Hearth&Sea is run by Ellen Carr and Kelli Des Jarlais. We make theatrical encounters that facilitate transformation and positive change in the lives of those who experience them, including those who make them. We fundamentally believe radical change is needed in our global society, and in the power of stories to facilitate that change. Addressing challenging topics will make it possible to lead happier and healthier lives – individually, collectively and environmentally.
Our work is for those who want to engage in meaningful exchange about challenging topics. It is for audiences and makers who share our belief that radical change is needed in the world, and that the place to begin that change is in how we individually lead our lives. It is for artist-collaborators who want to explore working in a way that is more sustainable for their wellbeing, and who are open to the creative process facilitating change in their own lives.
We engage people who are not just seeking entertainment, but who are open to being challenged and seeking change.
Core Values
The core values that shape our work are: connection, community, sustainability, inclusivity, curiosity and learning. Over 9 years our work has evolved to be mixed media and created through a collaborative anarchic approach. Ellen is a writer/director/performer/producer; Kelli a designer/dramaturg/writer/director. However, we prefer to use the term theatre makers so we aren’t boxed into specific titles.
More About Us
Over 9 years our work has evolved to be mixed media and created through a collaborative anarchic approach. Ellen is a writer/director/performer/producer; Kelli a designer/dramaturg/writer/director. However, we prefer to use the term theatre makers so we aren’t boxed into specific titles.
Alongside – or perhaps interwoven with – our creative practice we also each run our own businesses. Kelli designs and makes vegan latex clothing at Rose Noir Designs and Ellen is a trauma sensitive yoga teacher and holistic coach and co-runs The Good Space, a place for alternative learning and radical wellbeing. Kelli also works as an Audio Describer for VocalEyes. All of these experiences, practices and curiosities inform our creative practice. We’re also both big fans of tea and baking cakes.
How We Got Here
We worked together as a ‘conventional’ theatre company for 7 years, writing new shows, adapting the classics, and engaging with current events (read more about that here). We asked the big questions that weren’t being asked and share new perspectives. Sometimes it was great, sometimes it was awful. Overall it was okay. But our work wasn’t having the long-term effect we wanted, on us or the people who engaged with it.
We were tired, exhausted, burnt out and especially stressed – a lot. We thought “art shouldn’t be doing this to its creators”. If making art is destroying the wellbeing of those who make it then what’s the point?
Creativity and art can be tools which support our wellbeing, as individuals and as a society, but it didn’t feel like this in practice. We noticed something else over the time we were working night and day to make theatre; the gradual disappearance of our own creativity, simple creative joys just for us.
It took a while, but eventually we took a moment to pause and reflect on all of this. We realised we didn’t want that life anymore.
Find out more about our previous work as Witness Theatre this way.