Stir is a digital media organization dedicated to covering Vancouver’s arts and culture scene through independent journalism.
Stir is a digital media organization dedicated to covering Vancouver’s arts and culture scene through independent journalism.
The Cultch Historic Theatre
The TRANSFORM Cabaret Festival.
The York Theatre
The Cultch operate three theatres, a gallery, and various multi-use spaces in the heart of East Vancouver. The 200-seat Historic Theatre and the intimate black-box Vancity Culture Lab are housed in a renovated church, constructed in 1909 and then transformed into a theatre in the mid-’70s. In 2009, the facility unveiled a $14-million reno that qualified for a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver designation. The heart of the Cultch, the main proscenium stage is famous for its scrollwork balcony has hosted hundreds of performances from here and around the world.
A few blocks away on Commercial Drive, the York Theatre started its life as The Alcazar Theatre in 1913. Renamed the New York Theatre and rescued from the wrecking ball in 2013, it was renovated to become The Cultch’s 355-seat third theatre space and home to its wildly popular holiday tradition, the East Van Panto.
Helmed by executive director Heather Redfern since 2007, the Cultch hosts shows across genres, including theatre, dance, music, circus, and visual arts, as well as the Transform Cabaret Festival. It has become the home away from home for many local theatre companies in Vancouver, providing performance space and support to lift up the work of smaller companies.
It’s also made its name for diverse and inclusive programming—a mandate that earned it a 2019 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award: the Vancouver NOW Representation inclusion prize for the deliberate curation and programming of productions that show the city we live in onstage.
The arts hub also offers innovative, youth-driven arts programming and professional development opportunities to aspiring young artists and arts lovers aged 13-26, providing a gathering place for performance and mentorship.
Normally, more than 250 presentations each season are seen by well over 50,000 people at the Cultch.
Offerings also include Hungary’s circus-dance company Recirquel, as well as Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté’s visually striking take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Niall McNeil’s new play draws on his love of Disney’s fairy-tale flick and his life as an artist with Down Syndrome
Blending musical theatre with traditional Indigenous forms, writer-director Corey Payette creates a depiction of residential schools that keeps growing in importance
Presented by The Cultch, this vivid play taps into Disney and Cocteau with an enchanting combination of theatre, dance, and visual art
Pulitzer Prize finalist Dance Nation headlines the festival, which features fierce and funny works of theatre, comedy, and circus
Touchstone Theatre presents acclaimed writer Anosh Irani’s play about isolation and brotherhood
The musical marks a meaningful—and often moving—departure for a Métis actor better known for standup, music, and comedy work
With its anonymous playwright, the Pi Theatre production faces the unease and violence beneath Hong Kong’s bustling surface
Nlaka’pamux playwright Kevin Loring mines stereotypes for sharp comedy and dark insights on an absurd world
From a Pulitzer finalist about pre-teen competitive dancers to a masterclass in Hong Kong food, there’s plenty to dive into this season
Through projected footage and photographs, Erdal chronicles the last nine months of his mother’s life following a terminal cancer diagnosis
The production written and directed by Nlaka’pamux playwright Kevin Loring is a land-claims farce
Tickets are now on sale for Little Red Warrior & His Lawyer, How to Disappear Completely, Children of God, and Beauty and The Beast: My Life
With a more melancholy undercurrent behind the biting laughs, Ronnie Burkett’s latest show gives voice to the marginalized and the misunderstood
The master storyteller’s latest play opens with Joe and his dog facing ejection from their longtime home, with seemingly nowhere to go
Sculptural movement flows against luminous set design—but the highlight is still the raucous third act
In a co-presentation by BlueShore at CapU and The Cultch, the singer-songwriter plays tunes from her latest album, Strange Medicine
