TICKETS AND SCHEDULE 2024
queer and BIPOC-centred stories. provocative dramas.
side-splitting comedies. experimental work.
all in 30-minute bites.
student playwrights from THE renowned
UBC SCHOOL OF CREATIVE WRITINg.
STAGED READINGS directed by SOME OF VANCOUVER’S finesT.
THE BRYAN WADE BRAVE NEW PLAY RITES FESTIVAL.
AT THE BMO THEATRE CENTRE.
NEW WORLDS, EVERY NIGHT.
Monday March 20 at 7 pm
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE, NO PIECE OF PIZZA
Native Story
playwright: Jacob Cardinal
Director/dramaturg: david geary
Cast: Ashleigh Giffen, Corvin Mack, Issiah Bull Bear, Mitchell Saddleback, Summer Tyance
After travelling to a remote First Nation in the B.C. interior, a PR rep for a Residential School investigation is tasked with staging a press conference so the investigation can release their findings.
Shattered Light, Stars of Glass
playwright:Miranda Baker
Director/dramaturg: david geary
Cast: Ashleigh Giffen, Shaelyn Johnston
Trapped in a cycle of grief, Evelyn, a young Indigenous woman, retreats into the fascinating maze of her mind and memory to find a path towards her future.
Cheesed Off
playwright: Faria Malik
Director/dramaturg: jivesh parasram
Cast: Alisha Rahemtulla, Amanda Wong, Paulina Pino Rubio
A tragic comedy about Safia, a tired university student working a soul-sucking retail job, who wants nothing more than a great piece of bad, greasy pizza at a staff pizza party, but may not get to enjoy it when an entitled coworker makes it to the break room first.
Biz Books, Vancouver’s most prominent independent bookshop for theatre & film, will be hosting a pop-up shop in support of the Festival.
Tuesday March 21 at 7 pm
GHOST STORIES
Signs of Life
playwright: Kate cunningham
Director/dramaturg: lucia frangione
Cast: Amanda Wong, Ariane Anindita, Giselle Miller, Michael Shewchuk
When a young woman leaves the city to live on her partner’s inherited subsistence farm in the BC interior, she must learn to trust herself in order to adjust to her new rural surroundings.
Mourn Me Ghosting
playwright: Ciel Lenz
Director/dramaturg: shawn macdonald
Cast: ciel lenz, Acadia Currah, magreta westby
A supernatural mystery about Vesper, an autistic teenager, trying to prove that Morna, a ghost, was murdered in her house 200 years ago.
The Golden Dragon Café (est. 1932)
playwright: Jiejun Wu
Director/dramaturg: jasmine chen
Cast: Anica Zialcita, Lauren Ohh, Matthew Jin, Michael Shewchuk
A time-traveling drama about an Asian Canadian woman preparing to sell her family’s restaurant after the death of her father, only to discover that her timeline keeps colliding with the story of her great-grandfather—and the original Golden Dragon Café.
Biz Books, Vancouver’s most prominent independent bookshop for theatre & film, will be hosting a pop-up shop in support of the Festival.
Wednesday March 22 at 7 pm
META THEATRE
Yes, And
playwright: Neko Smart
Director/dramaturg: ming hudson
dramaturg: veronique/v west
Cast: Amelia Brooker, Lauren Ohh, miles davies, Sophia Saugstad
A comedy/drama about four teenagers who must set aside their differences to put on an improv show in three days despite their disdain for one another and the craft.
A Captivating Woman
playwright: Natasha chew
Director/dramaturg: ming hudson
Cast: Jaenna Cali
A woman walks into a corner store... A Captivating Woman is a comedy about Annalyn, as she reckons with losing.
Paper World
playwright: Marie-Hélène Tessier
Director/dramaturg: stephen heatley
Cast: Adam Scamvougeras, Claudia Fernandez-Garza, Isabel Salazar, Mercury Rhone
In a public garden, Sophie and Catherine are discussing theatre, perfume and Crimea. Mercury is on the phone with his sister, while working on his golf stroke.
Adam is hallucinating prayers, when suddenly...
