Tom Miller
Tom Miller co-founded Mermaid Theatre in Wolfville, NS, alongside Evelyn Garbary and Sara Lee Lewis. At the time, Miller was an art consultant for the local school board. While Garbary focused on the dramatic scripts and Lewis handled the administration, Miller became the Principal Designer and the company's first Artistic Director.

Miller was responsible for the aesthetic that first made Mermaid famous. His background in painting (MFA from the University of Iowa) led him to experiment with scale and materials that were revolutionary for the time.

Miller remained the company’s Principal Designer until 1987, the same year the theatre moved from Wolfville to its current home in Windsor. During this decade, he designed several award-winning productions that toured internationally to the US, UK, and Asia. In 1987, he left the theatre to return to his first passion—painting full-time. Today, he is remembered not just as a founder, but as the artist who proved that puppetry could be a sophisticated, "high-art" medium capable of capturing the imagination of millions worldwide.

Graham Whitehead
Succeeding co-founder Tom Miller in 1982, Graham Whitehead was instrumental in refining Mermaid’s commitment to visual excellence. Graham Whitehead’s tenure as Artistic Director (1982–1991) was a pivotal era for Mermaid Theatre. He moved away from the company's early focus on purely regional folklore toward sophisticated adaptations of world literature and classic children's stories, often collaborating with playwrights like Paul Ledoux.

Graham Whitehead is specifically credited with directing: Just So Stories, Peter and the Wolf, Gulliver’s Travels, The Fisherman and His Wife, and Symphony Nova Scotia’s The Nutcracker; adapted by Graham Whitehead and Leica Hardy, with puppets created by Mermaid Theatre.

Saralee Lewis
Following Graham Whitehead’s departure, Saralee Lewis assumed the role of Managing Director, a pivotal move that consolidated the company’s artistic and financial administration. Under her leadership, Mermaid Theatre achieved newfound fiscal stability while aggressively expanding its creative activities.

Saralee Lewis championed innovative programming such as Youtheatre, led by Associate Director and playwright Chris Heide, which provided a vital platform for youth performance. Furthering this educational mission, she established a professional puppetry apprenticeship program to cultivate the next generation of artists.

A staunch believer in collaborative growth, Lewis opened Mermaid’s doors to a diverse roster of guest directors and artists, including Robert More, Robert Dodds, Sirppa Sivori-Asp, Alf Silver, and Jim Warner. This period of creative openness coincided with an unprecedented era of global expansion.

Under Lewis’s guidance, Mermaid’s international touring initiatives grew exponentially, bringing the company’s unique storytelling to audiences in more than a dozen countries and in multiple languages.

Jim Morrow
In 1999, Jim Morrow was appointed Artistic Director, supporting Managing Director Saralee Lewis. Morrow’s deep history with the company began in 1978 when, at the age of twenty, he joined Mermaid as a performer. Over the following decades, he distinguished himself as a versatile performer, director, designer, and mentor.

Morrow’s signature aesthetic - characterized by puppet design and evocative storytelling - brought several beloved children’s classics to the international stage, including: The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny, The Rainbow Fish, and Guess How Much I Love You & I Love My Little Storybook, Leo Lionni Favorites: Swimmy, Frederick & Inch by Inch, It’s OK To Be Different, and Billy Goats Gruff & Other Tales.

In recognition of his profound contributions to the arts and his role in elevating Nova Scotian culture on the world stage, Morrow was invested into the Order of Nova Scotia.