Desmond the Day Dragon was born, one spring morning, many decades ago. Once sporting four segments and a tail, he is now a scarred but undefeated unidragon. Missing a few of his ferocious teeth he can still flash that winning smile that has carried him through a thousand battles.

Nigel the Night Dragon is long, red and a slippery character. Born at midnight in a Welsh castle he swam across the Atlantic Ocean (he hates flying) and has been prowling the shadows of Cambridge for many years. His eyes are sensitive to the slightest movement.
He is a hip reptile.

Normally these two dragons are natural enemies but at the equinox, when the day and the night are of equal length, Oshun the river spirit summons them to a bridge over the River Charles where, intoxicated by the sound of people singing, they meet and dance the Equinox Waltz.

David Coffin has performed throughout New England since 1980. He is widely known for his rich baritone voice and his impressive collection of musical instruments, which includes concertinas, recorders, penny-whistles, bombards, gemshorns, cornamuse, shawm, rauschphieffe – or, as he explains, “generally anything that requires a lot of hot air”. At the heart of David’s work is his extensive collection of songs from the Maritime tradition. To date, David has recorded four solo CDs; his latest, Last Trip Home, was released in the Fall of 2009 and features his daughter, Linnea, who is also a Revels performer.

David has performed with Revels since 1980 as a singer, instrumentalist and, since 1991, as Master of Ceremonies. Since 2014, David has served as Artist in Residence at Revels and has presented his acclaimed School Enrichment Programs to schools across the region as an extension of Revels Education. He runs tours of Boston Harbor during the summer months, leading over 5,000 inner-city children on boat trips to George’s and Spectacle Islands. He also directs the narration program for Boston Harbor Cruises and hosts the Brunch Cruises every weekend from May to October.

Singer, saxophonist, flutist, actor, Stan Strickland has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, New Zealand and the former Soviet Union. . He has performed with the Boston Pops, the Village People, Aretha Franklin, and jazz greats Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Shirley Scott and Marlena Shaw, and opened for Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Natalie Cole and The Bare Naked Ladies.

Stan is an associate professor of voice at Berklee College of Music and executive co-director of Express Yourself, a multi-cultural arts organization that serves mentally ill youth through the Department of Mental Health. He received a MA degree from Lesley University in Expressive Arts Therapy with a major in dance therapy.

He has performed and worked with many modern dance companies including members of the Alvin Ailey, Jose Limon, and Bill T Jones companies and Dance Collective of Boston.

His one-man show “Coming Up For Air, An Auto-Jazzography”, tells the story os his near-death experience swimming in Hawaii and received the prestigious Eliot Norton Award in theatre for best solo performance.

The Pinewoods Morris Men are, by all accounts, the oldest morris team in North America (and showing it more every day).  An outgrowth of the Pinewoods dance camp, PMM was organized in 1964.  Although we usually say we are from Boston, our members are scattered across greater Boston and beyond, and we dance annually throughout New England (and occasionally old England).  Pinewoods have also been a definitive part of The Christmas Revels (now sometimes known as The Midwinter Revels) since its inception in 1971.

The Puppeteers’ Cooperative is a group of artists and puppeteers working in cities around the nation to create giant puppet parades, pageants, and ceremonies of celebration and complaint, using simple materials and movements to build community cardboard extravaganzas. They have worked with groups around the US and Canada, from Nova Scotia in the North to Florida in the South, and with festivals including the Atlanta Arts Festival and the Bumbershoot Festival of Seattle, creating semi-instantaneous pageants, art installations, and parades. Their massive pageants at the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival in New York have explored neurosis and traffic jams in “Romeo and Juliet in New York City”, space and parrots in “The Tempest on Mars”, the highway system from Troy to Ithaca in “The Odyssey” fear of Da Mayor in “Metropopolis”, and city as circus in “Grand Meg-o-lopolis Circus”. Our ‘Triumph of the Arts” parades with the Governor’s Institute on the Arts of Vermont have become a beloved tradition. Puppeteers from the Puppeteers’ Cooperative have worked with First Night of Boston and First Night International and with First Night celebrations around the country since their inception, creating both experimental commissioned parade works and sections, and sprited and colorful community group parade pieces.

The Puppeteers’ Cooperative is also involved with a number of interrelated groups: Hi-Art videos, which makes videos of giant puppet pageants and miniature tabletop productions; News of the Week, for mini street shows; the Back Alley Puppet Theater, which creates parades and parade puppets in the Boston area; the Puppet Free Library, which lends puppets, banners, and masks to people and institutions in the Boston area; and the Construction Section, puppet makers.

The Puppeteers Cooperative was formed in San Francisco in 1976 by George Konnoff and Sara Peattie, two puppeteers formerly with the Bread and Puppet Theater. It was incorporated as a non-profit in Massachusetts in 1994. In 1993, Theresa Linnihan, then the director of the Newburyport Children’s Theater at Maudslay State Park, met Konnoff, and joined in 1997. George Konnoff died in 2001.

Boston City Singers are an El Sistema-inspired program founded in 1995 in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. They train and inspire the musician and ambassador in each singer by providing the highest level of musical instruction and wide-ranging performance opportunities. Their programs support personal development, celebrate diversity, and foster goodwill.

Jeffrey Binder is a theatre artist and arts leader whose work spans directing, playwriting, producing, education, and nonprofit administration. He brings a lifelong commitment to storytelling that fosters empathy, joy, and a sense of belonging across generations and communities.

Binder spent nearly three decades performing on Broadway, in regional theatres across the country, and in London’s West End. He later served as Associate Artistic Director of Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, Florida, where he helped shape artistic programming, expand education initiatives, and support a successful capital campaign culminating in the opening of a new state-of-the-art theatre complex.

As a playwright, Binder’s modern adaptation of Scapino is published by Samuel French and has enjoyed record-breaking productions. He is deeply passionate about building artistic homes that honor tradition while welcoming new voices and is energized by styles and performances that are uniquely theatrical.

Jeff is thrilled to join the Revels family along with his daughter Annika, husband Mike, and dogs Quincy and Penny – with occasional, reluctant participation from his creaky old cat, Torch.

Elijah Botkin (Revels Music Director) graduated from Northeastern University in 2015 with bachelor’s degrees in Music History & Analysis and Mathematics. During his time at Northeastern, Elijah founded and directed the Northeastern Madrigal Singers; was President, Bass Section Leader, and Assistant Director for the NU Choral Society; and sang with and arranged for the award-winning a cappella group Distilled Harmony. In 2015, Elijah won the award for Outstanding Arrangement for his arrangement of Distilled Harmony’s quarterfinal-winning set in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella. In the same year, his arrangement of “Nothing Feels Like You” by Little Mix also won a CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) for Best Mixed Collegiate Song. In 2014, Elijah was granted the Gideon Klein Award in order to write his composition The Closed Town, which was premiered by the Northeastern University Chamber Choir in April 2015. Currently, Elijah continues to direct the NU Madrigals and serves on the Board of Trustees for Chorus pro Musica. He also sings with the Boston-based chamber choir Carduus and serves as their Treasurer and Business Manager.