Karl Nastrom grew up in Minnesota and began writing in 1996, while stationed in Germany as a USAF intelligence officer. When not writing, Karl has represented clients as an attorney in federal, state, and tribal courts in Alabama, California, and Minnesota. He has also taught math at public high schools in Maryland and Mississippi. He currently lives in Minneapolis, where he works at the Indian Child Welfare Law Center, serving Native families involved in child protection. “The Willows” is his first published work of fiction. His website is karlnastrom.com.
Maggy Gorrill will read “The Willows,” by Karl Nastrom. Maggy is a performer and arts educator who recently relocated to Davis from the east coast, where she was an Associate Professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Performing credits include roles in Peter Pan (Bdwy), Annie (National Tour), Flora the Red Menace (Off-Bdwy), Take Me Along (Goodspeed Opera House), Company (St Lous Rep), Nunsense (Boston’s Charles Playhouse), Anything Goes (St Louis Muny), Little Shop of Horrors (Indianapolis Beef ‘n Boards), and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera). As a teaching artist, she helped design an educational outreach program for New York City Center Encores! and received fourteen Massachusetts Cultural Council grants to develop arts integration residencies for public schools.
Calder G. Lorenz is the author of One Way Down (Or Another), his debut novel from Civil Coping Mechanisms. His shorter fiction has been published in sPARKLE & bLINK 2.4, Switchback, Curly Red Stories, FictionDaily, Two Dollar Radio’s Noise, Literary Orphans, Crack the Spine, Black Heart Magazine, Litro Magazine, The Forge Literary, The Birds Piled Loosely Press, and gravel. He has an MFA from the University of San Francisco and works at The Gubbio Project in the Mission District.
J.R. Wolfe will read “Dillinger,” by Calder Lorenz. J.R. is a Yolo County-based actor, director, writer, and producer. He trained at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts and the Cornish College of the Arts, and earned his MFA at UC Davis. He has acted at regional theaters throughout the country including Victory Gardens, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Pacific Conservatory Theater, Capital Stage, and Seattle Immersive Theater. And he has appeared in regional, national, and industrial commercials and several short film projects. He co-founded the new works-focused Bike City Theatre Company in Davis, where he developed an award-winning educational outreach program and crafted impactful work with partners ranging from small local organizations to state governmental bodies and international academic institutions. In 2024, J.R. co-founded Studio Creatch, whose mission is to create impactful new works in the mediums of animation, puppetry, and live performing arts. J.R. also serves as an adjunct lecturer in playwriting at Central Washington University. To learn more about his work, please visit studiocreatch.com.