Production by Theatre Conspiracy and Pandemic Theatre sheds light on the treacherous journey faced by asylum seekers crossing the Aegean Sea
New twist on a classic ballet is full of beauty and wit, breaking new ground for the Aussie modern-circus troupe
Random scenes and songs that stood out across music, theatre, opera, and dance
Pantos, waltzes, and stage musicals are just a few of the ways for culture vultures to ring in 2025
Christmas tunes translated by elders into the endangered Haida language to be performed at December 21 concert
Exhilarating show reimagines Swan Lake as a cheeky acrobatic spectacle in B.C. premiere at the Vancouver Playhouse
Outsized comic characterizations and power singing meet fearless political bite in Theatre Replacement’s latest musical at the York
Seasonal standouts include a massive choral Messiah, and different takes on A Christmas Carol—including one with 10-foot-high puppets
Kerry Sandomirsky and Jacob Leonard hand in strong performances in an enigmatic play full of literary allusions
Triple-threat performer’s role of bad-guy Tony the Pony is part of a career that’s taking off—and busting body-image stereotypes
In annual holiday show directed by Anita Rochon, Robin Hood must save East Van from the rich and powerful when all city parks are suddenly privatized
Cabaret-style festival co-curated by Corey Payette and Heather Redfern features an electrifying fusion of theatre, music, drag, circus, and more
Colour, light, reflection, and hip-hop-influenced moves as Montreal troupe’s kaleidoscopic new piece hits The Cultch
In his one-man show, the theatre artist of Cree and Lakota heritage addresses empty land acknowledgements with unapologetic conviction
Brazil’s Alberto Salgado to headline celebratory evening featuring fellow música popular brasileira artists Celso Machado, Amphibioux, and Sara Magal
does it make me naive if i’ve never been part of something where i’ve meant more to them than they did to me? compiles 18 short movements in ode to a failing love life
Audience goes wild for an often surreal and literally cheeky performance of sideshow antics and gravity-defying stunts
Antoine Carabinier Lépine and his troupe take wild inspiration from Quebec’s century-old circus sideshow traditions
Jami Reimer’s Soft tongues: a bioacoustic opera takes a sonic and video-enhanced trip to the Brazilian rainforest, while Neworld Theatre’s Earth Case Scenario presents short eco-works
Theatre artists Tony Adams and Joylyn Secunda unpack the theme of transformation through self-acceptance in their respective shows
Paper planes, food rituals, and more, in Urban Ink and The Cultch production that maps the connections and disconnections over decades
The Cultch and Urban Ink present Kamila Sediego’s play that explores cultural identity and familial duty
Theatre schools, the BMI, critics, and casting auditions: everything’s fair game in a show that flips easily between biting, big laughs and darker reflections
Taboo-buster Cheyenne Rouleau traverses more personal terrain in new one-woman show
Centred at The Cultch, contemporary-performance celebration spans bioacoustic opera and African-dance-infused theatre
The Cultch, Savage Society, and NAC Indigenous Theatre coproduction balances joy and solemnity for a transporting vision
Company’s just-launched lineup will feature everything from fast-fashion-inspired acrobatics to conceptual hip-hop, across four venues
The artist and politician draws on her own Callihoo ancestors, and fills new play with fiddle and dance
Atmospheric new play at The Cultch about two women in exile from Iran revolves around duality and secrets
Play follows an Iranian architect living in Montreal who grapples with painful secrets from her past when she reunites with her childhood best friend
East Van-based theatre hub celebrates its seventh annual festival with plays and stand-up comedy
Slapstick, sound effects, and female characters upending their fates
Co-creators Pippa Mackie and Ryan Gladstone mark five years of irreverent fun, as Monster Theatre play debuts on The Cultch stage
Receiving a wild standing O, Aussie company ups its own game to create a fun, finely orchestrated flow of ever-shifting human towers and sculptures
Free-associative stories and dance stitched loosely together to match ginormous sari tapestry that unfurls in Indian Summer Festival/PuSh Festival/The Cultch show
