WP Puppet Theatre invites you to pop by and make your own puppet friend. Choose from a toothy Angler fish, to a colourful Fork puppet or a clever Folded Bird or we may surprise you! Use our selfie puppet stage and tell your story.

Part of the Festival of Animated Objects

FREE

** No registration required

** Great for all ages

After Effects is a handy program to know! It helps add those specific details and effects that make your film extra special. Participants will learn the basics of the program through a series of exercises. This workshop is tailored to each participant, and will teach interface and functionality, motion graphics, composition and text use!

Brian "Bunny" Batista is a long-time instructor at Quickdraw Animation Society, and loves "Making Art and Making Marks". He has extensive experience with After Effects professionally and educationally! Check out his art school at 
https://www.atelierartista.com/instruction

# of Participants:                            9 people

If you have your own computer and the correct Adobe licence, an additional 6 people may join.

Cost: Pay What You Can - $10/$20/$25/$30
                                                                

Presented as part of the Festival of Animated Objects Learning Component.

WP Puppet Theatre invites you to pop by and make your own puppet friend. Choose from a toothy Angler fish, to a colourful Fork puppet or a clever Folded Bird or we may surprise you! Use our selfie puppet stage and tell your story.

Part of the Festival of Animated Objects

FREE

** No registration required

** Great for all ages

Do you dream of bringing objects seamlessly to life with a close team of other puppeteers? Join puppeteer and puppet maker Randi Edmundson to explore the world of multiple operator puppetry - from building simple puppets to working with a small group of manipulators in pursuit of puppetry magic.

Randi Edmundson (she/her) works as a producer, director, performer, and puppet designer and builder. Her passion for puppetry has taken her across the country and the globe. With her 6-time Jessie-Richardson Award-winning company Little Onion Puppet Co., Randi has toured multiple original puppet works across Western Canada.

randiedmundson.com
Randi's instagram: @everydaypuppets
Little Onion Puppet Co's instagram: @littleonionpuppet 

# of Participants:          24 people

Cost: Pay What You Can - $10/$20/$30

Presented as part of the Festival of Animated Objects Learning Component.

This two hour session helps performers and creators understand how media like video projection sound and lights can support their productions. It gives a beginner introduction to media design and programming and shows simple ways to use tech in small venues. The talk includes practical examples and questions and builds confidence to start working creatively with media.

Matthew Waddell is a digital artist with over two decades of experience in projection mapping interactive installations and audiovisual design for stage. His work has appeared at festivals and galleries across Canada and has received multiple awards. He co-directs Axis Z Media Arts in Calgary and is known for clear practical teaching that helps beginners gain confidence using technology. 

https://azmadigital.com
@azmadigital

# of Participants:          24 people

Cost: Pay What You Can - $10/$20/$30

Presented as part of the Festival of Animated Objects Learning Component.

Ready to take your puppet show to the next level? This interactive workshop guides puppeteers through basic scale models and storyboarding while teaching efficient prep work using industry tips and tricks that encourage progress. Attendees receive an action plan, storyboard template, and PDF handout. Bring paper and pencil to participate.

Carole D’Agostino is a puppeteer, fabricator and voice over artist working in film, television and live theater. Her creations have appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, on Sesame Street, and in Broadway productions including Avenue Q, Disney’s Aladdin, and Shrek! The Musical.

www.hellocarole.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carole-dagostino/
Cost: FREE
# of participants:  no limit as this is an online workshop

This workshop is online.
Zoom link will be sent on March 14 to ticket holders

Presented as part of the Festival of Animated Objects Learning Component.

WP Puppet Theatre invites you to pop by and make your own puppet friend. Choose from a toothy Angler fish, to a colourful Fork puppet or a clever Folded Bird or we may surprise you! Use our selfie puppet stage and tell your story.

Part of the Festival of Animated Objects

FREE

** No registration required

** Great for all ages

WP Puppet Theatre invites you to pop by and make your own puppet friend. Choose from a toothy Angler fish, to a colourful Fork puppet or a clever Folded Bird or we may surprise you! Use our selfie puppet stage and tell your story.

Part of the Festival of Animated Objects

FREE

** No registration required

** Great for all ages

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.

Wendy Passmore-Godfrey is a multidisciplinary artist—visual creator, writer, performer, and puppeteer—and the founder and Artistic Director of W.P. Puppet Theatre Society in Calgary/Moh’kinsstis. Since 1991, she has advanced puppetry as a tool for education, expression, and social change. Wendy has created and performed over twenty original productions, touring nationally and abroad. Her work blends scientific curiosity with imaginative storytelling, using puppetry as a transformative catalyst for empathy, connection, and meaningful dialogue.

Cost: $20 pp OR pay what you can ($15/$10/$5)
Run time: 55 minutes, Artist TalkBack and simple reception
Best for ages 18+

Venue: Burnswest Theatre at The Confluence (formerly Fort Calgary)

GENUS 394Wz is a pre-season event for the 2026 Festival of Animated Objects, kicking off two weeks of events that marry the timeless practice of mask and puppet arts with contemporary spaces, themes and ideas.

CONCEIVED AND CREATED BY
Karin Millson and Wendy Passmore-Godfrey
_______________________

2026 PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR and PRODUCER
Wendy Passmore- Godfrey

CINEMATOGRAPHER 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                                  Kaja Irwin

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Glenn Taylor, Rob Ward, Tam Godfrey, Sky Weir

THANK YOU TO SUPPORTERS:
W.P. Puppet Theatre Society and Karin Millson
Festival of Animated Objects (marketing)

GENUS 394Wz is an independent Wendy Passmore-Godfrey production

Complete credit list

Celebrate the Heart of Bowness with a little creativity and a lot of love!
As part of Bowness Community Association’s Heart of Bowness Community Day, join WP Puppet Theatre on FAMILY DAY - February 16, from 9am–3pm for a drop-in Heart Puppet Pop-Up.

