What is REIMU?

Reimu 冷夢 is a groundbreaking reimagining of the Japanese folk legend, Snow Woman, fusing intercultural and mixed-media storytelling to bring an immersive theatre experience to audiences. Reimu is set to premiere in October 2026, and you can visit our landing page to meet the incredible team bringing this show to life!

Who are you?

We are the Hibiki Project, a Toronto-based arts collective specializing in the creation and performance of Japanese musical/interdisciplinary works. Find out about our previous projects through our portfolio.

Why does REIMU matter right now?

Canada is one of the world's most ethnically and culturally diverse nations, with Toronto (premiere location!) having 50% of its residents born outside of Canada (Statistics Canada) – yet, the performance of intercultural arts often remains limited to within their respective community hubs.

Hibiki is working to break through these barriers – Reimu features both Canadian and Japanese storytelling traditions, strengthening the dramatic impact of both by using two languages simultaneously. We aim for this show to reach young people of colour, as well as individuals with intercultural upbringing, sparking conversations regarding identity formation and perspectives in communication. It is crucial that local theatre remains a space where audiences can feel a sense of belonging and community.

Why are we launching this fundraiser?

Producing Reimu for stage involves the dedication of an entire village. Hibiki was able to complete the development and recording phases of Reimu through financial support from the Ontario Arts Council, and our collective dedicates all revenue from ticket sales to covering production costs – but this alone is not enough to fully fund our show. The precarious granting process of funding structures makes it difficult to secure our budget in time for the production phase set to commence in August.

We now turn to you, our community: fellow theatre, music and art-lovers – your donations will directly contribute to vital elements of the production process, including but not limited to:

We also understand that donating isn't always possible. If you can take 5 minutes to share our fundraiser, that would mean the world to us!!!

Thank you for supporting local arts and helping us share our work with the larger community.

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Teaser Credits

Music: Kento Stratford

Libretto: Hibiki Project

Graphics: Lachlan Mason

Performers: Babεl Chorus, Sakurako Jayne Abe, Chihiro Yasufuku

Conductor: Elaine Choi

Recording Engineer: Ricci Ebron

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