Artist’s Indian Summer Festival/PuSh Festival solo because i love the diversity (this micro-attitude, we all have it) was a close collaboration with award-winning Vancouver playwright Marcus Youssef
Co-presentation of Australian company by The Cultch and DanceHouse pairs skill with gravity-defying acrobatics
Random memorable scenes from the year in arts span 50 dancers swirling in BOLERO X, a powerful Julius Caesar speech, and a cello star’s finale with local string students
The New Year starts off strong in the local arts community, from dance to interactive installations to a Cabane à Sucre
Powerhouse singing and pastel-hued eye candy are the added ikura on a wonderfully jam-packed maki
Strong cast, vivid staging, and an imaginary frog bring story of a family’s clashing enviro beliefs to humorous life
Pair draws on contrasting comedic styles and deep roots in the ‘hood for The Cultch and Theatre Replacement’s beloved holiday tradition
Tickets go on sale November 22 for offerings that range from a refugee-camp installation to a dance-circus set amid a surreal paper set
Hilarity-filled family dynamics and a crazy mushroom trip lead up to environmental disaster in Touchstone Theatre and Ruby Slippers premiere by Pippa Mackie
Trey Anthony play follows Jamaican mother’s complicated reunion with her daughters, after years of working abroad
Theatre Replacement and The Cultch’s holiday tradition is written by Jivesh Parasram and Christine Quintana this year
Indigenous language and oral storytelling traditions drive circus-theatre piece from New Zealand, commissioned by The Cultch and Urban Ink
Director-cowriter reflects on the safe creative space in unique collaboration between New Zealand’s Te Rēhia Theatre Company and The Dust Palace
White, liberal, social-media virtue signallers beware: The Search Party play has you in its sights
The Search Party production presents its performers with a daunting technical challenge
The Search Party, Urban Ink, Neworld Theatre, frank theatre, Savage Society, and more local companies set to hit stages for 2023-24
Busby Berkeley-inspired dance numbers, flaming hula hoops, and saucy drag numbers are a Pride-perfect combination
Percussionist Hamin Honari, bandoneon master Amichai Ben Shalev, and oud virtuoso Abdul-Wahab Kayyali are fusing and expanding traditions
The genre-defying, gender-bending company’s Dirty Laundry is loaded with punk energy
Métis playwright and Ukrainian actor recount their harrowing, and often hilarious, journey together at rEvolver Festival
Vancouver singer explores simple pleasures and awkward truths
Lil’wat theatre artist Yvonne Wallace’s solo speaks to the preciousness of language
The genre-mashing artist’s new work celebrates introverts, awkwardness
Having its Vancouver premiere, the solo is in ucwalmícwts and English
Berlin-based still hungry’s three performers dazzle as they share intimate feelings about motherhood and careers
Humour and movement merge in the deeply personal solo about body image
Berlin trio still human draws from personal experience in show that blends aerial feats with the juggling act of raising kids and pursuing a career
Riffing on SpongeBob, blowjobs, standup, and deep family dysfunction, the comedian coins a new mashup
Lots.of laughter, and some tragedy, as a strong ensemble cast brings to life lovelorn characters who are all too aware they’re in a play
Comedian’s standup-theatre-memoir mashup digs fearlessly into the trauma she suffered in her teens
2023 Gascon-Thomas prize goes to a Canadian theatre artist who has brought a wave of change to their field
Bringing Aaron Posner’s hit spin on Chekhov’s The Seagull: to life means “food is made, songs are sung, and there’s definitely more swearing”
The East Vancouver singer-songwriter-musician talks Bad Cree: A Novel, Catcher in the Rye, and more
Fierce female-identifying artists in circus, dance, music, theatre, and comedy perform throughout April and May
Jacob Rajan hands in an unforgettable performance in multiple roles, joined by a majestic vulture puppet
New Zealand playwright-performer Jacob Rajan explores mortality with an eerily lifelike vulture puppet
Drag and dazzle pervade playwright Rick Tae’s queer rom com
His new comedy about an organic farmer crosses race, culture, and fruit. Or is that a vegetable?
