Artist Talk, Monday April 27, 2026

@awwe.network Artists Working With Environment is a great new international initiative bringing artists of many different disciplines together for dialogues around arts and the environment. I'm happy to be hosting dialogue #3 on Monday, April 27.

From the event listing:
A little background on Sara: She is a multidisciplinary artist from Ktaqmkuk/Newfoundland, currently based in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Her work bridges writing, theatre, clown and puppetry. She has written, co-written or co-created fifteen works for theatre to date, as well as the award-winning novels Skin Room and DUKE, published by Pedlar Press. She ran the feminist theatre company She Said Yes! from 2002-2016 and co-founded the Women’s Work Festival with White Rooster Theatre and RCA Theatre. Sara has taught Clown through Mask and Neutral Mask, and designed puppets for several theatre companies as well as her own puppet film, Hungry Little Shadow.

In her artist talk, Sara will share how her multidisciplinary practice has been informed by engagement with the natural environment. She’ll give a tour of The Old Stump, @theoldstump her solo travelling puppet theatre built to showcase very short plays inspired by the forest ecosystem, which is set to debut soon. She’ll also facilitate exercises to give a quick taste of the mask and clown practice that informs all of her work. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice embodying a 'neutral mask state' without using actual masks, work with imagery from nature inside the body, and do a free-writing exercise that Sara uses to begin nearly every creative project.

*Note: Participants can move as little or as much as preferred during the exercises. It will be helpful to have markers or pens and a large sheet of paper on hand, (or to tape several sheets of paper together in advance, to create a bigger surface to work with).

12-1:30pm Eastern Time, 9-10:30 AM Pacific Time (PT), 1:30-3 PM Newfoundland Time (NT) etc!

Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScv2eIh55f0wToH8XMEHxVGE02lL0HcF46AQo231cP7ZOBFbw/viewform

The Bear and the Tree in progress

Lead actor gets new headshots in the beautiful autumn light.

I’m currently designing a micro theatre shaped like an overgrown tree stump with moss and mushrooms and berries growing on it. It will be a soft sculpture and also a tiny theatre for small puppet plays for very small audiences. Micro theatre! First up: The Bear and the Tree. I’m looking forward to sharing more as it all takes shape.

Writer-in-Residence, Melville Public Library

I'll be spending a month this fall as the Writer-in-Residence at Melville Public Library in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and I'm really excited to read what you've been working on. I will be offering one-on-one writing consultations with writers across Labrador, holding a weekly co-writing session and hosting an open mic reading event. Stay tuned for all the details!


From WritersNL:
WritersNL is pleased to announce our WritersNL Year of the Arts 2024 Writers!

Two Writers-in-Schools have been selected to present activities in school classrooms aimed at enhancing student enrichment and fostering an appreciation of the literary arts.

Sheilah Roberts Lukins
· O'Donel High School, Mount Pearl
· Beachy Cove Elementary, Portugal Cove-St. Philips
· Bishop Abraham Elementary, St. John’s

Sabrina Pinksen
· Indian River Academy, Springdale
· St. Peter’s Academy, Westport
· Cape John Collegiate, Hillside Elementary, La Scie
· MSB Regional Academy, Middle Arm
· Copper Ridge Academy, Baie Verte

Four Writers-in-Residence have been selected to provide encouragement and advice to local writers and serve as literary ambassadors to the community through activities such as readings, workshops, and one-on-one consultations. The program is being offered in partnership with NL Public Libraries, which will host the guest writers.

• Sharon Bala: AC Hunter Public Library, St. John’s

• Trudy Morgan-Cole: CBS Public Library, CBS

• Sara Tilley: Melville Public Library, Happy Valley-Goose Bay

• Douglas Walbourne-Gough: Corner Brook Public Library, Corner Brook

The program will roll out mid-October and run for four weeks. Anyone seeking further information about an individual residency can contact the specific library or Writer-in-Residence at the emails below.

For general information about the WritersNL Year of the Arts initiative, email yota@writersnl.ca.

For full information on all of our writers-in-schools and writers-in-residence, including biographies and dates, please visit us online:
https://writersnl.ca/programs-services/yota-writers/