Marian became interested in ventriloquism when she was eight years old. Her mother purchased a ventriloquist figure, and she began practicing on her own. Soon she was invited to present shows for birthday parties, churches, and Senior Citizen groups. She continued this hobby throughout high school.
It was during her college career that she found this talent quite useful. She used it for presentations and during her Student Teaching assignments. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Special and Elementary Education and a few years later earned her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education. She was a public school teacher in PA for eleven years. She used puppets in her classroom to teach, encourage, and relate to her students.
No longer a full time teacher, Marian devotes herself to her family and her growing ventriloquist business. She is blessed to be able to travel and share the art of ventriloquism with others. She performs at a variety of venues, including school assemblies and Artist in Residence programs, festivals, churches, and private and corporate events. She used her gift of ventriloquism to reach out to families during the coronavirus pandemic: she sent out birthday wishes to kids and adults in quarantine, taught virtual ventriloquism lessons to children interested in the craft, started a YouTube channel called Chatting with Chester (see below), and was featured on 6ABC News as The Virtual Ventriloquist (see below).
Both children and adults are amazed at the variety of characters she uses in her shows: from soft-sculpture puppets to a life-sized ostrich to a talking drawing board. Her audiences love to laugh along with the humorous stories and songs she share throughout her shows.
Marian and her husband reside in Pennsylvania with their children.