Thursday March 23 at 7 pm
LOVE & DREAMS
One Word Bubble
playwright: Maheem Bista
Director/dramaturg: pedro chamale
Cast: Ariane Anindita, Ava Albaisa, Garvit Makan
A granny with wanderlust jokes around the elephant in the room: her daughters fear that this will be their last good-bye.
Young Masochism
playwright: mason temple
Director/dramaturg: ming hudson
dramaturg: veronique/v west
Cast: mason temple, araceli ferrara
Young Masochism follows two star-crossed lovers, a biracial D-list celebrity actor, and a non-binary psychology grad student, caught in their own process of healing as they inexplicably recognize each other despite having never met.
Cambalache
playwright: Niko m. mellino
Director/dramaturg: pedro chamale
Cast: Ava Albaisa, Maheem Bista, Matthew Jin, Mercury Rhone, Paulina Pino Rubio
A tragic comedy about a young man nicknamed Canada who wants to live securely in paradise but can’t until he can find a good paying job, and the only profession available is a 100 per cent commission sales job that is controlled by the hegemonic boss, Patron.
FRIday March 24 at 7 pm
MODERN FAMILIES
This Fire Grows
playwright: Rilee German-martinez
Director/dramaturg: stephen heatley
Cast: Adam Fox, David Volpov, Michael Shewchuk, Trudi Ranik
A family drama centering around new couple Adrian and Milo. When meeting Milo’s well-meaning but overprotective parents, everyone’s pasts bring into question whether or not the relationship can flourish.
The Women in the Wings
playwright: amaruuk bose
Director/dramaturg: keltie forsyth
Cast: Emma Leck, Paulina Pino Rubio, Samantha Dean, Shaunti Bains, Trudi Ranik
Middle-aged Diana invites her friends to a dinner without their husbands. If only they weren’t carrying so many secrets, and if only they’d decide whether or not they want to be caught...
Girlhood
playwright: Laurie R. Poirier
Director/dramaturg: lucia frangione
Cast: Ariane Anindita, Emma Leck, Evan Sterns, Giselle Miller, Isabel Salazar, Jaenna Cali, Samantha Dean
A comedy about Sophia, a young girl, as she navigates the changes and intimate moments of her girlhood, through her family, her friendships and her relationships. The entire play is set in her bedroom, from early childhood until she leaves for college.
Madhouse
playwright: William Rubel
Director/dramaturg: keltie forsyth
Cast: Michael Shewchuk, Samantha Dean, Trudi Ranik, tristen foy
A play about a mother who seeks healing and justice for her teenage daughter, who is destroyed by the mental health industry to which her husband belongs.
SATURDAY March 25 at 7 pm
THIS IS THE END
Moonstaking
playwright: clio lake
Director/dramaturg: anais west
dramaturg: veronique/v west
Cast: Aoife McAndless-Davis, clio lake
A couple attempts to outlive an apocalypse with dwindling medical supplies and not much hope.
Life or Death
playwright: Charis Young
Director/dramaturg: ming hudson
Cast: Amelia Paige Landels, Emma Leck, Giselle Miller, Hunter Golden
A drama about Julie, a teenager, and Ivy, her grandmother as they remember and argue about the medical treatment of Julie’s father since his car accident and what they should do now.
The Debate
playwright: Esar Rabadi
Director/dramaturg: david geary
Cast: Delaney Gilmour, Hunter Golden, mason temple, sabrina vellani
We invite you to come watch the largely-anticipated 2023 elections debate, where three of the best and leading politicians of Surrey fight in a battle of wits and mental fortitude in hopes of becoming the next Head Council for the local Strata.
Talonbooks, one of Canada’s most respected publishers of drama, poetry, and fiction, will be hosting a pop-up shop in support of the Festival.
Pay-What-You-Can tickets available at the ubc box office (604.822.2697), at tickets.ubc.ca, or (PWYC by cash) at the door.
About our venue: The Newmont Stage is a wheelchair-accessible performing arts hub featuring a 250-seat theatre. It is in the BMO Theatre Centre in Olympic Village, home to Bard on the Beach and the Arts Club Theatre. There is a bar and seating in the lobby.
Address: 162 West 1st Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V5Y 0H6
Transit Directions: From the UBC main campus, take the 84 bus to Columbia Street. Walk north to W. 1st Ave. Turn right.
