About
Mapping My Journey to Home was one of five projects commissioned and presented by Yukon Digital Theatre Collective with funding by Canada Council for the Arts and Yukon Arts Fund with rehearsal space thanks to @YAC Residency Program and Yukon Government Department of Tourism and Culture. To support Lillian and Yukon Digital Theatre Collective please consider donating here. For more information on Yukon Digital Theatre Collective and to explore the other four projects, including signing up to our email list to be notified when each is released please visit our website.
Lillian Nakamura Maguire, a second-generation Japanese Canadian, is an emerging writer and playwright. She is retired and living in the countryside near Whitehorse, Yukon, the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta'an Kwäch'än Council. Throughout her career as an adult educator, facilitator and community activist she has used stories in her work in human rights education, elder abuse prevention and intercultural relations. She is a founding member of the Hidden Histories Society Yukon and has researched and documented Japanese Canadian history, written short stories, memoir, haiku, personal essays, a play, and produced digital stories based on her family history and culture. In her project, “Mapping My Journey to Home”, she is experimenting with a story collage. This is a collection of family stories written as poetry with prose, memoir, story “vignettes”, short film and audio storytelling integrated with archival photos, film and documents.
Sadato Nakamura was an amateur photographer and film maker, who enjoyed documenting family events and collecting photos and film from about the 1920s into the early 1970s. One of the earliest motion picture cameras he used was an 8 mm Keystone K-8. The film images of Japan in "Kyosyu - Longing for Home", were taken by him on this camera.
Kiyoshi Maguire is a visual artist from Whitehorse, Yukon. He has created various media for broadcast television, film studios, ad agencies, universities, scientists and independent artists. A recent career highlight has been working with his Mom to tell family stories with film shot by his Grandfather Sadato Nakamura. He utilizes obsolete media and dump-found cameras as his creative tools. His workflow involves open source software and free discarded computer hardware. He is a strong advocate for the right to repair and maintains a commitment to a DIY, punk rock ethos. “Anything worth fixing can be fixed. Anything that can’t be fixed isn’t worth having.” See his work at kiyoshi.tv
Jordy Walker is a musician, composer, sound designer, record producer, and sound artist based in Whitehorse, Yukon. With a passion for experimental music and sound design, the ability to play and compose on several instruments as well as proficiency and experience in the recording studio, he has maintained a career with much flexibility and variety. He has produced/engineered over 50 records and worked on an equal number of films, theatre and contemporary dance pieces.
Writer, director, dramaturg/story editor and actor, Mieko trained at the UofA’s BFA Acting Program and the National Screen Institute. Her award-winning films have screened at over thirty festivals around the world. Her plays have been translated into six languages, been read at festivals in NY, Moscow and most recently, London and been finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, the City of Edmonton Book Prize and recognized with the Carol Bolt Prize, Betty Awards and the Enbridge Award for Established Canadian Playwright. Mieko works as Associate Artistic Director at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. For more info: www.miekoouchi.com
Sally Ito is a writer who lives in Winnipeg. Her latest book of poetry is Heart's Hydrography published in 2021 by Turnstone Press. Her most recent creative writing can be found on her Medium profile here: https://medium.com/@sallyito
I am Takashi Kurokawa and was born and raised in Japan. In 2017, I moved to Canada after retirement. When I was a kid, I began to learn the Japanese calligraphy, which made me notice that it was a lot of fun to write Japanese letters using some kinds of special brushes. I am still enjoying it as a hobby now. I am a member of "Japanese Canadian Association of Yukon", which has introduced the Japanese culture including the Japanese calligraphy through events.
Harrison is an undergraduate at the University of Calgary graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering. Most of the work he has done has involved back-end functionality, with some experience in front-end and UI/UX design. This project allowed him to explore a more artistic approach to front-end development in comparison to the functionality first approach he has used in the past.
Wren is a playwright and producer who is dedicated to creating characters that can be played by actors of any gender, ancestry, ability, and/or age. Her play Anomie won the 2017 Harry S. Rintoul Award for Best New Manitoba Play at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, her play Bystander had its world premiere at Gwaandak Theatre in October 2018, and she was one of 50 international playwrights commissioned for Climate Change Theatre Action 2021 and 2023. She was also recently shortlisted for the John Hirsch Emerging Manitoba Writer Award in 2022. For more information visit: wrenbrian.com
Patti Flather is an award-winning playwright, director, dramaturg, theatre artist and arts producer in Whitehorse. She is a co-founder and past Artistic Director for two decades of Gwaandak Theatre, dedicated to nurturing and sharing Indigenous and northern voices. Patti’s play Paradise toured nationally (MT Space/Gwaandak Theatre); it’s published with Playwrights Canada Press. Selected other plays include Sixty Below (written with Leonard Linklater), the solo show West Edmonton Mall, and the collectively created work Map of the Land, Map of the Stars, which toured the Yukon, B.C. and Ontario. Patti is of settler ancestry, originally from North Vancouver, B.C. and grateful to live on Kwanlin Dün First Nation & Ta’an Kwäch’än Council territory since 1988.
Fumiko Miyahara was born and raised in Japan, immigrating to Canada in 1978 and graduated from Lakehead University. She moved to Whitehorse, Yukon and lived there for over 30 years, raising two sons. Fumiko and her husband currently live in Burnaby and Victoria, BC. She volunteers at National Nikkei Museum & Cultural Centre doing translation for the Archives.
Music and Sound Design © Jordy Walker 2023 Text © Lillian Nakamura Maguire 2023