Past Shows & Events

Palestine Comedy Club

October 09–10, 2026

Palestine Comedy Club is a quest to find joy in the tragedy of Palestinian life and create connection against the odds through a common love of laughter.
Palestine Comedy Club

Ionesco’s Cabaret

July 23 - 25, 2026

Society is collapsing. The crowd is losing its mind. Someone brought wine.
Ionesco’s Cabaret

My Name is Karen

February 20, 2026

My Name Is Karen is a work-in-progress and a satirical examination of the “Karen meme”. 
My Name is Karen

Kid’s Market for Palestine

November 2, 2025

Kids Market for Palestine is the perfect opportunity to stock up on everything your little one needs in a way that's affordable and sustainable.
Kid’s Market for Palestine

The Effect

November 7–22, 2025

“Is it Love? Or Is It Chemical?”
The Effect

Grandview Park Playlist

August 16 2025

Join us for a beautiful evening of intercultural music: the perfect playlist for a summer evening on the Drive. 
Grandview Park Playlist

Tremors Festival 2025

June 6-8, 2025

Join us for Rumble’s 2025 Tremors Festival presenting five works from across Canada on June 6-8 at Progress Lab 1422!
Tremors Festival 2025

Fool’s Paradise Cabaret

April 26 & April 27, 2025

This New Creation night will showcase 4 new 12 minute works in a cabaret format at Progress Lab. 
Fool’s Paradise Cabaret

The (New) Gaza Monologues

January 27, 2025

We invite you to gather, listen, and witness these monologues read by local artists and community members.
The (New) Gaza Monologues

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS- Fool’s Paradise: Untrue Stories Live!

Submissions due January 24 at 11:59 pm [PST]

Rumble is accepting submissions for the next edition of our New Creation Cabaret Series. It’s something like a storytelling night, only the stories don’t have to be true. But they can be, because there’s always a little truth in fiction. 
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS-  Fool’s Paradise: Untrue Stories Live!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS- Tremors Festival 2025

Submissions due September 15th at 11:59 pm [PST]

We are seeking proposals for projects, excerpts, and works-in-progress of approximately 25 – 30 minutes in length. Programmed works will be performed as part of a shared festival bill at a one-ticket event that takes the form of an ‘art party meets night market.’ Audiences will be able to see half of the entire festival … Read more CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS- Tremors Festival 2025
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS- Tremors Festival 2025

Las Pasiones de Don Pasquale

February 17, 2024

High art? Low art? You decide! An evening of comedic devised performance (created from scratch -  just for this event) reinterpreting the Libretto for Don Pasquale through the lens of the Latin American telenovela.
Las Pasiones de Don Pasquale

Rumble’s Jam Night

May 18, 2024

About the Event A night of experimentation and fun! From current artists in residence, to former Rumblers, to staff members – there’s a lot of creation happening this Spring at Rumble. We’ll be showcasing works in progress, enjoying some tunes, and sharing some bevies. Come hang out with us and be part of this jam … Read more Rumble’s Jam Night
Rumble’s Jam Night

Symbiotic: Untrue Stories Live

September 22-23, 2023

About the Event Symbiotic relationships tell us stories of survival, reciprocity, and rivalry. Our earth is a complex mix of species inhabiting each other’s spaces while in constant interaction. May it be mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic, life always finds a way to thrive and subsist. Join us on our sixth rendition of our New Creation … Read more Symbiotic: Untrue Stories Live
Symbiotic: Untrue Stories Live

Rumble Sound System

Release Date: June 27th, 2023

Taking its inspiration from the origins of Dub music and Sound System Culture, we’re seeing what happens if we take text, and then liberally repurpose it to make new pieces.
Rumble Sound System

The Company Project

June 6 – 8, 1991

A unique, collaborative exploration of Samuel Beckett’s novella Company.
The Company Project

Manipulations

September 10 – 19, September 23 – 27, 1992

The laboratory is life – habitual behavior and the use/abuse of power are the subjects.
Manipulations

The Concise History of Drumming

November 17 – 20, 1993

A Concise History of Drumming is a playful and melancholy journey through a percussionist’s mind.
The Concise History of Drumming

