WRITER

Kunji Ikeda - (he/they) has spent his life researching the super powers of stories and how they can be shared in order to bring us together. Based in Calgary Canada, Ikeda is the Artistic Director of Cloudsway Dance Theatre and is honoured to be pursuing a life of connection and empathy. He performs, directs, and dramaturges while following the natural ecology of the performance. They are currently an Associate Professor at UBC specializing in Movement and Performance Creation. His award-winning solo performance Sansei: The Storyteller continues to be presented internationally. In February 2020 Ikeda was invited into the rehearsal process of Akram Khan’s new work Creature with the English National Ballet. They served as the Programming Director of the National Association of Japanese Canadians first national arts summit for the fall of 2022, as well as One Yellow Rabbits Arts Leadership Associate in 2022-23.

I was truly blown away by the well-rounded creative potential that the narrative unfolded thanks to the talent and dedication of this creative team. I fully believe in what the work can achieve in the next step of development and presentation to my community.

DIRECTOR

Daniel Fong is an actor, singer and mostly coordinated mover bringing light and laughter from his hometown of Calgary, Alberta in Treaty 7 territory. With his mixed-race background, Daniel’s work centres around the breathing of life into new works, and reimagining treasured stories in contemporary ways. Daniel was the recipient of the Stephen Hair Emerging Artist Award for 2019. Using his music, heart and energy he hopes to help lead his local theatre community into the next chapter of its journey. Selected Acting Credits include: The Paper Bag Princess (StoryBook Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Theatre Calgary); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Skin of Our Teeth (Rosebud); The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, Fortune Falls (ATP); Journey of a Lifetime (Quest Theatre).

It is a piece that skillfully bridges the gap between education and entertainment and I think it will draw folks in with its exciting world and plot. This project helps address topics that will continue to grow and strengthen the lessons of diversity and inclusion that are being taught in schools, while making it fun, modern and accessible to young audience members!

Deedra Salange Ladouceur is a Mohkinstsis based Métis artist fascinated with all mediums of storytelling within the entertainment industry; including acting, singing, podcasting, poetry, puppetry and stand up. Her desire is to gain experience in all platforms of expression, propel Canadian diversity with theatre and inspire self-acceptance. She believes the courage to tell your story comes at a high cost of vulnerability. Likewise empathy is needed to listen to others. It is her wish to rouse the empathy and courage necessary, to allow those stories to come to fruition. She looks forward to not only telling her own story, but also helping conduct other stories to the publics’ eye.

I am excited to continue my participation in the next iteration of Kunji's project/show "Roll For Initiative", the premise of this show as well as the content completely align with my own artistic practice. The ability to create a direct correlation between this game and the reality of adversity, presently faced by many in our society, and then present these harsh realities to children in a way that does not talk down to them but instead acknowledges their experiences as valid. Is truly remarkable, this is a show that I can see being enjoyed by children and adults, and as it continues to evolve I hope to always participate either as an artist or audience member showing my support.

Andy Weir lives and works in Alberta, Canada, at the intersection of the performance and education fields. He has spent eight seasons doing interpretive shows in provincial parks, helping visitors discover and learn about the amazing biology, geology, hydrology, and history of our beautiful province. In the off season he steps into schools and instructs students in the wonderful experience of making theatre. Andy is very thankful that his work routinely allows him to learn new things, meet new people, make art, and to be silly and have fun. Outside of these passions, Andy loves games and has an ever-expanding collection of board games. His current (long running) creative project is developing a board game about bears, and if he’s lucky maybe one day it will actually be finished? Stay tuned to find out!

Andy is super thrilled about the chance to continue developing Roll for Initiative! The opportunity to take it beyond the table and work with more artists and present our work is an absolute blast! The complexity of the characters and the subject matter is a joy to work with; not only is there a lot to chew on for the audience, but also for us, as performers.

Javier (he/him) is a Mexican-Canadian visual performance creator, stage director, movement coach, and translator. He resides in Alberta, where he attended the University of Calgary’s Fine Arts department. While in Calgary, he has developed performance techniques which incorporate Latiné influences in combination with elements that have had a deep impact within his life in Canada; such as ritualistic movement and narrative poetry.

As a stage director, he has collaborated with companies such as Theatre Calgary, Sage Theatre, Downstage, Lunchbox Theatre, The Shakespeare Company, StoryBook, CYPT, Jupiter Theatre, One Yellow Rabbit, and Calgary Opera.

