Who We are

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 Puppetmongers, Jumblies 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