KANDACE CLELAND has been telling stories since she was a five-year-old trying to explain the broken cookie jar. At an early age she recognized the power of stories to help her get in and out of predicaments and take her on the rollercoaster ride of life.

She became particularly interested in the art of story to transform, inspire and create communities when she visited Phoenix, Arizona and attended a USA Today storytelling event. Her son-in-law, Will Flannigan had advised that storytelling would be the perfect addition to the offerings at the Trinity Playhouse, but that all consuming and relentless season of productions kept Kandace busy- until she fell backstage during the Christmas show in December of 2021. Confined to bed with a broken humerus, she distracted herself with stories from the PBS Moth Story Hour and the SPEAK UP podcast of Matthew Dicks, with whom she was privileged to have some Zoom conversations.

As Kandace honed her Art of Storytelling OAC funding came through and Stage Left was able to launch the SPARK initiative. She is very excited to lead out as a coach in our April 2023 cohort and looks forward to sharing her story titled “Wait until your father gets home.”

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Kandace received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Kent State University. She has taught grades 5-8  at Canfileld Village Middle School and served as artistic director for college, high school and community theatre productions.