Firehall Arts Centre kicks off 2021-22 season with world premiere by Raven Spirit Dance
The Vancouver theatre’s “reunion” season also includes a work by the late Taran Kootenhayoo
Erik Zennström
THE FIREHALL ARTS Centre is leaping into a packed new season with a lineup of live theatre.
It all starts September 29 to October 3 with the world premiere of Chapter 21 by Raven Spirit Dance. Choreographed by Starr Muranko and directed by Yvette Nolan, the dance-theatre piece explores what happens when a vibrant artist comes face to face with a devastating series of events.
Paddle Song, a one-woman musical starring Cheri Miracle running November 9 to 21, tells the story of Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson. Created by Dinah Christie and Tom Hill, the high-energy production is a tribute to the gifted writer who toured across Canada, the U.S., and Great Britain in the late 1800s when the literary scene in England was ruled by white men.
Lights, by Adam Grant Warren, is a light-hearted and heart-warming story of a tight-knit family adapting to monumental life changes. It runs December 2 to 12 and is presented in association with Touchstone Theatre Flying Start Production.
Solstice Greetings returns for a fourth year from December 16 to 18, featuring stories, songs, and poems created by Grade 6 and 7 students from Lord Strathcona Elementary School in celebration of the holidays.
The New Year begins with John, a dance-theatre piece that wowed audiences at the 2019 Dancing on the Edge Festival. Scheduled for January 12-15, the piece choreographed by Helen Walkley is performed by Josh Martin and Billy Marchenski.
Makambe K Simamba’s Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers is inspired by Black Lives Matter. Running January 20 to 22, this Tarragon Theatre and Black Theatre Workshop co-production is based on the world premiere production by b current Performing Arts and presented by the Firehall Arts Centre, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and Touchstone Theatre.
From January 27 to February 20, Elaine Ávila’s FADO – The Saddest Music in the World returns to the Firehall stage after its sold-out run in 2019, produced by the Firehall Arts Centre and Puente Theatre. Part concert, part play, it’s the story of a young woman confronting her country’s fascist past and her own identity through the national music of Portugal, known as fado, which means “fate”.
The world premiere of Manami Hara’s Courage Now takes place March 2 to16. 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. (It’s produced by the Firehall in association with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre.
White Noise, April 16 to May 1, was written by the late Taran Kootenhayoo and is coproduced by Savage Society. The comedy about two families who have dinner together for the first time during Truth and Reconciliation Week explores internalized racism.
Closing out the season is Yellow Fever from May 14 to 28. Written by R.A. Shiomi, Yellow Fever takes audiences to post-war Powell Street as detective Sam Shikaze sets out to crack a case and discovers racism in the local police force in the process.
For more information, see https://firehallartscentre.ca/.
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