North Barn Theatre specializes in: parade and large-scale puppetry, table top and rod puppets, puppet mechanisms, object theatre and conceptual material performance, wood carving, willow sculpture, cardboard construction and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Our puppet building workshops include step-by-setp tutorials where participants are encouraged to pursue their own designs. With a wide selection of styles and techniques to reference, we value experimentation, play and curiousity.

Having first discovered the traditions of rattan and paper lantern crafting through The Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry, artists Laura Stinson and Ian McFarlane have developed their own style of making lanterns using local and found materials. Blending lantern traditions with willow basketry techniques, our designs use a variety of willows that we grow and harvest ourselves, combined with reclaimed textiles and natural fibres. Our process involves attention to the uniqueness of the materials while creating light-weight and intricate designs.

Lantern building workshops start with working the raw materials and follow simple guidelines for more approachable designs, or can proceed into complex, advanced projects. We recommend participants be at least 12 years of age.

Drawing inspiration for international practitioners, such as Tanja Beer who introduced the term Ecoscenography, North Barn Theatre is enthusiastic about sharing our passion for ecologically engaged artistic practice. From small adaptations to large structural changes, we believe that the creation of art should be contributing to long-term benefits for our communities and environments. In our ecoscenography workshops, we offer consultation as designers who are pursuing ecological decision-making at every phase of our process. From working with local materials, to how performance design can contribute to regenerative development, we are invested in the promotion of conversatioins that lead us to a collective discovery of sustainable adaptation.