Pillow Fort with Miranda Wilson in NY Times Feature
We recently asked Treehouse Shakers to speak about their return to Green Space after the Pandemic, here is what they said:
Treehouse Shakers recently returned to in-person rehearsals at Green Space. Our company calls this studio space our home away from home, as we have been creating here since its first days of opening. And as of June, we have finally returned home to finish a piece we started pre-pandemic, Flutter: An Ode to Babies. Flutter is a discover play, that explores the seasons for ages 6-18 months through dance, puppetry, music and theater.
Cast and crew of Pillow Fort in Green Space during filming
The pandemic has changed us. Especially in New York City. Haunted by sirens, make-shift hospitals, refrigerator trucks, death counts, fear, it is truly taking many of us a moment to readjust to “pre-pandemic normalcy.” For me this normalcy, started when I received my first shot of the vaccine in February, and felt the closest to normal once we stepped into rehearsal for the first time this month.
But this was not our first time at Green Space. Beginning in February we began using Green Space as a filming studio, for several new virtual projects including Dance Break and Pillow Fort. Pillow Fort is our 9-part mini web-series for ages 3-7. We filmed the final 6 episodes at Green Space. For these filmings we followed strict union protocols, and had the entire company tested before shooting. By the time we reached the last three episodes, the entire company was fully vaccinated and we continued to ensure that we all had negative COVID tests. What made us film in Green Space was the strict guidelines and cleanliness of the space. Valerie Green manages Green Space always professionally, but during COVID her adherence to safety codes was so appreciated. Green Space uses an air purifier, strict cleanliness, and ventilation that make the studio feel safe.
Over the next few months, we look forward to building Flutter at Green Space, as the city is rapidly moving to bringing performances back in full capacity. Thank you to our home away from home, for getting artists to this next step, and giving us normalcy once again.
Creation of Pillow Fort in Green Space with Emily Bunning & Ashley Chavonne
Mara McEwin is the Artistic Director, Writer, Director and Co-Founder of Treehouse Shakers. Responsible for implementing the artistic vision of Treehouse Shakers, Mara has also produced, written, directed and sometimes performed in all of Treehouse Shakers’ 17 original dance-plays including Hatched, which is recognized as being the first dance-play for babies to tour the U.S. by an American artist/company. She has created ongoing arts in education programming for preschools to colleges, and leads teaching artist and classroom trainings throughout the country. During the pandemic, she helped to quickly transitioned the company to virtual programming. During this time Treehouse Shakers’ created Pillow Fort, for ages 3-7, a 9-part mini-series to engage young people through the arts at home. As a professional storyteller, Mara was named “Best Storyteller of New York” by NY Press. She has been an artist in residence for 20+ years in both public and private schools, and has performed throughout the nation’s schools, festivals, theaters, colleges, and community events. She is currently the featured teller for F.I.T’s Toy Design Department, as well as Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling, Gap, Miramax, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center, Turtle Pond Publications, Chocolate Sauce Publishing, Tribeca Film Festival, to name a few. She is the writer, voice-over artist and story consultant for Activity Works, an interactive educational video-web series for classrooms across the U.S. She was the subject for a qualitative dissertation on the inclusion of storytelling in the classroom by Dr. Barb O’Neill and a featured 2019 speaker for O’Neill’s Transform Challenging Behavior Conference. To read her full bio visit treehouseshakers.com.