Movember at the Firehall

Mitch Janzen (or “Milt”, as he’s lovingly referred to around here), our wonderful administrative assistant, has decided to donate his upper lip and his dignity to help raise money for men’s health issues including prostate cancer this November.

Click here to head on over to his Movember page and make a tax deductible donation.

He is currently rocking a rather unsightly basic stash, and hopes to be sporting a majestic handlebar by the end of the month.

We’ll believe it when we see it.

Mitch’s stash as of Nov. 1st

We’ve teamed up with the Police Museum for Kid Gloves!


We are proud to announce that for the run of Kid Gloves, the Firehall will be working with the Vancouver Police Museum to present a rare and special educational opportunity!

On November 14, 21, & 28, the Firehall and the Vancouver Police Museum are offering a double header in the form of a Lunchtime Q&A session with two currently serving members of the Vancouver Police Department and the matinee performance of Kid Gloves!

Colleen Wheeler and Dawn Petten in Kid Gloves by Emily Cooper

You will begin at the Police Museum, where Constable Alison Gailus and Constable Jennifer Luccock, will be sharing their experiences as female officers and answering questions about the challenges of contemporary policing, particularly in an inner-city neighbourhood like the Downtown Eastside.

The session will offer attendees the chance to consider the evolution of women’s roles in society and the ever-changing nature of law enforcement, the justice system and society itself. Take a tour of the current exhibit, 100 Years of Women in Policing, and see how the role of women in the force has evolved.Then, walk next door to the Firehall to catch the 1pm performance of Kid Gloves, a fictionalized account of Canada’s first two female policewomen who were hired by the Vancouver Police Department in 1912.

This great opportunity gives you the chance to hear from officers today about their experiences and then travel back to the beginning of women in the force.  Great for secondary school and university students as well as history buffs and police aficionados.

Open to groups of 10 or more, there is limited availability so book today!  Call our box office at 604.689.0926 for more information and pricing.

The Lunchtime Q&A is offered with the support of the Vancouver Police Foundation

Raffle for tickets to Leonard Cohen Live in Concert!

As many of you know, Leonard Cohen will be visiting Vancouver on his world tour, playing Rogers Arena on November 12.

To celebrate the man and the music, a generous donor has given us a pair of tickets for the show, to raffle during the Chelsea Hotel run and continuing until November 9th!

Buy one ticket for $25 or three for $60 in person or online

Funds from the raffle will go to supporting the operation of the Firehall.

 

And if you haven’t seen Chelsea Hotel yet, there are only TWO WEEKS left! Buy your tickets for the show here.

Here’s the man himself to give you a taste of what to expect November 12!

Vocal Eye at Chelsea Hotel

 

On Friday, October 12 at 8pm and Wednesday, October 17th at 1pm, Vocal Eye will provide live audio descriptions at performances of Chelsea Hotel.

Vocal Eye provides vocal description if theatre and performing arts to blind and low vision patrons.

“Each patron is given a personal receiver with a single earpiece and volume control that allows him or her to hear both the show
and our live audio description at the same time. The broadcast begins 15 minutes before curtain with detailed descriptions of the
set, characters and costumes. Once the show begins, the describer transmits pertinent physical action and visual detail between
the lines of dialogue. Brief program notes are provided at intermission.”

– from the Vocal Eye page on Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture website

We are delighted to be able to work with Vocal Eye on these performances of Chelsea Hotel!

 

Changes to Saturday evening show times

We’re making a change!

For the 2012-2013 Season, the Firehall has eliminated Saturday 2pm matinees and has added a 5pm evening performance in its place. We’re also moving the 8pm performance to 9pm to accommodate this development.

Trying to make it to an 8pm show often leads to patrons having a hurried meal before hand, or alternately, getting out at 10pm and finding it’s too late for dinner.

Our aim is to help Firehall patrons have a terrific Saturday night: join us at 5pm for one of our great shows, and be out for dinner around 7pm. Or, enjoy a leisurely meal at one of the wonderful restaurants, bistros or bars in the neighbourhood and come to the Firehall for a 9pm performances.

No rush, no fuss.

 

Season Brochures on their way!

