Climate crisis theatre, an Ann Mortifee musical, and more as Firehall Arts Centre unveils 2023-24 season
Pedro Chamale’s new Peace Country kicks off a season that sees the return of hits Chelsea Hotel and Paddle Song.
Chelsea Hotel. Photo by David Cooper
A WORLD PREMIERE by rice & beans theatre and Ann Mortifee’s Reflections on Crooked Walking are just two of the highlights on the Firehall Arts Centre’s just-released 2023-2024 lineup.
The venue’s 41st season kicks off 13 to 22 with Peace Country, by rice & beans’ Pedro Chamale. Set in B.C.’s Peace River region, the play looks at northern living through the lens of the climate crisis and its effect on towns that depend on the carbon economy. The work follows five friends as they examine intercultural relationships while trying to provide for their families.
Another environmentally minded project follows on November 2 to 5: Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing: Ways of Being and Seeing—produced by The Only Animal and supported by Firehall Arts Center and Vancouver Moving Theatre—is a cultural gathering about environmental destruction. It invites Knowledge Holders to share stories; and environmental activists and academics to be the witnesses. The event is brought to the community by Rosemary Georgeson and Lara Aysal, and is dedicated to X̱aad Kíl Woodrow (Woody) Morrison, Jr.
December 2 to 24, watch for Mortifee’s Reflections on Crooked Walking, a JUNO Award–nominated family musical that tells the tale of four people who find themselves the only townsfolk left awake. Their search for a cure for the mysterious sleeping sickness leads them down a surprising path of deeper self-awareness.
The new year brings Tara Cheyenne Performance’s Pants, January 17 to 20, in which the dance-theatre artist reimagines gender through the movement of the middle-aged body and storytelling.
The hit musical Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen returns February 3 to March 3, 2024, in an inventive fusion of music, dance, and drama by Tracey Power and Steve Charles.
Radical System Art dance artist Shay Kuebler’s MOI – Momentum of Isolation explores solitude from March 13 to 16, 2024, while April brings This is How We Got Here, Keith Barker’s story of a close-knit family dealing with the lingering trauma of an unexpected loss.
Experience Fujiwara Dance’s Eunoia hits town from May 8 to 11, adapting Christian Bok’s bestselling book as a multisensory experience, via dance, video, music and costuming.
And the Firehall closes its 41st season with the return of Paddle Song (May 24 to June 2), Dinah Christie and Tom Hill’s one-woman musical about trailblazing Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson.
Early Bird passes and single tickets are on sale now and available online at www.firehallartscentre.ca.
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