Create your own heart puppet inspired by the Valentine’s season and the people, places, and connections that make Bowness so special. A free, fun, hands-on activity for all ages!

FREE

** Drop in - no registration required

** Free parking

** Handicapped access

** Closest Bus stop Bowness Rd @ 83 St NW (Eastbound/Westbound)

Kick off the new year with a burst of creativity at WP Puppet Theatre’s January Puppet Pop-Up: Sock Fun!

Date: Saturday January 10, 2026
Time: 1–3pm
Location: Parkhill Community Centre
Price: $10 per person.

SORRY - CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF REGISTRATION

Join us for an afternoon of hands-on fun perfect for families and creatives of all ages! The holidays might be over, but the magic doesn’t have to be! We've got single socks still searching for their "sole mates" and we need your help turning them into imaginative characters ready for storytelling and play.

All supplies are provided, and no experience is needed—just bring your curiosity! Come make something delightful, reconnect with community, and start 2026 with a new friend and a little whimsy!

** We don't want fees to be a barrier. Please email us to discuss the fee that would work for you.

** Please register in advance as it allows us to plan our supplies, however limited tickets are available at the door.

** Refunds are available up to 7 days prior to the event

** Best for ages 5 and up

** Free parking.

** Key Bus Stops & Routes:

• SB Elbow DR @ Sifton BV SW

• 37th Ave SW & Elbow Dr

WP Puppet Theatre is excited to be providing intermission fun at the stunning production I, Sita, presented by Madhuban Performing Arts. Explore the wonder of light and shadow while you play with the shadow puppets of Sita, Rama, Hanuman and others. Many historians believe that shadow puppets originated in India in the 1st millennium BCE, telling the Hindu epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The flat articulated puppets are traditionally made from animal hides in an elaborate ritual of creation. Their completion  -  the "metaphorical birth of a puppet" - is celebrated with flowers and incense. The art of shadow puppetry epitomizes the concepts of light and dark or good and evil. (https://wepa.unima.org/en/india/)

Sharing this significant art-form of Indian culture on September 27, makes a wonderful crossover to WP Puppet Theatre's Puppet Power conference examining the complexities of immigration through the lens of puppetry taking place on October 18-19. 

For more information about the performance and tickets:

TICKETS AT: https://www.showpass.com/madhuban-isita/

Wendy is excited to be performing both “Why the Rabbits’ Nose Wiggles” (6:30 pm) AND “Walter the Water Droplet” (7:15 pm) at this event.

Let's wrap up SUMMER 2025 in style and with community! This is an all-ages, free community event, wonderful for one and all.

Live music by local talent and TWO different live shows by our friends at WP Puppets. Grab a drink at the beer garden (lots of non-alcoholic choice) and chow from the food truck.

Come early, stay for the evening.

Registration REQUIRED and information here:
https://capitolhill.getcommunal.com/parent_programs/2287

IN ENGLISH

Ages 10+

[ENGLISH LANGUAGE SHOW]

Presented in partnership with Festival of Animated Objects, WP Puppet Theatre and Alliance Française.
Funded in part by Canadian Heritage - Canadian Arts Presentation Fun

At the dawn of the 1950s, a handful of intrepid hunters is scattered across the north-east coast of Greenland. Confinement, solitude, rationing, harsh weather… it's not always easy to keep a cool head under such conditions. And yet, the vast wilderness, the majestic snow-covered expanse and the unlikely tales of our trusty comrades leave us longing for adventure and freedom. Are they truths, lies or myths? Who knows? One thing is certain: these extraordinary escapades will most certainly charm you!

Arctic Tall Tales are originally a collection of short stories brimming with humour and humanity, as well as a series of delightfully addictive graphic novels. But here we present you with a larger than life version, unlike you’ve ever seen, where puppetry, storytelling, live music and sound are blended to create a universe both uproarious and poetic.

ARCTIC TALL TALES is a production of the collective La ruée vers l’or, in coproduction with Théâtre de la Pire Espèce.

Original text : Jørn Riel

Adaptation : Anne Lalancette (with the collaboration of Francis Monty, Jérémie Desbiens, Simon Landry-Desy & Alexandre Harvey)

English translation : Kristina Troske

Direction : Anne Lalancette & Francis Monty (with the collaboration of Jérémie Desbiens, Simon Landry-Desy & Alexandre Harvey)

Cast : Jérémie Desbiens, Jean-François Beauvais & Anne Lalancette

Live music and foley : Alexandre Harvey

Stage management : Miguel Angel Gutiérrez

Puppets design : Sophie Deslauriers (from the original drawings of Hervé Tanquerelle)

Puppets building : Sophie Deslauriers & Claudine Rivest

Sets and props design : Corinne Merrell

Sets and props Building : Corinne Merrell & Nancy Belzile

Music and sound design : Alexandre Harvey

Light design : Nancy Longchamp

La ruée vers l'or would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, Théâtre de la Pire Espèce, Théâtre Aux Écuries and Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay for their financial support, as well as éditions Gaïa and Sarbacane for making the adaptation of this work possible.

Advisories and accessibility:

Runtime: 85 minutes

This show is suitable for all ages, though it may be most enjoyable to audiences 10 and up.

Located at Vertigo's Studio Theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.

Venue can be accessed by both stairs and elevator.