welcome

DECEMBER 2024 | VOLUME 246

 

DEC 2-15

Spark Joy

Our theatres are well and truly into holiday season mode this month with musicals, Christmas musicals, comedies, pantos, sing-alongs, kids’ shows and much much more of the same. Nothing too serious, challenging or dreary to wreck the holiday mood. But just see what’s coming in January!

Meantime, do consider buying theatre tix as holiday gifts, and get yourself an end-of-year tax receipt with a donation to your favourite Vancouver-region theatre company. They are all non-profits, so your help is considered a charitable donation. Theatre artists work hard for very little financial return, and like them, the people who run the companies do so out of love for the art and the activity. The arts brighten our lives and offer a counterbalance to the cynicism that affects so much of our politics and institutional life. Help keep our our community healthy and alive. Support theatre and spark joy.

See our On Now page for everything running through mid-December. Be sure to look for the BUY TICKETS buttons. And plot your theatregoing into the early new year with the offerings on our Coming Soon page.

Theatre lovers, theatre students, theatre historians and casual readers are invited to browse our ARCHIVES pages. Read 1000+ reviews of what you may have seen or missed over the past two decades of Vancouver-area theatre.

Important Note: The BUY TICKETS Button on our PREVIEW and REVIEW pages is strictly a convenience for theatregoers. Click on the button and get direct access to the company’s box office for that show. Vancouverplays gets no cut or commission from your ticket purchase. 100% of the money goes directly to the theatre company.

The Improv Centre presents TheatreSports: Taylor’s Version for one night only, Dec. 6, 9:30. https://theimprovcentre.ca/shows/?g_search1&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsLrryL2HigMV9getBh1bpy6oEAAYASACEgK19_D_BwE

Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre presents Creation Lab Readings: Abi Padilla, Grandma.Gangsta.Guerilla, Melicia Zaini and Ariane Anindita Anantaputri, Mel and Ari's Immigration Fund ($1,200,000), and Anju Singh, The Coward. Roundhouse Community Centre, Dec. 10-12. https://vact.ca/vact-creation-lab-december-10-12 

North Vancouver’s Presentation House Theatre presents A Holiday Singalong, Dec. 17-21. Tickets & info at https://www.phtheatre.org/box-office/.

The Cultch and Theatre Replacement present the film version of East Van Panto: The Little Mermaid free until Jan. 5. https://thecultch.com/watch/east-van-panto-on-demand/

Ruby Slippers Theatre invites applications from female-identifying and gender non-conforming IBPOC playwrights and directors for its 2026 Advance Theatre Festival. Application deadline May 15, 2025. Details and guidelines at https://www.rubyslippers.ca/call-for-submissions.

The PuSh Festival has dropped a new episode of its PuSh Play Podcast, The History of Korean Western Theatre. https://pushfestival.ca/shows/the-history-of-korean-western-theatre/

And Fight With a Stick Performance presents the third episode of its podcast, Cabin in the Woods. https://www.fightwithastick.ca/podcast

Congrats to Keltie Forsyth, who will succeed Kim Selody as Artistic Director of Presentation House Theatre. Currently co-artistic director of Ensemble Theatre Company and Director of Operations at the PuSh Festival, Keltie will take over in February. https://www.phtheatre.org/pht-welcomes-new-artistic-director/

Congratulations to Corey Payette for winning Outstanding Feature Film Writer for Les Filles du Roi at Toronto’s Reel World International Film Festival. https://www.reelworld.ca/2024-awards.

The Improv Centre is offering classes in improv at all levels. Info HERE.

Richmond’s Gateway Theatre Academy is offering acting and musical theatre classes for kids ages 6-7. https://gatewaytheatre.com/academy

Enjoy,

Jerry