Yvette has written plays (The Unplugging, The Birds, Annie Mae’s Movement), libretti (Shanawdithit, Sophia), plays for film (Katharsis), plays for audio (Flag, You Can’t Get There From Here, Lache Pas La Patate), and a whack of short pieces for Sum Theatre’s Last Sunday, Short Cuts Festival, and Boca del Lupo. Boca pieces include Expedition, Red Phone, and The Fifth Setting (Plays2Perform@Home, Prairie Box).  She is also a director and a dramaturg. She is also currently pursuing her Masters in Public Policy at Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.

As a theatre maker, director and currently co Artistic Director of Boca del Lupo in Vancouver BC I’ve been creating intimate immersive installations, made work inside theatres, and created large scale site activations for over 20 years. 

My productions have toured across Canada, Latin America and Europe, with commissions and premiers at theatres and at festivals.  

In addition to more traditional venues, my work has brought artists and audiences to old growth forests with performers rigged up 40 to 75 feet in the tree tops, to darken shipping containers experiencing the auditory journey of crossing the Pacific, under the ocean waters where we follow an archeologist 150 years into the future.  I’ve worked on an interactive installation about climate change and our relationship to the guilt and isolation that people carry, involving the audience charging a battery on a stationary bicycle, a giant puppet piece that brings audiences into the imagined life of these creatures on land, ocean and sky.  

As theatre maker my passion for creating new performance with Boca del Lupo and through collaborative pursuits has instigated international co productions with Mexico, Argentina, Ireland and South Korea. 

As a director, workshop facilitator and teacher I’ve freelanced for companies and schools in Vancouver and across Canada. During my tenure Boca del Lupo has received numerous awards including the Alcan Performing Arts Award, Jessie Richardson awards, and the Critics Choice Award for Innovation and I have been nominated for the national Siminovitch Prize for directing. 

Past committee work includes: the Studio 58 Arts Advisory, Canada Council’s REAC committee, the Arts Advisory for Theatre Section and the BC Arts Council Advisory.  I’ve launched the 3.7% local and National Leadership Initiatives – and advocacy group to support emerging and established BIPOC women and non binary artists in leadership, and since the pandemic, Stop Asian Hate, an initiative that has galvanized Asian Canadian Leadership in the performing arts across Canada to help stop the spread of anti- Asian sentiments through connection and support within our communities.

An inventor, creator and entrepreneur, Jay’s imagination for the what, how and why of theatre defies conventional boundaries . During his tenure, the company has won the peer-assessed Alcan Performing Arts Award, and several Jesse Richardson Theatre Awards including seven nominations for the Critic’s Choice Award for Innovation and the Patrick O’Neill Award for best anthology with Plays2Perform@Home. Jay is a passionate set and video designer with Jessie Richardson Awards in both of those categories as well as a published playwright including a contribution to Boca del Lupo’s Red Phone project. His artistry is one of innovation and daring and his one man show, PHOTOG. featured interactive video, stunt rigging and verbatim text, touring to World Stage, Prismatic, Festival Trans Amerique and PuSh. Having served as President on the national board of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres, Jay also has special interest in creative space making including as co-founder of celebrated colocation space PL1422, co-founder of the Granville Island Theatre District. Happiest when he is tinkering in his studio with collaborators from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds, the impact of Jay’s influence is quiet yet profound.

Hiro Kanagawa is a Vancouver-based writer and actor. His full-length plays The Tiger of Malaya and The Patron Saint of Stanley Park have been performed across Canada as have many of his shorter works. He received the 2017 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Drama for his play, Indian Arm, a contemporary re-imagining of Ibsen’s Little Eyolf. His most recent play, a stage adaptation of Mark Sakamoto’s best-selling memoir, Forgiveness, premiered in January 2023 in an Arts Club Theatre / Theatre Calgary co-production directed by acclaimed director Stafford Arima. Forgiveness went on to receive both a Betty Mitchell Award and Calgary Theatre Critics’ Award for Outstanding New Script and was a 2023 Governor-General’s Literary Award finalist. Forgiveness was again directed by Stafford Arima in its Eastern Canada debut at the 2025 Stratford Festival where it was both a popular and critical success.

For the screen, Hiro is best known for his numerous recurring and guest starring roles on hit television and streaming series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Trek: Discovery, Altered Carbon, The Man in the High Castle, iZombie, The X-Files and many others. Behind the camera he was story editor on several critically-acclaimed Canadian television series: Da Vinci’s Inquest, Da Vinci’s City Hall, Intelligence and Blackstone as well as the feature film Dusk & Dawn. Hiro’s own J horror-inspired screenplay Mizuko is currently under development with Bright Light Pictures and Telefilm Canada.

