The Firehall Arts Centre opens its 2023-2024 season with the world premiere of Pedro Chamale’s Peace Country.
Inspired by Chamale’s upbringing in Chetwynd, B.C., Peace Country examines intercultural friendship, the realities of northern living, and the vilification of northern communities in the fight against the climate crisis.
“This play is a way for me to put both sides of my heart, the urban and rural, on stage in direct conflict with each other, with humour and humility for a greater cause,” says Chamale in a media release.
Set in a small rural town in British Columbia’s Northern Interior, in Peace Country, a new political party has swept into office with the promise of big changes that could put the nail in the coffin of a little carbon-economy town if climate change doesn’t wipe it out first. In a time where it feels easy to spit rhetoric at one another, a familiar face in the party forces childhood friends to have tough conversations and work together.
“It gives me great joy to bring Peace Country to the stage as the season opener with our partner’s rice & beans theatre,” says The Firehall’s artistic director, Donna Spener. “It is entertaining, relevant to what Canadians are facing today, and delivered in a heartfelt and honest manner.”
Peace Country runs at The Firehall Arts Centre (280 East Cordova St, Vancouver) from October 12-22. Visit firehallartscentre.ca for tickets and information.