Biographies

Richard and Judy Dockrey Young are professional actors, writers, directors and performing storytellers with twenty-eight years' experience in the field. Richard holds a master's degree in the humanities from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and Judy did her master's degree work at the Dallas Theatre Center (Dallas, Texas), formerly a branch of Trinity University of San Antonio, Texas. They have published nationally:

most of them through August House Publishers of Little Rock, Arkansas, America's foremost publisher of folklore and storytelling materials.

The Youngs perform six months out of the year at Silver Dollar City theme park, voted the Best Theme Park in the World for 1999 - 2000 by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. In the winter months they tour extensively in the Midwest, having performed and done residencies at libraries, public and private schools, university symposia, and other theme parks and festivals.

The Youngs have been featured tellers at the Nebraska Storytelling Festival in Omaha; at Native American Weekend at Ouachita State Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and at a similar event at Fort Scott in Kansas. They have delivered performance workshops for the International Reading Association High Plains Conference in Omaha. Judy has been a regional teller at the National Storytelling Festival's Exchange place event, and Richard was a regional teller at the National Storytelling Conference in San Antonio. The Youngs have also been featured at storytelling festivals in Denton, Texas; George West, Texas; Cahokia, Illinois; Bartlesville, Oklahoma; St. Charles, Missouri; Dayton, Ohio; Arkadelphia, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The Youngs have toured northern New Mexico on a grant from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, and performed at such diverse events as the National Girl Scout Camporee (Judy), the Conference on Hispanic Drama at Louisiana State University (Richard), the Pagemaster Reading Program in Farmington, New Mexico, and the living history Walk Through Time at Wekiwa Springs, Florida.

The Youngs' Lewis and Clark show, "Tales from the Trail", has been presented to school children in Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, and at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Dyersburg State Community College in Dyersville, Tennessee.