It’s our 15th season!
DBLSK: Emberré Váltam / I’ve Become Human Again
Join us on Sunday, July 7th at 7:30pm at Progress Lab 1422 for a work-in-progress showing of a new multilingual work by Olivia Etey, featuring Hungarian and English, followed by an artist/audience discussion!
Two first-generation Hungarian sisters, Ana and Emmeline, live almost identical lives until Ana travels to Hungary to become a professional Hungarian Folk Dancer and Emmeline starts raising a family in Canada. This play chronicles their reunitings over the course of 6 years, until the last one. It is also a love story about a Csikós.
Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $10. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
ASL interpretation will be available for the reading & discussion in-person.
2024 Polyphonic Showcase
We are thrilled to be sharing two new works from our 2024 Polyphonic Multilingual Creation Residency artists: Anne’s Cradle by Carolyn Nakagawa and I, Frida by Yulissa Campos! Following 10 days of workshopping and project development, Carolyn and Yulissa will share excerpts of their pieces on Thursday, May 30th at 7:00pm PDT, followed by a discussion between the artists and the attendees.
Join us in-person at Progress Lab 1422, or online via live stream!
Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $15. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
ASL interpretation will be available for the reading & discussion both in-person and online through a dedicated livestream page. Click here for an ASL Vlog.
Jade Circle 玉環
World Premiere, March 6th-17th, 2024
Presented by the Gateway Theatre
In Association with vAct
Jade Circle is a multidisciplinary performance in Mandarin and English performed by Jasmine Chen. Jasmine is a second-generation immigrant who has lost her mother tongue through cultural assimilation. After the death of her grandmother, she recalls the fragments of Taiwanese children’s songs she was taught as a child. Feeling the loss of being unable to connect with her grandmother while she was still alive, Jasmine begins her journey of relearning Mandarin. Through interviews with her mother, Jasmine travels through memory to learn the hidden story of her grandmother. Using music, movement and storytelling, Jasmine finds her place within the legacy of her matriarchs.
DBLSPK: Hymn of the Weaver Birds
Join us for a workshop presentation of a new multilingual theatre work by Johnny Wu and Jocelyn Yuchia Chang, followed by a moderated community discussion.
Working with regional Mandarin and English, Hymn of the Weaver Birds follows the ventures of a group of unidentified strangers, who serendipitously occupy the same address-less abandoned Japanese bathhouse. When the village leader discovers their convert living arrangement, their peace is disrupted and they must band together to turn the bathhouse into a money-making establishment. During the process of re-imagining the bathhouse, they expose each other’s inner vulnerability and unsettled anxiety alongside the bathhouse’s past.
The event will take place Monday, December 11th at 6:00pm PST in the Alice MacKay Room of the Vancouver Public Library 350 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC.
Join us for our 2023 Joint AGM with PTC!
Once again, we are at the time of year when we need to take care of some legalities to continue being societies - our Annual General Meeting! Please join us for a fun, warm gathering of board games, books and of course, a bit of business.
On Dec 3rd, bring along a book to swap and a board game or two to play as we tickle your ears with PTC’s and rice & beans' end of year reports! No book to share or board game to play? No problem! Only your charming self is required to attend.
Location: Progress Lab 1422, Vancouver, BC or Online via Zoom
Date: December 3rd at 11am PT
Thanks for your support of rice & beans and we hope to see you there!
Peace Country
By Pedro Chamale
Presented by the Firehall Arts Centre October 12-22, 2023
Inspired by playwright Pedro Chamale’s growing-up in Chetwynd, BC, Peace Country is an examination of intercultural friendship, the realities of northern living and the vilification of northern communities in the fight against the climate crisis. Set in a small rural town in BC’s Northern interior, a new political party has swept into office with the promise of big changes: changes that could put the nail in the coffin for a little carbon-economy town, that is, if climate change doesn’t wipe it out first. In a time where it feels easy to spit rhetoric and blame each other, a familiar face in the party forces childhood friends to have tough conversations and work together for change. Through Peace Country, we see a plea for dialogue around climate action, in a time of great division.
This production is presented by the Firehall Arts Centre and produced by rice & beans theatre. It is developed in association with Playwrights Theatre Centre, in association with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre and created with support from the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.