GENUS 394WZ

A poetic sci-fi allegory
presented as a visually and musically rich hybrid puppet theatre–film production.

A colourful collage of actors and puppets, including a seren puppet with a gree hat filled with sparkling lights.

GENUS 394Wz is a poetic sci-fi allegory presented as a visually and musically rich hybrid puppet theatre–film production. Performed live by Wendy Passmore-Godfrey and featuring video performances by eight local Calgary actors, the work traces the mythic history of an imagined Genus and its species across deep time. Guided by Aanigma, a timeless narrator, the species are revered, consumed, classified, engineered, abandoned, and more — asking how power, empathy, and ethical responsibility shape humanity’s treatment of “others.”

GENUS 394Wz

Conceived and Created By
Karin Millson
Wendy Passmore-Godfrey

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2026 PRODUCTION

Director and Producer
Wendy Passmore-Godfrey

Cinematography and Post-Production
Gil Ngai – Day One Media

Cast
AANIGMA Wendy Passmore-Godfrey
MATRIARCH                          Michelle Warkentin
PRIESTESS                            Ashwini Mohan
HUNTER                                 Andréus Wallace
SCHOLAR                      Alèn Martel
INDUSTRIALIST                   Hussein Juma
PROMOTER              Jocelyn Mah
SCIENTIST                             Mike Tan
CYBORG JUVENILE            Kaja Irwin

Music
Stu MacQuarrie
Nikki Menard — Hang Drum
Hugh Conings — Flute & Drum
Georgi Dimitrov — Karcigar Ud Taksim, Turkish Oud
Edmond Van Putte — Soundscapes
Blair Francis — Soundscapes
Jaewoo Lee — Cyborg
Kiri Daust — Evridé, Violin
Epidemic Sound

Still Photography
Sean Dennie
JAMAC Photography
Karin Millson

Sound Effects and Foley
Gil Ngai
Wendy Passmore-Godfrey

Artwork, sets, props and puppets
Karin Millson
Wendy Passmore-Godfrey

Shibori Fibre Arts
Karin Millson

Costume Consultant
Hannah Fisher

Dramaturgy
Carole D'Agostino
Paul Dean

Special Thanks
Tam Godfrey
Kira Kulicki
Glenn Taylor
Rob Ward
Sky Weir

An Independent Production by
Wendy Passmore-Godfrey

Financial Support from
W.P. Puppet Theatre Society
Karin Millson

Filmed At
EMMEDIA, Calgary, Canada

© 2026

Meet the Actors

Meet the Puppets

Meet the Species of GENUS 394Wz

What is GENUS 394Wz?

Karin Millson explains:

Why Now?
GENUS 394Wz

At a moment when artificial intelligence, climate instability, and resource extraction are reshaping how we live, GENUS 394Wz asks a question that feels urgently contemporary: Who—or what—deserves care, rights, and protection?

In Calgary, this question is not abstract. It lives in the tension between energy development and environmental responsibility, between rapid technological growth and deep Indigenous relationships to the land. Alberta sits at a crossroads of extraction, innovation, and stewardship—and GENUS 394Wz places that crossroads onstage.

Across Canada and around the world, we are renegotiating our relationship with the more-than-human: animals, ecosystems, and now synthetic and engineered life. Legal movements for the rights of nature, debates around AI autonomy, and accelerating ecological loss all point to a future where old moral frameworks no longer hold.

Through puppetry, imagery, and story, GENUS 394Wz makes these big, complex questions felt—inviting audiences not just to think about the future, but to sense what kind of future we are creating, and who will be left inside, or outside, of it.