GENUS 394WZ
A poetic sci-fi allegory
presented as a visually and musically rich hybrid puppet theatre–film production.
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.