http://www.vact.ca/, https://linktr.ee/vact604

VACT, 1885 Venables Street, Vancouver, BC (2026)

05/27/2026

SATURDAY!! Geomancer by Leslie Lum 🚀🪱

Can a missile scientist and a human rights activist be bound by the thread of a silkworm?

2026 rEvolver Festival Reading + Talkback
📅 Sat, May 30
🕢 2PM
📍 Culture Lab (1895 Venables St, Vancouver)
🎫 $5-30 by donation
🔗 Book now: https://revolver.thecultch.com/EventAvailability?EventId=57601

Geomancer imagines a 1993 encounter between 82-year-old Chinese missile scientist Tsien Hsue-shen (钱学森)-deported from America during McCarthyism-and his 25-year-old Chinese American biographer, Iris Chang (張純如), who would later become a renowned human rights activist.

When Iris arrives in Beijing to interview Tsien, he refuses to cooperate. Obsessed with finding a new scientific revolution-one as transformative as quantum mechanics-Tsien turns to the metamorphosis of silkworms in search of the force the ancients called qi. But it is Iris who feels the peril of what connecting with that force might mean.

vAct is excited to be a Presenting Partner for Geomancer.

05/27/2026

JUST LAUNCHED 🚀 Registration is now open for 2 new Springboard workshops: Emotional Resiliency and Multilingual Creation - all FREE!!

Emotional Resiliency Workshop
📅 June 26
🕢 1-4PM
📍 Enabling Arts (343 Railway St Unit 104, Vancouver)
🔗 Register by June 19: https://forms.gle/uosjW9XsLHjDg31J6

This FREE workshop offers a place of respite for our IBPOC community, providing the tools and processes to navigate the emotional complexities of forging creative careers, and creating political and community based artistic works. This workshop gives artists the resources to sustainably share their stories, addressing the impacts of burnout, collective grief, and systemic challenges on one’s creative practice. Registered Clinical Counsellor and Art Therapist, Faranak Ghorbani, will share processes for self-compassion, emotional regulation, self-advocacy, and grief practice to bolster the resilience of our creative community.

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Multilingual Creation Program
📅 July 7-10
🕢 6PM onwards
📍 MORROW (910 Richards St SUITE 204, Vancouver)
🔗 Register by June 12: https://forms.gle/od9DqEPrJoiz8Mcr9

Join us for a FREE four day workshop where participants will foster different skills and techniques for creating new multilingual theatre projects. In this process, artists will explore the dramaturgical frameworks for engaging with integrating multiple languages in new work creation. They will learn how to adapt and translate existing scripts into new languages with playwright and artist Carmela Sison, integrate artful and intentional surtitles with designer Andie Lloyd, and develop authentic new works from a multilingual framework with the Artistic Director of rice & beans theatre, Pedro Chamale.

05/25/2026

"poignant, intelligent writing" - Tamara McCarthy

Citizen Chen arrives at rEvolver Festival this weekend!! Come for the comedy, stay for the truth Scarlet Chen didn't mean to say out loud 🫢

📅 May 29 · 7:15PM
📅 May 30 · 8:30PM
📅 May 31 · 6:30PM
📍 Jim Green House Studio (1885 Venables St, Vancouver)
🎫 $18-33 PWYC
🔗 Book now: https://revolver.thecultch.com/EventAvailability?EventId=51401

Citizen Chen blends stand-up and true storytelling into a comedy of culture whiplash and daily low-key panic: language fails, border anxiety, small-town awkwardness, and rebuilding a life in Canada—one misunderstanding at a time. Fast, sharp, and weirdly tender, it’s big laughs with real moments underneath (no lectures, I promise).

vAct is excited to be a Community Partner for Citizen Chen.

05/19/2026

Springboard is back! The Springboard initiative is a series of ✨ free ✨ workshops over the season, intended to launch artists of any level into inspiration and get them excited about collaboration and new creations.

Here's a preview of what we're offering this year:

⭐ Emotional Resiliency Workshop: June 26th 2026
This one day workshop offers a place of respite for our IBPOC community, providing the tools and processes to navigate the emotional complexities of forging creative careers, and creating political and community based artistic works.

⭐ Multilingual Creation: July 7th - 10th 2026
Join us for this four day workshop, where participants will foster different skills and techniques for creating new multilingual theatre projects.

⭐ Artistic Producing for Indie Artists: September 2026 (Dates TBD)
This three day producer's lab provides emerging artists the practical tools and care-centered practices to create and produce their own works.

Stay tuned to find out when registration opens!

05/07/2026

She's Chinese. She's Canadian. She's confused.

Citizen Chen is coming to Upintheair Theatre's 2026 rEvolver Festival!
📅 May 29 · 7:15PM
📅 May 30 · 8:30PM
📅 May 31 · 6:30PM
📍 Jim Green House Studio (1885 Venables St, Vancouver)
🎫 $18-33 PWYC
🔗 Book now: https://revolver.thecultch.com/EventAvailability?EventId=51401

Citizen Chen blends stand-up and true storytelling into a comedy of culture whiplash and daily low-key panic: language fails, border anxiety, small-town awkwardness, and rebuilding a life in Canada—one misunderstanding at a time. Fast, sharp, and weirdly tender, it’s big laughs with real moments underneath (no lectures, I promise). Come for the comedy, stay for the truth I didn’t mean to say out loud.

By Scarlet Chen

04/29/2026

📢 NEXT MONTH: Geomancer by Leslie Lum

Join us for a bilingual WIP reading (Mandarin/English) + talkback!

