Renaissance Adventures

Harper Stone: Harper Stone grew up in the valley of Boulder. This fall he will attempt one final getaway to Bellingham, WA, with the intention to plant the seeds of Adventure Quest in the fertile soils of the Pacific Northwest, and at last be free of Boulder's deadly bicyclists. Failing that, he'll just go back to his home planet, where a similar race of monkey/fuzzy-poof hybrids can be found.

Sophie Hernando Koffman: Sophie is currently a Theatre Performance major at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, and has come all this way to join everyone in the magical world of Renaissance Adventures!! She enjoys reading, singing, and playing with faeries.

Brice White: Brice is a grizzled old veteran of the early Shadonia wars; He has been quest leading longer than the majority of our questers have been alive and enjoys caramel sundaes and fuzzypoof flambe. He has two questerpups of his own and loves being a family-man. Occasionally, he takes a break from questing to teach, and loves making things in his smithy.

Donovan Barnes: Donovan has been with Renaissance adventures for 11 years. At 9 years old, he embarked upon a perilous journey to discover the squeezable capacity of quest leaders. He discovered them to be somewhere between marshmallows and the family pet. Eventually becoming the most feared quester in the land, he retired to a life of CITing and tormenting his schoolteachers. But even this life grew tiresome, and so he plunged himself into the realm of Quest Leading with renewed vigor, quickly rising to the heights of dramatic inspiration, only to find himself stymied by the hike up to Red Rocks. In the off-season, you can find him at the University on the Middle of Nowhere, presumably studying the electromagnetic charge of fuzzypoofs.

Patrick Barnes: Patrick has recently graduated from the University of Utah with his BFA in Modern Dance. His ultimate goal in life is to become a Superhero whose secret Identity is a dancer/choreographer in an international touring contemporary company. He is using his time as a quest leader to explore all of the possible solutions to villainous plots (as supplied by questers) so that he will never be surprised by his arch nemeses.

Cole Bradley: Cole was born an orphan and began to work as a farm boy on a small farm in the country, where he fell in love with the daughter of the family who owned the farm. Cole had no money for marriage, so he packed his few belongings and left the farm to seek his fortune across the sea. While sailing, his ship was attacked by a notorious pirate, who never left survivors. Cole's love for this girl won the pirate over, however, and he joined the pirate crew, eventually becoming captain. He then returned to his beloved, rescuing her from an evil prince, and they fled to America. Realizing that this is the 21st Century and piracy is no way to support a family, Cole began working at RA, and almost never misses the high seas.

Owen Brewer: Owen Brewer has been participating in Renaissance Adventures since he was five. He became a CIT at 11 and began working at RA at 17. He has acted in many plays and operas including The Turn of the Screw, The King and I and Ragtime at various theaters including CU and the Boulder Dinner Theater. Owen goes to CU and hopes to graduate in 2015 with a triple major in molecular biology, integrative physiology and a BA in violin performance.

Barry Goldberg: Barry started on his path with Renaissance Adventures as a quester. He slowly worked his way up through the ranks of CITdom, and now stands before you as an Opportunity Quest Leader. In his spare time, Barry enjoys theatre, biology, TV production, and wearing his name on his hat.

Jackie Welch: Jackie arrived on this planet after her space shuttle hit a moon of Jupiter and went off course. She is happy she arrived here and enjoys many of Earth's delicacies, such as Sushi and Duct Tape. When not running amock, she enjoys tackling mountains and rock walls, reading, and the ever challenging knitting while upside down. She also wishes to return to her roots and live among the wolves while studying their behavior. Someday she will achieve actual Teleportation, until then, she'll continue riding giants.

Tomas Hernando-Koffman: Tomas is one of the few remaining species of the ancient race of Ah-Sum Pea-Poles, and on an unrelated note prides himself on the humility he adopts in writing his biographical blurbs. He started questing in 2000 and was never able to quite kick the habit. He enjoys playing the accordion/piano/ukulele, running, buying records, drawing, studying math and hiking up into the mountains to sword fight with dragons. He is currently studying painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and physics at Brown University.

