Author: parker

In October, in the theatre, we will launch our first of the Salon/Saloon Series with the presentation of Allan Morgan’s one man show, I Walked the Line – a piece that reflects in his generous and humorous manner, his experience walking the line with members of the BC Nurses Union. Following that, as part of the Heart of the City Festival, we will share more stories in our Opening Doors series with a special look at the history and connections of Indigenous communities to this neighbourhood.

While we continue to work on programming for the balance of the year, we are focusing on November, December and January using the Salon/Saloon model of limiting audiences to fifty. At this point not all of the proposed programming is contracted but we hope by mid-August to announce all of the works that will carry us through this time period. We anticipate there will be a minimum of four different productions you will be able to utilize your Early Bird passes for before the end of January. We ask you continue to have faith until such time as all the details are worked out. With only fifty tickets available per performance, Early Bird passes are going quickly with the deadline for final purchase on July 31.

Click here to buy yours while they’re still available!

We are incredibly excited to announce our pride long weekend event, Pride Performance Empowers! (or PPE for short). Taking place in the Firehall’s beautiful courtyard, PPE is a three day long event of theatre, drag, and music!

Tickets are very limited because of COVID-19 safety guidelines, so please join us in celebrating a wonderful pride 2020!

July 31st – Baking and Dishing with Allan Morgan @ 7:30pm

Well known actor, writer and all round great guy Allan Morgan will offer a witty and wild demonstration of his culinary skills, BAKING AND DISHING WITH PRIDE. In this work drawn from his previous work For the Young Gay, the Un-Gay and the Jaded Queen in All of Us, this one person show follows Allan’s path from 1968 forward and chronicles his life as he begins to understand and accept his sexuality and looks at the points of connection between his life and the Gay Pride movement as we grow together.

Tickets starting @ $20!

August 1st – Kings and Queens of DRAG @ 7:30pm

Drag Kings and Queens will hold court on the courtyard stage. Hosted by Carlotta Gurl, the night will feature Pride weekend favorites JOAN E, OWEN, GINA TONIC, and BRUNCH.

Tickets starting @ $25!

August 2nd – Prideful Music with Sara Vickruck @4:00pm

Come hangout in the courtyard with quadruple threat award winning queer performer Sara Vickruck. Chronicled through her original tunes, some cover songs, and by the length of her hair, Sara will walk you through their coming out story. Part hour of music, and part hour of storytelling, it will be a relaxing way to spend your Sunday afternoon.

Sara Vickruck self produced their own Album Prologue in 2015, and wrote the music for the award winning musical Poly Queer Love Ballad. You may remember her from Fun Home (Arts Club), Circle Game (Firehall Arts Centre), or Coriolanus (Bard on the Beach). Currently she is part of the musical group The Quarantettes building a repertoire of music poetry to music in association with Bard on the Beach.

Tickets starting @ $20!

Tickets are on sale now on the Firehall website! Just click the link below to book your seats today!

CLICK HERE

*The Firehall Arts Centre has instituted safe physical distancing rules and has put in place Health and Safety Measures to ensure audiences, artists, and staff remain safe during all performances. A maximum of 40 people will be granted entry to each performance. Safe physical distancing rules are strongly encouraged in addition to wearing a face mask/covering. Face masks will be available for sale at the door. 

We are excited to be hosting the Dancing on the Edge festival again this summer!

A combination of live and streamed performances, we’re looking forward to having patrons back to the theatre in both capacities.

Please follow this link for a full schedule.

Live performance can be purchased here.

Virtual performances can be purchased here.

In a new initiative to keep engaging our wonderful patrons, we are releasing, “Dramatic Pause: Conversations about the Arts.” Donna Spencer, our Artistic Producer, will be interviewing Canadian artists, covering an array of topics from each artists lives, to the role of art, and it’s importance, especially now, in the current climate.

As an homage to many years of collaboration, our first interviewee will be David Diamond, Artistic Director of Theatre for Living. Theatre for Living has produced many shows at the Firehall over the years, the last being šxʷʔam̓ət (Home).

Every year many of patrons purchase Early Bird passes to Firehall season’s offerings. They are a great deal with savings ranging from 10% to 28% depending on which pass program purchasers subscribe too and allow purchasers to chose which shows from the Firehall season of between ten to twelve different productions that they wish to attend.

In this uncertain time, the Firehall is asking patrons to take a leap of faith with us and invest in the 2020-2021 upcoming season. And what will that season be? That is a great question and this is the part where the leap of faith comes in. Artistic Producer Donna Spencer is planning a fall season of events entitled the Salon Series. This series will feature primarily theatre but will, also, include music and dance designed for audiences of 50 or less. Reflective of the current public assembly guidelines of 50, not including staff and crew, set by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry this number allows for a creative team of artists and customer services staff of ten. Through undertaking this scale of programming not only will the Firehall be able to ensure our audiences, artists and venue support staff are safe within the current physical distancing and PPE’s guidelines but will provide opportunities for audiences to enjoy the live performing arts again in an intimate setting. When public assembly limits are increased, which we hope is sooner rather than later, the venue seating will be increased accordingly.

So while we are still in programming stages for the 2020-2021 season, we are planning ten to twelve different productions including our production with Savage Society of Taran Kootenhayoo’s White Noise; Touchstone’s production in association with the Firehall of Adam Grant Warren’s Lights , which unfortunately, were postponed because of the pandemic. Other works could include Manami Hara’s Courage Now ; a remount of our co-production with Puente Theatre of Elaine Avila’s FADO, The Saddest Music in the World ; Rice & Beans’ Yellow Objects ; Yvonne Wallace’s Utzan; more stories from the East side in Opening Doors ; a work in progress showing of Starr Muranko’s Chapter 21 and Allan Morgan’s I Walked The Line, just to name a few. More details will be released about programming as contracts for productions are confirmed.

Early Bird passes come in two flavours: The Full Pack for $79 which allows you to attend four productions through the season and the Four Pack Flex for $100 which allows you to mix and match as you please allowing you to bring guests with you or see your favourite show more than once.

Should the Firehall be forced to shut down operations because of COVID-19, any passes or tickets left on passes purchased will be refunded.

Early Bird passes are available beginning June 8th until July 31, 2020.

As we plan for our return to performances and to dive in to spring cleaning in our offices and the theatre, we, inevitably, have come upon a few treasures lost in the mess, or as we’d like to call it, “creative build-up.” One such treasure is this beautiful photo set of iconic Canadian playwright, George Ryga. Why do we have these shots was the question and it came up that we think they were taken when the Firehall was producing his one man show for his great friend, Dick Clements, called One More For The Road just prior to Ryga’s passing in 1987.

In 1982, when this photo was taken, my vision for the Firehall was to create a cultural venue that would not only work in partnership with the resident companies at that time but, also, would be a producer and presenter of theatre , dance, and multi-disciplinary works reflecting the diversity of Canadians. And Firehall staff and board have worked continually to realize that vision starting in 1985-86 as one of only two professional theatre companies in Canada actively working towards inclusivity on stage.