In 2005 he co-founded, along with Black artist Norma Lewis, the visual performance ensemble 8ROJO. With this group, he has devised five interdisciplinary creations, with which he has toured around Canada and as far afield as Mexico, Czech Republic, Sweden, France, Taiwan, UK, and Iceland. With 8ROJO, he was awarded the ‘Innovation in Performance’ award at the 2016 STOFF Festival in Stockholm, Sweden; and he was a finalist for a 2021 Off West End Award in London, UK for Outstanding Production.

He has translated the texts ‘100 Love Poems and a Song of Despair’ by Pablo Neruda and Federico García Lorca’s ‘Rural Trilogy’. He translated and adapted the Mexican modern opera 'Anjou: A Tale of Horror' for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS.

Spencer Streichert is a Queer & Metis Actor & Comedian from Mokinstis. Spencer studied drama at the University of Calgary and has been seen onstage with: Theatre Calgary (A Midsummer Nights Dream, Comedy of Errors), The Shakespeare Company (The Tempest), DIY Theatre (Much Ado About Nothing), Calgary Fringe (In Case Of Fire), Alumnae Theatre (Animal), Urban Stories Theatre (Bonds), and the University of Calgary School of Creative & Performing Arts (Mother Courage and her Children, Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Bone House, Scientific American) He has performed all across Canada, and as a comedian, he has made appearances at Sled Island and Big Winter Classic comedy festivals and opened for Kenny vs. Spenny and Jim Jefferies. Spencer can also be seen on Television such as Wynonna Earp (SyFy), Billy the Kid (Amazon), Red Water Valley & Alberta Picnic (both on Telus Optik), and the feature films Vagrant & Viking (both on Crave). He also co-hosts the popular music history podcast Misfits on Vinyl. Spencer enjoys collecting vinyl, longboarding, riding horses, video games, and playing sports!

After workshopping Roll for Initiative, I am eager to be able to continue developing this fantastic show and honoured to be a part of this incredible team of kind, talented and enthusiastic artists.

COMPOSER

Donovan Seidle works steadily as composer, arranger, orchestrator, violinist, teacher and board member. Since 2003, he has served as one of the three concertmasters of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, which has included soloing and new works commissions. He is an active participant in Canada's artistic community, working regularly in chamber and large ensembles and multi-disciplinary projects. Donovan is a composer/arranger writing for various media, including the concert stage, television and film, live theatre, orchestra shows, interactive media (games and VR), and large-scale spectacle show. 2010 saw his efforts as Associate Music Director earn his team an Emmy for the Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Since then, he has written for such production shows as the 2011 Pan-Arabian Games in Qatar, and the Guinness Record-breaking projection show at the 2011 Moscow City Day. Over the course of the 2020 pandemic, he facilitated the online presentation of myriad groups in Canada and the United States (livestream and produced video), and recently produced orchestrations for the 2021 World Expo in Dubai. Donovan loves RPGs, and is particularly drawn to collective/cooperative storytelling (and the arts that support it)!

STAGE MANAGER

Rebecca Orion (She/Her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary). She is a recent graduate from Rosebud School of the Arts where she started her theatre company Incendiary Festival. She is positively thrilled to be a part of this spectacular team of artists. Select SM credits include: Mokita, Suppose (Incendiary Festival), A Christmas Story (Rosebud Theatre), and The Canterville Ghost (CYPT).

Her go-to DnD class is monk, and her favourite spell is Tasha's Hideous Laughter.

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Kai Hall is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist based in Mohkinstsis, who explores expressionthrough many mediums, including lighting design, performing, and stage management. This ishis first role as a production manager, and excited to be tackling this new challenge with such atalented and dedicated team! Kai is thrilled to be sharing this beautiful and empowering workwith you, and hopes you enjoy!

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Lauren Acheson is a trans, queer designer and technician-about-town living and working in Mohkinstsis. Recent credits include: lighting design for Home for the Holidays (Lunchbox), lighting design for Sneaks (Alberta Dance Theatre), lighting design for The Nordegg Incident (Sucker For Punishment/ CYPT), technical direction for I Don't Even Miss You (Tiny Bear Jaws), and set and lighting design for 366 Days (Major Matt Mason Collective). Some of Lauren’s design work can be viewed online at laurenacheson.com.

ONLINE PUPLICIST

Jesse is a multidisciplinary artist who has been a part of the Alberta arts scene for the last decade. She enjoys promoting the arts in all capacities. She is thrilled to be a part of another Cloudsway production. Fantasy is her favourite genre, but science fiction is a close second!