The Boy Who Grew Flowers, for ages 5-10 and their families, is a stunning visual performance. Adapted from Barefoot Book’s picture book by Jen Wojtowicz, play adaption by Mara McEwin and choreographed by Emily Bunning, it is the story of a young boy, Rink Bowagon, who lives on top of Lonesome Mountain with his unusual family of rattlesnake tamers and shape-shifters. The townspeople agree that Rink's family are quite strange, but they are unaware of Rink's spectacular gifts. Whenever the moon is full, Rink sprouts beautiful flowers from his head. When a new girl, Angelina, moves to town, Rink's life truly begins to grow.

Incorporating puppetry, original music, and movement, The Boy Who Grew Flowers is a thoughtful and magical story that lends itself to themes of diversity, creating empathy & celebrating individualism.

The mission of TREEHOUSE SHAKERS’ (THS), a non-profit dance and theater company, is to create original dance-plays, workshops and artistic experiences that encourage multi-generational audiences to create a greater connection to their community. Since its 1997 NYC founding, the Company has created 20 original works that explore narrative styles through universal themes. The roster addresses every age level within youth programming, from babies to teens. Helping solidify its role in the American theater scene, Treehouse Shakers was the first U.S. company to tour a dance-play specifically for babies, Hatched, in 2012. The Company remains one of the few companies making work for the Very Early Years. Its work is sometimes the first performance many young people experience. With each new performance, THS aims to set the artistic bar higher, challenging its artistic process and the thinking of young audiences. 

Increasing the reach of its work, THS tours nationally and partners with local schools, community organizations and non-profits to provide thousands of free and low-cost tickets and programming to underserved youth and families. Complimenting performances, THS provides teacher trainings and residencies for students that focus on the arts including storytelling, dance, music, theater and writing.

COMPANY HISTORY

Treehouse Shakers was co-founded in 1997 and has since created and performed 20 original dance-plays for young audiences and adults in many established performance venues, including theaters, festivals and schools across the nation. The Company was awarded a Creatives Rebuild New York, a Project of the Tides Foundation Award for their expansion of its LGBTQIA+ programming. THS was also awarded a commission from Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase under the leadership of Executive Director, Seth Soloway, for the production of The Boy Who Grew Flowers. The Company has received the CUNY Dance Initiative, Flushing Town Hall 2015-2020 Space Grant, selected artists for the New York State Presenters Network Roster, and was chosen to participate in the prestigious BAM Professional Development Program in association with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management for the 2014-2015 cycle.

THS created and performed the dance programming for the television show, Alex & The Kaleidoscope, which won an Emmy Award. In partnership with UOutlook and Star America Preschools, THS led drama camps in Shanghai and Beijing, China and surrounding provinces in 2019.

Currently, Treehouse Shakers has several original performances for young audiences on a rotating tour across the nation including: Let’s Talk About IT!, a piece for teens. Let’s Talk About IT! incorporates the vocabulary of dance, world folklore, real-life stories and video interviews of everyday teens. Hatched, for the youngest viewers ages 0-6, is about baby animals and their life on the farm. The Company's newest piece is the dance-mystery Under the Tangle, for ages 8 and up, about a young orphaned girl who becomes trapped in an enchanted labyrinth. Olive & Pearl is THS' newest piece for the very young, ages 2-5, follows the story of a young girl Olive and her grandmother. The Boy Who Grew Flowers, based on the book of the same name, is about diversity, empathy and celebrating individualism. The Company's new show, Flutter, was created for babies age 6-18 months. Pillow Fort, is a 9-part web-series for ages 3-7, and Dance Break is an interactive dance series for classrooms. The Deepest Breath, for ages 9-13, premiered March 2023 alongside The Littlest Cove, for ages 3-6.

Since 2004 Treehouse Shakers has dedicated itself in providing free and low-income tickets and residencies to underserved, low-income and differently abled communities. It offers Title One schools tickets to the performances, and has created strong relationships with organizations across NYC to reach these disadvantaged communities. Many of the students served not only live in poverty, they have never left their NYC neighborhood or experienced a live professional performance in a city that prides itself on being a cultural capital.

THS also offers "Relaxed Performances" in its New York City performance seasons. These shows are part of its commitment to making this work accessible to all. "Relaxed Performances" are designed to welcome audience members who may benefit from a less restrictive audience environment, including (but not limited to) those with sensory processing conditions, Autism, and learning or intellectual disabilities. All are welcome to these performances. Children with the tools of imagination are more likely to imagine themselves into a better set of circumstances as adults.