Quest for the Moon
Created by Olivia Wheeler
Performed by Annie Luján, Michelle Urbano, and Hilary Wheeler
Costume and Additional Design by Carolin Lindner
Lighting by Sarah Mansikka
Associate Director | Robert Morrison
For Ages 2 – 7 years
Duration: 40 minutes + 10 minutes pre & post show
A heartwarming and engaging story about the friendship between a young fox and the Moon told with the magic of shadow puppetry, music, and theatre in a sensory-rich and intimate setting.
Cautious and fearful of venturing far from his home in the woods, the fox is happy to bask in the moon’s stories about far off places that she has seen on her path across the sky. One night, the Moon goes missing so the fox must summon the courage to go in search of his friend. Along the way he discovers a newfound independence and the wonder of the world beyond his den.
This production toured to schools and community settings in February/March 2024 with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation – Resilient Communities Fund.
Quest for the Moon Gallery (photos by Robert Morrison)
Meet the Artists
Olivia Wheeler | Creator, Director, Designer | Quest for the Moon
Olivia Wheeler is a mixed-race, Chinese Canadian sound designer and composer. Her artistic work in sound design, composition, immersive performance design and puppetry spans across the country with companies such as the Stratford Festival, Why Not, Factory Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects and Theatre SKAM. Recent theatre credits include sound design for De Profundis (Soulpepper), Here Lies Henry, Armadillos (Factory Theatre), Between a Wok and a Hot Pot (Cahoots Theatre), associate sound design for A Wrinkle in Time (Stratford Festival), Three Women of Swatow (Tarragon), and assistant sound design for Mahabharata (Why Not). More at www.oliviagwheeler.com
Carolin Lindner | Associate Designer & Education Artist | Quest for the Moon
Born and raised near Berlin, Germany, Carolin Lindner is a multi-facetted visual and theatre artist with a degree in drama pedagogics and graphic design. Carolin was the co-artistic director of the international theatre festivals at.tension and part of the artistic theatre team for Fusion-Festival, both located in Germany. She was also the co-founder of a European Youth art camp in Germany and has led theatre workshops with young people and seniors internationally, both in person and recently online for schools.
She has been collaborating as an artist with CORPUS on numerous projects and in various roles, as co-director for Camping Royale and La bulle, as costume designer for House Guests and Divine Interventions, as an overall graphic designer for CORPUS’ promotional material and as an artistic adviser for several CORPUS creations.
Annie Luján | Performer | Lost & Found and Quest for the Moon
Annie is a Latinx actor, clown and theatre creator from Toronto, ON. Annie is a recent graduate of the Soulpepper Academy, where she trained with some of Canada’s most celebrated theatre makers, performed in mainstage and co-created productions and created her first WIP solo show Gasoline. Annie has studied various forms of clown extensively in Toronto, Montreal and in Italy where she trained with Commedia Del Arte master, Antonio Fava. Recent credits include: King Lear (Soulpepper), Storybook Search (Bad Hats), Small Gods (workshop, Factory Theatre), Comedy of Errors (The Grove)
Michelle Urbano Performer | Lost & Found and Quest for the Moon
Michelle is a Toronto puppeteer, theatre creator, and producer. This is her second project with WeeFestival after a Quebec tour of Old Man and the River/Vieil homme et la rivière in 2021. She was the co-Artistic Director and Producer for the found-object puppetry company, Artichoke Heart. She recently received funding from the Ontario Arts Council to develop a new puppetry piece inspired by the children’s book Strega Nona, and was an artist-in-residence at Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, where she also completed three tours with the company. She has performed and worked in a variety of capacities with the CBC, Theatre Passe Muraille, Theatre by the Bay, Pandemic Theatre, Eldritch Theatre, the Old Trout Puppet Workshop, and was a part of award winning puppetry productions in the Toronto Fringe and Summerworks. She recently Produced the 43rd and 44th edition of the Toronto International Storytelling Festival, the oldest and largest of its kind in North America.
Hilary Wheeler | Performer | Lost & Found and Quest for the Moon
Hilary is a queer Chinese-Canadian actor, musician, and playwright. She is a recent graduate from the Acting program at the National Theatre School of Canada, select show credits including My Family and Other Endangered Species, Everybody, Bonus Points if You Have Air Conditioning,To Those Who Wait in Fear. Other show credits include Retrograde (Dead Racoon Theatre) Selfie, The Paperbag Princess (2play Tour, Geordie Theatre), Macbeth, Love Labour’s Lost, Pericles, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julius Caesar (The Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival). Recent nominations include ‘Outstanding Ensemble’ for The Paper Bag Princess at the 2021-2022 METAs. Her solo show The List is currently in development.
Ginette Mohr | Director | Lost & Found
Ginette is an award-winning director, performer, playwright and arts educator. She seeks to fire up imaginations and cultivate new work through playful explorations of performance and design. For over 20 years, she has created theatre with companies that include The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Neptune Theatre, Young People’s Theatre, SNAFU, The Quickening Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Drayton Entertainment, Theatre Aquarius, Keystone Theatre, and The Second City. With Catch Me in the Kitchen, she has written and published books for young people and performed at events such as Word on the Street, Tarragon Theatre’s Sally Stavro Family Series, and The Toronto International Storytelling Festival. She has taught theatre, dance and improvisation at schools that include York University, The Second City, Theatre Direct, Young People’s Theatre and The Living Arts Centre. She holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from Simon Fraser University and an M.F.A. in Theatre from York University.
Robert Morrison | Associate Director | Quest for the Moon
Originally hailing from Alberta’s foothills, Robert Morrison (he/him) is a director, actor, writer for theatre and film and the artistic director of A FRONT COMPANY (@a.front.company). His recent directing work includes ECHO at Toronto’s NextStage Festival and SKYSCRAPER at the Paprika Festival, both he’s developed with his best friend and roommate, Kole Durnford. He is also the creator and co-curator of POOL PARTY, a party series celebrating liveness. Other Directing credits for the stage include: No Exit, Any Night (Cannonball) Unity 1918 (CYPT, asst. Jamie Dunsdon) Seven Stages (Verb + Bluelight Fest.) The Zoo Story (A FRONT COMPANY) and for screen: How To Be Not Alone (nominated best documentary QUIFF) and Hatch (First Prize, Utah Dance Film Festival). As a performer has appeared on stage with companies from west to east including Theatre Calgary, Verb Theatre, The Shakespeare Company, The High-Performance Rodeo, Hit and Myth, Storybook, Hoodlum Theatre and Seven Starving Artists & 4th Line. @robertmorrison
Quest for the Moon Acknowledgments
Olivia Wheeler would like to thank Theatre SKAM for supporting the initial development of the piece and first production. We wouldn’t have the show today without their trust and support in this piece. Thank you to the following artists for their contribution to the initial development of the piece -Hannah Mariko Bell, Kendra Bidwell, Lynnéa Chan, Matthew Payne, Logan Swain, Anne Taylor; and the first production Brayden Lord, Susannah Rebar, and Andrew G. Young, and Aidan Sparks for the first version of the set and workshopping the first production puppets.