What does it mean to live? Big question right? Everyone’s definition will be different. This There asks the big question in this production coming to The Cultch. Follow Alison and Maddie who are at a crossroads in life. Alison is a disenchanted actress and isn’t sure she wishes to continue in her chosen profession. Maddie on the other hand is an entrepreneur who is the verge of selling her catering business she’s worked hard to build up over many years. The couple take a trip to the West Coast for a quiet vacation and change of scenery and to visit Alison’s father. All with demanding careers in their own right, the trip brings things into focus for them all. This There continues at The Cultch July 25-28. Tickets are $30 with $20 tickets available for artist, low income and students.
This There Continues At The Cultch July 25-28, 2018
16 Jul
What’s On East Van: July 13th Edition
13 Jul
Our weekly feature What’s On East Van sets out some cool events for the upcoming week. Beyond the week, we invite you to check out our Event Listing which is updated daily and features events for the month and beyond.
Greek SummerFest – Boundary & 29th Ave. Until July 15th
Great food, live entertainment and dancing continues this weekend and then it’s done for another year. The Greek Summerfest is happening at Boundary and 29th Avenue. Lots of great talent taking the stage this weekend including Greek sensation Yanni Sahamis and Grupo Asi Somos performing Venezuelan Music. This is an all ages event and admission is free. For more information, visit Greek Summerfest.
Movie In The Park – Collingwood Park – July 13th
Collingwood Community Policing is hosting a free movie in the park event Friday, July 13th. Festivities get underway at 7:00 pm. Movie name not announced, but we expect it to be family friendly.
Adult Nights – Playland – July 13th
Playland Nights continues this Friday Night for the 4th of 6 evening events for the 19+ crowd. There will be beverages, alcoholic and non, midway games, rides, DJs spinning tunes with a definite party theme. New this year is also a burlesque show and the opportunity to test your lumber Jack/Jill skills with axe-throwing which we understand there’s an extra charge to participate in. Tickets are $31 in advance or $34 at the gate.
Eastside Culture Crawl’s 3rd Annual Art, Bike, Beer Crawl– July 14th
This is a fundraiser for the Eastside Culture Crawl Society which does a great job of featuring East Van artists. This event takes you to 4 breweries whether you wish to cycle or walk, your call. Last stop is Strange Fellows Brewing which will be serving light bite as well. To get your ticket, visit Eventbrite.
Miqayel Voskanyan & Friends – The Cultch – July 14th
Miqayel Voskanyan and Friends will be performing at The Cultch this Saturday. This is an ethno-jazz and folk band based in Yerevan, Armenia. They have introduced jazz to the tar (a folk instrument used across the Caucasus and Iran), which we’ve learnt makes them stand out with a fresh, modern sound in world music. This is a new genre of music that fuses old and new. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door and available at The Cultch.
RecycleFest – Trout Lake – July 14th
You are invited to stop by RecycleFest this Saturday at Trout Lake from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm with your unwanted or broken small appliances and power tools. While there, enjoy free food, music, games and prizes and learn a little about recycling.
Weiner Dog Races – Hastings Racecourse – July 14th & 15th
Hastings Racecourse presents their Dog Days of Summer event, the very popular Weiner Dog Races. Along with the races, there will be food trucks, craft beer and live music and we hope some shade and cooling mats for the hot dogs. Event happens both Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. First race each day is at 1:50 pm.
Summer Series At Grandview Park – July 15th
The Commercial Drive Business Society is hosting a free family event at Grandview Park (Commercial Drive at Charles Street). You are invited to stop by between 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm for Zumba on the main stage, face painting, balloon twisting and more.
Live Music, Comedy & Entertainment
Looking for live music? Breaking Boundaries is back at Cafe Deux Soleils on the Drive this Saturday night. If you are looking for comedy, East Van Improv League hangs out at Havana Theatre Sunday nights at 8:00 pm. Three farmer markets are happening this weekend. Saturday it’s Riley Park (10 am – 2 pm) and Trout Lake (9 am – 2 pm) and Sunday, Mount Pleasant Farmers Market is back at Dude Chilling Park from 10:00 am till 2:00 pm. To see more of what’s on in East Vancouver, check our Event Listing.
Image Credit: June Hunter
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Meet Me At The Lamp(p)ost: Exhibit of East Vancouver Street Photography At Massy Books
2 Jul
Massy Books 100% Indigenous owned and operated business that recently moved to 229 East Georgia Street in Chinatown. They have a great selection of rare and off beat books alongside best sellers. We recently learnt they also have a great gallery upstairs. It is currently featuring a collaborative collection of street photography that celebrates the artistry and grit of East Vancouver while capturing stillness in a world full of transient moments.
