Tag Archives: Historic Theatre

Pulizter Prize Winning Play The Fairview At The Cultch September 27 – October 8

20 Sep

The Cultch presents Fairview, from Vancouver’s The Search Party in partnership with Toronto’s b current Performing Arts, running at the Historic Theatre from September 27 until October 8, 2023.

The Frasier family are getting ready for Grandma’s birthday party but things keep going wrong. Beverly wants everything to be perfect, but nobody is cooperating. Her sister Jasmine won’t help, her husband Dayton is more interested in the game and isn’t paying attention to her, her brother Tyrone is MIA, and Keisha—well, her daughter is a teenager. And while everything is falling apart around Beverly … maybe nothing is what it seems in the first place!

Jackie Sibblies Drury’s hard-hitting examination of race and surveillance premiered June 17, 2018, at Soho Repertory Theatre in New York Theatre. The response was immediate and substantial. Audiences were stirred up, and the show quickly gained momentum as it began gaining accolade after accolade. It went on to win the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was also nominated for six 2019 Drama Desk Awards. Since then it has been produced all over the world.

For Fairview’s Western Canada premiere, Vancouver’s award-winning company The Search Party is partnering with Toronto’s b current Performing Arts. Toronto’s Kwaku Okyere, a Ghanaian-Canadian director, will be joining The Search Party’s Artistic Director Mindy Parfitt to bring Fairview to the Historic Stage. “Often conversations about race can happen in silos with people who have similar lived experiences rather than cross-culturally,” says Okyere and Parfitt. “Our collaboration aims to model what the play is doing, which is to ignite conversation across differences.” For tickets, visit The Cultch.

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Stupid F*ing Bird At The Cultch April 12-23

26 Mar

The Cultch and The Search Party YVR (Vancouver) bring a contemporary adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, STUPID F*ING BIRD to the stage April 12 – 23. This is a whip smart comedic tragedy about unrequited love, missed connections, lost dreams and the pursuit of happiness. The production features original songs, live music and multi-generational tales that reveal the danger in our own desires and the elusive pursuit of happiness. Tickets are now on sale and start at $25. To purchase tickets online, visit The Cultch.

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Bad Parent Premieres At The Cultch October 13-23

20 Sep

The Cultch and vAct (Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre) present Bad Parent, a brand new play from renowned award-winning playwright, Ins Choi. Bad Parent will have its Vancouver premiere at The Cultch Historic Theatre, October 13-23, 2022. It was originally scheduled to run in the spring of 2022, but had to be postponed due to COVID.

The production features Norah and Charles who are trying to navigate their lives as parents of a toddler, but are figuring out who they are in relation to their son, to each other, and to the audience. Bad Parent, is a billed as a hilarious new feel-good comedy from Ins Choi, the creator of the hit CBC sitcom and play Kim’s Convenience, is an honest, no-holds-barred portrait of young parents struggling to find their way through the messy reality of parenthood.

Like all the best fiction, Bad Parent was born of true experience. “There was a turbulent time, early in our marriage, when my wife and I argued a lot. I began writing long unfiltered rants in an attempt to clarify how I was feeling and why,” says playwright Ins Choi. “Many years later, I came across those rants and felt sorry for that couple back then trying to make ends meet, meet each other’s needs and the needs of a newborn.”

Renowned award-winning Vancouver theatre company vAct has gained a reputation in the city for premiering groundbreaking works by some of the biggest names in Canadian theatre. They are one of the only theatre companies in the country to focus on Asian Canadian creators, and they have been responsible for creating and producing some of the most exciting theatre on Canadian stages. Bad Parent, the latest of their Mainstage productions, written by one of Canada’s most famous contemporary playwrights continues the legacy of telling great stories from incredible Asian Canadian talent. “Stories disarm by inviting us into the lives of others wholly different from ourselves only to help us realize how similar we all are,” says Choi. “Through stories, we’re entertained as a group and comforted to know we’re not alone both in our struggles and what we find funny.”

Bad Parent takes the stage in the Historic Theatre at The Cultch from October 13 to 23, 2022.  Tickets start at $29 and are available online at The Cultch.

Photo: Emily Cooper

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The Cultch Presents Beautiful Man February 24 – March 5

20 Feb

The Cultch presents Beautiful Man, from Pi Theatre, at the Historic Theatre, February 24 – March 5, 2022.

Governor General Award-winning playwright Erin Shields’ Beautiful Man examines traditional gender roles as they are portrayed in popular media, and turns them on their head. In this satirical play, three women chat about the Hollywood movies they have been watching. Only, in the world of Beautiful Man, men are the objects, while women are the subjects. From genre to genre—everything from cop shows to greek tragedies—the absurdity of traditional conventions are brought to the surface. Beautiful Man not only mocks the media’s representation of women, it exposes the underlying violence of objectification with a sharp wit.

Vancouver’s Pi Theatre has made a reputation producing plays that are “intellectually alive and emotionally charged.” In business since 1984, and under the leadership of Richard Wolfe since 2008, they have produced over 100 shows, and been awarded 34 Jessie Awards. “I chose to produce Beautiful Man here in ‘Hollywood North’,” says Wolfe, “because I feel Erin Shields’ relevant play takes an incisive look at how capitalism packages bodies, most often women’s bodies, and sells them as mere objects of entertainment.” Chosen specifically for the task of directing, Keltie Forsyth feels that rage is a powerful tool. “I have shared that rage many times in my life. As has every femme person I know,” she says “… In this piece, Shields finds a way to channel her rage and use it to target the ways the media feeds and upholds patriarchal structures.” Part of The Cultch’s fifth annual Femme Festival, Beautiful Man brings a powerful feminist perspective. Here’s what people are saying about Beautiful Man:

“Erin Shields’s Beautiful Man is a razor-sharp satire that hilariously skewers the tropes of female characters in film and TV.”
Samantha Edwards, Now Toronto

“Shields is a very talented, intelligent, and funny writer with a powerful message”
Ilana Lucas, Mooney on Theatre

“Beautiful Man is a deeply insightful criticism of gender roles enforced by society through the media we consume…”
Isabella Perrone, Broadway World review 

“[Shields is] still writing directly in dialogue with contemporary culture, getting inside it, wrestling with it, taking the royal piss and then throwing it down.”
The Star

This is an in person production with Covid-19 protocols in place. To purchase your tickets, visit The Cultch.

Photo Credit: Emily Cooper

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A Crime Thriller The Butcher Comes To The Cultch March 20th to 31st

20 Mar

TheButcherThe Cultch and Prime Cuts Collective invite you to take a ride on a philosophical crime thriller, The Butcher.  Who is the Butcher? At a police station a mysterious old man is found wearing a foreign military uniform and a Santa hat. A butcher’s hook hangs around his neck, and gouged on the end is a business card with the words, “Arrest me,” scrawled on it. As a lawyer, a police officer, and a translator struggle to unravel the truth, they uncover a past that won’t stay buried, and a decades-old quest for justice that must be served.  Dark secrets come to light. A past that won’t stay buried. A decades-old quest for justice that must be served.  The production we hear is not what you might expect and will have you guessing the entire time.   The Butcher takes place in the Historic Theatre at The Cultch March 20th to March 31st. Tickets start from $22 and are available online at The Cultch.

What others are saying about The Butcher:

 “Can a play about torture be too entertaining?”
The Globe and Mail

“A devilishly clever piece of work”
National Post

“A live entertainment game changer”
Toronto Stage

“[A] funny, horrifying, serpentine stage thriller” 
CBC Arts

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