Joann McMillan’s Flying Heart Theatre
For decades, Joann and her puppets have been packing their bags and putting on shows just about everywhere.
They’ve performed alongside the Tulsa Symphony, brought stories to life at the Truman Library, and appeared at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Museum of Pioneer History, and the National Frontier Trails Museum.
But some of Joann’s favorite stages haven’t really been stages at all.
They’ve been library corners and preschool classrooms. Elementary school cafeterias and nursing homes. Festivals, birthday parties, groundbreakings, community celebrations—and more than a few places where a puppet show probably wasn’t what anyone expected to happen next.
Programming & Performances
Festival Programming
Larger-than-life puppets turn audiences into participants. Joann creates interactive programs, pageants, workshops, and experiences that invite children and adults to step into the story—not simply watch it.
Marionette Theatre
Traditional puppetry meets storytelling, history, and more than five decades of craft. From intimate marionette productions to the historic Miss Fay’s Touring Historical Marionette Theatre, these performances keep an enduring art form very much alive.
Group Performances
Libraries, schools, museums, festivals, community events—and audiences of nearly every age. Flying Heart Theatre brings imaginative, engaging puppet performances to groups large and small.
Workshops
Hands-on workshops invite participants of all ages to discover the art of puppetry from the inside out. Using accessible materials and plenty of imagination, participants create characters of their own while exploring puppet construction, movement, storytelling, and performance.
Larger than Life Puppetry
Towering creatures, colorful characters, and puppets made to move through a crowd. Joann’s larger-than-life creations transform festivals, parades, and community gatherings into shared experiences—where the puppets don’t stay on the stage and the audience becomes part of the story.
Joann McMillan's Flying Heart Theatre 