Bio

Antonio Rocha, a native of Brazil, began his career in the performing arts in 1985. In 1988 he received a Partners of the Americas grant to come to the USA to perform and deepen his mime skills with Master Tony Montanaro. Since then he has earned a Summa Cum Laude Theater BA from USM (University of Southern Maine) and studied with Master Marcel Marceau. Mr. Rocha's unique solo shows of stories and mime have been performed from Singapore to Vancouver and many places in between. Some of the venues include The Singapore Festival of the Arts, Aruba Intl Dance Festival, The National Storytelling Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, The National Geographic, The Tales of Graz in Austria, Dunya Festival in Holland as well as many other Storytelling Festivals and educational institutions around The USA. Mr. Rocha is a member of the Maine Arts Commission, The New England Foundation for the Arts and the National Storytelling Association.

Performance Highlights  

Teller In Residence – Jonesborough – TN. Oct 25th – 29th , 05.
San Juan Capistrano Festival – California – Oct 14th & 15th, 05.
Cave Run Storytelling Festival – Kentucky – Sep 22nd – 24th, 05.
Colonial Williamsburg Storytelling Festival - Williamsburg, VA – Sep 16th- 18th , 05.
Once upon a Thames, Storytelling festival - Ontario Canada- Sep. 05
Tales of Graz, Austria - Europe - June of 2005/03/02/01.
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center - May 05.
Multicultural Storytelling Festival - Eugene Oregon - April 05.
Mariposa Storytelling Festival - California - March 05.
Flying Leap Storytelling Festival - Solvang- CA - Feb 05.
Celebration of Light Festival - Midland Texas - Dec. 2004/03/02/01 
Mesa Storytelling Festival - Mesa Az - Oct 04.
The National Storytelling Festival, Tennessee - Oct 04.
Kansas City Storytelling Festival - April 04.
Tampa- Hillsborough Festival- Tampa FL. - April 04.
Arts on the Green, Omaha, NE - August 2003.
StoryFest International, Bellevue, WA - August 2003.
Nebraska Storytelling Festival, Omaha - June, 2003/01.
Bay Area Storytelling Festival, CA - May 03.
Lecture and performance at Univ. San Diego, CA - May 03.
Keepers of the Word Festival, Amherst College, MA - April 03.
Nebraska Story Arts tour - April 2003.
Storytelling Arts of Indiana tour - Feb. 2003.
Cincinnati Play House, Ohio - Jan. 2003.
Winter Tales Festival, Nebraska Jan. 2003.
International Storyfest Utrecht - Holland, Dec. 2002.
Dunya Festival, Rotterdam Europe - May 2001/2002.
National Geographic, Earth Day Festival - April 2002.
Florida StoryCamp - March 2002.
Stories to Grow On, two week tour, California - Dec 2001.
Discovery Theater, Smithsonian - Nov 2001.
Celebration of Light Festival, Midland Texas -Nov 2001.
Hoosier Storytelling Festival, Indianapolis - September 2001.
Nebraska Storytelling Festival, Omaha - June 2001.
The Smithsonian Institute, National Zoo - Sep 2000.
Jonesborough National Storytelling Festival -October 2000.
College of The Atlantic, Bar Harbor ME -Sept. 2000.
Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale Univ -2000.
Washington DC. Int'l Storytelling Festival. Austrian Embassy -May99- 2000.
Funda - Black Storytelling Festival, Providence RI -Jan. 2000.
The Kennedy Center. Ten solo shows, Washington DC -Nov 2-7 1999.
Jonnycake Storytelling Festival -RI 1999.
Head & Tales Storytelling Festival, Salem MA, 1999.
Three Apples Storytelling Festival, Harvard MA -Sept 1998.
New England Modern StoryFest ME -Sept 1997.
Singapore Festival of the Arts -June 1996.
National tour with Light Theatre Co. Tampa Bay PAC,
Las Vegas, & Boston Museum of Science. 1993.
Dance Festival in Aruba with Tony Montanaro and CO. - Nov1991.
King Alfred College. England -May 1991.
Latin American Festival of Culture. Brazil -July 1987.

Plays:
Pentecost. Role: Antonio a Mozambican, Theatre Project, 2000
Scapin. Role: Carle & Nerine. Portland Stage Co. 1996.
Holiday Show. Various roles Children's Theatre of Maine. 1995.
The Light Princess. Various roles Children's Theatre of Maine. 1994.
Medea - Role: The Messenger. USM, 1991.
Twain Follies. Various roles (England tour). USM 1991.

Film & Video:
Groff Video Productions, Pilot., 2000
Concord Trailways Ad. 1998.
Irving Oil industrial, 1997.
Short Filme, Atkin Films, It is just perfect. 1997
Feature Film The Preacher's Wife - Hockey Player. 1996.
Video: Feed the Magic Fire. PBS 1994.
Video: Mime Spoken Here, 1992.

Training:
University of Southern Maine. Summa Cum Laude BA in Theatre, 1992.
Marcel Marceau. Gambier Ohio, 1995.
Tony Montanaro. Mime and storytelling, 1988-present.
Allen Suddeth & David Leong. Stage Combat, 1991.
Bari Rolfe. Mask and storytelling, 1991.
Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique de Paris. One week 1991.
Mime and Acting in Brazil, 1985-88.

Grants & Awards:
John A. Kittredge Educational Fund. Travel grant for Singapore Festival of Arts, 1996.
Four year Scholarship. Univ. of Southern Maine . BA in theater. 1989-92.
Partners of the Americas. Perform and Train in the USA, 1988.
Special Skills:
Singing (tenor). Theatre Combat. Languages: English, Portuguese some Spanish and French.