Meet the Office Staff!

Jenna Rodgers- Administrative Intern
Hey all! I am fu-GEN’s shiny new intern, here to all of the incredible people in the office put together the 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference. I am fresh off completing an MA in International Performance Research in a joint program between the University of Amsterdam and the University of Tampere, Finland. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, I’m trying to take Toronto by storm through the creative powers possessed by the fu-GEN collective. I’m in charge of this blog, so most of what is posted here will be written by yours truly, with the occasional post by my fantastic co-workers!

Nina Lee Aquino- Outgoing Artistic Director
We're in the middle of a transition in management at this moment, and Nina is sadly leaving the office—but not our hearts! fu-GEN is essentially Nina's brainchild, so without this incredibly brilliant and creative woman, we wouldn`t be.

David Yee- Associate Artistic Director
Taking over for Nina, David is the incoming Artistic Director. He is a well-known playwright and a talented actor who will bring a very exciting and different energy to the company. He is also my boss, which makes him awesome by default, but seriously, he's super-talented and plays a HUGE role in bringing this years` Potluck Festival into being.

Richard Lee- General Manager
A dynamic ball full of energy and spunk, Richard is our outgoing General Manager. When he is not busy handing the General Management of the company over to Carin, Richard spends his spare time sound designing, acting, fight choreographing and being a father. Needless to say, Richard is always on the go.

Carin Lowerison- Intern General Management
Taking over for Richard, Carin has her work cut out for her. She's the feisty one in the office, whipping us into shape and keeping the office organized. Without her, we would likely be working amidst piles and piles of stacked up file folders and scripts. Carin holds us together, making sure deadlines are met, e-mails are responded to, and that we get paid! She is also an amazing yoga teacher and busy mother who never ceases to entertain us with stories about her beautiful daughter.

Andrea Mapili- Director of Marketing and Development
Andrea is the beauty sitting in the corner of the office working away at all seconds of the day on designing the amazing origami lotus flyers, directing phone calls, answering all of my questions, working to create the fu-GEN brand, and occasionally breaking for a round of Monopoly Express. She is an amazing teacher and extremely hard worker, who will always be the first one sit down with you to enjoy red wine, good food, and excellent conversation.

Byron Abalos- Asian-Canadian Community Developer
Sitting directly across from Andrea, Byron spends most of his day with his back to me. That being said, I can always see what's on his computer (usually YouTube), but when he's not playing office DJ, Byron is busy making important contacts with Asians in the GTA. Oh yeah, he's also the producer of the 7th Annual Potluck Festival, meaning that it is his job to liaise with all of the artists in the Potluck and make sure that our show hits the stage running!

For now, these are the players in our little office game. I hope you enjoy reading!! To see our pictures, you can click on this link, but know that picture will be coming as this blog progresses... and in the lucrative "Making Of" post, that will follow the launch of our Origami Lotus Flyer instructional video.