Strong singing and acting in musical about Indigenous teen who goes from streets to drag stage
The writer-composer-director and star talk high heels, Indigenous roles, and Two Spirit culture
At The Cultch and DanceHouse, Aussie company slow-builds to a frantic climax of bodies bending, tangling, and lifting in kaleidoscopic formations
The eccentric Daisy Theatre characters are back in full, over-the-top form, in a show that strays hilariously from Shakespearean satire
Australian contemporary-circus company Circa turns the ground-breaking work on its head
Elderly ingenue Esmé Massengill, burlesque queen Dolly Wiggler, and ever-endearing fairy Schnitzel put a campy twist on Shakespeare
The vividly choreographed verbatim play whirls through the eras, from West End disco heyday through loss, activism, and drug cocktails
Playwright Rick Waines and director Shawn Macdonald bring to life real stories of the successes and failures in first 15 years of the virus here
Kate Bush tunes, dangly kelp designs, fairy-tale take-downs, and even some deeper messages earn the 10th anniversary show cheers
Ghazal Azarbad and Amanda Sum talk dolphin squeaks, dastardly villains, and the need to subvert the messages in the 1989 cartoon
Performers hand in compelling vocal turns as animals in a show that sometimes gets heavy handed with humans
Australia’s popular Circa troupe and New Zealand’s Indian Ink Theatre Company will also hit Vancouver
Creators John Millard and Martha Ross reflect on the timeliness of a song cycle about wildlife hiding from a raging forest fire
The play by Kat Sandler launches Touchstone Theatre’s 2022-23 season
Comedic leads Raugi Yu and Josette Jorge bring biting story to hilarious life, often arguing their sides directly to the audience
Ins Choi’s latest play looks at new parents’ struggle for identity—and the urge to judge themselves
Australia’s Quiet Riot takes on colonization, racism, sexism, and gender stereotypes through hip hop, song, story, and a whole lot of laughter
The company based out of a barn north of Montreal keeps its funny, glitz-free act down-to-earth, even though the tricks are superhuman
The lineup runs the gamut from circus arts to verbatim drama; plus, it’s the 10th anniversary of the East Van Panto
Artist Esther Rausenberg focuses lens on Strathcona Park tents, tarps, firepits, flags, and multistoried constructions
Highlights include new one-act plays and a VR stand
Artist Fehinti Balogun on hand for watch party and talkback at The York Theatre, May 14
Strong performances and atmospheric lighting and music intensify two thought-provoking monologues
Strong performances and handsome lighting and projections help bring a universal family story to life
Blending Punjabi and English, actor-playwright draws on stories revealed to her at her father’s hospital bed
Jonathan Christenson’s musical-theatre piece inspired by the only women to be given combat roles in World War II is bold, suspenseful
Vancouver’s Pi Theatre mounts the Canadian premiere of British playwright Anders Lustgarten’s acclaimed play
Noir, mystery, or historical drama, the new show based on women’s true World War II spy stories is full of surprises
The much-anticipated world premiere by Ins Choi was scheduled to open April 21
The Vancouver singer-songwriter explores familiar themes of love and survival, and yet it’s like nothing else in her catalogue
Yumi Nagashimi, Justin Nichol round out an all-star comedy benefit for a serious cause
Travelling from Haiti to Brazil, the artist collects a diverse range of rhythmic language
Director Mindy Parfitt and playwright Hannah Moscovitch embrace the challenge of staging a show about intimacy after an era of isolation
Christine Quintana’s play in Spanish and English takes audiences to the real Mexico, deep into her characters’ hearts
Frank theatre’s multicultural, multilingual collaboration explores love and exile
New play is performed in English and Spanish to fully explore both perspectives
Playwright-director says his new land-claims farce “slays everything”
Three artists share their true stories in the intimate theatre piece
The play explores feminine sexuality, oppression of gender roles through strong language, biting humour, and sharp wit
Vancouver director Keltie Forsyth can relate to playwright Erin Shields’s rage
Alanna Mitchell’s calm, rhetoric-free solo show is perfectly attuned to a world in a state of reflection and change
The non-fiction play taking a deep dive into the disastrous state of the world’s waters is back
There’s no fluff or filler in the one-on-one livestream by Belgium’s Ontroerend Goed
The one-on-one online theatre piece slyly reframes conspiracy theorists and the “polarized world”
Offerings starting next month include a one-one-one interactive show from Belgium’s Ontroerend Goed and a premiere by Vancouver’s Neworld Theatre
It’s a virtual rabbit hole for the rest of the show’s run
