We were lucky to catch up with Mara McEwin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mara , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Over 27 years ago, I founded Treehouse Shakers, alongside my business and creative partner, Emily Bunning. Treehouse Shakers was created in a time when there was limited women led arts organizations. We also had a very unique style of melding dance and theater, that we had begun exploring while still at college. We wanted to create a new model of theater, where we used a fully realized original script and melded it with modern dance.

The name of Treehouse Shakers, came out of a brainstorming session, and the feelings of joyful, imaginative play. Emily and grew up together in Southwest Wyoming, in the beautiful high desert. On Saturdays, we were given art lessons by her notable aunt, Susan Young, who happened to be a wonderful visual artist. After our art lessons, we would play in her backyard, by the old tree, with a roped off tire swing. Along with Emily’s sister, Lucy, we used to make up so many stories, and dances, in that space filling up the afternoon. It is a space that has carried with us as artists, our entire lives.

In 1997, NYC, was run by male directors, choreographers and writers. I remember the feeling of not being taken seriously, because we were women. Our first production, Dance of My Daughter, was produced at Ensemble Studio Theater, and was a play I had written the year before. We blindly went into producing, not knowing how much work it would be, or even with a business plan in place. We had a large cast, and a longer run, something unheard of a as first producers. The piece was sold out nearly every day of the run. We also had a great amount of good press, that we didn’t have to work at. Because of this success, we were hooked. 27 years later, and 20 original works later, Treehouse Shakers continues to grow.

Although Dance of My Daughter was for adult audiences, we pivoted in 1999 to begin creating work for young people. At that time I had co-created a festival for the very young on the Lower East Side, alongside, Adam Koplan, the founder of Flying Carpet Theater Company. Treehouse Shakers created an original piece for the festival called, Flying Through Rainbows. The dance-play was about the Letter O, who had to explore the world being different than the other alphabet letters. In the piece young audiences helped paint the set ahead of time, and the performers wore dresses made from shower curtains. As the Letter O learned more and more about the world and herself. The more she was painted, the more colorful, and accepting of herself she became.

Today, Treehouse Shakers is one of the leaders in the world of theater and dance for young audiences. We pioneered new styles of work for American audiences, and are recognized as the first American company to tour a dance-play for babies, Hatched. Hatched, which was created in 2012, remains one of our most popular touring plays. Melding theater, dance, original music and visual elements with a script, our repertoire includes 20 original works, 9 of which remain on a rotating tour. Our work explores narrative styles through universal themes addressing every age level within youth programming. With each new work, we set the bar higher, challenging our artistic process and thinking of young audiences.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Since a very young age, I knew I wanted to be an artist. My mother is a painter, and she taught me how to be a self-sufficient artist, and how necessary the arts are in the world. I went to Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and eventually onto Stephens College, a women’s college, in Columbia, Missouri, studying theater and directing.

Following college, and interested in having my own performing arts organization, I began as the Assistant to the Artistic Director, Rebecca Morgan in Southwest Children’s Theater in Santa Fe, NM. After my year contract, I moved to New York City, to pursue a career as a performer, writer and director. Treehouse Shakers was created in 1997. Some of my proudest moments, have been not only as the Artistic Director, but as the primary writer/director/producer for all 20 of our original works. In 2012, I created Hatched, for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. This piece is an immersive experience about life on the farm, and continues to be recognized as the first dance-play for babies to tour. I am also very proud of the very early childhood work I have created, including Flutter, for ages 6-18 months. This piece recently had a run at Lincoln Center, and continues to tour. This spring, I will premiere Sail Away, for toddlers 18-24 months, an immersive discovery play for the early walkers, an oceanic journey told through puppetry, dance, live music and theater.

During COVID, our company quickly pivoted to virtual programming. I am proud of the work I did during this time, including responding to the needs of parents. At the beginning of the pandemic, we heard from parents that their children were feeling isolated, depressed and/or were having a harder time connecting to peers, especially for those that identify as LGBTQIA+. Treehouse intentionally grew this community, while providing necessary and important art services to LGBTQIA+ youth, once we transitioned from the pandemic. We created both in-school and After-school programming called Branching OUT. We also commissioned a team of artists, to create a play for ages 9-13, The Deepest Breath, adapted from the book by Meg Grehan, directed and written by Cheyenne Mesura, and choreographed by Ashley Chavonne. Although there are plays for adults that are reflective of the LGBTQIA+ community, there weren’t, at the time of our premiere, any for young people that are touring within the U.S. The Deepest Breath premiered in NYC last spring, and continues to be booked on tour.

