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Plays

2023-2024 Season

University of the Fraser Valley Theatre is pleased to announce its 2023-24 Season of Theatre, with an exciting lineup of performances. Students will explore global issues through classic plays and original performances in this engaging and informative season.

In Fall 2023, UFV Theatre will participate in the Climate Change Theatre Action with a series of pop-up performances fostering dialogue about the climate crisis and will host the SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL, a Fringe-inspired performance event. This season will feature Eugene Ionesco’s well-known absurdist play, Rhinoceros, and will close with the Emerging Directors’ Showcase, presented by UFV Theatre’s fourth-year directing class in conjunction with the Interpret Festival.


Photo of a forest fire taken from above.

Climate Change Theatre Action

November 20-24 & December 1-2, 2023

Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) is a worldwide production of short plays about climate change, presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations’ COP meetings. In this globally distributed theatre festival, fifty professional playwrights are commissioned to write original works, and people around the world will present these five-minute plays to raise awareness and generate conversations about climate change. UFV Theatre will be staging pop-up readings and performances of these plays around the Abbotsford campus during the week of November 21. 2023 will mark the third year that UFV Theatre has participated in the Climate Change Theatre Action.

 

 

Gold speckles on a black background.

Spotlight Festival

December 1 & 2, 2023

This Fringe-style event will celebrate the end of the fall semester with back-to-back performances by talented Theatre students. Students from production, acting and performance classes will showcase the skills they've learned in their classes in this free showcase!

This year the festival is proud to present a double feature of student work!

 

Illustration of four human shadows following each other. Between the third and the fourth, you can see a rhinoceros with an armour on this back.

Rhinoceros

March 14-23, 2024

TICKETS HERE

Written by Eugène Ionesco
Directed by Parjad Sharifi

Rhinoceros is a humorous and absurdist masterwork by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. The play comments on the dangers of conformity and acts as a metaphor to depict the rise of fascism and totalitarian ideologies. Rhinoceros challenges audiences to ask critical existential questions about human will and responsibility in today's global crisis. Set in a small French town, the play centers around the character Berenger, an everyman figure who is initially presented as a slacker and outsider. As the play progresses, the town is gradually taken over by rhinoceroses. Berenger finds himself increasingly isolated and powerless as he watches his friends and fellow citizens succumb to a bizarre transformation. 

 

Closed red theatre curtain.

Emerging Director's Showcase

April 2024

TICKETS HERE

PERFORMANCES:

Friday, April 19th at 7:00 pm. (Trifles only)

Bookings for April 19 can be made through Eventbrite.

Please be advised that early reservations via Eventbrite are encouraged as seating will be extremely limited. Ticket registration ends 2 hours before the performance start times.

Thursday, April 25 at 7:00 pm.

Bookings for April 25 can be made through Eventbrite.

Please be advised that early reservations via Eventbrite are encouraged as seating will be extremely limited. Ticket registration ends 2 hours before the performance start times.

Friday, April 26, between 4:00 and 9:00 pm.

Directors’ Showcase performances will be presented as part of Interpret, a Creative and Performing Arts Festival. These performances do not require bookings through Eventbrite; however, seating will be first come, first serve. Audiences will be able to come in and out of the theatre between each of the performances.

REGISTER FOR INTERPRET FESTIVAL

UFV Theatre is wrapping up the 2023-2024 Season of Theatre with the Emerging Directors’ Showcase, with performances from April 19-26, 2024. The showcase is the final project presented by UFV Theatre’s fourth-year directing class, and is a chance for students to apply everything that they have learned in the course. Audiences can expect a wide range of performances, from broad physical comedy to thought-provoking drama.

The student directors include Sarah Byers, Brian Cahill, Doris Huang, Bren McPhee, Sterling Kai Pollock, and Taya Viger, under the mentorship of UFV professor Alexander Ferguson. Performances will be live, in the D105 Blackbox Theatre. The shows are:

Murder by Midnight, written by Jeff Goode and directed by Sarah Byers.

Dick Piston is a detective at the rundown Lakeview Hotel in the downtown of a big city. At 11:50pm at the end of his Friday shift a Woman, wearing nothing but a housecoat, burst into Piston’s office claiming her newlywed husband had just been murdered while she was in the shower. Setting ten minutes on an egg timer and now under the clock, Piston attempts to solve the case before his shift is over.

*Trifles, by playwright Susan Glaspell and directed by Brian Cahill.

"Trifles" is a play set in early twentieth-century Mid-west, focusing on the investigation of Minnie Wright's suspected murder of her husband, John. While men search the house for clues, their wives delve into Minnie's life, uncovering key evidence dismissed by the men as insignificant "trifles." The play highlights gender dynamics and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society. Minnie's character is central, symbolizing the silent suffering of many women.

The Wedding Story, by playwright Julianne Homokay and directed by Doris Huang.

The Wedding Story is a dark comedy that delves into the complexities of relationships and the stark contrast between fairy tale ideals and real-life struggles. The play revolves around a storyteller's attempt to entertain children with a romantic narrative but is constantly interrupted by the bride and groom, who insist on setting the record straight about their own love story.

Yellow Wallpaper, written and directed by Bren McPhee.

A woman has been isolated from the outside world and confined to her room by her husband and sister-in-law. She becomes obsessed with her new room's ugly wallpaper, and the things that may lie beneath it. Adapted from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story of the same name, The Yellow Wallpaper explores what can happen when people do not have bodily autonomy.

Twitch, written by Stephen Gregg and directed by Sterling Kai Pollock.

In the 1970s, a suburban, middle-class family, Nancy and Don, engage in a tense argument about their neighbors, Aiden and Emma, whom Nancy distrusts. Aiden and Emma's peculiar behavior only heightens Nancy's suspicions. Nancy and Don become determined to unveil their neighbors' secrets. With tensions rising, they embark on a quest to uncover the truth before it's too late, facing uncertain consequences in their idyllic community.

Bringing Up Lester, by Stephen Bittrich and directed by Taya Viger.

After having a passionate affair with her dance teacher, Marge returns home to her husband, Charles. However, she is surprised to find a new resident in her home: Baby Lester, a full grown man claiming to be her son who she doesn’t remember giving birth to.

*The director of Trifles is an exchange student, so there will be a special performance of this show on April 19th before he has to fly home on April 20th.

All performances will be held in the Performance Studio, Building D, 105, Abbotsford Campus, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Road.

Please email soca@ufv.ca for more information.

Follow the UFV School of Creative Arts @ufvsoca on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.

For more information about UFV Theatre productions go to https://www.ufv.ca/plays/

 

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