Imagining chickadees, squirrels, rabbits, and magpies through children's interactive theatre.

Episode Notes In today's episode, Dr. Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, Travis Hatt, and Robyn Ayles take us through the creative process of theatre production of their company, The Elm Tree Theatre. Focusing on the importance of play-based learning through interactive theatre and their journey with The Urban Wildlife Project. Dr. Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, Travis Hatt, and Robyn Ayles would like to acknowledge: MacEwan's Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications; Albert Foundation for the Arts, City of St. Albert, the MacEwan Office of Research Services; Early Learning at MacEwan (ELM) children, families, educators, and Brittany Aamot and Jennifer Sibbald; Margaret Mykietyshyn; Jamie Leach, Lee Makovichuk; and our research assistants: Emma Abbott, Patrick Amyotte, Caitlan Argueta, Iris Baguinon, Camryn Bauer, Chykes Delson, Courtney Dewar, Meredith Fitzsimmons Frey, Ayla Gandall, Tania Gigliotti, Jessica Jalbert, Megan Kause, Chelo Ledsma, Grace Mann, Sydney Maziarz, Rain Matkin-Szilagyi, Carling Ryan, Inder Singh, Emily Smith, Aidan Spila, Savannah Tysiaczny, and Celina Vipond. You can visit the links below for more information about the researchers and their projects. Elm Tree Theatre: https://www.elmtreetheatre.com/ Ayles, Robyn, Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, Margaret Mykietyshyn. (2021). "Flight Paths and Theatre for Early Years." Critical Stages 22. http://www.critical-stages.org/22/flight-paths-and-theatre-for-early-years-audiences/ Ayles, Robyn, Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, Margaret Mykietyshyn. (2022). Harnessing the Power of Flight: Devising Responsive Theatre for the Very Young, The Routledge Companion to Drama in Education, eds. Mary McAvoy and Peter O'Connor. Routledge. 269-280. Robyn Ayles, Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, and Jamie Leach. (2023). "Creative Process and Co-Research with the Early Years through Flight,” Performance Matters 9.1-2 : 278-315. https://performancematters-thejournal.com/index.php/pm/article/view/419. https://www.flightframework.ca/ Find out more at https://research-recasted.pinecast.co