Treehouse Shakers is dedicated to creating the highest quality of artistic work. We continue to push the boundaries of the artistic work, and push against the narrative that work for young people should be less than the work being made for their grown-up counterparts. Serving multi-generational audiences through our NYC performance season and U.S. touring, we make performances accessible to low-income, Title 1 and underserved schools and communities by offering subsidized tickets and scholarships. We also offer Relaxed Performance (RP) options to be sensitive to audience members who may benefit from a more relaxed environment. Our programming continues to address issues exacerbated due to the pandemic, economy, or personal circumstance, engaging those that have been disproportionately affected. Our current performance roster includes: Hatched for ages 0-6, Flutter for 6-18 mos, Sail Away for 18-24 mos (premiere 2024), The Littlest Cove for ages 3-6, Olive & Pearl for ages 2-5, The Boy Who Grew Flowers, ages 5-10, Under the Tangle for 8-13, The Deepest Breath for ages 9-13 and Let’s Talk About IT! for teens. We also have Pillow Fort, a web-series and Dance Break, an education series for classrooms. We also have education residencies, staff developments and public workshops and a team of wonderful artists who help make these programs possible.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Treehouse Shakers is steadfast in making quality work for young people. Although we haven’t taken the easy route, to adapt children’s books of popular titles, we have made our own style, creating curated and sophisticated experiences for young people and their families. Our work elevates young people’s thinking, and is often the first performance experience for parents and their children. We want it to be a lasting memory, from the moment a family enters the theater. We continue to hold true to our artistic ideals.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The pandemic was a very challenging time for our entire arts entertainment industry. Treehouse Shakers could’ve easily closed our operation. We were on tour in Albany, NY with The Boy Who Grew Flowers, when talks began of a shut down. We returned to the city, to bring Hatched, our play for babies and toddlers to The Ailey Citigroup Theater, only to have the entire city shut down only a few days later. At that time, it was projected to be one of our most successful years. We had a very large tour coming up of The Boy Who Grew Flowers, and the company was growing in leaps and bounds. When the shutdown began, I was so worried, not only for the future of the company, but for all the artists we employed. It was a terrifying time.

As the Artistic Director, I was able to quickly pivot our company to virtual, selling our videos to presenting arts theater companies throughout the U.S., as well as offering streaming performances at Broadway on Demand, and creating virtual programs that young people could join through zoom. Once we were able to be more in person, in the Fall of 2020, the company began filming, with one lone actor at a time, a new web-series, Pillow Fort, for ages 3-7. Once we created all 9 episodes of Pillow Fort, we started making a series for classrooms to be streamed, Dance Break, to get students up and moving. Although we didn’t have much of a budget, we went back to our early days, making the sets, props and costumes among ourselves.

I also spent much of the pandemic dreaming. I had been feeling burnt out for years, not even knowing how burnt out I was, until everything came to a halt. My salary hadn’t gone up in many years, the company was feeling run down from all the productions and touring, and I still felt we weren’t truly reaching the audiences that needed our work the most. The climate in the country felt dire for so many young people, as the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities were under attack. I was constantly dreaming of a better world. From these darkest days, we were able to create Branching OUT, our programming for LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies. Coming out of the pandemic, we were also able to hire a Program Manager, who has helped us to successfully grow these programs. Our role as artists is vital in creating artistic experiences that address societal issues.

Since the pandemic, we also were able to raise our rehearsal rates for our performers, increase my salary slightly, and have been able to hire more people to help with the day to day administration tasks, which has also helped with my pre-pandemic severe burn-out. Although I still work a great deal of the time, and there is never really a time that my to-do lists feel complete, I feel much more balanced from these changes, and proud of our growth since the pandemic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.treehouseshakers.com
• Instagram: @treehouseshakers and @maramcewin
• Facebook: @treehouseshakersbusiness
• Linkedin: @treehouseshakers
• Twitter: @treehouseshaker
• Youtube: @treehouseshakers
• Other: Vimeo @treehouseshakers

Image Credits
Photo Credits, Christopher Duggan Photographer (Except for Photo Six of the Co-Founders) Photo 1: Treehouse Shakers’ Flutter Photo 2: Mara McEwin, Artistic Director Leading Public Puppetry Workshop for Hatched Photo 3: Treehouse shakers’ Hatched Photo 4: Treehouse Shakers’ The Deepest Breath Photo 5: Treehouse Shakers’ Flutter Photo 6: Treehouse Shakers Co-Founders (Left) Mara McEwin, (Right) Emily Bunning, Photo Credit, Christopher Claxton Photo 7: Treehouse Shakers’ The Littlest Cove Photo 8: Treehouse Shakers’ The Littlest Cove