My Dad, My Dog

Animation, miniatures, watercolour, live performance and music converge, converse and speculate on what life might be like behind the last scrap of the iron curtain.

My Dad, My Dog is a hilarious and beautifully honest account of a North Korean woman (Sherry J. Yoon) who is convinced that her father has returned to her reincarnated as a dog.  Through her encounters with a man who loves pigeons (James Fagan Tait) and a young filmmaker obsessed with monster movies (Billy Marchenski) we discover how much animals teach us about our own humanity.

A commission of the PuSh International Performing Arts FestivalMy Dad, My Dog is a co-creation between Sherry J. Yoon and Jay Dodge of Boca del Lupo and Yukon-based animation artist Jay White. This team creates a delightfully simple world where fantasy so seamlessly transgresses reality that you will leave the theatre second guessing your own shadow.

Premiered at PuSh and toured to the Yukon Arts Centre, the Metro Theatre in Victoria.

Creative Team

Jay Dodge

Director/Creator/Lighting & Set Design

The Artistic Producer of Boca del Lupo, Jay Dodge has won several Jesse Richardson Theatre Awards including seven nominations for the Critic’s Choice Award for Innovation. His artistry is one of innovation and daring, demonstrated in his one-man show about conflict photography featuring interactive video, stunt rigging and verbatim text, Photog.  Jay’s playwriting is characterized by a balance compelling content with dynamic forms. Other examples include Red Phone, an iterative project that dramatically shifts the relationship of the audience to the playwright through the technology of a telephone and video prompter; large scale, site specific works such a Vasily the Luckless co-written with James Fagan Tait which engaged the geography of the performance’s journey as a central collaborator in the dramaturgy and design; and My Dad, My Dog which leveraged the world of Jay White’s animation in taking the audience on a journey to the most sequestered kingdom on earth, North Korea. Currently serving on the national board of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), Jay is also a co-founder of PL1422 and has special interest in creative space making.  He has consulted with several local BC companies including the Playwrights Theatre Centre and Gateway Theatre for their strategic and facility planning.

Jay Dodge
Director/Creator/Lighting & Set Design

Sherry J Yoon

Performer/Creator

Sherry J. Yoon, Artistic Director of Boca del Lupo, is a theatre creator and director with a passion for creating new performances through collaborative pursuits. With Boca del Lupo, Sherry has co-created more than 35 productions, including: Fall Away Home, an intergenerational site-specific production in the forest of Stanley Park; Photog, a large-scale show that toured across Canada and was created with interviews from prominent conflict photographers; and You Are It, as part of the Silver commissions from the Arts Club Theatre that investigates the complex dynamics between female friendships. During Sherry’s tenure, the company has received numerous awards, including the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, and Jessie Awards for Outstanding Production, Design, Actor, Ensemble, as well as the Critic’s Choice Innovation Award. Her productions have toured festivals and venues across Canada, Europe and Mexico.  She co-created an online exhibition of Expedition, an iterative collaboration between Boca del Lupo and the Performance Corporation, and working on Net Zero, an interactive theatre installation about climate change that involves the audience charging a battery with a stationary bicycle. She is also a freelance director who has worked at the Richmond Gateway Theatre, Bard on the Beach, the Vancouver International Children’s Festival and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa Canada.

Sherry J Yoon
Performer/Creator

Animation/Creator Jay White Music Alicia Hansen Performers Alicia Hansen, Billy Marchenski, James Fagan Tait Costumes Reva Quam Costumes Assistant Krista Sung Lights Jeff Harrison Stage Manager Samara Van Nostrand Assistant Stage Manager David Warburton Associate Producer Sarah May Redmond General Manager Hilary Davis

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