Written and Performed by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

A Theatre Passe Muraille production, presented by Rumble Theatre

February 19 – 23, 2020
Wed. to Sat. evenings at 7:30pm
Sun. matinee at 2:00pm
PL1422 at 1422 William Street, Vancouver

Tickets: $20 (incl. taxes & fees) – Click here to buy now at Theatre Wire!

Rumble Theatre is pleased to present Theatre Passe Muraille’s production of Sound of the Beast by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard. The show runs February 19 to 23 at PL1422.

In Sound of the Beast, Toronto emcee Belladonna the Blest (Governor General’s Award Nominee & Dora Award-winning playwright St. Bernard) shares stories of coming up in Toronto’s hip-hop scene, the intersections between conscious rap and political activism, and the sacrifices we make for the things we believe in. Part concert/part theatre the show blends the personal and the political, with a bold and brutally honest take about policing in Black communities.

Of the piece, Rumble Artistic Director Jivesh Parasram said, “Sound of The Beast—a project criticizing the impact of seemingly benign practices in policing and speaking to the challenge of fatigue in resisting systemic oppression—has become increasingly timely as we see escalating confrontation between police and grassroots defense on unceded territory. It is a piece that wrestles with empathy and dehumanization, presenting a truthful reflection that can illuminate for those in the mainstream why it is so many of us caught in the gaze of the police seem so ‘angry’. And for the rest of us, it brings some moving and joyful validation.”

For more on our presentation of Sound of the Beast, click here.

Rumble is currently seeking proposals for our 2020 TREMORS Festival. Tremors will take place in Vancouver from October 20 – 31, 2020 (Exact dates TBD).

Submissions are due by February 1, 2020. EXTENDED DEADLINE of February 8, 2020.

The objective of the Tremors Festival is to provide artists with space and support to showcase works-in-development invested in decolonial artistic process. We believe that decolonization takes on different meanings and embodiments unique to the individual artist and the ways in which colonization has impacted their lived experience, and so does not adhere to any one definition. We do, however, offer the following framework that Rumble works under as an example:

• Breaking down the conventions the individual artist has come to recognize as norms, including a depth of analyzing one’s own positionality in the creation of a work.
• Conscious use of dramaturgical frameworks to represent the artistic question through performance style.
• Centering reciprocity as a value between key artists and collaborators, and performance and audience.

Selected projects will be featured during the festival (October 2020) and will receive technical, production, promotional, and artistic support. In addition to a presentation fee, festival artists also receive an unlimited artist pass, allowing them to see the work of their peers throughout the festival. Local (Vancouver based) projects will also have access to development space in late July-August 2020, as well as long-term project planning mentorship. (more…)

High Seas / Low Seas. Graphic: J. Parasram

Rumble Theatre is pleased to announce our current season, “High Seas / Low Seas”, which features a trio of exciting contemporary plays that explore the notion of solidarity: Take d Milk, Nah?, written and performed by Rumble’s own Artistic Director Jivesh Parasram; Good Morning, Viet Mom by Franco Nguyen; and the Canadian premiere of B by Guillermo Calderón.

“With this season’s programming we’re asking ourselves and audience members to consider what it means to stand together amidst ever-changing circumstances,” Parasram said. “How can we maintain solidarity when conditions aren’t so comfortable? Can we be a friend even when the distances between us seem infinite, or when our differences appear irreconcilable?” (more…)

Rumble is pleased to accept submissions for “Directors’ Lab 2020: Directing from the Inside > Out”, a Masterclass intensive led by 2019 Siminovitch Prize laureate Maiko Yamamoto. The Lab will take place February 24 – 28, 2020 at Progress Lab 1422 in Vancouver.

Maiko Bae Yamamoto

Starting from autobiographical material and found texts, participants will be immersed in a practice of adapting this material into performance. The masterclass will explore the integration of narrative and counter narrative and the adaptive cohesion of dramaturgical form in the creation of new works. The masterclass will also include discussions with guest artists around dramaturgy, design, and defining one’s audience. (more…)

B. Design by Truong Nguyen

Rumble Theatre and rice & beans theatre are looking for Latinx and BIPOC (black, indigenous, person-of-colour) self-identified artists to join the different casts of two upcoming productions: rice & beans theatre’s Made in Canada: an agricultural operetta and Rumble’s B.

The auditions will take place December 8, 9, and 10, 2019 at PL1422 and The Cultch’s Green House. (Please see the full details at the bottom of this post.)

Our production of B will be at The Havana Theatre from May 12 – 23, 2020.

Submissions to audition are open until December 5, 2019 and can be sent to auditions@riceandbeanstheatre.com. (more…)

Progress Lab from Neworld Theatre on Vimeo.

Through its 10-year history, Progress Lab 1422 (PL 1422) has organically grown from a co-location space to an interdisciplinary creative hub, supporting a wide range of artistic disciplines and creating a welcoming and generative space for artists from historically underrepresented and marginalized groups. This exceptional space has been home to the creation and realization of some of Canada’s most innovative performance works of the last ten years including Betroffenheit (named the Best Dance of the 21^st Century by The Guardian), the interactive and boundary-pushing Foreign Radical, radically inclusive King Arthur’s Night, The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius (winner of six Jessie Awards), international touring hit Winners and Losers, amongst many others.

Building on this foundation, we are excited to be welcoming three new resident organizations: Playwrights Theatre Centre (PTC), a new-play company dedicated to reimagining theatre, rice & beans, a local theatre company interested in experimenting with languages and the theatrical form, as well as Company 605, our first resident dance company. Our new roommates start arriving this November! (more…)