Nomadic Tempest: a Climatopian rock opera

This summer the Caravan Stage Company sails into Vancouver (Aug. 15–Sept. 3) on their one of a kind 90-foot Theatre Ship. Their current show, Nomadic Tempest, explores a future world where climate change has caused environmental catastrophe across the planet, using original music, aerial artistry, and projections to captivate its audiences. Nomadic Tempest is an original –…

Th’owxiya: the Hungry Feast Dish

A mouse is caught stealing cheese from the mouth of Th’owxiya: a goddess known to hold the best foods from around the world. The challenge: find and sacrifice two young spirits to Th’owxiya (pronounced: Tho-wox-eeya) or she will eat the mouse’s whole family! With the help of new friends – two bears, a raven and…

Searching for home

A diner threatened by corporate takeover. A group of youths determined to keep the place they see as an integral part of their community.  This is the setting of Home, a new and original play from the Some Assembly Arts Society that will be performed from May 3-6. Written and performed by youth, it is…

On stage: Canadian Aboriginal soldiers

One hundred years ago, the battle of Vimy Ridge was fought in France. REDPATCH is a historical drama that focuses on this battle, as well as the contributions made by Aboriginal soldiers and their communities for Canada during the First World War. The play will be presented March 29–Apr. 9 at Presentation House Theatre in…

Play gives voice to refugee experiences

In 1998, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested by the international police and charged with crimes against humanity. Playwright Carmen Aguirre says that this was a turning point for Chileans in Chile and in Vancouver as well. “It led to all kinds of informal gatherings and Chilean refugees here started to talk about everything we’ve…

Refuge: Two kinds of goods

A work of fiction inspired by real events, playwright Mary Vingoe’s Refuge explores the two sides of the refugee situation – the ‘two goods.’ “It’s about who we are, what we want to protect; it’s about two rival goods – the idea of two principles. They are both good (protecting your own family and reaching…

Elle: a survivor’s journey

Firehall Arts Centre presents Elle, a play about a French aristocrat stranded on an island on the East Coast of Canada. Severn Thompson is the leading lady and also wrote the play as an adaptation of Douglas Glover’s novel of the same name. Christine Brubaker is the play’s innovative director. It will be live at…

Artists break down communication barriers through comedy

Vancouver choreographer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg met Italian choreographer Silvia Gribaudi at a dance space in Embra, Scotland. They took an interest in each other’s work. Presented by the Chutzpah Festival and The Dance Centre, Friedenberg and Gribaudi’s collaboration, empty.swimming.pool, a work that includes dance, theatre and comedy, will be on at The Scotiabank Centre Feb.…

Understanding our place in the world through theatre

The legends of bears and ravens often showcase First Nations history to the public. This time, Quelemia Sparrow of the Musqueam Nation and Michelle Olson of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in Nation decided to tell the story of salmon.  Produced by Raven Spirit Dance and created by Sparrow and Olson, Salmon Girl (which mixes theatre, dance, music…

Foreign Radical: a game of secrets

Personal experience ignited the imagination of writer/director Tim Carlson for Foreign Radical, a play with an interactive set up similar to a murder mystery. Thirty audience members, split into four quadrants to gather information, are exposed to real-life prejudices and privacy invasions. Foreign Radical will be appearing at Studio 1398 from Feb. 6–11. “Online, on…

How important is memory?

How do we define ourselves? By our accomplishments? Our jobs? Our families? Or just what we remember?  These are the questions Diane Brown asks us to ask ourselves as director of the play You Will Remember Me (from the play Tu te souviendras de moi by François Archambault, translated by Bobby Theodore) showing at the…

Town Choir: translating text messages to song

Theatre Replacement’s Town Choir will open on Jan. 22 at the Woodward’s Atrium as part of the 2017 PuSh Festival. Town Choir is the newest iteration of the group’s Town Criers project, where everyday or potentially mundane observations are presented as newsworthy, with the writers potentially hundreds of kilometers away from the performance. Town Criers…

Disability takes to the stage

On Feb. 3, 1971, the story of four men living with cerebral palsy (CP) came to life on the Factory Theatre stage in Toronto. Creeps, by Canadian playwright, journalist and poet David E. Freeman is credited as the play that changed Canadian theatre forever. Creeps brought disability stories to the stage. The play will be…