Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre names Derek Chan as new managing artistic director
The playwright, director, and performer has been co-artistic director of rice & beans theatre since 2010
Derek Chan.
LOCAL PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR, performer translator, and producer Derek Chan is stepping into the role of managing artistic director of Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (vAct) in January 2022.
The company, which focuses on the creation, development, and production of new professional Asian Canadian work, announced the appointment on November 1 after an extensive search.
Born in Hong Kong, Chan studied in Norway before moving to Vancouver, where he received his BFA in theatre performance from Simon Fraser University. He has been co-artistic director of rice & beans theatre since 2010.
Established in 2001, vAct is the only theatre company in Canada that exclusively creates new Asian Canadian work at all levels: In scripts, on stage, in the producer’s chair. Chan will be working with Donna Yamamoto in her transition year as outgoing producing artistic director. Yamamoto joined the company as artistic director in 2013 and is credited with transforming it into one of the most exciting professional theatre companies in Canada and an incubator for some of the best Asian Canadian talent in the country.
In 2015, Chan received the Vancouver Fringe New Play Prize for Starstuff: per aspera ad astra, while his play Chicken Girl was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Script and won the Sydney Risk Award for Outstanding Original Play by an Emerging Playwright.
Chan worked with vAct as an associate artistic producer in 2016-17. He has also acted as artistic director apprentice with Playwrights Theatre Centre and guest curator of the rEvolver Festival.
With his play yellow objects, a show about the ongoing pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, Chan was part of the 2020 Banff Playwrights Lab and was a National Arts Centre English Theatre Artist in Residence.
Among numerous other works, Chan was co-creator for 蝦仔 Little Shrimp (Carousel Theatre for Young People); writer for tonight, just the two of us (fu-GEN/The Transformation Project); writer/performer for Pick a Number (Boca del Lupo); playwright/director for Loomings; or The Whale; and translator/performer for 食盡天下/Sik Zeon Tin Haa/A Taste of Empire (Gateway Theatre and Cahoots Theatre), which garnered a Dora Award nomination for Best Touring Production.
“Back in the 2016/17 season, I had the pleasure to work as the associate artistic producer at vAct under the tutelage of Donna Yamamoto, thanks to a BCAC early career development grant,” Chan said in a statement. Since then, Donna has remained a great mentor, friend, and champion of mine. When I first heard about the news that Donna is retiring and the job posting, I was overcome by a sense of responsibility. vAct is a company that has given me so much. It is time for me to give back. I have dreamt of the day when I am ready to make the leap and continue to build on the fantastic foundation that Donna has so tirelessly crafted for vAct over the past handful of years – and that day is today.
“It is a huge honour to follow Donna’s footsteps in facilitating and presenting new work that is invigorating, captivating, and representative of the Vancouver Asian community as the incoming Managing Artistic Director,” Chan said. “I look forward to guiding the company towards a bright, innovative future, while respecting vAct’s roots and the immense, hard work of those who have come before me.”
In the release, vAct pointed not only to Chan’s experience and skill in helping him land the role but also his ability to build community. “He is exceptionally personable and welcoming and he embraces his work, and those he works with, with an open heart and effulgent energy,” vAct said in a release. “A true collaborator, he has already established a network of colleagues and artists across the country and will undoubtedly continue to build many new connections with his work with vAct.”
For more information, see https://vact.ca/
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