The Cultch, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra among those adjusting to 50-percent capacity at all theatres, concert venues
The Femme Festival, The Invisible, Germany’s still hungry and others spread across three venues
Blazed caterpillars, banned bathroom breaks, and a lot of pandemic laughs
Writer Sonja Bennett re-creates Commercial Drive through the eyes of a modernized protagonist
Meaghan Chenosky is an affable chef and aspiring restaurateur in writer-director Amiel Gladstone’s new comical play
Writer-director Amiel Gladstone serves up a one-woman play centred on a virtual cooking class
Salon-style curated exhibition returns to five venues with works by more than 85 artists
Playwright Sangeeta Wylie and Ruby Slippers’ Diane Brown use traditional music, shadow puppetry, and camera closeups for livestream premiere
A highlight of the 2021 festival is Mind of a Snail’s mash-up combining live projection, music, shadow puppets, and improv performers from Australia, India, the UK, and Canada
The hyperlocal holiday tradition heads to Wonderland
Bash program journeys to waterfalls and forests, while The Darlings delve into dreamlike detective story
Five of the local theatre’s shows that streamed via digital series East Van to Edinburgh earn international recognition
We’re chasing the Collage Works exhibition by Ginger Sedlarova and Seema Shah with a stop at a new sub shop on Venables and a just-launched Okanagan-grown rosé
Event September 23 to October 2 will be a digital and live-performance hybrid
From The Boy in the Moon to The Darlings and 1 Hour Photo, local productions will find a huge new audience
The historic theatre adds a new licensed space to Vancouver’s outdoor sipping and snacking scene
New cinematic adaption of Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre’s award-winning play now on virtual tour
Album release concert, livestreamed from the Cultch, finds the longtime friends playing each other’s work
Both music artists and longtime friends will take the stage
Meghan Gardiner and Marcus Youssef create nuanced, lived-in chemistry in story of raising a child with severe disabilities
Chelsea Haberlin and her team drew on the real experiences of parents from the Rare Disease Foundation
Throat-singing competitions as kids, an unexpected Christmas album, and a new “Vaccination Jam” video
The musician gathers a range of thinkers and artists to ask the questions that have haunted him this year
The circus innovators serve up a dark carnival of aerial and acrobatic delights
The virtual show, streaming via the Cultch, features pandemic-era acrobatics and the beauty of the flawed
The Cultch presents the ground-breaking arts group’s new virtual circus experience
Amid a heightened, stylized talk show, one character struggles to find identity
Talk show, clowning, folklore, and more mix in a show whose messages about race have become even more relevant
Lili Robinson’s form-pushing hit explores mixed-race identity as part of the Cultch’s Black History Month program
If you missed the musical that proved what virtual performance can do, you have another chance
Messages on climate crisis delivered in an unexpected, creatively charged cabaret
In the climate-crisis cabaret, the artist gives voice to creatures great and small
Singing animals take refuge from a forest fire in multimedia show
Local arts personalities add to Stir’s list of favourites in the new digital realm
Winter programming includes the poignant climate-change musical The Cave
A new Phanto of the Panto provides an excuse to revisit show’s whacked-out hits
Maiko Yamamoto, Veda Hille, and Dawn Petten reflect on some of their whacked-out favourites
The sequel to Elbow Room Café: The Musical is a digital-specific play running one night only
The Cultch and Replacement Theatre bring back some of the show’s favourite stars and hit songs
The pandemic version of the song cycle based on Craigslist posts is a technical triumph
The cast pivots to perform the hit musical revue from separate spaces in the Cultch
The show based on weird and whacked-out ads livestreams November 19 to 22
The deeply personal show, and new album, provide a refuge of their own
Beloved pianist and songwriter livestreams from Historic Theatre October 22 to 25
How do you take a genre-defying extravaganza to the virtual realm?
Here we are, six months after lockdown, and stage companies have managed to pull together seasons with a live component.
The Darlings, Virago Nation, Candy Palmater and more boundary-busting acts.
In the new “As dreams are made” series, a spotlight leads you to an empty chair in a dark theatre. The musician who awaits you is a surprise.
Le Gateau Chocolat explodes expectations in a show that explores everything from depression to Olivia Newton John.
1895 Venables St.
Vancouver
V5L 2H6
The Dancers of Damelahamid’s most ambitious production to date explores the precious artistic legacy passed down by Elder Margaret Harris