We know you’ve been waiting to get your hands on a copy of the Firehall’s 2012-2013 Season brochure, and I’m here to let you know that they will soon be arriving at the Firehall! We will be mailing them out to subscribers and distributing them around town.

We have a very exciting and full season to help us celebrate our 30th anniversary, and we hope to see you all here throughout the year!

For a PDF of the Firehall’s 2012-2013 Season Brochure, click here!

 

 

‘Good Timber taps into a fascinating part of our cultural heritage’

It’s official, the critics are loving Good Timber!

With only five performances left in Vancouver, this show is a must see!

Photo by David Lowes

“Imagine a really great Vancouver Folk Festival set with remarkable projection footage and you’ll have some idea of the Good Timber experience.”  -Jerry Wasserman via The Province

“The last time I saw such a group of talented performers was in New York at the Tony-award winning musical, Once.”FunFun Vancouver

Good Timber taps into a fascinating part of our cultural heritage and presents its stories in a lively, infectiously reverent way.”
-Vancouver Weekly

“…the love many loggers had and have for the forests comes through loud and clear in Good Timber. In these ecologically dangerous and divisive times, that’s good to remember.”
Colin Thomas via The Georgia Straight

 

Good Timber is an engaging show that shares an important part of BC’s colourful history. If you’d like to learn more about the history of forestry in BC check out the links below.

http://www.learnforestry.com/index.html

http://www.cofi.org/educationcareers/teaching-resource/secondaryresources/

http://forestinfo.org/

Special thanks to Susan of  the Coast Forest Products Association for her support!

 

Good Timber at the Firehall

Photo by David Lowes

It isn’t often that we get the chance to honor our history and tap our toes at the same time! Good Timber does just that as The Other Guys Theatre brings the stories of loggers and logging in British Columbia to life at a time before helicopters, pine beetles and clear-cuts became a part of the forest industry.

And what better place to see this rollicking musical revue than in the 105-year-old Firehall building?  Just outside our doors on Cordova Street in the early days of the province, logs went skidding by on their way to ships that would carry them to Scotland and far afield. The Firehall building itself sits on stone blocks from Scottish quarries that were used as ballast in the ships sailing into the harbor to pick up timber for their return journey.

We hope you’ll join us tonight for a 2 for 1 preview of the play, or sometime during the run from August 7 to 19!

Click here to purchase your tickets to Good Timber today!

Logging Fun

As a kid, I used to watch YTV because it was awesome.  Cartoons and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” were staples on channel 25 (Holla mid-90s Vancouverites!), as were NFB shorts.  My all-time favourite was the Log Driver’s Waltz, and so it pleases me to no end to be able to post the video and gush about it in anticipation of Good Timber – Songs & Stories of the Western Logger, which runs here at the Firehall August 7 to 19.

We haven’t presented a summer show in a number of years, and are pleased to be able to bring The Other Guys Theatre’s production here to Vancouver.  Good Timber is a musical revue celebrating the golden age of logging in the Pacific Northwest and for folk music lovers, it’s a must-see.

So, to get you in the mood for Good Timber, I present one of the greatest NFB shorts of all time! Enjoy!

Log Driver’s Waltz Image from the NFB.

Last Chance for Early Bird Subscriptions!

This is it folks! As of midnight tomorrow, July 31st, our Early Bird Passes will no longer be on sale!

We have Full-Packs and Flex Packs for sale giving YOU up to 25% off regularly priced tickets!

Click here to buy yours!

Full Pack Subscriptions*:
Attend any performance during the season. Valid for one patron to book one ticket per production. Excludes Good Timber.

Early Bird Full Four Pack $60
Early Bird Full Six Pack $90

*Pass Tickets are issued in the name of the pass holder and are not transferable.

Flex Pack Subscriptions:
Allows one patron to attend many performances, or many patrons to attend a few performances (pending availability). Excludes Good Timber.

Early Bird Flex Four Pack $80
Early Bird Flex Six Pack $120

And as a BONUS for subscribing early:

Buy any subscription pass to the 2012-13 Season and get up to two tickets to Good Timber, the Firehall’s summer show, for only $20 more per ticket!

Click here to buy yours!

Good Timber. Photo by David Lowes.

**Please note that subscriptions can only be used for Firehall Productions and presentations.