Two Small Bodies

September 12 – 19, 1993

A small but intimate psycho drama based on a true story about missing children
Two Small Bodies

Wireless Graffiti

June 8 – 22, 1993 at 8pm

Over 30 performers and artists conspired together to create visual Radio with two special live broadcasts hosted by the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
Wireless Graffiti

Strains

October 18 – 29, 1994

Set against the backdrop of the 20th Century, Strains investigates social and political morality in conflict with the human heart.
Strains

TABS

December 6 – 9, 1995

The time is 1995 and the place is a waiting room near a hospital where one of their “own” has inexplicably lapsed into a coma. The action is ANGRY……
TABS

True Lies

September 9 – 17, 1995

Three men: one in a hotel room, working out of town; the second an actor preparing for an audition; and the third a photographer who no longer photographs.
True Lies

Tattoos

March 21 – 24, 1996, April 3 – 4, 1996

Max Rose explores her relationship to some of the indelible human legacies that one generation bequeaths to the next.
Tattoos

Transmedia Forum

October 14, 1998

a one-day celebration and exploration of performing artists who have ventured from the stage into the use of other media.

Kaleidography Workshop

March 1 – 5, 1999

Newfoundland theatre artist Jillian Keiley conducted a five-day workshop on her creative process, kaleidography.

Other Women

September 10 – 18, 1999

Having cheated on her white husband with an Asian man, a half-Chinese woman flees to the vacant home of her grandparents Wong.

Restless Prayers

January, 1999

Artistic Associate Chris Gerrard-Pinker collaborates with performers Karen Bennedsen, Kairn Lechner and Daniel Wild and musicians Lori Freedman, Andreas Kahre and Tiina Kiik on a new work of dancetheatre. Restless Prayers is a fugue-like series of interconnected meditations on fate, sacrifice and innocence lost. A workshop presentation in collaboration with Toronto’s Theatre Centre.

War of the Worlds

November 26 to December 5

a multi-media spectacle which explores the circumstantial meeting of three characters
War of the Worlds

Under Wraps: A Spoke Opera

January 25 – 29, 2000

Under Wraps, an original work by Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, is, on the surface, a story of unrequited love between a gay man and his straight best friend. That’s on the surface. But what about the sixteen-person chorus under a huge sheet of parachute cloth? This shape-shifting chorus functions as set, musical accompaniment, and as … Read more Under Wraps: A Spoke Opera

Footfalls

September 5 – 16, 2001

Pure Beckett. Pure theatre. Pure poetry.

Foreign Bodies

September 5 – 16, 2001

Fiction wrestles with history, sexuality collides with cultural politics, and nations struggle for power in the story of one couple’s jockeying for position on their west-coast futon.

The House of Pootsie Plunket

February 20 – 24, 2001

“[a] fierce and angry play, a diatribe against the destruction of a nation.” – Peter Birnie, Vancouver Sun Part Greek tragedy, part black (Canuck) comedy, Vancouverites readily appreciated an allegory of the struggle to preserve cultural identity from the onslaught of our neighbours to the South. Catalyst’s production won a prestigious Edinburgh Fringe First in … Read more The House of Pootsie Plunket
The House of Pootsie Plunket

Burning Vision

April 23 – May 11, 2002

Both tragic and irreverent, Burning Vision weighs the burdens of our ancestors as they travel through time, across continents and in our genes to cast shadows on the present.
Burning Vision

Hedda Gabler

November 30 – December 7, 2002

A new look at a classic theatrical work
Hedda Gabler

Silent Summer Nights

August 30 – September 1, 2002

A Labour Day weekend free-of-charge homage to the best in silent (and not-so-silent) cinema.

White Mice

February 5 – 9, 2002

A black comedy about the white race

Silent Summer Nights

August 29 – 31, 2003

The 3rd annual Silent Summer Nights featured three fantastic evenings of the best in silent (and not so silent) film.

