Bay Area Renaissance Festival 2009 p.3

Sir Vincent Roswell

Knight of the Most Noble and Ancient Order of the Garter, Lieutenant in Their Majesties Most Honorable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, 2nd in Command of the Royal Guard

Right-hand-man of Sir William Parr, KG

Her Majesty Catherine Parr encourages audience applause for Lord Angantar, keeper of the old Norse Way, Ambassador & Trade Minister, Jarl of Gjermundbu, Norway/Denmark, 1555 A.D.

Kilt Boy, a.k.a."Rabbit"

Jacob is a St. Pete resident and is the Sgt. at Arms for the St. Pete Chapter of the New World Celts.

Visit his MySpace Site

Emrys Fleet, rat catcher

In addition to performing as Emrys around the country, Jim and his wife own a production company, Scarlett Rat Entertainment, offering entertainment for corporate events and specialized shows. They produce a Dickens Show in Skaneateles, NY, during the winter holiday season with Jim portraying Charles Dickens.

Meet Emrys Fleet (Jim Greene)

ScarlettRat.com

Sir Rusty

Sir Rusty was a Knight by vocation, until he had a fight with oxidation.

It’s a tale that dates back to the days of old. Where such words as Strength, Honor, Loyalty, Duty, Chivalry, and Respect were held with the highest regard. These words were not used lightly and only describe those who were truly worthy of such distinction. This legend tells the tale of a valiant Knight, who to this day still stands his post as it was his first day there. A Knight who is the embodiment of all of those characteristics wrapped into one. For when he is not off tending to his Knightly duties he takes his “Stand.” He is on guard for thee. And whether he does it out of Loyalty, Duty, Honor or Love…it’s good to know, that there is still one that “Stands” for those ideals.

Sir Rusty's MySpace

www.sirrusty.com

I'm the Rat Catcher Emrys Fleet, two parts of the rat doth I eat. The body and head 'twixt two pieces of bread, there's no meat in the tail or the feet.

At Halloween, Jim and his wife provide production services to the Rosamund Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, NY, putting on Zoo Boo, a kooky spooky family event with interactive characters. Jim has taken acting classes, worked for Disney in Orlando, and done some movies and television.

Visit his Webbe site

Emrys with faeries Belle and Staar

Blue (Marla Batista) and Yellow (Joe Harless)

Marla placed 1st in the 1997 Judo Sunshine State Games in the age 13 - 14 group. In 2006 she was the recipient of the Tampa Lodge Awards scholarship. She's a Robinson High School graduate and majored in English/Creative Writing at the University of South Florida.

Joe is a freelance writer based in Tampa. A graduate of the University of Central Florida in 2003, his career has included travel, and covering the correctional and construction industries & two years covering the town of Celebration. In 2006 & 2007, Joe was a writer and photographer with the Clearwater Citizen & the Largo Beacon. (See excerpts from his articles below)

Orange (Asia Buys-Sakovich) and Red (Levi Landry)

Asia, a.ka. "Pumpkin," resides in Clearwater, FL and has a general interest in all forms of expression, and pumpkins. Her acrobatic skills may have come from a childhood habit of avoiding stepping on cracks on sidewalks!

Asia's MySpace page

Pumpkin's Acrobellum Photos

Levi is the founder and trainer of Acrobellum. A Largo resident and performer in the Faire/Fest circuit for over 12 years, he is well-trained in the martial arts. He and Joe Stephenson are the directors of

Cutting Edge Combative Entertainment.

Read more about Levi below.

Visit his MySpace page

The 2009 B.A.R.F acrobat troupe was organized and trained by Levi Landry in early 2008. Landry is Largo resident who performed in the Faire/Festival circuit for 12 years. In 2006, Landry co-directed a group along with Joe Stephenson, to put together the fight show for the 2006 Florida Pirate Festival held in November 2006 in Clearwater. The show was so spectacular that people in the fair circuit still talk about it. Stephenson is a veteran of improvisational performance, having been involved with fight shows for over 15 years. He first joined the Bay Area Renaissance Festival in 1995, when it was still held in Largo. Since then, he has been a regular in the festival circuit, participating in staged fights throughout Florida. Stephenson's fight troupe, comprised mostly of stunt performing high school students and young adults, is called "Chaos Perfect." Its members come from a variety of backgrounds including theater, dance, martial arts and costuming.

In 2008, BARF's previous acrobat team would not be returning and Landry thought it would be a great idea to have a small group of cast members perform acrobatic tricks throughout the festival grounds. The Festival promoters were very interested in the idea. Landry worked to train a team of several hand-picked fair regulars into an acrobat troupe. Most of the troupe members had extensive stunt show experience but not much formal acrobatic training. They only had a few months to make it look like they’ve been performing acrobatics for years. Troupe member Alex Craddock previously had plenty of physical acting and fighting experience, but not much traditional acrobat training. In addition to rehearsals on the weekends, the team began meeting at a gym during the week for private instruction on the fine points of tumbling, landing front tucks, diving through the air and occasionally taking a spinning fall into a pit full of foam blocks. Another Faire circuit veteran, Ray Hawkins (the Gray Acrobat), joined because it sounded like fun and he wanted to try something different; a bit more physical than what he had done before. Landry, an agile performer due to years of martial arts training and performing an average of 4 shows a year, faced quite a challenge. The troupe had to push hard to master in a two months what takes years to perfect. It is apparent that the acrobats met their challenge and came through with "flying colors!"

(Above info is from an article by Joe Harless in the "Largo Leader" published Feb. 2008, and an article in the Clearwater Citizen, July 2007)