Firehall Arts Centre announces 42nd season of programming that hones in on theme of reflection
A returning Ann Mortifee musical, a dance performance about the history of Japanese Canadians, and a Cree artist’s anecdotal solo show are on the 2024-25 lineup
Reflections on Crooked Walking.
THE FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE has just announced the lineup for its 2024-25 season, which spans important stories from Canadian history and powerful movement-infused productions.
This year marks 42 seasons of programming in the historic 1906 building, which just secured a vital commitment from Vancouver City Council to fund up to $10 million in accessibility improvements.
Themed the Reflections Season by artistic producer Donna Spencer, the lineup will deliver nine shows to audiences that offer reflections on laughter, love, and loss.
Programming will launch with the world premiere of Empty-Handed from October 2 to 5, a production from The Biting School choreographed by Arash Khakpour that provides new perspectives on voyeurism using images of everyday life, pre-recorded projections, and live movement. Combined, these elements blur the lines between observer and participant, transcending cultural and historical boundaries.
Empty-Handed. Photo by Luciana Freire D’Anunciação
Brendan McLeod and The Fugitives are bringing their First World War–set music and storytelling production Ridge to the stage from October 26 to November 3, a reflection on the role that the Battle of Vimy Ridge played in shaping modern-day Canada. From November 30 to December 22, the aptly titled Reflections on Crooked Walking, Ann Mortifee’s beloved ’80s family musical, will return to the Firehall Arts Centre for a second consecutive year. The whimsical JUNO Award–nominated show follows four unlikely friends as they embark on a fantastical journey to save a town that has fallen into a mysterious slumber.
Joe Laughlin in I remember…. Photo by Michael Slobodian
In the new year, a Joe Ink production I remember… will kick things off from January 15 to 18, 2025. Choreographer Joe Laughlin shares 40 years of lessons he’s learned as a dancer, resulting in an amusing and emotionally charged consideration of aging. Following suit from February 8 to 23, Women of the Fur Trade by playwright Frances Koncan plunks audiences into Treaty One Territory in the 1800s, where three vastly different women ruminate on life, love, and Louis Riel; the satirical look at gender roles within the context of the Canadian fur trade, and was a critical hit at the Stratford Festival last year.
Choreographer Mayumi Lashbrook’s live dance performance Enemy Lines from March 12 to 15 will take audiences back in time to another era. The Powell Street Festival and Firehall Arts Centre copresentation examines the actions taken against more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, with an eye to a fractured past and a future full of possibilities.
Enemy Lines. Photo by Marlowe Porter
The Firehall Arts Centre will ring in the spring with A History of Motown from April 2 to 13, 2025, a soulful musical journey starring award-winning singer Krystle Dos Santos that features music by the likes of The Supremes and Stevie Wonder. Zahida Rahemtulla’s comedic drama The Frontliners—a coproduction by Blackout Art Society, Firehall Arts Centre, and Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre—shows from May 1 to 12, 2025; set in an East Vancouver hotel in 2016 amid a housing crisis, the play follows three employees struggle to find homes for Syrian immigrant families.
Inner Elder by Cree artist Michelle Thrush will wrap up the season’s programming from May 21 to June 1. The solo performance draws upon powerful and hilarious anecdotes from her own life, tracing her journey from a young girl facing a tough family life to making it as a Gemini Award-winning actor.
Early Bird passes will be available in bundles of four or six shows. Along with single tickets, they’ll be on sale as of August 16. 
Michelle Thrush in Inner Elder. Photo by Ben Laird
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