“I’m always thinking of other ways we can be together in a room, and not to [have] so much shame around it,” Khakpour shares.

For commissioned artist Anjela Magpantay, experimental theatre provides an alternative avenue for storytelling – one that is more accessible to those who may not see themselves in mainstream theatre.

No scripts, only questions

The commissioned artists must create a 15-minute work of experimental theatre responding to this year’s theme: “the bizarre paradox of negative time in the quantum world.” Inspired by astrophysics, this theme refers to paradoxical results from recent quantum experimentations: light-pulses moved through a structure equivalent to a tunnel in less than zero time.

Khakpour emphasizes how experimental theatre begins with “a question, not an answer.”

“The theme proposes that the future has already happened,” Magpantay adds. “It proposes that the future is already predetermined.”

Unlike conventional theatre where scripts guide rehearsals, the two artists and their respective teams will explore different questions through the rehearsal process.

“The experimental scene became quite the space where you could actually fantasize and imagine new worlds and test the ground in different ways,” Khakpour adds. “You don’t have to submit to a specific written text already existing.”

For Khakpour’s team, the questions center around connections between theatre and intimacy. The idea arose from a conversation with one of his collaborators, local interdisciplinary artist and performer Erika Mitsuhashi.

“I was in conversation with Mitsuhashi about intimacy coordination, and generally, intimacy and erotic interactions and presence on theatrical space,” he shares.

His theme of intimacy extends beyond romantic relationships. The artist recognizes intimacy in various contexts, including between friends and audience-performer.

He adds that in other places, such as Europe, intimacy is simply regarded as another theatrical tool. Khakpour is also collaborating with costume designer, elika mojtabaei. This work reflects his interest in sex positivity and pleasure activism – ideas that reclaim sexuality from oppressive and capitalist structures.

Welcoming critical audiences

Magpantay’s work explores storytelling without words.

“Lots of ideas trying to fit in one, tiny needle-sized hole,” she shares of the process. “Our work as artists and collaborators is sifting through all the materials that we want to experiment on.”

Her team consists of playwright Abi Padilla and composer-playwright-producer Argel Monte de Ramos. The trio begins their theatrical process by examining impressionable images.

“Come in hypercritical and know what you like and what questions you have,” Magpantay adds. “Instead of thinking, ‘It doesn’t make sense’ is a negative thing. Think, ‘It doesn’t make sense, what does that say about [yourself]?’”

Magpantay, a first-generation Canadian with Filipino roots, has also worked in Hong Kong, the Philippines and the U.K. The two artists first met around 10 years ago at Simon Fraser University’s theatre program.

“We thought about regret, about staying or leaving,” says Magpantay of her team’s explorations, which are inspired by their immigrant backgrounds. “There’s a lot of questions about double lives, double identities, double futures.”

Khakpour’s team will also explore the theme of immigration – alongside memory, loss, grief and pleasure. The Tehran-born creator moved to Vancouver at the age of 20. His work will involve fragments of a text from the 1960s, creating a textual dialogue between past and present.

“This looking back is always a huge part of us, experimenting time in a fragmented way,” he shares. “I’m continuously, as an immigrant, exploring time on a Tehran, Iran and Canada scale.”

For Khakpour, experimental theatre’s “unknown and fun“ quality gives it a “flirting energy” – an exciting way for people to engage with uncertainty. He sees this engagement with the unknown as a political act.

Both artists would like to see a highly critical audience at their performances. THE ARRAY will be held at What Lab (1814 Pandora Street). It will also include a work led by UpInTheAir Theatre.

“I wonder how we can all in a room – a bunch of strangers – connect with each other and create bridges,” adds Magpantay. “I like to have the audience walk out of the theatre meeting a stranger.”

For more information on THE ARRAY: Less Than Zero, see: www.upintheairtheatre.com/whats-up/the-array-2025