Biography
A Troubadour's Life
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, Martha
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.
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