Kevin Kling, NPR Biography
Commentator, All Things Considered
Kevin Kling has become well known to NPR listeners thanks to his regular storytelling contributions to NPR's All Things Considered. A recurring voice on the program since the early 1990s, Kling released his third CD collection of his public radio commentaries, Wonderlure, in February 2003. Other recordings include Stories: Off the Shallow End and Home & Away.
A performer and playwright, Kling has performed his one-person play 21A (based on a South Minneapolis bus route) in Sweden; Louisville, KY; off Broadway in New York City; in Sydney and Perth, Australia; Edinburgh, Scotland; and the Czech Republic. His autobiographical play, Home and Away, has been seen at the Seattle Rep, The Goodman Theater, The Jungle Theater, The Spoleto Festival, and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Co., among other venues. His adaptation of the much-loved children's book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse continues to be produced in theaters across the US and abroad. Other plays include Lloyd's Prayer, Mississippi Panorama, Gulliver: A Swift Journey, The 7 Dwarfs and The Education of Walter Kauffmann.
Kling is a member of the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. In August 2001, he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that left him with extensive injuries to his face, his right hand and shoulder. Throughout the numerous surgeries involved in his recovery, Kling has continued to write. In 2003 he is working on several plays and compiling a book of his stories.
Kling has hopped freight trains, joined a circus, been to Mardi Gras, and eaten things before knowing what they were. He loves Mary Ludington, their dogs, and motorcycles, in that order. He grew up in Osseo, Minn., and graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1979 with a B. A. in theatre.