Sasha Matejka: Sasha is a student by day and a superhero by night. Aside from fighting crime she enjoys making people smile, reading books on mythology, and drawing portraits of whoever is willing to sit still long enough. She is heavily influenced by the artists Lewis Carroll and Salvador Dalí and strives to match their seemingly boundless creativity and imagination.

Paul Russell: Paul Russell comes to RA by way of the bardic tradition. When he's not leading heroes on adventures, you'll likely find him sharing musical tales in the local gathering places. www.paulrussellmusic.com

Emily Randall: Emily is a fantasy lover who can always be found with her nose in a book. She'll read anything, but prefers fantasy, economics, and quantum mechanics. Outside of RA, she loves math and physics, making costumes, and writing.

Matt Ryder: Matt attended RA as a child and enjoyed it so much that after he had grown up (physically, if not mentally) he decided to apply to work there. He loves creating realms of wonder, acting out wacky or sinister characters, and generally having tons of fun. Matt has a black belt in Shotokan Karate, attends CSU, and enjoys reading, martial arts, cooking and talking in the third person.

Sebastian: I grew up in a goblin cave and everyone always said "He Did It!" and so I got in trouble a lot. A lot of people make fun of me, saying I look like a dog or a wolf or some other such thing. But do wolves have horns? Or cool feather's coming out of their ears? Come on people! I left home at a young age, on a journey to learn more about my favorite animal, the human, and what it does to amuse itself. I like to – wait, am I supposed to be writing this in the third person? Oh shazbum! Grrmblbmbmb… Ok, here goes – "Sebastian is the best goblin ever. Together with his faithful steed Harper, he roams the lands, teaching swasher safety and documenting those funny two-legged beasts known as humans." Ok, was that good enough? Wait, is this microphone on? Oh brother…

Mark Hoge, the director and founder of Renaissance Adventures, has been leading storytelling, acting, dance, outdoor games, nature activities, swordmanship and interactive quests with children and teens since 1981. As a child and teen, Mark attended creative arts camps with his mother and grandmother. Mark began leadership training with the Boy Scouts and as an Eagle Scout. In the eighties he spent eight full summers teaching at summer camps. He has directed full-length summer camps every year since 1990, and has led Adventure Quest classes in public and private schools since the beginning of 1995. Extensive experience in psychology, improvisational theater and storytelling, hand-in-hand with a passion to discover ways to engage and empower children, has given birth to the unique and effective teaching tool of Adventure Quest. Mark has brought together a fine staff of teachers with whom he has co-created the high-quality innovative company that Renaissance Adventures is today.

Aaron Pirnack, the director and business manager of Renaissance Adventures, has a passion for experiential education and keeping one’s imagination and playfulness throughout this journey called life. He began working as a Quest Leader in the summer of 2000, and has since weaseled his way into lordship. As a writer by trade and spirit, he has written many of the quests, helped create the game rules, wrote the Worldbook, and continues to share his love of stories with others through many different venues. Aaron graduated the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, believes that learning is a life-long pursuit. As a Christian and free-thinker, he hopes that by allowing children to find their own unique empowerment and inspiration, perhaps each generation will outshine the last.

Lisa Gringras-Lamothe Lisa is Renaissance Adventures' Office Manager, and has been with RA since 2005. She grew up in western Massachusetts, received her BA in English, and worked as a Technical Writer/On-line Help Developer for many years. She moved to Colorado in 2003 and currently lives in the mountains with her daughter. Her interests include running, reading, cooking/baking, and spending time with her family. One of the best parts of her job is being able to work with parents and children, and she especially enjoys watching how much fun her daughter has Questing at RA!

Beryl is our Front Desk Office Assistant. She migrated to Boulder from Louisiana many years ago. She graduated from LSU with a BA in Sociology. She retired from a career in the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Beryl is currentIy the Office Assistant at RA. She enjoys working out, reading and writing. "I love all the creative aspects of RA. It's quite liberating!"