The Young & The Restless: Then She

April 15 – 26, 2003

The story of a husband and wife who must come to grips with the disappearance and possible murder of their daughter

PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

January 14 – 31, 2004

The second year of Rumble Productions/Touchstone Theatre’s PuSh International Performance Series featured four exciting contemporary works from Canada and abroad. MAINSTAGE PRESENTATIONS: K. Kaleidoskop Theatre (Copenhagen) Written/directed by Martin Tulinius January 14 – 24 Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC Winner of Denmark’s most prestigious theatre award, K. is a passionate and humanist portrayal of Franz Kafka, one of … Read more PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

Silent Summer Nights

September 3 – 5, 2004

The 4th annual Silent Summer Nights presented three evenings of the best in silent (and not so silent) film—with original live music by Eye of Newt and special guests

Soulless

April 7 – 24, 2004

Set in present-day Vancouver, Soulless is a tale of redemption at the crossroads of money, longing and contested ground.
Soulless

The Young & The Restless: The Wedding Pool

March 18 – 27, 2004

“The joy of Theatre SKAM’s The Wedding Pool is its sheer theatricality, in the fresh and inventive way it has been put together.” – The Toronto Star Rumble’s legendary showcase for new and emerging artists returns with Victoria’s Theatre SKAM and The Wedding Pool. Three single friends stuck in unsatisfactory jobs and unsatisfactory lives place a … Read more The Young & The Restless: The Wedding Pool
The Young & The Restless: The Wedding Pool

The Monument

November 11 – 27, 2004

A brutal and timely testament to the passions of ordinary people in not-so-ordinary circumstances.
The Monument

PuSh International Performing Arts Series

January 11 – February 12, 2005

In our third year we expanded to include five mainstage productions, four satellite shows, an international reading series, a national conference and several new partners.

San Diego

October 6 – 23, 2005

A lyrical and emotionally charged look at modern society and our universal longing for a sense of home, comfort and belonging.
San Diego

Silent Summer Nights

September 2 – 4, 2005

The 5th annual Silent Summer Nights offered three glorious evenings of the best in silent (and not so silent) film–with the thrilling accompaniment of original live music by Eye of Newt and special guests. A Labour Day classic. THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES (1987) Screening: Friday, September 2 Winner of the Academy Award for “Best … Read more Silent Summer Nights

Soulless (Remount)

November 24 – December 3, 2005

Soulless is a moving and often humourous tale of redemption at the crossroads of money, longing and contested ground.
Soulless (Remount)

Hive

November 9 – 11, 2006

Eleven performance cells clustered around a central bar.

Recovery

November 23 – December 9, 2006

A speculative examination of an addicted world and the ramifications of a 500 billion dollar pharmaceutical industry
Recovery

Silent Summer Nights

September 1 – 3, 2006

A Labour Day weekend, free-of-charge homage to the best in silent (and not so silent) cinema.

Tremors: The Headless Cowboy

March 14 – 17

“Manages to combine art, science, environmentalism and vampiric catholics into a smart sixty-minute satire.” – Beyond Robson The Headless Cowboy is a rockabilly satire merging music and performance with the visual strengths of theatre, dance and video bringing a fresh, comedic look at a heart-breaking tragedy in a multi-disciplinary performance by three of Alberta’s most … Read more Tremors: The Headless Cowboy

Tremors: Fathom

March 20 – 24, 2007

A mesmerizing and engrossing tale of expectation and tragedy set in colonial Tasmania

YU-FO

March 27 – 31, 2007

One fateful night between a Canadian man and the mysterious Japanese woman he encounters at a side-of-the-road diner.

Hive 2

June 5 – 14, 2008

HIVE 2 took over 2 warehouse spaces at the Digital Media Centre for a 9-day marathon of perspective-rocking, intimate, outrageous, and eclectic performances by 11 independent BC theatre companies.

Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut

January 29 – February 3, March 6 – 9, 2008

Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut uses fact, fiction, video, interviews, a rabbit suit and anything else required to make sense of the found materials
Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut

Tremors: Legoland

March 18 – 22, 2008

“An offbeat charmer not to be missed.” – Vancouver Courier Legoland is the story of the infamous Lamb siblings, extradited to Canada after a brutal attack on one of America’s most beloved pop stars. In this award-winning production, the duo gives a presentation of the harrowing odyssey at their high school. A contemporary Vaudeville routine with … Read more Tremors: Legoland

