As these things so often do, Family And Friends began as a lowly seedling of inspiration. “Good music, good people.” A stalk gave yield to branches. One became six, a collective of musicians by trade, lovers by spirit. Inspired by a life worth living, the Fam and Pals remained rooted with three ambitions in heart, mind, and soul: the people, the music, the memories. The reflection represented by blend of earnest folk rock and a communal spirit pouring a collective heart into something bigger than itself. An intangible force of an unfaltering love worth giving away. A Family And Friend tree ever-growing, ever-lasting.

The songs of the south have a storied way of traveling out west, and Sarah Langley is the next in line to search for gold in California. Like the sounds of her Blue Ridge heritage echoing off the walls of Laurel Canyon, Sarah's warm, clear voice sparkles amidst a bed of guitar and piano – a classic American sound with lyrics that are like gold in the pan - full of possibility and fragility, beauty and dirt. As she puts it, "I want to hear songs that sound good on a porch or by a fire." Earnest and raw, Sarah's lyricism possesses an undercurrent of humor that is hard to find in the modern music landscape. Her family’s musical history is evident in her colorful songs, with traces of mountain gospel and church music in everything she writes. ”At the end of the day I crave laughter, harmonies, and stories. So I write songs that recreate those campfire moments." That's not to say her music is lacking in complexity - she just believes in the power of "craft and simplicity. I build every song from the ground up, log by log."

With an angelic voice and lyrics laid bare, Emily Scott Robinson is pioneering her own brand of roots music: Southern Gothic folk . She enchants audiences with stories and songs that are equal parts playful, darkly funny, heart-wrenching and redemptive.

In 2017, Emily was featured on PRI's show "The World" for her single, "Traveling Mercies." She was also named a winner of the 2017 Wildflower Festival Performing Songwriter Contest. In 2016, Emily won the Grassy Hill New Folk competition at Kerrville Folk Festival, in addition to an Honorable Mention in the 2016 Telluride Troubadour Contest. In 2015, she won first place and her Gibson guitar in the “American Songwriter” May/June Lyric Contest, as well as an Honorable Mention in the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Songwriter Showcase.

Emily released her debut album, “Magnolia Queen,” in February 2016. She is currently touring full time, living on the road with her husband in their motorhome, writing and performing across the country.

Adam Shead, who holds a BM in Percussion Performance from Columbia College Chicago, Graduate Certificate in World Performance Studies, and MM in Improvisation from The University of Michigan specializes in interdisciplinary performance, composition, and improvisation. Adam has performed at renowned music festivals such as The Chicago Jazz Festival, The Ann Arbor Edge Fest, and The Present is Present Festival in Amsterdam. Adam has performed alongside such musicians as Mary Oliver, Andrew Drury, John Dikeman, Jasper Stadhouders, Tim Daisy, Josh Berman, Ed Sarath, Ada Rave, Benny Green, and John Hollenbeck. Adam has recorded and published over eight hours of improvised music with such groups as the John Dikeman/Adam Shead duo, the Aenigmata Trio, the Jasper Stadhouders/Adam Shead duo, the Adam Shead Octet, the Adam Shead String Quartet, the Columbia Improvised Music Ensemble, and Dod Kalm.

Lavour Addison was born in Miami Florida, but raised in Freeport Bahamas. He grew up loving and watching wrestling every Monday night with his father. He pursued wrestling and football at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After not making the team he found his true passion in acting.​

After Graduating from UHM with a double major in Psychology and Theatre, he married the Love of his life Brittni Addison, and moved to Cleveland Ohio to pursue his MFA in acting in the Case Western Reserve University/ Cleveland Play House MFA Program.​

Throughout his training he has excelled in different styles of theatre including heightened text as well as contemporary/new work.

I was born in Macon, GA and studied Theatre at Furman University in South Carolina, Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York, and Improv at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. I spent the majority of my twenties performing with different regional theaters from Alaska to North Carolina, and everywhere in between. I'm now rounding out my second year in Los Angeles where I've been active with the Groundlings Theatre and the American Immersion Theatre Co.

Choreographer and scholar, Cynthia Ling Lee instigates postcolonial, queer, and feminist-of-color interventions in the field of experimental performance. Trained in US postmodern dance and North Indian classical kathak, she is committed to intimate collaborative relationships, ethical intercultural exchange, and foregrounding marginalized voices and aesthetics.

Cynthia’s interdisciplinary performance work has been presented at venues such as Dance Theater Workshop (New York), REDCAT (Los Angeles), East West Players (Los Angeles), Indonesian Dance Festival (Jakarta), IGNITE! Festival of Contemporary Dance (New Delhi), and Chandra-Mandapa: Spaces (Chennai).

