Anya Martin

In 2014 Hiawatha Project began work on “JH: Mechanics of a Legend.” This non-traditional performance with music, melds the language of mechanics, century old ballads and primary historical records to explore the legend of John Henry “where properties of physics become harrowing metaphors for human power relationships.” (City Paper) 

“JH: Mechanics of a Legend” was praised as a “fever dream of history” that will “alternately rouse you and break your heart.” (City Paper)  In 2014, “JH: Mechanics of a Legend” was presented as a work in progress as a part of the New Hazlett Theater’s competitive CSA Performance Series.  In 2017 it was presented as a world premiere performance at the August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh, after winning a prestigious $50,000 programming grant and was featured in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Magazine. 

In 2019 Hiawatha Project premiered, “My Traveling Song” an original play with music especially made for children ages 1-5, the young at heart, and the grown-ups who love them. With live music, tactile play and rich imagery, “My Traveling Song” uplifts relationships between children and their caregivers.  In the sold-out run, ” both young children and their adult minders were captivated by the show’s many moments of interactivity” and “My Traveling Song” was praised as “gentle, comforting, and playful.” (Pittsburgh Tatler)  The company also released an interactive online recording of “My Traveling Song” during the COVID lockdowns and although only available for 48 hours, the play was viewed by over 600 families from around the world.

In May of 2023, “Buoyant Sea”  premiered as a symbiotic performance experience for young children and the grown-ups who love them. This original tactile-immersive play was co-presented with Hiawatha Project and The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as a part of the International Children’s Theater Festival. In “Buoyant Sea” young children sing and splash together along with caregivers in a “water table play” about the joy of togetherness through all states of being. “Buoyant Sea” won The TYA Artistic Innovation Award in 2024, which acknowledges an artist or company “that has demonstrated innovation in Theater for Young Audiences and honors vanguards of the field, pushing the genre forward.” You can read about the inspiration and development of this work during the thick of COVID in  Broadway World and Pittsburgh Magazine.

As a part of the Theater Communications Group (TCG) national conference in June of 2022, Hiawatha Project presented “In Our Time: Pandemic Stories from the Frontlines” at the Pierce Studio Theatre in partnership with The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  Featured in Broadway World, the play is inspired by interviews with women ICU physicians on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic, and Ernest Hemingway’s groundbreaking World War I novel In Our Time.  “In Our Time: Pandemic Stories from the Frontlines” weaves excerpts from Hemingway alongside  first hand accounts of women ICU doctors to create a moving, poetic account of 2 pandemic eras echoing with parallel themes of loss, grief and alienation. The play was then presented in two sold out staged reading presentations in collaboration with City of Asylum, Hiawatha Project, and Off The Wall Productions in February of 2024 with a talk back led by New York Times acclaimed opinion writer on healthcare and COVID, Theresa Brown, and Dr. Lisa Suzanne Parker Director of the Center for Bioethics & Health Law at the University of Pittsburgh.