Atlantia’s Royal Players – Year 4 – Biographies
Atlantia maintains a group of Royal Players to help create time and space at SCA events for performing arts to happen. The administrative work performed by these performers supports all kinds of performing arts throughout the entire Kingdom of Atlantia. When you need a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on a Performing Arts topic, these folks are ready and excited to share with you what they know and how to make the magic happen. Please reach out to them for help bringing Performing Arts of all kinds to your event!
This article offers a short biography on each of Year 4’s players. Let’s begin with the cast of characters:
- Baroness Fevronia Murometsa, O.L.
- Lady Jeane Kilmeny
- Lady Scholastica Joycors
- Lady Nicolosa d’Isenfir
- Lord Ciaran Mac Breandain
- Lady Iselda de Narbonne
- Lord Alfarinn Valison
- Jonkvrouwe Machteld Cleine
- Lady Rhiannon of Raven’s Cove
- Baroness Sophia the Orange (me), Administrative Support
SCA Name: Baroness Fevronia Murometsa, O.L.
Modern Name: Kathleen Sobansky
Home group: Barony of Storvik
Primary performing arts skills: Singing solo and in groups, playing harp, bohdran, creating space for performers at events.
She is well known for hosting an annual function going back many years called the Performer’s Revel. Hosting this function with her husband Igor in their home, they welcome performers of all kinds to share their arts, eat, drink, and be merry for a whole day. Singing, dancing, acting, and camaraderie are the focus of this annual activity. Fevronia can often be seen under a large tent she’s set up at an event just for the purpose of inviting performers to share their art.
SCA Name: Lady Jeane Kilmeny
Modern Name: Dominica Campbell
Home group: Barony of Caer Mear
Primary performing arts skills: Singing solo and in groups, storytelling, Irish Culture, and cat herding as the Guildmistress of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild.
At Atlantia University February 2019, Kilmeny took on the monumental task of creating support for all performers in Atlantia by agreeing to lead the Performing Arts Guild. The guild was first chartered by TRMs Atlantia in 2002 under the leadership of Master Corun Macandra. The guild primarily creates opportunities for networking and sharing resources – like the blog you’re reading right now! Kilmeny sings and tells stories whenever she gets the chance after organizing things like the PA Guild, Gem Joust, and dozens of other organizing tasks.
SCA Name: Lady Scholastica Joycors
Modern Name: Mylinda Butterworth
Homegroup: Barony of Lochmere
Primary performing arts skills: Storytelling with a touch of singing, wordplay, theater, theater games, emcee, foolishness, and organizing events.
“I am a teller of tales old and new. I like to mix various forms of performance i.e., a story with a song interspersed or doing a paper cutting while I tell a story. I am a past Royal Bard and am the current Dean of Performing Arts at Pennsic University. I have an undergraduate degree in theater education and a Masters degree in Storytelling.
I am passionate about the performing arts, I want to SEE and HEAR more of them and not be shoved out into the dark smoky night or trying to be heard over a noisy feast hall. I would like to see more opportunities to spotlight performances beyond bardic circles as entertainment. Perhaps performances before court begins to draw people in or a short performance to take some time while everyone clears away to congratulate new peers or a bit of shenanigans between the royal court and baronial court. I am out to bring performing arts into the light.”
SCA Name: Lady Nicolosa d’Isenfir
Modern Name: Kendra Schmid
Home group: Shire of Isenfir
Primary performing arts skills: European Renaissance dance – all styles – ECD, Italian, Gresley, everything! Teaching, running balls, anything dance related
“Dance is Fun! My goal is to share the love of dance around the Kingdom! Making space for all participatory and performing arts benefits us all.
Other: I am also the Chancellor of the Atlantian Academie of Dance. I organize dance tracks, competitions, run our youtube channel, hold advanced dance practices and more!”
Dance is Fun!
SCA Name: Lord Ciaran mac Breandain
Modern Name: David Gunter
Home group: Barony of Windmaster’s Hill
Primary performing arts skills: Instrumental performance. Singing if necessary 😁
I believe the more opportunities for engaging performing arts, the better. Specifically, I want to see more opportunities for instrumental musicians both in concert and competition. I would like to see us create a group of performers who could provide music for court, feast, or other situations where background music could add an air of authenticity.
I do transcription of medieval musical manuscripts into modern notation so as to make them available for performance. I also compose music when I get the chance. Also, I’m a relatively decent brewer.