Randi wears many hats in the world of puppetry, including producing, directing, performance, and design. Her limitless passion for the form has taken her across the country and the globe, including artistic research with Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Indonesia, and she loves introducing new puppeteers to the potential of the form. With her six-time Jessie Richardson Award-winning company Little Onion Puppet Co., Randi has toured multiple original puppet works across Western Canada, including the long-incubated family show Otosan and Scribble, which premiered this fall at the Gulali Festival in Yogyakarta. With close collaborators Shizuka Kai and Stephanie Elgersma, Randi produces puppet slams and learning opportunities for the Vancouver International Puppet Festival. As a puppetry artist, she has worked with Studio 58, Presentation House Theatre, Chemainus Theatre Festival, Neworld Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre/Urban Ink, the Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry, the National Arts Centre, Lunchbox Theatre, Upintheair Theatre, and Western Canada Theatre. On screen, Randi has puppeteered for commercials, short films, and TV series, including Netflix’s Snowpiercer. She holds a BFA in Performance from the University of Victoria and an MFA in Directing from the University of Calgary. Randi is grateful to create as a freelance artist on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory in Vancouver and on unceded Secwepemc territory in Kamloops.

Stephanie Elgersma is a puppeteer, puppet maker, and puppet director working in both Vancouver and London. As a puppeteer, she studied with puppetry icons such as Sue Buckmaster, Mervyn Millar, Sandglass Theatre, Pickled Image, and Blind Summit. She has puppeteered for House of Cats Theatre, a music video for Alexis Taylor (London), star star theatre, The Only Animal, Axis Theatre, UpintheAir Theatre, LongGrass Studio, and Vancouver International Children’s Festival (Vancouver). As a maker, she interned with award-winning puppeteer and fabricator Oli Smart; worked on 101 Dalmatians for the Birmingham Rep and A Christmas Carol for Wilton’s Music Hall; and built for Mervyn Millar’s company Significant Object. The majority of her making work has been with Nick Barnes Puppet Studio, where she assisted on shows for Les Petits, The Old Vic, and Disney Paris. Stephanie moved back to Canada in 2021, and since then has made puppets for shows with LongGrass Theatre (Calgary), the NAC (Ottawa), Bad New Days (Toronto), Brock University (St. Catharines), Carousel Theatre, and Little Onion Theatre (Vancouver). Stephanie’s biggest passion is directing puppets for the stage and training puppeteers, and she has shifted her attention in this direction. She started by directing the puppetry for Blackheath Halls Opera in London. In Vancouver, she returned to Studio 58 to co-create, co-design, and co-direct Zoetrope – a 10-person non-verbal puppet show set to music – with fellow alumnus and puppet artist Shizuka Kai. She has also directed the puppetry for CTORA, Little Onion Theatre, two different shows with Savage Society, three different shows for Carousel Theatre, and consults on many projects. Most recently, Stephanie was appointed Interim Co-Artistic Director of Studio 58 and fills the rest of her time teaching puppetry there and around Vancouver. www.stephelgersma.com

Shizuka is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist whose expertise spans puppetry, set design, illustration, and jewelry making. Her practice draws on her background in acting and design to create narrative, performance-oriented puppetry and theatre pieces that are both visually rich and thoughtfully crafted. She emphasizes collaboration, craftsmanship, and accessibility in her work, striving to make puppet theatre engaging for audiences of all ages.

Her theatrical portfolio includes collaborations with Arts Club, Theatre Replacement, Théâtre la Seizième, Carousel Theatre for Young People, Rumble, Neworld, and Boca del Lupo. Recent credits include set design for East Van Panto: West Van Story (Theatre Replacement) and Stuart Little (CTYP). A Studio 58 graduate, she has earned eight Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, an Ovation Award, the Earl Klein Memorial Scholarship, and the Steven B Jung Award.

Shiz currently serves as Set Design Instructor and Production Program Coordinator at Studio 58, produces puppet slams throughout the year with the Vancouver International Puppet Festival, and parents her incredibly imaginative three-year-old daughter. Her creative practice bridges performance, visual arts, and craftsmanship—driven by storytelling that appeals broadly, from children’s festivals to professional theatre stages.

Joylyn Secunda is a physical theatre artist, actor, dancer, and puppeteer based in Vancouver, Canada. They grew up in a performing arts family and have collaborated with their parents David Secunda (director) and Linda Arkelian (choreographer) on their solo shows.

