The Secret of the river monster

the secret of the river monster

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2025

5:00 PM

O’DONNELL AUDITORIUM, NEBraska WESLEYAN

Join Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra for an enchanting family concert full of fun and whimsy! Dylan Shelton, founder of River City Puppets, and storyteller Paul Strickland have developed a brand-new production bringing symphony favorites to life. Join us one hour before the concert for complimentary face painting, an instrument petting zoo, crafts, and other family activities.

FAMILY PACK SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR $50

SINGLE TICKETS:
$10 ADULTS
$5 YOUTH

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Guest ArtistS

Dylan shelton, puppeteer

Dylan Shelton is the founder of River City Puppets, a touring theatre that blends the arts of puppetry and storytelling to captivate children and family audiences. Dylan began his career at Madcap Puppets in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2002 where he wrote and directed more than 30 shows with the company as their Artistic Director. Recently, Dylan created and directed a puppet performance of Pulcinella for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and directed a puppet version of the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, also with the CCO. In 2022, Dylan performed a solo puppetry piece, Animist, conceived by Andy Gaukel. Animist was awarded a Henson Foundation grant and was performed for Puppetopia at Here Arts Center in New York City. Dylan is one of the lead puppeteers for $martpath, an Emmy Award winning web series for children. Dylan graduated from Wilmington College of Ohio with a BA in Theatre and received an MFA in Acting from Ohio University.

Paul Strickland, storyteller

“An hour spent with master storyteller Paul Strickland is an hour well spent,
and one you should not miss.” – Cincinnati Enquirer

Paul Strickland is a professional storyteller and theatre artist who lives in Kentucky. He has well over 7 hours of unique family friendly stories in his repertoire. Paul was an Exchange Place Teller at the National Storytelling Festival in 2018 and in November of 2018 he made his NYC stage debut Off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse with his shadow and flashlight ghost story play “13 Dead Dreams of “Eugene.”

He is a featured teller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in September of 2023, and has been a featured teller at several major storytelling festivals, including the Cave Run Storytelling Festival, in 2022.

Always adapting to whatever audience is in front of him, Paul LOVES telling stories in every imaginable environment, from comedy clubs to elementary and middle schools, corporate events and even two prisons – where he was NOT an inmate at the time.

Collections of his stories have won “Best of Fest” honors more than 16 times at Fringe Theatre Festivals in the US and Canada. Selections from his comedy performance “Levels of Difficulty” are still played nearly every day on SiriusXM radio.