The Arts Club Theatre Company has revealed a 60th-anniversary 2023-2024 season with an eclectic mix of 12 shows over its three stages, plus three touring productions.
“The Arts Club has a history, and a future, of never being content with the status quo and of always striving forward from its founding to today,” says artistic director Ashlie Corcoran in a media release. “As we approach our 60 years of existence, our goal is for each show to deepen our commitment to artists in our province, highlight conscious eclecticism, aim for the highest levels of artistic excellence, and reflect our community’s diversity.”
The 2023–2024 season will kick off in September at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage with the comedy-horror musical Little Shop of Horrors, a co-production with the Citadel Theatre.
Four other shows are also programmed for the Stanley Theatre, including Elf: The Musical, the Tony Award-nominated coming-of-age story Choir Boy, Red Velvet, the true story of Ira Aldridge, the first Black actor to play Othello in London, and will close with the romantic musical comedy Guys & Dolls.
The Arts Club’s longtime waterfront home, the Granville Island Stage, will see the return of the hugely popular Mom’s the Word: Talkin’ Turkey over the holidays. Three other shows will follow: the comedy Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure, the romantic comedy Sexy Laundry by Vancouver playwright Michele Riml, and Ring of Fire, Johnny Cash’s life story told through his music.
In addition, Corcoran announced the three shows programmed for the Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre. The world premiere of Someone Like You, a millennial take on Cyrano de Bergerac by Vancouver-based playwright Christine Quintana will open the season at the company’s Olympic Village venue. Two other shows that were delayed due to the pandemic will follow, including Every Brilliant Thing, an immersive exploration into the small joys of being human, and the Canadian premiere of Cambodian Rock Band, the captivating play about the power of music and the resiliency of family.
The Arts Club will also be reviving its Lower Mainland and provincial tours, the first tour since the COVID-19 pandemic with Mark Crawford’s The Birds and the Bees, Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story, and Farren Timoteo’s Made in Italy.
The company also announced it would commission six Silver Commissions this year to honour the six decades since Arts Club’s inception.
Subscription packages are available now, with single tickets on sale to the general public in June. Visit artsclub.com for more information.