In 2025, Joylyn performed their solo mime show, The Routine at the Adelaide Fringe and in six cities across Canada. The Routine received five stars from THE LIST (UK) and the Edmonton Journal, and it was nominated for four awards at the Montreal Fringe. In 2026, Joylyn will be touring The Routine to FRINGE WORLD Perth, Adelaide Fringe, Newcastle Fringe, and Tuggeranong Arts Centre in Canberra.

In addition to their solo career, they have performed with theatre companies including the National Arts Centre, The Wonderheads, Presentation House Theatre, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, and Monster Theatre. Joylyn was mentored by Crystal Pite in the Startle Reflex Residency.

When they aren’t performing, Joylyn teaches mime, puppetry, and physical theatre workshops to school groups with Théâtre la Seizième and Evergreen Cultural Centre, and to professionals and university students.

They are a BFA Acting graduate from UBC and have studied clown with John Turner (Mump & Smoot) and Aitor Basauri (Spymonkey), puppetry with Peter Balkwill (Old Trout) in Banff, mime with Dean Evans (Cirque du Soleil), Corporeal mime at Omnibus, and devised theatre at Dell’Arte International.

Tara is an actor-writer-puppeteer-creative human known for her prowess as a solo performer, her physical shape-shifting abilities and vocal acrobatics.

Throughout her career, she has co-created and performed in over 30 original plays, most recently the Sterling Award-winning bonkers spectacular The Spinsters with Small Matters Productions. Solo works with Monster Theatre include Erika the Red, Who Killed Gertrude Crump? (nominated for 4 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, including Best Actor, Female), and the multi-award-winning Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Other solo creations include Lavinia, Fluffy 10th Street: Confessions of a Dirty Puppet, Searching for Dick: A Paranormal Comedy, and The Unfortunate Ruth, recipient of the PTC New Play Prize. In 2015, she was co-recipient of a Jessie Richardson Theatre award with Dusty Hagerüd for their innovative design of Monster Theatre’s adaptation of The Little Prince, for which she was also nominated for Best Performance, TYA. Other select stage credits include Leading Ladies and The Wizard of Oz (Gateway Theatre), and Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch (Axis Theatre).

A co-founder of the Vancouver International Puppet Festival, Tara has incorporated animated object, hand and rod and shadow puppetry into many of her works. As a performance artist (in collaboration with Elizabeth Milton) she has been seen in galleries across Canada, including VIVO and live at Vancouver Art Gallery’s FUSE. She is also a voice and film actor, with credits spanning theatrical podcasts, audiobooks, commercials, feature films and children’s media.

Tara lives and creates as an uninvited settler on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. www.taratravis.com

Victor Mariano (he/him). Born on the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Halkomelem speaking peoples, Victor is a Vancouver-based theatre artist with an affinity for physical theatre and work for young audiences. Recent stage credits include: Heavy and Light, Learning and Forgetting, Where the Wild Things Are, and Pop! Pop! (Presentation House Theatre), The House at Pooh Corner and The Velveteen Rabbit (Carousel Theatre for Young People), Suddenly Slaughter (The Biting School), and Die Hard: The Musical-ish (District 13 Presents). Since 2008, Vic has also worked as a drama instructor and workshop facilitator at several elementary schools in the North Vancouver area (The Firefly Project), at Carousel Theatre for Young People, the Gateway Academy, the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, and the School for the Contemporary Arts (Simon Fraser University), where he received his BFA in Theatre Performance.

Melanie Thompson (she/her) is a stage manager and arts administrator based in Vancouver, BC. Selected theatre credits include Ce que je sais de vrai (Théâtre la Seizième), Children of God (2025 tour), Homecoming and Starwalker (Urban Ink), Carmen (Pacific Opera Victoria – ASM), S’effondrent les vidéoclubs and Nos repaires (Théâtre la Seizième), Berlin: The Last Cabaret (City Opera Vancouver), Away With Home (MISCELLANEOUS Productions), The Full Light of Day (Electric Company Theatre – Appr. SM), La bohème (Vancouver Opera – Appr. SM), Les Filles du Roi (Fugue Theatre/Urban Ink – ASM), Rock Legends (Chemainus Theatre Festival – Appr. SM), Sonic Elder (The Chop), The Out Vigil (FirePot Performance), The Last Five Years (LionFish Entertainment), Underneath the Lintel (Pacific Theatre), Shrek: The Musical (Theatre Under the Stars), and Arvaarluk: An Inuit Tale (Pangaea Arts).

Outside of the theatre, Melanie is the managing director of the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO). She is also a long-time member of the Board of Directors of Theatre Under the Stars. http://melaniejthompson.com