Mariah Conover Keko | Director of Educational Outreach

Mariah Conover Keko is the new Director of Educational Outreach of First Folio. She is originally from Minnesota and earned her BFA in Theatre Education from Drake University in 2001, and MFA in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University in 2008. Her primary interests in theatre are educationally-driven, and has taught ages 3-94 in areas such as acting, directing, puppetry, and improvisation in addition to her credits as public school teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada where she taught English, ELL, and speech/communications. Additional theatre interests include improvisation, forum and play-back theatre as a way to both entertain and explore social issues. She also enjoys collaborative devising of new theatre pieces such as “TXT Me a Story,” a play she co-wrote, devised, directed, and performed in, which explored issues of manipulation and internet predation geared towards young adolescents. This new work toured to schools in the Phoenix, Arizona area during the spring of 2007. Mariah works with other Chicago theatres, including Adventure Stage Chicago and Silk Road Theatre Project. This rolling stone is eager to learn from and contribute to First Folio, while making Illinois fifth state where she’s held an address.