2026 rEvolver Festival
📅 Sat, May 30
🕢 2PM
📍 Culture Lab (1895 Venables St, Vancouver)
🎫 $5-30 by donation
🔗 Book now: https://revolver.thecultch.com/EventAvailability?EventId=57601

Geomancer imagines a 1993 encounter between 82-year-old Chinese missile scientist Tsien Hsue-shen (钱学森)-deported from America during McCarthyism-and his 25-year-old Chinese American biographer, Iris Chang (張純如), who would later become a renowned human rights activist.

When Iris arrives in Beijing to interview Tsien, he refuses to cooperate. Obsessed with finding a new scientific revolution-one as transformative as quantum mechanics-Tsien turns to the metamorphosis of silkworms in search of the force the ancients called qi. But it is Iris who feels the peril of what connecting with that force might mean.

04/21/2026

Meet the 2026 Creation Lab Playwrights! 🎉

Medha Gautham (she/her) is a practicing actor, writer, and director based between Canada and the US. She fell in love with theatre at a young age as a sanctuary for transformation and play. Throughout her time in university, she continued to explore acting and directing across film and theatre. More recently, she’s embarked on her journey with writing, developing her practice with the Arts Club Theatre Company’s LEAP Program. She finds joy in deepening her understanding of her craft through observation, conversations, and embodiment. She’s passionate about bringing diverse q***r South Asian voices to the forefront of media, and she’s excited to tell stories from her community. Outside of work, she loves to read (especially spec-fic!), practice archery (mission #1 - become Legolas), and name animals around her (especially birds) while thinking about what their stories might be.

Yasna Khademian is a playwright whose work centres on intergenerational dynamics, relationships between women, and chosen family. Her writing has been supported and publicly shared by theatre companies across the country – including Teesri Duniya Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, and the Arts Club – and is premiering at the Or Festival 6. Born in the Midwest as a second-generation Iranian in the diaspora, Yasna’s writing is deeply informed by themes related to immigration and the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class. She is currently developing Takht-e Jamshid, a full-length play set at a dinner party in the Iranian diaspora, where open secrets and cover-ups threaten to destroy a community’s social fabric and permanently alter one family’s bonds. Additional works in progress include: The Robo-Bio-Doll (full-length horror) and Ten Seconds to Go (timed one-act). Yasna lives on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

04/09/2026

LAST CHANCE to see this ✨ KILLER ✨ show: Canadian Psycho closes this weekend!!!

Remaining showtimes:
Thurs, Apr 9 · 7:30PM
Fri, Apr 10 · 7:30PM
Sat, Apr 11 · 3:00PM + 7:30PM
Sun, Apr 12 · 3:00PM

🗨 "It’s over-the-top, but there’s something harsher underneath it about race and gender that gives the loaded comedy some actual bite."
- Angie Rico, Stir Vancouver

🔗 https://purchase.firehallartscentre.ca/EventAvailability?EventId=4001&ref=bookNow&scroll=timeAndDates
📍 Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova St, Vancouver)
🎫 From $30

What came first, the psychological crime thriller... or the crime itself? While Hollywood congratulates itself on “diversity”, the juiciest, darkest, most complex roles still seem reserved for white men — because they’re based on the world’s most infamous people: American serial killers. There’s only one way to change that...

Blending original electronic music, dynamic movement and striking video design, this satirical solo show, produced by VACT and ITSAZOO Productions, is a provocative takedown of the model minority myth and an unhinged interrogation of who gets to be seen, centered, and mythologized.

A Firehall Arts Centre presentation

📷 by Chelsey Stuyt Photography

04/01/2026

Celebrate our 25th anniversary season with us!! 🥳

Since 2001, vAct has served as a space where Asian artists can find community and feel emboldened to experiment, learn, and tell their stories. Thank you to every show, artist, supporter, and audience member that made up the past quarter century!

With Canadian Psycho opening at the Firehall tonight, we’re launching a $25,000 fundraising campaign to celebrate our 25th birthday! Every dollar raised this season will be matched, up to $25k, by our generous supporters Bonnie Mah, Jack Gin, Anndraya Luui, Ken Gracie, and Philip Waddell. Double your impact at https://give-can.keela.co/25for25 😊

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🎉🎂✨ Save the Date ✨🎂🎉
Join us for our 25th birthday party on Sunday, July 26! More details coming soon - stay tuned!

Thank you all for 25 years ❤️

03/30/2026

SHOW CANCELLED‼️Please note that the preview of Canadian Psycho on Wednesday, April 1st has been cancelled. Reduced-price tickets are still available for the 7:30pm preview on Tuesday, March 31st ($20)!

Book now: https://purchase.firehallartscentre.ca/EventAvailability?EventId=4001&ref=bookNow&scroll=timeAndDates

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📅 Mar 31 – Apr 12
🕢 1PM / 3PM / 7:30PM
📍 Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova St, Vancouver)
🎫 From $20

What came first, the psychological crime thriller... or the crime itself? While Hollywood congratulates itself on “diversity”, the juiciest, darkest, most complex roles still seem reserved for white men — because they’re based on the world’s most infamous people: American serial killers. There’s only one way to change that...

Blending original electronic music, dynamic movement and striking video design, this satirical solo show, produced by and , is a provocative takedown of the model minority myth and an unhinged interrogation of who gets to be seen, centered, and mythologized.

A .arts presentation

📷 by

VACT

05/27/2026

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