The Firehall Arts Centre announces 40th-anniversary season
Diverse lineup for 2022-23 ranges from kathak dance to stories of the Holocaust, democracy in Hong Kong, and more
FADO–The Saddest Music in the World.
THE 2022-23 SEASON marks The Firehall Arts Centre’s 40th anniversary. Artistic and executive producer Donna Spencer has issued a sneak peek at what’s in store to celebrate.
The season kicks off September 21 to 24 with Khoj–A Contemporary Kathak Dance Extravaganza by Edmonton’s Usha Gupta Dance Entourage. The dance form blends traditional and modern movement, drawing from the ocean, romance, rhythmic patterns, inner search for spirituality, and Sufi (divine truth).
The Mildred Bailey Project, taking place from October 13 to 16, produced by Red Cedar Theatre and directed by Columpa Bobb, is a new musical performance created by Russell Wallace with music by Tony Wilson. Known as “The Queen of Swing”, “The Rockin’ Chair Lady”, and “Mrs. Swing”, Bailey was one of the first female singers to make a name for herself in the American pantheon of jazz.
The world premiere of Manami Hara’s new work, Courage Now, runs November 19 to December 4. Produced by The Firehall and presented in association with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT), Courage Now tells the story of Japanese Consul Chiune Sugihara, who helped more than 6,000 Polish and Lithuanian Jews escape the Nazis in 1940. Going against his government orders, he issued more than 2,000 handwritten visas, risking his life and his career. Some of those whose lives were saved have families living in British Columbia today.
Khoj–A Contemporary Kathak Dance Extravaganza.
Elaine Ávila’s FADO–The Saddest Music in the World, produced by The Firehall and Victoria’s Puente Theatre, returns from January 14 to February 5, 2023. Having premiered at The Firehall in 2019, the acclaimed musical tells the story of a young woman confronting her country’s Fascist past, while her own identify is intertwined with the heartbreaking national music of Portugal, known as fado, which means “fate”.
Zahida Rahemtulla’s The Wrong Bashir, produced by Touchstone Theatre’s Flying Start program in association with The Firehall, runs March 4 to 12, 2023. Bashir Ladha is a wayward philosophy major leaning toward nihilism who has accidentally been selected to assume an important religious position, which his parents dutifully accept on his behalf. The family is forced to grapple with long-avoided questions of identity and family in this comedic intergenerational romp.
In association with Western Gold Theatre, The Firehall presents the Vancouver premiere of Our Ghosts from March 18 to April 2, 2023. Written by Sally Stubbs, the work is a haunting mystery inspired by the disappearance of a Canadian Forces fighter jet and its pilots, including the playwright’s own father, Flight Commander Gerald Stubbs.
The Firehall closes its 2022-23 season with the world premiere of rice & beans theatre’s Happy Valley from May 27 to June 4. Created by Derek Chan, winner of the Sydney Risk Award, the performance piece dissects the historic, political, and cultural context surrounding Hong Kong’s current democratic struggles.
The Firehall’s upcoming season reflects its history of championing new and marginalized voices in the arts, Spencer says.
“Our 40th Anniversary Season will continue The Firehall’s legacy of presenting theatre and dance works that stir the soul, enrich the mind, and lift up the voices and stories of the vast range of people who call this place home,” Spencer said in a release. “I’m excited to share these highlights and look forward to announcing more performances in the coming months.”
The Firehall recently received a Lieutenant Governors Arts and Music Award.
"When I moved to Vancouver in 1990, The Firehall really represented to me the place where people of colour and people of ethnic minorities could have their work taken seriously,” Japanese-born Vancouver-based actor and writer Hiro Kanagawa stated in a release.
Rosemary Georgeson, Sahtu Dene and Coast Salish artist, writer, storyteller said: “The DTES has always been a place of transformation for myself, my family, and our stories. As we have transformed, so has the land that my great grandmother called home. The Firehall Arts Centre has been there for so long, and seen so much of this transformation happen. The Firehall is an integral piece in one of the biggest transformations in my life, and it is the place where our stories first began to have a voice.”
Early-bird passes for The Firehall’s 40th-anniversary season are on sale now at www.firehallartscentre.ca.
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