Theatre

Kate Kamo McHugh

Kate Kamo McHugh is a dance and theatre artist from Kitchener, Ontario. Recent highlights include an artist residency at the National Arts Centre, presenting a solo piece at IMPACT 21 Theatre Festival, and performing with Cosmic Fishing Theatre. In 2021 Kate co-facilitated a movement-based workshop for the Newcomer Youth Program in partnership with MT Space […]

Yukari Oyama Peerless

Yukari is a multi-talented creative based in Victoria, BC, with a passion for bridging the gap between Japanese and Canadian cultures. She is a writer, interpreter, podcaster, watercolor artist, and Japanese Cultural Consultant, and has been helping to connect the two cultures since moving from Nagasaki, Japan to Victoria in 1998. As the owner of […]

Douglas Haruki Oyama Peerless

Douglas is a Nisei 二世 (2nd generation) Japanese-Canadian actor, writer, and storyteller from Toronto, Ontario. He has a wide range of performance experience including musical theatre, children’s theatre, voice acting, and Shakespeare. He studied theatre at the University of Victoria’s Phoenix Theatre, graduating with his bachelor’s degree in performance. Favourite roles include Max in The […]

Matt Miwa

Matt Miwa was born in North York, Ontario but grew up in Aurora, Ontario, 40 minutes north of Toronto. With his mother’s family living in the United States, Matt grew up surrounded mostly by his Japanese Canadian extended family (his father’s side), getting together annually for every single holiday – New Years, Easter, Mother’s Day, […]

Terrie Hamazaki

Terrie Hamazaki (she/her) is a Vancouver based writer who holds a Master of Arts Degree in Creative and Critical Writing (UK). She performed her plays at the Fringe and Women in View Performing Arts Festivals. Her writing has appeared in Swelling with Pride: Queer Conception and Adoption Stories (Caitlin Press), Sustenance (Writers from BC and […]

Teiya Kasahara 笠原 貞野

Nikkei-Canadian settler Teiya Kasahara 笠原 貞野 (they/them) is a queer, trans non-binary, interdisciplinary creator-performer based in Tkarón:to (Toronto). Heralded as “a force of nature” (Toronto Star) and “an artist with extraordinary things to say” (The Globe and Mail) Teiya comes from a background of over a decade of singing both traditional and contemporary operatic roles […]

Julie Tamiko Manning

Julie is an award-winning actor and theatre creator based in ​Tiohtiá:ke /Montréal. Selected acting credits include: Annie in Jean Dit (Théâtre D’Aujourd’hui), Sin in Paradise Lost (Centaur), Elena in Butcher (Centaur), Isabella Bird in Top Girls (Segal Centre), Emilia in Othello (Scapegoat Carnivale/Segal), Titania in A Midsummer Nights’ Dream (Repercussion), Clarence in Richard III (Metachroma), […]

Tashme Productions

“The Tashme Project” is a 75-minute verbatim theatre piece that traces the history and common experience of the Nisei through childhood, WWII internment and post-war resettlement east of the Rockies. The Nisei, now in their 70’s and 80’s, were children at the time of internment and their stories of adventure and play are presented in […]

Shizuka Kai

Shizuka is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on set design and puppetry. She also works as a trained puppeteer on tv/film, an illustrator/graphic designer, director, and earring maker. She is a three-time Jessie Richardson award winner with multiple nominations, the recipient of the Earl Klein Memorial Scholarship / Bill Millerd Artist Fund / Steven […]

Booming Tree Taiko

Booming Tree is a contemporary drum duo, founded by Gregory Hideo Shimizu and Twilla MacLeod in 2008. Known for their innovative combination of taiko, percussion and vocals, they have performed across North America, from New Orleans to Yellowknife, and from coast to coast in their unique duo format. Booming Tree’s work is firmly rooted in […]

Nicole Yukiko

Nicole Yukiko (Sekiya) is a Vancouver-based performer and creator. She has earned a BFA in acting from UBC as well as a diploma in performance studies from Mount Royal University. Nicole’s focus as a storyteller is sharing the experiences of underrepresented communities. She is proud to be part of the ensemble with JAPANESE PROBLEM in […]

Jared Matsunaga-Turnbull

Jared is an Edmonton-based director, dramaturg, actor, educator and playwright who has focused much of his artistic work on Theatre for Young People. His acting work has been seen on stages across Western Canada in such productions as Mitch Miyagawa’s The Plum Tree, and Marty Chan’s Mom, Dad, I’m Living with a White Girl. Jared’s […]

Laura Fukumoto

Laura Fukumoto grew up on Toronto’s East Lakeshore, but relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2009, where she now works as a costume designer and wardrobe professional, graduating from the University of British Columbia with a BFA in Theatre Production and Design. She has worked with many theatre companies such as The Arts Club and […]

Yayoi Hirano

Born and raised in Japan, Yayoi is a graduate of Toho Gakuen College of Drama. In 1989, she became the first mime artist to receive the Japanese Ministry of Education Fellowship and spent a year collaborating with mime and dance artists in Germany and Canada. She has lived in Vancouver since 2002. Yayoi has extensive […]

Colleen Lanki

Colleen Lanki has been directing, choreographing and performing internationally for over two decades in shows of every variety. She has a BFA in Theatre Performance from Toronto’s York University and an MFA in Asian Theatre and Directing from the University of Hawaii. From 1995 to 2001, Colleen was based in Tokyo, where she studied nihon […]