THE MISSION

fu-GEN is Canada’s longest running not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to the development of the professional Asian Canadian theatre artist by: producing works of the highest artistic caliber that explore the Asian Canadian experience; fostering emerging voices, and developing a strong culturally artistic community.

Created to provide a home for Asian Canadian artists, fu-GEN cultivates and produces new or underrepresented works in order to explore, celebrate, and address our roles and identities. We exist to make our artists and our stories visible in the theatre community, the Toronto community, and the Canadian community at large. Ultimately, we strive to build a stronger, truly multicultural Canadian landscape.

THE STORY

Founded in 2002, fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre is a dynamic company determined to carve out a space in the Canadian cultural landscape for vibrant Asian Canadian voices. fu-GEN was born out of a driving need to build a home for a community that was underserved, and underrepresented. For nearly 15 years, we have been fiercely striving to shape our city and country’s cultural landscape, and we have been recognized and rewarded with critical and audience acclaim, sold-out shows, numerous awards and nominations.

THE WORK

• We produce groundbreaking, contemporary theatre productions.
• We incubate new plays from development to production, investing in Asian Canadian writers. We have produced full premiere productions of 6 new works to date, continually commissioning and developing more vital stories.
• Annually, we offer residencies to playwrights and artists/artistic companies, providing development support, resources, mentorship and community to establishing artists.
• We cultivate emerging voices through our annual playwriting and creation lab, Kitchen, producing our annual Potluck Festival to showcase brand new ideas. Acclaimed shows which had their genesis in Kitchen include lady in the red dress and Kim’s Convenience.
• We have hosted 2 professional cultural conferences, including the first ever Asian Canadian Theatre Conference, GENesis (2010), and Walk the Walk: National Festival of Asian Canadian Women (2016).
• We sustain a hub for Asian Canadian artists, as the home of this community; this includes maintaining current artsworker databases, offering administrative, producing and dramaturgical resources, hosting community and network events, and continuously seeking and offering professional development opportunities.