·
“It’s so important that people come to see this play because it doesn’t sit in a negative place. We raise these serious issues to try to process them,” says Valerie Methot, director, playwright and set and sound designer of REWIRE. Created in collaboration between industry professionals and youth, REWIRE addresses the causes of negative stress including grief, poverty…
What would it be like to walk into a performance without knowing the script? That is what NASSIM, the international award-winning play, asks of its performers. There are no rehearsals; there is a different guest actor at each performance; and the actors never see the script until they step on stage to perform it. “This [type of…
It’s a tale with a twist! Theatre professionals Amaranta Leyva and Kim Selody are working hard to retell the most magical of all stories, fairy tales. And these stories are a little different than you’re used to. “The heart of the play is the message,” says Leyva, lead actor in Jack and the Magic Bean. It’s a…
A couple of lifetimes ago and another world away, the lives of many Japanese Canadian families changed forever in 1942. Trying to understand what these times were like, from a Nisei’s perspective, is what initiated The Tashme Project: The Living Archives. The Firehall Arts Centre will present the docudrama play Apr. 2–13. “We shift from character to…
Improv as an art form is very positive, joyful and celebratory, and that’s kind of the mindset that we approach each of our special shows with,” says Margret Nyfors, Director of Public Education and Co-Director of Rookie League at Vancouver Theatre Sports (VTS). Together with former artistic director Denise Jones, Nyfors co-produced Shamrocks & Shenanigans, a…
A new version of Hansel and Gretel is just what the world needs at this time, says Ellie King. “There’s rotten stuff going on in the world right now, so our goal is to lighten people’s lives, to bring light through the door,” says King, who is the founder and artistic director of The Royal Canadian Theatre Company,…
In the upcoming theatre production The Ones We Leave Behind viewers are immersed in a character play that subtly addresses one of society’s major issues: social isolation, abandonment and loneliness. With the support of the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT), the seminal MSG Lab play will be making its debut from Oct. 24–Nov. 3 at The Cultch’s…
Javaad Alipoor, writer, co-director and lead performer, brings The Believers Are But Brothers to centre stage at the Culture Lab Oct. 30–Nov 10. The one-actor play deals with identity, insecurity and fantasy while taking on the topics of toxic masculinity and far-right extremism in the online world. A representation of masculinity and extremism With just a few…
A play written for a younger audience, but with content everyone can relate to, So, How Should I Be? explores the impact that mass and social media, friends, family and our communities have on mental health, with a specific focus on eating disorders. Set to perform at Presentation House Theatre October 18–28, So, How Should…
Directed and performed by Aryo and Arash Khakpour, Cain and Abel is a physical, movement-heavy performance inspired by the biblical story. The show, set to perform at the Firehall Arts Centre from October 3–6, takes a look at our society through the lens of the rivalry and violence between the most famous pair of brothers…
The Fish Eyes Trilogy, a theatre show with a focus on dance written and performed by actor, dancer and playwright Anita Majumdar, is coming to the Surrey Arts Centre Aug. 18. “Anita brings a really fierce determination to explore how dance gets in your body and how dance expresses a character’s life, interests and their…
Dreams do come true during the summer nights, and Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) invites audiences to see their two new musicals for the 2018 summer season. Vancouver’s vision of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein’s Cinderella and 42nd Street will run at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl stage (July 4–Aug. 18). “We’re doing a show with a diverse cast and…
Eury Colin Chang, a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia (UBC), is writing his dissertation on the impact that Canadians of Asian descent have made on professional theatre in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. The performing arts have played a significant role in one form or another for most of Chang’s life. Now, his…
