K.B. Mercer and Doren Elias are busy professional actors. We are a married couple, and we own and operate Traveling Lantern as our “day job”. We do it all: write, direct, design, administrate, hire and inspire. When you call, you'll be speaking to one of us. K.B. is a graduate of the Professional Actor Training Program at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and has had years of other specialized training at schools like: Playhouse West in Hollywood, and The William Esper Studio in New York City. Doren has a B.F.A. from the University of Texas in Acting and Directing where he graduated summa cum laude. We have been teachers in various school systems including, San Diego, Pittsburgh and Austin. We have developed and performed educational programs during the past 20 years for organizations like: The Old Globe Theatre; The San Diego Repertory Theatre; Carnegie-Mellon University and The Pittsburgh Playhouse; various Parks and Recreation Departments; a consortium of private school in the Virgin Islands; Texas School for the Deaf; Pittsburgh Children's Museum; and the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and Tijuana (which was funded by a grant from The Coca-Cola Company.)

Why do we do it? Three reasons:
1) We are proud to hire young actors and give them a chance to develop their skills as they begin their professional careers.
2) We were each in third grade when we saw an assembly performance that changed our lives. Now we have the wonderful opportunity to bring the magic of live theatre to many other children.
3) WE LOVE IT!

K.B.'s Dad is the CFO...
Bob has over 50 years experience as an aerospace physicist. His early experience as a Flight Test Engineer led him into the brand-new and exciting Space Program. Besides designing, writing and managing software for the earliest digital computers, he worked with the very first United States astronauts. Among many responsibilities, Bob helped the astronauts with their training and operational tasks, and debriefed them upon mission completion. This in turn led to his becoming Principal Investigator for experiments performed during orbits of the moon. In his office he has an U.S. flag that went to the moon in the Apollo 16 orbiting spacecraft, which was later presented to him by the astronauts. Now he works with large engineering teams who create complex systems that travel both within the earth’s orbit, and to distant outer planets.
Bob has always been involved with youth and his help as CFO of Traveling Lantern is a “side job” that he took on with relish.
We hope to develop some science and space related performances, with his help, in the future!