The exhibit is presented by Irish-born, Canadian residents Laura Noonan and Tara Mary Paget, through place-specific street photography, Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost revolves around the present and promotes contentment in self and place. Laura and Tara founded Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost in 2016, they are self-taught lens-based artists, focused predominately on exploring the landscape, people and architecture that make up East Vancouver. They chose Massy Books as a place to display their work for its quirky and artsy nature and its community space that enables people to connect. Meet Me At The Lamp(p)post is on now until July 10, 2018 during regular hours, being 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Wednesday and 10:00 am to 8:00 pm Thursday to Sunday. Stop by and check out how they see East Vancouver.
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Eastside Culture Crawl’s 3rd Annual Art, Bike & Beer Crawl July 14, 2018
19 Jun
The Eastside Culture Crawl is hosting their 3rd Annual Art, Bike & Beer Crawl on Saturday, July 14, 2018. This is fundraiser for the Eastside Culture Crawl Society which does a great job showcasing some of the amazing artistic talent we have in East Van. As the name depicts, you will be taken on a crawl of 4 breweries, names to be announced, but their official beer sponsor is Strange Fellows Brewing which is also where the wrap tour will be held along with light eats. The beer crawl will feature tasting flights at each brewery along with tours and/or chats on beer as well as art exhibits at certain spot on the tour. The event happens rain or shine and you are invited to cycle or walk the Art, Bike & Beer Crawl. Tickets are $55 and available from Eventbrite. You must be 19 years or older to participate in this event.
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Eat.Drink.Play. At The Firehall Arts Centre June 14, 2018
6 Jun
The Firehall Arts Centre invites you to Eat.Drink.Play. being held on Thursday, June 14th from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova Street. This annual fundraiser brings together some of East Van’s best restaurants, craft brewers, small-batch distillers and performers for an evening of sampling and sharing. The event takes over the Firehall’s entire premises including theatre, lobby, studio, courtyard as well as the dressing rooms. Throughout the Firehall, you will find an array of delectable treats, eclectic dance, music and performances as well as a silent auction. Eat.Drink.Play will feature selections of food from neighbourhood hot spots including The Pint, Tuc Craft Kitchen, Cadeaux Baker, Crab Park Chowdery, Kofta, Elephant & Castle. Libations will be provided the kind folks at Steamworks Brewery nand Odd Society Spirits as well as Hoochy Boooch kombucha. You can expect a smorgasbord of delectable treats and enjoyable performances as you roam through the heritage building sampling food, enjoying libations, and bidding on some amazing silent auction items. For music and laughter, Krystle Dos Santos, recently seen in the Chelsea Hotel will be on hand as will Andy Toth seen in the Firehall’s Urinetown The Musical and a few more guests. The Firehall Arts Centre has been producing performing arts for 35 years in this beautiful heritage building at the corner of Cordova and Gore. We invite you to lend your support for our City’s vibrant and innovative arts community. Tickets for Eat.Drink.Play are $49 and $25 for artists and are available online at Firehall Arts Centre.
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Contributing Writer Tiva Quinn Checks Out rEvolver Festival On Until June 3rd
1 Jun
Contributing writer, Tiva Quinn, checked out a few shows being featured as part of the rEvolver Festival. This festival featuring young contemporary artists is on now at The Cultch until June 3rd. Get out and see for yourself what’s on. Visit The Cultch for tickets.
BUG
Bug clearly shows that young Ojibwe artist Yolanda Bonnell is a performer and creator to watch. In this one-woman show about addictions, intergenerational trauma and the foster care system, Yolanda portrays a young woman growing up too fast and accepting abusive relationships into her life as a sign that she matters to someone. She also portrays the young woman’s mother, wrestling with her addictions and with questions about whether or not she deserved to have her child taken away by the government. And in a strange and powerful way, she also gives voice to the power of addiction and intergenerational trauma itself, manifesting as Manidoons – the Ojibwe word for bug or worm. The two human characters, mother and daughter, become stunningly real and complex in a short period of time – while the Manidoons are represented as a simple, genuinely creepy being who cares only about gaining more and more control over human lives.
PROBABILITY
Next I went to Probability, a show about two women who may or may not end up in love, and may or may not succeed in making a go of it if they do. Probability managed to be laugh out loud funny in several places, while also digging into some pretty deep material about the things we want and the things we fear in intimate relationships. The improv game technique of having two actors represent the characters in the story while another two represent their inner monologues is used to excellent effect here – a lot of the 
funniest moments and also the most painful, heart-tugging moments come from the difference between what the characters say and what’s going on in their minds. It also means that we get to see the process in motion both when they try to protect themselves and when they try to reveal themselves. All four actresses do a terrific job here, and the set deserves honorable mention as well.