Charles Murdock Lucas is a scenic and projection designer based in San Diego, CA working for theatre and opera companies across the United States. In previous seasons he has been Resident Scene Designer for the Ohio Light Opera, Texas Shakespeare Festival, Luna Stage and Duke City Repertory Theatre.

He teaches Scene Design and Projection Design for the B.A. and M.F.A. programs at San Diego State University. He has has served on faculty at Southern Oregon University, taught courses at University of North Carolina School of the Arts and has lectured at Temple University, The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, University of Alabama, the Associated Colleges of the South Conference, the North Carolina Thespian Festival and Furman University. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he was the A. J. Fletcher Opera Fellow in Scene Design. He is a proud member of USA 829.

See the latest work at www.sketchbook.charlesmurdocklucas.com

Above all I value community and wade deeply into both Jewish, partnered social dance, and concert dance communities and from them draw material for my choreographic process and body of work. Building community among collaborators from multiple disciplines begins before the crafting of work, often presented as a series of improvisational scores mounted upon a skeleton of set choreography. My movement style is influenced by functional anatomy and kinesiology, Gaga textures, balance and line from Maggie Black ballet philosophy, and physical connection techniques informed by contact improvisation and partnered social dances. My projects are research-based and emphasize deconstruction of ideas both through theme and variation and chance reorganization, as well as re-contextualization through costume, performers, set and performance venue.

I am in a constant state of introspection and transformation, relentlessly seeking ways to fuse my many identities into one. Diverse movement vocabulary, language, ritual, costume, history, race, etiquette, and gender dynamics all provide fodder for my work. By sharing and presenting content from communities in which my artists and I are immersed, it is my hope that my work sparks introspection and dialogue among diverse audiences about their own journeys and suggests that journeying is a state of being and provides a basis for unity and universality.

Brittni is a professional Director and Actor, currently living in Creede, CO, where she serves as the Education Director at Creede Repertory Theatre. She received her BA in Theatre from Wake Forest University on a Presidential Scholarship for Performance, and her MFA in Directing from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. ​

Brittni attributes her love of theatre to seeing a high school production of The Wizard of OZ when she was five years old. She recalls being completely captivated, but also terrified of the Wicked Witch. After the performance, on a trip to the restroom with her grandmother, Brittni happened upon the actress who played the Wicked Witch, washing off her green makeup. It was at that moment that Brittni realized that the people on the stage were just like her. That could be her one day. ​

As a Theatre Artist, Brittni is particularly focused on ensemble-driven work, unified breath, and performer-created soundscapes. She strives to bridge the gap between performance and experience and seeks to engage audiences from the moment they enter the theatre. Brittni whole-heatedly believes in the power of collaboration and is constantly looking for opportunities to create with new artists.

We are an intersectional, cross-sectoral, social impact consultancy that leverages collective expertise and networks to support strategic initiatives, organizational development and leadership nuturance.

Our mission is to support changemaking and changemakers to be more effective, impactful and connected to the communities they serve, to policymakers and funders and to each other.

Hiking for normal people. I'm extremely normal. What's normal? I don't know, but I'm it. I am unremarkable. You are probably unremarkable. This hiking blog is for us! I'm an actor and I live in LA. You don't know who I am, so that means I'm broke. What can you do if you have no money and no car? You walk your ass around. AND HIKING IS JUST WALKING ON DIRT!

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I am starting this blog to simplify hiking and give recs that normal people can relate to. Five hikes to take your mom on when she's visiting. Five hikes that have a place to get a beer after. Five pieces of gear you need and five pieces you don't need. These blogs are primarily aimed toward hiking in Southern California. I truly believe hiking is for everyone. Why not start a hobby that you can do until you die? THIS IS TRULY INVESTING IN YOUR FUTURE.

P.L. Thomas taught high school English in rural South Carolina before moving to teacher education. He is a column editor for English Journal (National Council of Teachers of English) and series editor for Critical Literacy Teaching Series: Challenging Authors and Genres (Sense Publishers), in which he authored the first volume—Comics and Graphic Novels: Challenging Genres (2010)—edited Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction: Challenging Genres (2013), and co-edited with A. Scott Henderson James Baldwin: Challenging Authors (2014). He has served on major committees with NCTE, and has been named Council Historian (2013-2015), and formerly served as co-editor for The South Carolina English Teacher for SCCTE.

He has served on major committees with NCTE, and has been named Council Historian (2013-2015), and formerly served as co-editor for The South Carolina English Teacher for SCCTE. Recent books include Beware the Roadbuilders (Garn Press), Ignoring Poverty in the U.S.: The Corporate Takeover of Public Education (Information Age Publishing, 2012) and Parental Choice?: A Critical Reconsideration of Choice and the Debate about Choice (Information Age Publishing, 2010).