Interview with Mieko Ouchi, Actor and director in Edmonton
Were you born in Edmonton?
I was actually born in Toronto and my family moved to Calgary when I was three years old. I grew up mostly in Calgary, but I came up to Edmonton in 1987 when I graduated from high school in Calgary. I was really passionately interested in the arts and at that time I thought that maybe I'd become a geneticist. I got accepted into the U of A and that summer I graduated and moved to Edmonton. I left genetics behind after a year and transferred into theatre.
Obviously, when you began, you thought you were going to the U of A. When you transferred to the Arts Program at the U of A, what made you pick Edmonton's program over other ones?
Right. Well, I'd actually written my SATS and I did very well in my SAT scores, so I actually had been offered scholarships to quite a few American universities, but I did feel that I wasn't convinced that I wanted to go and study in the US. When I looked at the actual education that you were getting at an undergraduate level, I felt that Canadian education is actually better education and financially, it's a huge burden to try and go to the US. When I was accepted to the U of A, it had such a great reputation and it was a big university where I wanted to go - larger than Calgary's - and it just had a great reputation in both science and in theatre. The Drama Department has been running since the 1940s and Edmonton, at the time, was just a great theatre city compared to Calgary. Calgary's grown a lot since then, but at the time, Edmonton was really the centre of Alberta for people who loved theatre. It just made sense.
Did you ever live elsewhere after that?
What happened was after I graduated with my BFA in acting from the Professional Acting Program, I never imagined that I would stay in Edmonton. I thought I would jet off to Toronto or New York or live somewhere more glamorous, but I started working right away after I got out of school and was offered some shows quite quickly. I just really fell in love with the theatre community here and they really embraced me. I felt like they offered me a community. After a while, I felt really loathe to leave. As it turns out, I travel a lot in my work now and I spend maybe half a year outside of Edmonton, but I really love having Edmonton as my home base.
Could you briefly fill us in on what you are doing right now?
Sure. I spend about half my time working in theatre now. I am the Co-artistic [? unclear] Director of a theatre company called Concrete Theatre. It's a professional theatre for young audiences. We target children from preschool to high school and family audiences with our shows. I spend part of the year working for them - directing shows, [and] writing shows for them. I freelance in the theatres. I've been working with Workshop West Theatre. I was the playwright in residence for them last year and they produced one of my plays called "The Red Priest" in April of last year. That play got produced in Calgary and is getting produced in Toronto. I'm leaving March 1 st for a two-month stint in Toronto at the Tarragon Theatre. We're going to do it for a seven-week run. It'll be exciting. So that'll be one half of my life.
The other half of my life, I work in film. I make television documentaries. I've been working with the National Film Board for the last three and a half years on my second film. It's called "Minor Keys" and it's a documentary for the "Nature of Things" on CBC about child music prodigies. It follows the lives of two young students and their teacher and the paths that they are going on. They are all different ages: there's a 12 year old, a 19 year old and then their teacher, a former child music prodigy who is in his 60s. It's about the paths these children go throughout their lives. How they sort of struggle to deal with this gift. I make independent films. I make independent shorts and experimental films. Those are kind of the two main things I do.
I really feel it's important to be involved in the community. I am on the board of FAVA, the film and video arts co-op and I am on the board of the Edmonton International Film Festival. Those are the things that I feel I can give back to the arts community that has supported me so much. It gives me a chance to serve some time and help the infrastructure of the community grow. I've also been on the Edmonton Arts Council. All of those things I think really help connect you to all of the different groups that make up our community. It's been great.
With all of your independent films, what do you think about the support Edmonton gives to the arts? How do you think it has evolved during this time?
I think the Edmonton arts community is a really unique community and you really discover that, I think, when you travel. I've been really lucky to travel to film festivals across Canada [and] to see plays in all different corners of Canada and I have been able to travel across the US as well to a lot of international film festivals. All of those experiences made me appreciate Edmonton all that much more. I think it's because we have a really strong base of people who love the arts. They are not necessarily wealthy people who get corporate tickets, but they are people who have passionately grown up on the Fringe, the Folk Festival, Heritage Days. There are so many events the city has to offer. They just really love the arts and it's a part of their lives, it's a part of their everyday life and they go to the theatre, they go to the opera, World at Winspear, all of these things. It's just a part of their life. I really like living in a city where [there is] that kind of passion for the arts. I think the community itself is very supportive. In other communities, I find the artists competitive because the cost of living is so high and the amount of work is so small. Here, people are able to live comfortably and tend to be really supportive of each other's work. That is something I really don't take for granted. I really think that's important and that's what has kept me here.***
Your films are internationally acclaimed, but where do you consider home?
Well, you know, I keep coming back to Edmonton and it's interesting because now I've lived in Edmonton longer than I have lived in Calgary. So I think I'm calling myself an Edmontonian now. I used to say "I'm from Calgary, but I live in Edmonton." But now I call myself an Edmontonian. My parents have given up on the thought that I'll come back to Calgary, finally. They keep trying to lure me back, but they like it too. They actually come up for all the festivals as well, so they don't mind too much that I'm up here.
Is most of your family based in Calgary, then?
Yes. My family lives there.
Is there something that Edmonton should be proud of?
I think that one thing traveling internationally and traveling with my films and such has really taught me is that we don't realize what a strong and wonderful community that we have. We kind of have taken it for granted and I think we imagine that everywhere else is so much greater, but when you actually get out to these communities, you see how strong a core of people that we have in Edmonton and how passionate they are and the support we get from the community. It's really important. I don't think we really realize that until you've traveled and see other communities and see how they are struggling. Their orchestras are struggling too and their communities are having the same things that we're having, but the community core in Edmonton is strong. I hope people get a chance to get out and see the world and realize what we have in Edmonton.
Is there someone in Edmonton's history that you feel should be recognized, but hasn't been before?
That's interesting. There's so many kind of "unknown" people. I think in my work, especially in documentaries, I get a chance to interview a lot of people who maybe aren't famous people or acclaimed people, but I find that there's so many amazing stories that come from the immigrant experience. Edmonton is a city of so many people coming from different cultures, different countries and we don't always hear those stories. I would love to see more immigrant stories celebrated and immigrant lives celebrated. That's always been a passion of mine in my works and my films, in my own work and things like that.
It's interesting, I met a fellow the other day who was a famous broadcaster in Romania. He came over to Edmonton to cover the World Track and Field Games. He defected. He's working in a liquor store in south Edmonton and obviously not doing what he was doing in Romania. He was working at such a high level and yet, he has chosen to live here and that's a great endorsement. Maybe those are the kinds of stories we need to find and celebrate too. Just the people who do a great thing.
Is there anything else you would like to mention?
No. I don't think so.