Pacific Theatre
Black and Rural, 2023. Photo by Sarah Race.
Founded in 1984 by Ron Reed and a group of passionate artists, Pacific Theatre was established with the mission to create a professional theatre company where artists could explore meaningful work through the lens of their Christian faith. From these humble beginnings, we have grown into an enduring force in Vancouver’s theatre scene.
The theatre space is 128 seats in an unassuming, underground space where audiences sit across the stage from one another. For the actors, it denies the regular bag of tricks and demands an intimate authenticity in their performance. For the audience, it is a communal, cathartic experience where they watch the same laughter and tears they are experiencing play out on the faces of their fellow theatre-goers.
Pacific Theatre is not special simply because of the space, of course. We exist to serve Christ in our community by creating theatre with spiritual, relational, financial, and artistic integrity. A spirit animates our programming that reaches toward the most fundamental human questions: What is our place? What is our purpose? How should we live? And while the company is driven by shared beliefs, the universality of these questions and generosity of Pacific Theatre itself means that faith is not a prerequisite to access, engage with, and enjoy its creations.
In 2020, after 37 years of dedicated service, Reed retired and long-time PT artist Kaitlin Williams began her tenure as Pacific’s Artistic Director. Under Williams’s leadership, Pacific has continued to expand its mandate: developing collaborations with other theatres in the city, supporting guest producers and our own programming, and continuing to seek out stories that challenge, uplift, and expand the horizons of our passionate audience.
