David Lane

As part of FOCI IWP4, I will create a puppet play that reflects the rich craft and storytelling traditions of the Gros Morne region while capturing and promoting public engagement with core coastal communities around themes of our changing oceans and other FOCI themes. My aim is to enhance capacity in puppet construction and performance in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Gros Morne Puppet Project will engage in a process that recognizes the diversity of the west coast of Newfoundland, and uses indigenous and traditional knowledge as the bases for design and construction. We will draw on the knowledge that exists in communities already, be it boatbuilding, rug hooking, or trap construction, and in FOCI and relevant Bonne Bay Marine Institute research and redirect it towards making a piece of theatre that feels connected to the community in which it’s being created and works for a diverse audience. The creation of the play will help to answer some of the outreach programming needs of the Bonne May Marine Research Station, creating a piece of FOCI/Bonne Bay Marine Station theatre which will sit in their performance venue, and can be remounted with relative ease each summer. Visitors to the research station will view the play in the context of the region, and learn specifics about the history and local practices of the neighboring coastal communities and their connection to larger issues/challenges related to ocean change and coastal community sustainability.