Vancouver's Upintheair Theatre announces 2023 rEvolver Festival lineup

Ten mainstage productions run the gamut from dance to drag to stand-up comedy and then some

*A Funny Thing Happened on my Way to Canada.*

UPINTHEAIR THEATRE’S rEvolver Festival is back for 2023, running May 24 to June 4 at The Cultch.

Programmed by resident curators Lili Robinson, Sarah Roa, and Upintheair Theatre’s artistic producer, David Mott, the fest focuses on progressive Canadian live theatre by emerging and mid-career artists. The 11th edition is based on the theme of “The Changing Stage”.

There are 10 multidisciplinary mainstage productions this year exploring identity, immigration, gender, mental health, online deception, and much more. Performance styles in the mix include contemporary dance, drag, juggling, musical theatre, performance art, physical theatre, and stand-up comedy.

*Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate Suicide if She were Filipino?*

The mainstage shows include Grace Chin’s journey of self-discovery, A Funny Thing Happened on my Way to Canada; Catfish by Alley Theatre, about a woman’s search for love and acceptance as she shares her true Deaf, Punjabi self with the world; and Anthony Kit Chun Lee’s immersive culinary experience, Discounted Hotpot Centre. In Djata: Conversations of the Manden from Montreal’s Aly Keita, Soundjata Keita is a long-awaited child born from an alliance between the buffalo and the lion who is unable to walk and goes on to found the great Mandingo Empire, unifying the regions of West Africa, including Guinea. Spicy Lemon Company’s Duality combines contemporary juggling with an intimate look at the struggles of two unique individuals, each facing their own challenges: one, a performer with bipolar disorder; the other a bilingual Japanese-Canadian. House of Rice’s House of Rice: Rice-silience is a sequel to the group’s digital production from three years ago, Rice-olation, which explored experiences as a queer Asian; this time, the focus is on resilience. June Bug by Ragamuffin Productions allows viewers’ inner child to be explored, celebrated, and loved; Pulsive Party’s Lip Service: Breaking Down Barriers is a physical-theatre musical performance based on two vulvas discovering sex for the first time; Prude from Halifax-based Probably Theatre Collective combines drag, comedy, and lip-syncing to look at the experience of being an asexual in a sexual world. Finally, Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate Suicide if She were Filipino? from Montreal’s Asia International explores two people’s different expectations for an evening together.

There are several special presentations: Davey Calderon with Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night (online): First Métis Man of Odesa by Edmonton’s Punctuate! Theatre in association with the Cultch; A Menos que Quieras Bailar/Unless you Want to Dance by Kelly McInnes, Areli - Moran, and Rianne Švelnis’ (at The Morrow); Indigenous Emergence & Community Gathering presented by Savage Society; Beat, Yeet and Eat! by Raven John, aka TwoSpiritTrickster’s; and A Buzz in your Hub from Nakuset Gould, Chris Bose, and Heather Mclean.

The fest also features several works in development.

For full details, see Upintheair Theatre.

*A Menos que Quieras Bailar/Unless you Want to Dance.*

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