The Alberta-made and produced children’s show Hey, Kujo! recently began filming in Calgary and contains a local voice behind one of its characters.
Hey Kujo! features over 30 child and adult cast members, ranging from ages six and up, as well as 18 crew members, all hailing from places within Alberta.
Airdrie’s award-winning playwright Kim Cheel began voicing the show’s African grey parrot named Adjoa, back in 2019, when the show first launched under the name Kujo’s Kid Zone on YouTube.
“In typical performing legend, I knew someone who knew someone who knew someone,” Cheel said about how she landed the role of Adjoa.
Cheel initially became involved in puppetry in 2017 with Airdrie’s Pink Whale Theatre and founder Ekaterina Petukhova.
“I really enjoy it. I've always said I have a face for radio so I guess I also have a face for puppetry,” she said with a laugh. “But I also love performing, so I have a face for the stage.”
While she is trained in theatre and knows how to evoke emotions using her body and voice, Cheel said puppetry poses a different challenge where she can only use her voice and the movement of the puppet to convey certain feelings and emotions.
“I grew up watching Fraggle Rock and The Muppets and stuff like that, so it's kind of fun to be like, ‘Just do it like Kermit or Miss Piggy does’,” she said.
After working on several shows with Petukhova, Cheel was referred to Kujo’s Kid Zone three years ago and took on the character of Adjoa.
She said finding the right voice for the parrot has been interesting. Typically when performing live, the actor plays a character that looks like her or is the same age, she explained.
In this case, Adjoa is much younger than Cheel, so she had to work to find the right characteristics to portray while still being endearing and engaging to the youthful audience.
“It was kind of a fun trial - just remembering the child I used to be and I guess realizing or reconciling how similar Adjoa is to little Kim back then,” she said.
Looking back at her own childhood, Cheel remembers the burning curiosity of the world she felt and said that’s exactly what Adjoa brings to the show.
“She always has questions of why this and why that,” Cheel said. “I remember graduating Grade 8, they teased me saying the teacher could never walk by my desk without me having a question. That's something I still subscribe to. It's okay not to know something, so always ask. How else are you going to learn?”
With 41 episodes and over 1 million views, the independent production received support from the Shaw Rocket Fund in the Fall of 2021 to produce an updated version, now entitled Hey, Kujo!
The new format takes place in a community centre, where Kujo acts as the friendly and adventurous manager who loves to meet new people and make them feel welcome, according to the production's press release.
Cheel said the children's show brings back a mixed-media format of live-action and cartoons, much like the ones she grew up with in the 1980s.
“I'm really nostalgic about it but I love that and I think as technology has advanced you move away and you move with the technology to get animation and all these things,” Cheel said. “It's not a return to the full basics, but it's a return to something that was really meaningful for a huge generation of people.”
The fact that the show is led by a black man is really special and the diversity within the children cast in the show is also fantastic, she added.
“It's so diverse, something that I never saw as a child watching TV,” Cheel said. “It's creating space for people and I'm saying this as a white [cisgender] woman who benefits from privilege just about any day of the week. But I do know the importance that representation gives to people and I think that's what this show does really, really well.”
She added the space given to each character in the show doesn’t take away from any of the other characters, which is important as well.
According to the press release, the episodes feature children asking Kujo a question, such as “What country does the Pride flag come from?” “How can someone play basketball in a wheelchair?” and “Is Kwanzaa like Christmas?”
Throughout the show, the child and Kujo go on a mission of discovery, assisted by someone from the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) community or another cultural expert. Puppets, songs, animation, and experiments are all part of the storyline as well.
The press release stated over 60 per cent of shows watched by children today feature animated, non-human characters, whereas this show introduces a human connection.
Three custom-made puppets are part of the show, including Kweku the owl, played by Calgary actor Ellis Lalonde, Adjoa the African grey parrot, played by Cheel, and Bernard the beaver, voiced by Métis puppeteer Michael Roik of Calgary.
Cheel isn’t the only cast member from Airdrie this season, as there will be one special guest featured on an episode who also calls Airdrie home. Cheel couldn’t share too much about that episode and said Airdronians will have to tune in to find out who it is.
The Hey, Kujo! shoot wrapped July 15, with an anticipated launch of episodes on YouTube, KiDoodle and Sensical Networks this fall.
For more details, visit kujoskidzone.com
