Meet the Team

Wayward Objects brings together artists who share a love of puppetry, music and storytelling. Find out more about our main collaborators.

Michelle Reader standing outdoors under some trees with autumn leaves on the ground, holding a sculpture of a crow in the air. Nearby, there is a sculpture of a bee and a striped zebra sculpture. All three sculptures are made from recycled materials.

Michelle Reader

Artistic Director and puppet-maker

With a long-established career making puppets, sculptures and installations from recycled materials, Michelle set up Wayward Objects in 2025 as a vehicle for her puppet theatre collaborations with other artists.

Michelle has been transforming recycled materials into characters and environments since 1997. She has created life-size horses from agricultural and architectural metalwork for the Harley Foundation, glittering unicorns for Wild Rumpus as part of Palace of Light at Hampton Court Palace, and a Cloud-o-Matic machine for Bamboozle Theatre Company’s production Pulse. In 2025 a DYCP grant allowed her to focus in on her love of puppets, exploring new ways of making puppets using objects such as litter pickers, chip forks and plastic milk bottles. 

www.michelle-reader.co.uk

Musician Steno Vitale playing an acoustic guitar and smiling, members of a community choir visible behind him, on a stage with blue lighting.

Steno Vitale

Musical Director and actor-musician

Musician and puppeteer, Steno is a multi-skilled composer, performer and facilitator.

His bands include The Carnival Band and Chanter, and he works regularly with Bamboozle Theatre Company and Handmade Theatre. He has a back catalogue of compelling songs composed for shows including Bamboozle’s Down To Earth, Handmade’s Tell Me a Story 1 and 2 and Magical Mishaps for Royal & Derngate, Northampton.

He is currently working on Handmade Theatre’s project in care homes and community centres, bringing the power of song to older people living with dementia.

Miriam is kneeling on the floor, looking at and talking to a spoonbill puppet with a white body and black beak, made of recycled materials, which is inside a hessian-lined basket. Surrounding her are fabrics, tools, and a round, brown woven basket.

Miriam Keye

Dance artist and facilitator/performer

Miriam Keye is a sensory dance artist. Specialising in bringing thoughtful, fun, inventive and accessible experiences to Early Years and other under-served groups.

Miriam’s work specifically with Early Years audiences and their bigger folk spans over 20 years and a range of commissions including 'Move, Make & Do' (Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton); 'Silver Swimmers' (Children’s Arts Festival, Trafalgar Square); 'Mrs Splash' (Fabric, Nottingham); 'Cube Girl' (Corby Cube, Corby) and www.talent25.org.uk - a 25year longitudinal research project between De Montfort University and Arts Council England investigating the impact of early creative interventions.

Leanne, a woman with brown hair and red lipstick has her hands near her face, mouth open in surprise or shock, outdoors with green foliage in the background.

Leanne Moden

Poet and dramaturg

Leanne Moden is a poet, performer, theatremaker, and educator. She’s performed across the UK and Europe, including gigs at WOMAD Festival, Sofar Sounds, and Bestival on the Isle of Wight. Leanne was a semi-finalist at the BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam, and has shared poems at Fourth Wave Feminist Festival, Trinity College Cambridge, and TEDxWOMEN UCL.

In Summer 2019, Leanne performed her first solo theatre show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and her second pamphlet of poetry was published with Burning Eye Books in 2020. She loves drinking fruit tea, eating Jaffa Cakes, and hanging out with her cat, Gracie.

Leanne has been supporting Michelle and Miriam in the development of Wading and Wandering.