Authors
Martha Hannah
Nationally
Acclaimed Comedic Character Actor, Author, Speaker, Educator and
Arts-In-Education Advocate Martha Hannah has
story performance and joke telling in her blood. “I come from a long
line of characters that were long-winded and funny,” she says.
Martha‘s deep, rich heritage is from a large Scotch-Irish clan that
came to America in the early 1700’s and settled in Tennessee. “I was
blessed with my grandmother, Mama Roxie, who had a grand sense of
the lyrical and dramatic telling of an event. She was a natural
comedienne. My father has always had a delicious compulsion to tease
and tell jokes. His mother, Nanny, early on introduced me to a
fascination with ghost stories and a belief in the unseen.”
When, as a five year old, Martha drew three-dimensionally,
created songs on her xylophone and gave speeches to trees to
rehearse her defense when she got in trouble, her parents knew
that their youngest child was ‘different’. By age eight she
proclaimed things like, “I won’t stand for
it!”
and with equal fortitude, as an early teen, she was determined
to overcome an innate shyness. She began to write and, despite
visible shaking and a quivering voice, deliver speeches, adapt
performance pieces and travel to compete in acting competitions.
In high school Martha became a published newspaper columnist.
Early on, in performances, she was so strong on stage that she
became known for the ability to move audiences to tears or
laughter. Many regional acting awards followed and Martha found
her shyness overshadowed by an abounding love and addiction to
working with a live audience. So, by sixteen, Martha Hannah was
hooked and found writing, theatre and the arts synonymous to
breathing. And, in doing so, she firmly began her speaking,
writing and performance career.
A
performance scholarship led Martha to college and to earn a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Theatre with a teaching
certificate. She taught art and theatre, became a published
illustrator and freelanced graphic design. Her extensive
professional theatre career has covered years of performing on
stage, in dinner theatre, improv, standup, radio and industrials
and film with many commercials to her credit.
Gracious and charming, Martha brings her wry sense of humor
and special brand of wit to conversations, her writing and on
stage. When asked if her shyness is a thing of the past, Martha
says, “It is always there. It’s like arm wrestling with the
devil. And, the devil is that now I’m such an extravert.”
For almost twenty years, as a touring performance artist,
artist-in-residence, speaker and avid arts-in-education
advocate, M
artha has worked with many state and regional arts
organizations performing and teaching action-packed, multi-media oriented and participation-based learning, theatre, workshops
and motivational and creativity seminars. She has performed on
touring rosters for the Kentucky Center for the Arts, South
Carolina Arts Commission, Leonard-Bernstein
Center-Nashville Institute of the Arts and North Carolina’s
Spirit Square. Currently Martha is a performing and teaching
artist on touring rosters with the Texas Commission on the Arts,
the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts in Education Roster and
Mid-America Arts Alliance which covers a six-state region
including Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and
Texas. In addition, she is a member of the Writers League of
Texas, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
In her journey as a speaker, author, educator and performer,
Martha has written and developed a myriad of workshops and
performances and performed for and taught tens of thousands of
students and educators. “Long ago a seasoned arts-in-ed
performer told me, ‘If you can just reach one. If you can just
reach ‘one’ student, then you have made a difference.’ And, that
is what I strive for.”
As an author, Martha has continued to write plays,
monologues, one-woman shows and short stories. She has presented
her work on stage, in dinner theatre, on radio and television
and at endless events and venues. She has a
semi-autobiographical novel in progress that ties in her college
theatre life and ghosts. She also is developing the publishing
and production of her various children’s stories and songs
including the next in the ‘Maid Martha Tells It All’ series.
It
was Martha’s lifelong fascination with ghost stories and the
“unseen” that took her and her author/ illustrator husband,
Larry Dowell, down many dimly lit back streets in England during
evening ghost tours. They have traveled across Europe through
castles and cathedrals from Edinburgh to Venice, collecting
ghost stories and what she calls “a head full of medieval
trivia.” This led Martha to develop her hilarious character,
‘Maid Martha, Medieval Comedienne’, which she uses on stage and
in her workshops to bring the Middle Ages and Renaissance to
life for countless enthusiastic audiences.
As a creative husband wife team, Martha and Larry now own and
manage the independent publishing company, CicadaSun, and have
recently released their first title, “The Ghost of Hampton
Court’. This wonderful, richly illustrated book is the first of
the ‘Maid Martha Tells It All’ series. Authored by Martha and
illustrated by Larry, it is a historical fiction ghost story
about Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catharine Howard. Martha’s
stage character, ‘Maid Martha’ in this book and throughout the
series, tells the story as it unfolds, adding an element of
delight and humor. ‘Gods and Other Odd Creatures’, by renowned
Classics author Rose Williams, will be published by CicadaSun at
the end of this year.
Martha and Larry present creative writing / book design
seminars and workshops for students and adults at schools,
libraries and universities. Workshops included ‘From Idea to
Print- The Making of ‘The Ghost of Hampton Court’’, that teaches
the process of creating and producing a book, and ‘E-Books-
Bringing a Story to Life’, an exciting workshop that teaches how
to add a new dimension to writing and presenting a book.
Martha Hannah enjoys now living in Austin, Texas with Larry
and their cherished golden lab mix Goldie, who knows well how to
do a one-eyed wink.
Visit
Martha's Web Site ...
