The Orion
Lecture Series in Fine Arts
Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present:
Randi Edmundson
& Shizuka Kai
Visiting artists & puppeteers, offering a pair of public workshops:
-
“That Elusive Life: Searching for ‘Canadian’ Puppetry”
9:30-10:30am Wed, March 20
-
“The Making of Otosan: Snapshots of a Japanese-Canadian Puppet Show”:
9-10am Thur, March 21
UVic’s Roger Bishop Theatre (Phoenix Building)
Free & open to all
Presented by UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts
For more information on this lecture please email: theatre@uvic.ca
About Randi Edmundson
Driven by curiosity, UVic alumna Randi Edmundson wears many hats in the world of theatre, including producing, directing, performance, and design. Her passion for puppetry has taken her across the country and the globe, including recent research with Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Indonesia.
She has a background in devising new works for a wide range of audiences and has worked as a puppeteer and puppet creator with Chemainus Theatre Festival, Neworld Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre, the Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry, the National Arts Centre, Lunchbox Theatre, and Western Canada Theatre. She has studied under puppet thinkers Peter Balkwill, David Lane, Ronnie Burkett, Mervyn Millar, Clea Minaker, Jeny Cassady, and Ingrid Hansen.
With her Jessie Richardson Award-winning company Little Onion Puppet Co., Randi has toured several original puppet works across Western Canada. She holds a BFA in Performance from UVic and an MFA in Directing from the University of Calgary.
Randi is grateful to create as a freelance artist and as Interim Artistic Producer of Carousel Theatre for Young People on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory in Vancouver and as the Artistic Producer of Project X Theatre in unceded Secwepeme territory in Kamloops.
About Shizuka Kai
Shizuka is a multidisciplinary artist who has been working professionally in puppetry and set design for over 12 years. She also delves in TV/film puppetry, extends her design into illustration and graphics, and is emerging in directing. Shiz is a five-time Jessie Richardson Award winner with multiple nominations; an Ovation Award winner; the recipient of the Earl Klein Memorial Scholarship and Steven B Jung Award; and a graduate of Studio 58.
She has trained with many incredible artists such as Wendy Gorling, Jeny Cassady, Peter Balkwill, Clea Minaker, Juanita Dawn, and the folks at Marionetas de la Esquina. Recent puppetry credits in theatre: Division Infinity Saves the World! (Neworld), Le merveilleux voyage d’Ines de l’Ouest (Théâtre la Seizième), and Yellow Objects (rice & beans). Recent TV/Film: London Drugs – To Do Hissss (Rethink), FortisBC – Energy is Awesome (Media Button), and Lost Ollie (Netflix). Next up for Shiz: Otosan (Little Onion Puppet Co), a table-top puppet show based on her childhood growing up with a wildlife cinematographer father.
She is also currently working as a set design instructor and (newly appointed) production program coordinator at Vancouver’s Studio 58.
About the Orion Fund
Established through the generous gift of an anonymous donor, the Orion Fund in Fine Arts is designed to bring distinguished visitors from other parts of Canada—and the world—to the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Fine Arts, and to make their talents and achievements available to faculty, students, staff and the wider Greater Victoria community who might otherwise not be able to experience their work.
The Orion Fund also exists to encourage institutions outside Canada to invite regular faculty members from our Faculty of Fine Arts to be visiting artists/scholars at their institutions; and to make it possible for Fine Arts faculty members to travel outside Canada to participate in the academic life of foreign institutions and establish connections and relationships with them in order to encourage and foster future exchanges.
Visit our online events calendar at www.events.uvic.ca