Maria Henriksen-DeHoff has been studying stage combat since 2002 and is currently an Advanced Actor-Combatant with the SAFD. She is also a costumer, dancer and martial artist, and is constantly seeking new ways to incorporate these varied arts into her choreography work to create compelling stories through staged violence. Maria is an Assistant Coordinator of the "Cease & Desist" regional stage combat workshop, and has previously taught and assisted at the Winter Wonderland Stage Combat Workshop. In 2012, she and her husband Robert founded their company, Plays with Swords, LLC; to provide training, weapon and prop rental, violence design and choreography, and historical and military advisorship to the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati film and theatre community.