Feathered Friends
Feathered Friends is a playful theatre experience designed for children aged 3–5 and their families. Together, we’ll explore how to care for animals, share our spaces, and discover the incredible power of imagination!
Story
Meet Professor Feathers, a curious bird expert who loves nothing more than watching birds soar across the sky, singing along to their songs, and painting pictures of their colourful feathers. His favourite thing to do is write stories about his feathered friends and imagining brand new magical birds of his own!
Now, Professor Feathers needs your help! Join him on a fun, interactive adventure where audiences become part of the story through creating characters, using props, and helping to shape what happens next.
SOUTH DUBLIN LIVE 2026
Catch a performance of Feathered Friends this summer as part of South Dublin Live!
An interactive theatre experience for children aged 3-6 and their families that explores the power of imagination!
The story unfolds inside the cardboard-filled studio of Mr Feathers- an artist, storyteller, and bird enthusiast! Once known for inventing magical birds, Mr Feathers is now experiencing creative burnout and has lost touch with the joy that first drew him to make art. On the day of an open studio, he finds himself unable to create and turns to the audience for help.
Together they go on a creative adventure in search of a very special Feathered Friend!
Brookfield Youth and Community Centre:
16th July12:30pm & 2:30pm
Áras Chrónáin (Bilingual Performance):
25th July 11:00am & 2:00pm
As part of South Dublin Live, we will also present a number of performative playspaces for ABA Preschool in Brookfield on 3rd July.
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Project Background
Feathered Friends is an early years theatre experience created by Michelle Henry and Bronwen Barrett.
It was originally developed as a pilot early years initiative with Fighting Words Dublin in 2023 funded by North East Inner City (NEIC.) Two preschool classes in St Brigids Day Nursery engaged with a 7 week immersive storytelling program facilitated by Michelle and Bronwen. They worked with illustrator Isadora Epstein and were mentored by Early Years artist Joanna Parkes.
The program takes the form of 30 minute weekly workshops at a preschool setting. Here, artists and educators connect and collaborate to create a play-based, rich learning space inviting children to participate in various creative activities such as character creation, role play, movement, crafts and music. The workshops were designed to incorporate Aistear and Siolta framework principles. The program follows the story of a special bird, designed by the children who “comes to life” through the power of imagination. The children have to work together to help this lost and lonely bird find a new place to call home. Feathered Friends explores themes of care, nature, sustainability, belonging, and what it means to create welcoming spaces.
In 2024 the program was commissioned by Lourdes Youth and Community Services (LYCS), engaging with two preschool groups in North City Dublin. It was also commissioned by South Dublin County Council Arts Office as part of Seedlings, SDCC Arts Office Early Years programme where the program connected with 4 pre-school groups across StartBright Brookview and Jobstown Assisted Drug Dependency (JADD). Throughout these programs we collaborated with guest performers Jenny Macdonald, Ellen Corby, Conrad Jones Brangan, Liam Wilson Smyth and Martha Cosgrove. The program was presented for Educators at the annual StartBright Conference in 2024.
Since creating the program Bronwen and Michelle have delivered multiple guest lectures in TUD Tallaght and Blanchardstown for undergraduate students studying Early Childhood Education sharing how the program’s methodologies promote inclusive and impactful creative learning environments.
In 2025, a new strand of Feathered Friends was developed- a 50 minute participatory performance experience for early years audiences and their families. This was supported by Freshly Ground’s residency in The Civic and presented for Junior and Senior infants at Glenasmole National School. The performance was commissioned to be part of Smallies Children’s Theatre Festival, a Cork County Council Arts Office initiative. 6 performances were presented for children in Junior and Senior infants across Kinsale and Bandon Libraries. We collaborated with performer Vlad Gurdis.