has proven talents as a man of many hats. His vast experience as a photographer, videographer, producer, and director continue to grow with each new adventure. As a college graduate, Joel worked in the Chicago area until last November when he relocated to Eau Claire in pursuit of something more.
video 2018 Volume One

Nick Meyer is the owner/editor/publisher of Volume One, owner of The Local Store, and a co-owner of The Oxbow Hotel and The Lakely. In the past he’s been a musician, filmmaker, improviser, and entrepreneur – all of which required the vague and mediocre skills he’s now put to work as the executive producer of True North.
producer 2018 Volume One

Eric Christenson is managing editor of Volume One in Eau Claire. He also makes sad pop songs under the name Two Castles, performs standup comedy locally as a co-founder of Clear Water Comedy, and does freelance graphic design sometimes.
producer 2018 Volume One

Mike Paulus has worked in local publishing for almost two decades. He’s been an editor with Volume One for 12 years, where his “Rear End” column has appeared since 2004. He also hosts Volume One’s “Let’s Be Honest” grownup storytelling night. He’s a frequent contributor to WPT’s Wisconsin Life program, and he’s hosted multiple cat shows.
producer 2018 Volume One