Upintheair Theatre's rEvolver Festival hones in on transformation through self-acceptance, May 22 to June 2

Show topics span technology, neurodiversity, loss, and more across 14 mainstage presentations, including Multi – Vs, Silent Howl, and The Ballad of Georges Boivin

SPONSORED POST BY Upintheair Theatre

Jackie T. Hanlin (left) and Nathania Bernabe in Multi – Vs. Photo by Steve Schwartz

Upintheair Theatre’s 12th annual rEvolver Festival, presented at The Cultch from May 22 to June 2, will showcase contemporary and cutting-edge new works and re-interpretations of live performances.

The 10-day festival will present 14 mainstage productions as well as special presentations, works in progress, and staged readings. Addressing this year’s theme of “transformation through self-acceptance”, performances will feature narratives of courage and perseverance and span multiple topics, including channelling connectedness through technology, searching for meaning through movement, and forging ahead after loss.

Multi – Vs, which will be presented on May 22, 24, and 25, is a fast-paced, funny, and heart-wrenching ride that explores the human condition, relationships with technology, and connections with each other. When two strangers get trapped in the multiverse and their lives hang in the balance, they must work together to find a way out. Multi – Vs was created by Nathania Bernabe and Jackie T. Hanlin, cofounders of fight- and movement-based theatre company Affair of Honor.

Jay Brazeau in a 2021 performance of The Ballad of Georges Boivin.

On May 25 and 26, The Creatus Project and Bouche Theatre Collective will present The Ballad of Georges Boivin, a play about love in all its forms, in association with Western Gold Theatre. Written in French by Martin Bellemare and translated into English by director Jack Paterson with Johanna Nutter, the production will star Allan Morgan as 77-year-old Georges Boivin, who learns that life must go on after the heartbreaking loss of his wife. With his three older friends, he sets out on a road trip from Québec to Vancouver in search of a first love whom he hasn’t seen in 50 years.

Choreographer-performer Sarah Hin Ching U will present Silent Howl on May 29 and 30, a celebration of beauty in neurodiversity born from U’s living experience with a seizure disorder. An expression of the artist’s exhaustion towards having to constantly advocate for herself in the physically demanding world of dance, Silent Howl serves as a testament to the profound strength found in embracing one’s differences, told through visual representations of refocus-therapy brain activities.

To purchase tickets and browse the full lineup of mainstage performances at this year’s rEvolver Festival, visit Upintheair Theatre.

Post sponsored by Upintheair Theatre.

Sarah Hin Ching U’s Silent Howl. Photo by Armand Bladon