Amara Zee arrives in Vancouver for shipboard theatrical climate change show, Nomadic Tempest

August 5, 2017

Photo: Charlie Smith

This theatrical performance onboard a tall ship is the latest manifestation of the evolution of modern theatre in Canada.

A growing number of productions are telling stories in unconventional venues.

For example, Japanese Problem will highlight the injustice of the internment of Japanese Canadians with performances this autumn in the Livestock Building’s animal stalls at Hastings Park.

In 1942 this is were Japanese Canadians were housed after their possessions were seized. Most were later transferred to internment camps in the B.C. Interior, though some opted to work as indentured labourers on sugar beet farms.

This trend of presenting the performing arts in the community was highlighted in a recent essay, “Theatre, What’s Next”, in Reflections of Canada: Illuminating Our Opportunities and Challenges at 150+ Years, which was published by the UBC Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.