Pacific Theatre Announces 40th Anniversary Season Lineup

Artistic Director Kaitlin Williams and Executive Director Jennifer Milley announced today the lineup for Pacific Theatre's 40th anniversary season. Pacific celebrates this milestone with an experimental world premiere, returning work from long-time collaborators, and the Canadian premiere of a brand-new Broadway hit.

Williams is already preparing for the ambitious slate. "40 years of Pacific gives us much to celebrate, including our return to a full eight-show season - the largest we've been able to produce in years. I'm over the moon to offer a little something for everyone: returning PT favourites, world premieres, and shows straight from Broadway alongside a heaping dose of home-grown talent. Next season offers a striking variety of stories that expand PT's tradition of thought-provoking and stirring work."

The season opens with Tetsuro Shigematsu's Empire Of The Son, a one-man tour de force restaged and reimagined for Pacific's unique alley stage. Tetsuro's transcontinental memoir of family bonds and his relationship with his ailing father Akira returns to Vancouver after a decade of critically acclaimed international touring.

Local indie-pop favourite Amanda Sum, fresh off her Juno nomination, will perform a weekend of concerts in October, bringing her unique voice and megawatt charisma to PT. Along with the seasonal song-and-story warmth of Christmas Presence and banjo player Keith Alessi's Tomatoes Tried To Kill Me, But Banjos Saved My Life in the spring, Pacific will be filled with tunes all season long.

For the holiday season, Ron Reed's two-person staging of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe returns, helmed by 2018 director Sarah Rodgers. This audience favourite is a signature Pacific production and a fantastic family Christmas outing.

2024 begins with the world premiere of Sunny Drake's CHILD-ish, composed of verbatim text from interviews with kids. Says Drake: "I wanted to see what would happen if we listened to children more deeply. Since adults are more likely to listen to each other, having adult actors speak children's exact words makes us hear them differently. These kids transformed my life, I have no doubt their words will transform yours too." Lois Anderson directs this joyful, sometimes revelatory look into the minds and concerns of our young friends. Presented in collaboration with the East Side Story Guild.

The Way To The River, conceived and performed by Nadleh Whut'en storyteller Cheryl Bear, brings Indigenous storytelling traditions and Cheryl's unique blend of humor and spirit to the Pacific stage in April.

And the season closes with the Canadian premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's existential drama A Case For The Existence Of God - a heartrending yet hopeful story of two men's parallel desires to build a secure foundation for their families as the world around them falls apart. Rob Salvador and Luc Roderique are slated to inhabit Hunter's intimate world, with Kaitlin Williams directing.

Accessibility: Pacific's policy of providing $15 accessibly-priced tickets for every performance will continue, as will the Mask Wednesday performances. These patron-masked designated performance nights enable immunocompromised and vulnerable patrons to attend theatre in comfort and safety. Show start times on Wednesday and Thursday evenings will move to 7:30 PM.

Tickets: Season packages (including the 3-show Welcome (Back) Pass, 5-show Season Pass, and 8-show Super Bundle) are now available at pacifictheatre.org or by phone at 604-731-5518.

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