Category: History

Changes to Saturday evening show times

Posted: Sep 24 2012

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!

Posted: Sep 07 2012

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’

Posted: Aug 16 2012

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

Posted: Aug 07 2012
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

Posted: Jul 31 2012

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!

Posted: Jul 30 2012

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.

DTES Local Area Planning Program Workshop

Posted: Jun 26 2012

The City of Vancouver has initiated a Local Area Planning Program for the Downtown Eastside.  More information about the planning process can be found here.

They are in the initial stage of the planning process – a step called “Reviewing – Taking Stock.”  This step of the process involves research and outreach to identify the key issues and assets within the Downtown Eastside that should be addressed in the Local Area Plan.

Part of this step in the process involves engaging a broad range of residents, organizations, businesses, property owners, and other people who will have a stake in the outcomes of this plan.  As such, the Local Area Planning Committee and the City of Vancouver are co-hosting a series of stakeholder workshops.

DATE and TIME:   Thursday, June 28, 2012 from 2:30 to 5:00 PM

LOCATION:  W2 Media Café – 2nd Floor Mezzanine Meeting Space

Join the discussion!

BIRTH

Posted: Jun 22 2012

Produced by 75 Cent Productions

Birth

JULY 19-21 & 26 – 28, 8PM

Directed by Rebecca Ryan

BIRTH is a funny, touching and eye opening look at the midwives, doctors and mothers who have shaped the way we give birth today. Based on historical figures and modern day testimonials BIRTH celebrates the shocking and many times hilarious characters who have built the modern birth experience. Written by up and coming playwright Rebecca Ryan, BIRTH is a carefully crafted dramedy that informs while it entertains. It is a playful and thoughtful ride through a history we all share and an experience we all have taken part in.

2012-2013 EARLY BIRD SUBSCRIPTIONS

Posted: Jun 06 2012

If you haven’t bought your Pass for our 2012/2013 Season, now’s the time!

Early bird prices are on until July 31!

Check out what we have coming up for the season here.

As a bonus, pay an extra $20 for tickets to see our summer show, Good Timber: Songs & Stories of the Western Logger!

Look for our Early Bird brochure around town or check out the page here for more information.

Buy your pass online now or call us at 604.689.0926!

 

Healing through Humour: The Progressive Polygamists and This is CANCER

Posted: Jun 06 2012

Presented by Two Wrongs That Write Productions 

June 22, 23, 29 & 30, 8pm at the Firehall Arts Centre

Tickets $20 through Firehall Arts Centre Box Office at 604.689.0926 or online

This is CANCER

This is CANCER by Bruce Horak and Rebecca Northan just completed a sold out run for the second consecutive year at this year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival and a sold out run of its hold over. It also received 5 star reviews across the board for the second consecutive year.


CANCER – a deluded, egotistical ASS – goes on his own journey of denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance when he discovers that the whole world hates him.

CANCER gives the cabaret performance of a lifetime! In this one-man, satirical cabaret Bruce Horak (Two-time Betty Mitchell Award Winner: This is CANCER and Evil Dead: the Musical) brings Cancer to life. A cancer survivor himself, and one of Canada’s only legally blind actors, Bruce brings a fresh and funny perspective to a disease that too many of us will face and that so many of us could use a good laugh at.

Directed by award-winning director/performer Rebecca Northan (Betty Mitchell Award: Blind Date, Canadian Comedy Award: best Sketch Group, Gemini and Dora Ward nominee: CTV’s Alice, I think), This is CANCER will leave you wondering how you could fall in love with such a deadly performer.

“This is Cancer is as genius as it is absurd…Allow this remarkable show to spread all over your body.”
– Edmonton Journal 2010 – 5 stars

“One of the weirdest and most brilliant shows the Fringe has ever seen.”
– Edmonton Sun

_____

The Progressive Polygamists

The Progressive Polygamists by Emmelia Gordon and Pippa Mackie have returned after a 5 star, “Best of the Festival” Fringe tour.

What would it be like if your best friend was your sister-in-law, AND your husband’s wife? Join sister wives, Mercy Eve and Eden Grace, in this satirical comedy about what it is really like to share a husband and live together in a polygamist sect.

“It’s startling what a treasure trove of humour the ladies unearth from the secretive commune, which marries off teenagers to much older men.” -Star Phoenix.

Through song, fast paced skits, jump rope, and confessions the Progressive Polygamists shine a new light on this topical and controversial community.

“This satirical jab at the real-life hyper-relgious polygamist commune of Bountiful, B.C., is about as entertaining as a social statement can be.”
– Saskatoon StarPhoenix

“Each performance, one of comic genius”
– Plank Magazine – 5 stars

“A relevant comic triumph.” 
– Saskatoon StarPhoenix 2011 – 5 stars