Free Poets Collective presents "The Listening Tree"

An online talk show featuring Oddfellows Playhouse Children's Circus

The Listening Tree, broadcast in lockdown, is brought to you by Colin Haskins of the Free Poets Collective, and The Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center in Middletown, CT.

It is an innovative program, interviewing guests from any background with the mission of finding beauty in hidden places, talking with interesting people, anonymous heroes of our communities, and sharing their stories of hope, struggles and overcoming abilities during difficult times.

On Sunday 5th of July, 2020, at 1pm. The Listening Tree will be having a conversation with Jason Leinwand and Allison McDermott, Directors of the Oddfellows Playhouse Children’s Circus, a theater for young people based in Middletown, CT that this year, will celebrate its 45th anniversary with an online circus, and interesting online children activities.

Looking for summer activities for your children? Want to know more about our guests and what’s behind their stories? Follow our Facebook Page and YouTube Channel to enjoy this interesting in-depth interview with two of our many anonymous heroes.

Facebook: https://facebook.com/thelisteningtreetalk

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa7qvD80kwOzNvjpRwsKzXQ

Meet our special guests:

Jason Leinwand

Visual artist and designer with an MFA in Studio Arts from NYU and a BA in Studio Arts from Wesleyan University. Jason is the Education Director of Puppetry in Practice, a non-profit, arts education organization in Brooklyn, NY. As a teaching artist, Jason works with students ages 2-18 and has designed innovative artist-in-residency programming in stop motion animation, mural making and puppetry. He is also Adjunct Lecturer in the Early Childhood Education Department as well as the Childhood, Bilingual and Special Education Department at Brooklyn College. During the summers, Jason can be found directing the Children's Circus of Middletown, a 5-week summer arts performance camp in Middletown, CT.

Allison McDermott

Circus performer, creator and educator that works throughout the New England region. She is from Middletown, CT where she first trained at the Oddfellows Playhouse Children’s Circus of Middletown. Allison attended the New England Center for Circus Arts’ Professional Track Program, where she studied aerial hoop and hand balancing. She currently works as the Director of Advanced Circus Programming at the Children's Circus of Middletown and serves as the director of Circophony, a youth circus ensemble. Her most recent work is Spysight is 20/20, a circus-theater hybrid.