Randel McGee is an award winning versatile entertainer, artist, writer, and teaching artist with over 40 years of professional experience. Since he received his B.A. degree in Children’s Theater from Brigham Young University, he has been a professional storyteller and ventriloquist. Randel has performed all around the USA and Asia at schools, libraries, conferences, and special events. His ventriloquist act of Randel McGee and Groark (the dragon) has two award-winning DVD series on character education for elementary school children. His storytelling performances as the world-famous author Hans Christian Andersen has taken him to storytelling festivals and cultural events around the globe. He is also a popular workshop director and teaching artist on a wide range of subjects from storytelling techniques and visual arts, to effectively integrating performing arts into public education. He has worked with students (from kindergarten through college), teachers, and librarians, from all over the USA and Asia and the United Kingdom.

His performances range from a unique puppet/ventriloquist act to his portrayal of Hans Christian Andersen that has entertained children and adults all across the United States and Asia. Randel is also an accomplished paper-cut artist and is able to produce fascinating pictures and designs as he tells some of the stories, just as Andersen himself did. Performances usually last about 40 minutes, but can be adapted to the sponsor’s desires.

Randel has worked extensively as a teaching artist and workshop presenter for state and national reading associations, arts councils, professional entertainer’s conferences, and educational organizations. He has worked with students of all ages and abilities and their teachers. He is known for his friendly personality and his accessible approach to sharing his arts so that everyone feels capable of succeeding. During his career he has taught many aspects of puppetry (specializing in shadow puppet shows), stage and prop design, mask making, paper-cut designs and paper sculpture, storytelling techniques and ventriloquism. He has published 16 craft books for kids and a new picture book based on the true story of the first earthquake detecting machine.