top of page

Who We are

Fire Parade High Water 2017.jpg

 Shadowland Theatre was founded in 1983 on Toronto Island by a collective of visual and theatre artists. Shadowland now has a studio in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. We continue to work on Toronto Island, and in collaboration with local community organizations throughout the GTA, across Ontario and beyond.

Shadowland has won three Dora Mavor Moore awards for Outstanding Costume Design and was voted Best Grassroots Theatre by Toronto’s NOW magazine.

Shadowland is a proud member of Raucus Caucus, a collective of visual theatre practitioners that includes PuppetmongersJumblies Theatre, and Clay & Paper Theatre

Our Staff

Anne Barber - Co-Artistic Director

Anne Barber trained in Theatre at the innovative Dartington College of Arts. She worked for ten years with Horse and Bamboo, the UK’s only horse-drawn theatre. Anne came to Canada, via Bread and Puppet Theater, to join Shadowland Theatre in 1992. She directs most of the company’s productions with a strong belief that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Anne founded the free, weekly theatre program, Stilts & Stories, for young people on Toronto Island, now in its twenty-second year. Anne has extensive experience teaching learners of all ages in Ontario schools, colleges and universities, and in hands-on workshops in mask, puppetry, stilt-walking and outdoor performance.

 
Contact Anne at shadow@shadowlandtheatre.ca 

Brad Harley - Co-Artistic Director

​Brad Harley trained as a visual artist and graphic designer and was a founding member of Shadowland in 1983. His theatre work is influenced by Welfare State International (UK), Callalloo Productions (Trinidad) and Bread and Puppet Theater (US). Brad’s expressive design sensibility defines Shadowland’s highly visual aesthetic. No puppet is too big or too small! Brad creates short videos of Shadowland’s productions as well as his own video works. He is in demand as a theatre designer, props maker and creator of complicated animated sculptures and has designed the props for VideoCabaret’s History of the Village of the Small Huts productions since 1983.


Contact Brad at brd.harley@gmail.com

Sequoia Erickson - General Manager

Sequoia Erickson likes making things: from shadow puppets to production schedules, to tutus and samurai armour.

A strong belief in the power of the extraordinary compels her to be constantly searching for unusual and visually creative ways to tell stories. With a background in street theatre, and a BFA in Performance Production from Ryerson University, Sequoia's been a member of the Shadowland family for the last six years and has generally managed since 2019. You can catch her other artistic endeavours here

Contact Sequoia at info@shadowlandtheatre.ca 

Our Artists

chris.jpg

Chris Wilson

Music Director

Alan Colley

Indigenous Knowledge Keeper

AMuir 8.JPG

Nat Lister

Stilt Walker

Leida Englar

Costumer

Alice Norton.jpg

Alice Norton

Costumer

Hannah Mittelstaedt

Photographer

Ian Bell.png

Ian Bell

Storyteller & Musician

Njacko Backo

Storyteller & Musician

Taborah Johnson

Storyteller

156976845_3824832460928582_8115447368908

Merle Harley

Visual Artist

Robin Careless

Filmmaker & Writer

0d6efdb7-7660-449e-a7e5-0a5d33983271.JPG

Jeff Ghadban

Video Game Developer

Carolyn Anderson 

Stage Manager

Adi Koren

Data Wizard

Arani Muthucumarasamy

Videographer

hayden3 (1).jpg

Hayden Silberer

Videographer & Filmmaker

DSC_7681.jpeg

Maya Hall

Stilt Walker & Fire Artist

Lochlan Cox

Puppeteer & Builder

Sally Gable (black hair).jpg

Sally Gable

Visual Artist

jesse.jpg

Jesse Corrigan

Musician

Ben Lee

Musician

IMG_5327.jpeg

Robin Kadirgamar

IMG_5324.jpeg

Brendan Rush

IMG_5325.jpeg

Maddy Smart

Production Assistant

Production Assistant

Production Assistant

Shadowland Theatre also collaborates with many other wonderful arts organizations and individuals.

Check them out here.

Our Board of Directors

Martha Farquhar-McDonnell

Sam Egan

Zsuzsa Kelemen 

Leah Careless

Interested in being on our Board? 

bottom of page