Traveling Lantern has been educating and
entertaining children nationwide for the past 25
years. Our mission is to bring great stories to
children, to draw them into an active theater
experience, to excite their minds and to tickle
their imaginations.

Our style is interactive. We use children from
the audience in our shows, encourage active
audience participation and build our shows to
involve the children as much as possible. We
cast our actors non-traditionally: women can
play men, humans can play animals, and race
is irrelevant. We encourage a creative approach
to traditional stories; dispensing with outdated
social and demographic stereotypes, while
holding true to the author's original intent. We do
not alter classic stories except to make them performable, or sometimes to make them easier for modern-day children to understand. We have no religious or political agenda. Our goal is to perform great stories that present important ethical ideas to children on a level that they can absorb, relate to, and then consider. We are an American company, and the language in our plays is geared for American audiences.

Traveling Lantern currently has a 23 show repertoire. Each Fall and Spring we send different shows out on the road, and perform them nationally. All shows use a team of two actors, who perform with many changes of character and costume. Our stories cover topics and eras from Ancient Greece to modern times.

Our teams travel in one vehicle, with all their props, costumes and set pieces. The simplicity of this design allows for quick set-up and breakdown at each venue, and allows for flexibility: performances can be done in gyms, cafeterias, multi-purpose rooms, courtyards, etc. All plays are geared for (but not limited to) children in the K-8 grade levels. Shows last about 45 minutes, and actors can be packed up and on the road within a half hour of finishing. We have been, and will always be deeply committed to providing high quality, low cost programs to our nations schools and libraries.
 

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K.B. Mercer and Doren Elias are busy professional actors who moved to Portland, OR from San Diego, CA in 2008. We are a married couple, and we own and operate Traveling Lantern as our ?day job?. We do it all: write, direct, design, administrate, hire and inspire. When you call, you'll be speaking to one of us. K.B. is a graduate of the Professional Actor Training Program at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and has had years of other specialized training at schools like: Playhouse West in Hollywood, and The William Esper Studio in New York City. Doren has a B.F.A. from the University of Texas in Acting and Directing where he graduated summa cum laude. We have been teachers in various school systems including, San Diego, Pittsburgh and Austin. We have developed and performed educational programs during the past 25 years for organizations like: The Old Globe Theatre; The San Diego Repertory Theatre; Carnegie-Mellon University and The Pittsburgh Playhouse; various Parks and Recreation Departments; a consortium of private schools in the Virgin Islands; Texas School for the Deaf; Pittsburgh Children's Museum; and the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and Tijuana (which was funded by a grant from The Coca-Cola Company), and Yosemite National Park.

We are proud to hire young actors and give them a chance to develop their skills as they begin their professional careers. We were each in third grade when we saw an assembly performance that changed our lives, and pointed us to our chosen careers. Now, we have the wonderful opportunity to bring the magic of live theatre to other children.

K.B.'s Dad is the CFO...
Bob has over 50 years experience as an aerospace physicist. His early experience as a Flight Test Engineer led him into the brand-new and exciting Space Program. Besides designing, writing and managing software for the earliest digital computers, he worked with the very first United States astronauts. Among many responsibilities, Bob helped the astronauts with their training and operational tasks, and debriefed them upon mission completion. This in turn led to his becoming Principal Investigator for experiments performed during orbits of the moon. In his office he has an U.S. flag that went to the moon in the Apollo 16 orbiting spacecraft, which was later presented to him by the astronauts. Now he works with large engineering teams who create complex systems that travel both within the earth’s orbit, and to distant outer planets.
Bob has always been involved with youth and his help as CFO of Traveling Lantern is a “side job” that he took on with relish.
We hope to develop some science and space related performances, with his help, in the future!

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