SCA Name: Lady Iselda de Narbonne
Modern Name: Alix Evans
Home group: Shire of Roxbury Mill
Primary performing arts skills: Poetry, singing, harp
“Currently the Poeta Atlantiae. I’d like to help create more and better venues for performance at events, including by better incorporating performance into A&S competitions and displays. I’m hoping to a) encourage and help people running competitions to arrange time, space, and judges for performance entries so that performers don’t have to scramble to do it themselves day-of when they’re already jangling with nerves, and b) to make sure that the space set aside for performances of any type is quiet enough to accommodate a range of performances, from loud and brash to delicate and tender.
In my experience so far, performers are often asked to perform in noisy venues, and it seems to me that we’re missing out on a lot of wonderful performances as a result. As performers, we should be able to express the length and breadth of the human experience, and that includes tenderness, reverence, beauty that should not be shouted. Some of the most magical moments happen when care is taken to create a welcoming space for performers (such as at the most recent Royal Bard competition). I would like to continue to help carve out such welcoming spaces for ALL performances, not just the loud show-stoppers.
I’ll be looking for more and more opportunities to create these spaces, so if you have an event or competition coming up and you’d like help making it happen, please let me know! I’d gladly be your partner in crime. 🙂 Best, Iselda”
SCA Name: Lord Alfarinn Valason
Modern Name: Nancy Kramer
Home group: iFirenzi in the Barony of Windmasters’ Hill
Primary performing arts skills: Primarily commedia and beginning ventures into singing
“Commedia dell’Arte has been such a joyous adventure for me! It took me a while to get over my stagefright, but once I did I branched out from the straight-laced “safe” role of The Servetta into Arlecchino – the consummate fool. This let’s me explore and express the jester / fool / clown parts that don’t have permission to come out and play in any other aspect of daily life. Physical comedy involves letting all the repressed actions come out – it is immensely freeing. I’m excited to be directing my first show at KASF 2020.”
SCA Name: Baroness Machteld Cleine
Modern Name: Eva Bogaerts
Home group: Barony of Nottinghill Coill
Primary performing arts skills: Theater and storytelling, teaching, history, repertoire, and singing
“I believe I am really good at encouraging people. I am an engaging teacher and I love performances. I especially love to figure out what would be available and desirable in which setting. I love theater especially, I have my masters in theater, film and TV studies, with an emphasis on Theater and the place of community theater, as well as a bachelors in social and cultural work, with an emphasis on cultural work, especially the theater.
I love to touch people’s hearts and minds when performing. I’ve written a few pieces for the SCA, and am trying to write and translate more.”
SCA Name: Lady Rhiannon of Raven’s Cove
Modern Name: Lauren Smith
Home group: Barony of Hawkwood
Primary performing arts skills: Instrumental (recorders, flute, guitar, and more!) and Singing
“With music (as with everything else) in the SCA, the more the merrier! I love encouraging folks to explore vocal and instrumental music within the society, and work to create an atmosphere where even those who haven’t picked up an instrument since high school feel comfortable trying out music in the SCA, and playing with groups such as the dance band.”
SCA Name: Baroness Sophia the Orange
Modern Name: Lara Coutinho
Home group: Barony of Windmasters’ Hill; Canton of Elvegast
Primary performing arts skills: Commedia dell’ Arte, theater arts, dance, dance music, cello, improvisation comedy, puppets, stilt walking, juggling, and organizing performing arts.
I created the Royal Players team to encourage performers to create more opportunities for themselves to have time and space at SCA events for performing arts. It was originally an idea of Master Ruaidhri an Cu’s in Spring of 2016. Then Queen Thora blessed the idea and encouraged me to try it. I had the blessing of help from Mistress Dervila for the first two years. It has been successful since Pennsic of 2016 in creating time and space for performing arts to happen more in Atlantia.
I love performing, and I know there is great administrative work necessary to create time and space for performing to happen at SCA events. Schedules need to be managed, space needs to be found and committed, and numerous people who are not performers need to be engaged for a performance space to be made available. I believe that I need to “put my money where my mouth is” and devote service to creating performance opportunities in my community before I can take that opportunity for myself to perform.
For those people who like teamwork and believe that pitching in on making the administrative work of performing arts happen, this team is very supportive. I hope it continues for many years to encourage excellence in performing arts and the admin work needed to allow performances to happen.
To contact any of the Royal Players at any time, if you don’t already have their email address or Facebook contacts, please post a request for what you need to our public Facebook group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RoyalPlayersofAtlantia/
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