A Druid, a Gryphon & a Little Bit of Magic
Meabh and Finn have wandered far and wide collecting keys, chasing stories, and reminding everyone they meet of one very important thing: you are never too old or too young to dream.
Meabh is a wandering Irish druid with a love for folklore, a pocketful of curious treasures, and an uncanny habit of finding the people who need a little magic most.
Finn is her gryphon companion. Part eagle, part lion, and entirely too much personality. Together, they can be found wandering the lanes of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, sharing stories, making friends, and giving dreamers keys to carry with them beyond the Festival gates.
We have keys to unlock your dreams.
Who is Meabh?
Meabh was born into nobility, the younger sister of a Duke who now serves as the King’s Herald. It was a comfortable life, but one filled with expectations about who she should be and what her future should look like. When that future began to include being married off, Meabh decided she wanted no part of it. She left everything she knew behind and disappeared into the forest.
She didn't have much of a plan beyond getting away. What she found beneath the trees, however, was a life she never could have imagined for herself at court. Meabh began spending more and more time among the fairies, learning their ways and eventually studying the old traditions of druid magic. Her knowledge of herbs, healing, and the natural world grew, and she soon found herself caring for sick and wounded fae who needed somewhere safe to recover.
It was during a Midsummer Festival that Meabh happened upon a merchant selling a baby gryphon. The little creature was in poor health, and Meabh knew she couldn't simply walk away and leave him there. She rescued him, brought him home, and spent the following weeks nursing him back to health.
That little gryphon was Finn.
What started as Meabh caring for a frightened, sick creature slowly became a friendship neither of them could have expected. Finn became her constant companion and, eventually, her very best friend.
The two have been nearly inseparable ever since, wandering together, finding adventures in unexpected places, and collecting keys for the dreamers they meet along the way.
Who is Finn?
Finn’s story began long before he knew Meabh, though there isn’t anyone who can say for certain where he came from.
He was still very young when he found himself far from wherever gryphons are meant to call home. By the time Meabh discovered him at a Midsummer Festival, Finn was being sold by a merchant alongside other strange and unusual wares. He was frightened, sick, and much too small to fend for himself.
Meabh took one look at him and decided he was coming with her.
The little gryphon needed more care than either of them probably expected. Meabh tended to him with herbs and druid magic, kept him warm, made sure he ate, and patiently waited as he slowly regained his strength. Somewhere during all of that, Finn decided Meabh was his person.
As he grew healthier, his personality began to emerge too. Finn was curious about absolutely everything. He wanted to investigate every sound, meet every creature, and stick his beak into anything Meabh happened to be doing. Whatever difficult beginning he had endured certainly hadn't taken away his sense of adventure.
It also became clear that Finn had a particular fascination with keys.
Old keys, shiny keys, crooked keys, tiny keys. Finn didn't seem to care whether they actually opened anything. He simply liked finding them. Before long, Meabh and Finn had collected more keys than they could ever possibly need.
So they decided to give them a purpose.
Now Finn travels with Meabh, carrying their collection and helping her find people who might need a key of their own. Not necessarily a key for a door, but one to remind them of something they hope for, something they want to do, or a dream they may have forgotten somewhere along the way.
Finn may have started his life as a little gryphon who needed rescuing, but these days he has a much more important job.
Behind the Magic
Briana Joslin-Guzman is the performer and puppeteer behind Meabh and Finn the Gryphon at Renaissance festivals. A lifelong storyteller with a love for fantasy and folklore, Briana created Meabh and Finn around a simple idea: you are never too old or too young to dream, believe in magic, or experience a little wonder.
Through immersive character work and puppetry, Briana brings Finn to life as his own character. He is curious, mischievous, affectionate, and occasionally has opinions of his own. Together, Meabh and Finn invite patrons to become part of their story, whether that means meeting a gryphon for the first time, sharing a dream, or simply taking a few minutes to play and believe in something magical.
At the heart of their performance are the keys Meabh and Finn collect and share. Each represents a dream, from the enormous and seemingly impossible to the wonderfully silly. Briana hopes those small interactions give people something to carry with them long after they leave the Festival gates and remind them that growing older doesn't mean having to leave imagination behind.
When she isn't wandering the lanes with a gryphon, Briana is a mom to two neurodivergent children with special needs and lives in the Twin Cities area with her partner. Creativity is a big part of her life both on and off stage. She enjoys video games, knitting, reading, creating things with her hands, and dedicating her time to charity work and causes close to her heart.
For Briana, performing as Meabh isn't about convincing someone that magic is real. It's about creating a space where, for just a little while, it doesn't really matter whether it is or not.
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