KITT & JANE
Last, I saw Kitt & Jane: An Interactive Survival Guide to the Near-Post-Apocalyptic Future which was also a mix of comedy and serious themes, but with a lot more emphasis on the comedy. Kitt and Jane depicts the antics of two 8th graders who take over their school assembly and decide to present about the coming eco-apocalypse instead of their assigned topic, the life cycle of the salmon. Like actual 8th graders, the actors are incredibly funny at several points along the way, but they also take their obsessions a bit too far and wear on our nerves at times. The show’s creators cite Adventure Time, Big Mouth, and Gravity Falls as some of their influences and the show definitely is a lot like watching human cartoons. If you enjoy the humor in characters who never quite realize when they’ve gone too far, you might just love this show.
Photo Credit: Patricia Trinh
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rEvolver Festival May 23 – June 3, 2018 At The Cultch
23 MayUpintheair Theatre presents the rEvolver Festival at The Cultch May 23 to June 3, 2018. , rEolver showcases a wide range of high energy contemporary theatre by new and emerging artists over 12 days. The festival will feature script based theatre, stage readings along with some in depth discussions with artists. There is a wide range of productions which all take place at The Cultch during the Festival. Some run short, some longer. To see the full schedule, visit their website rEvolver Festival. While checking out the schedule, we encourage you to check out a free show happening over several days. It’s only 15 minutes long, but called The Somewhere Cedar. A teen, Antigone, fights to save the oldest known red Cedar in western BC. This production has already won a couple of awards including the Vancouver Fringe Artistic Risk Award in 2015.
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Spark Fire & Light Saturday May 26th At Terminal City Glass Co-Op
8 May
Terminal City Glass Co-op is hosting Spark Fire & Light an annual public fundraising event on Saturday, May 26th at 1191 Parker Street. With over 200 members, Terminal City Glass Co-op is Canada’s first and only non-profit glass arts Co-op. Founded in February 2012, the studio was built almost entirely with donated equipment and materials and volunteer labour of members. This event is a fundraiser which helps support Terminal City Glass Co-op’s public educational programming and their community building activities. The Co-op offers courses in glassblowing, flameworking, beadmaking and sandblasting to everyone age 16+. Spark Fire & Light will feature live glassblowing demonstrations, food, drink and music along with the chance to bid on a silent auction that will feature pieces by some of North America’s premier glass artists with works ranging from wearable jewelry to functional and sculptural objects. The event kicks off at 7:00 pm and tickets are $35 and available online form Terminal City Glass.
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East Van Artist June Hunter Hosting Studio Sale May 4 – 6, 2018
30 Apr
One of our favourite local artists, June Hunter, is hosting a Studio Sale this weekend. For those that don’t know her work, nature features prominently in June’s work as do some iconic East Van landmarks. She regularly features crows and other birds that come to visit her idyllic backyard which houses her working studio. Those crows have been a source of inspiration for new designs. Always creative, June has been busy working on new designs which include beautiful cushion covers, iPad cases, notepads, pencil cases, tote bags and more. Her working studio will again be transformed to showcase all her creative works which also include jewellery, small prints, large scale wall art, tiles and more. If you are lucky, her rescue dog Geordie will again be on hand as ambassador to greet you. June Hunter’s Studio is located at 2785 Parker Street (one block west of Renfrew – between Hastings St. and First Avenue). The Studio Sale takes place Friday, May 4th from 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm and Saturday, May 5th and Sunday, May 6th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
If you are not able to attend this weekend’s Studio Sale, we invite you check out her online shop which is open 24/7. You can also find some of June’s pieces at Doctor Vigari Gallery, 1816 Commercial Drive and Bird on A Wire Creations, 2535 Main Street.
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A World Without Us At The Cultch April 17 – 29, 2018
4 Apr
The Cultch is bringing an interesting production to the stage, one which features an eco-disaster. World Without Us is a new production about the end of humanity and what comes after it. Think about it … no more mortgage, no more long lines at the bank, no coffee shops, no honey in glass jars, no Skytrain, no buses, animals running wild, no more towers being built, no exercise class, no swimming pools. Ontroerend Goed, creators of Fight Night, ask the question would it ever get this far? Would we find a solution? Read the news any given day, some days you think it might just come to this. So what would a world without us be like? To find out, check out this poignant production coming April 17th to 29th at The Cultch.
What people are saying about World With Us:
A poignant premonition of eco-disaster” — The Guardian
As ever, it is the clarity, simplicity and brilliance of the form found in order to express specific content that dazzles when it comes to Ontroerend Goed’s work” — exeunt magazine
The story is compelling, inventively written and implacably delivered” — The Stage
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