Tremors: Tiny Apocalypse

April 1 – 5, 2008

Tiny Apocalypse follows the rise and fall of Rita, an obsessively organized office worker who finds herself caught in a daily repetitive loop.

after the quake

November 19 – December 5, 2009

A journey where magic and realism collide in an exploration of disrupted reality.
after the quake

Blackbird

March 11 – 29, 2009

As tensions rise, we are left to question: where is the line between love and abuse? And can we ever break free from the shackles of the past?
Blackbird

after the quake (remount)

October 13–23, 2010

“Wildly original and warm without ever lapsing into sentimentality, after the quake is both a great ride and a testament to the healing powers of imagination…It’s the stuff of dreams.” – The Georgia Straight “I’ve never seen anything like it. And I loved every minute of it.” – Vancouver Courier Haruki Murakami is the West’s … Read more after the quake (remount)
after the quake (remount)

Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut (tour)

Clark and I uses fact, fiction, video, interviews, a rabbit suit and anything else required to make sense of these found materials and the many lives interrupted along the way.
Clark and I Somewhere in Connecticut (tour)

Hive 3

March 11 – 14 and 17 – 20, 2010

Twelve of Vancouver’s most adventurous theatre companies create short installations in a party atmosphere.
Hive 3

Tremors: Cozy Catastrophe

April 6 – 10 and 13 – 17, 2010

A dark comedy about ordinary folks bound together by extraordinary circumstance.
Tremors: Cozy Catastrophe

Tremors: I’m So Close…

April 6 – 10, 2010

“This show made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me think. I’m So Close…is filled with controlled chaos, wonderful physicality, clever comedy, emotional poignancy and a sense of reality and grounding that only comes from experienced and talented performers. Brilliant.” – Plank Winner of the Spotlight Award at the Summerworks Theatre Festival Steve … Read more Tremors: I’m So Close…
Tremors: I’m So Close…

Tremors: KISMET one to one hundred

April 13 – 17, 2010

Four artists set out across Canada to interview one hundred people, ages 1 through 100, about their experiences and beliefs around fate and destiny.
Tremors: KISMET one to one hundred

Snowman

Nov 4 – 19, 2011

When Jude discovers the body of a prehistoric boy frozen in the glacier, everyone finds their lives beginning to shift and thaw in unexpected ways.
Snowman

Community Dinner

June 1 – 4, 2011

One part cooking show, one part biography and one part dinner party, this theatrical feast celebrated the one thing that unites us all – food.
Community Dinner

Cozy Catastrophe

October 22 – November 4, 2012

Horrific events are overwhelming the entirety of human civilization. Four strangers must decide what to do with what could be their final hours. Should they pray? Fight back? Repopulate the earth? Or just get to know each other a little better?
Cozy Catastrophe

Attacks Lab

January 18 – February 4, 2012

Attacks Lab was a curated series of events aimed at established and emerging theatre directors and practitioners. Over the course of the Festival, there was a series of investigations, contemplations and workshops with some of the most daring voices in contemporary theatre. Local and international directors engaged in a rigorous dialogue about the craft of directing … Read more Attacks Lab

Everything Is Terribly Nice Here

December 12th – 22nd, 2012

Everything is Terribly Nice Here by David van Belle – produced by Ghost River Theatre in association with Rumble, was a politically charged play inspired by the murder of Danish film maker Theo van Gogh by Muslim extremist Mohammed Bouyeri. Three years in the making, Everything is Terribly Nice Here is viscerally intelligent theatre that challenges and unsettles assumptions about … Read more Everything Is Terribly Nice Here
Everything Is Terribly Nice Here

Tremors: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

April 10 – 21, 2012

Halfway between Heaven and Hell, in a place called Hope, history’s most infamous sinner stands trial. In a court room that’s as much ghetto as gospel, the witnesses are called – Mother Teresa, Pontius Pilate, Sigmund Freud, a foul-mouthed Saint Monica, a high school football coach, a handful of Jesus’ disciples – to decide questions … Read more Tremors: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
Tremors: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

Tremors: Giant Invisible Robot

April 17 – 21

Russel is a terminally shy young man who’s had one imaginary friend all his life. Unfortunately, that imaginary friend is a Giant Invisible Robot programmed to destroy.
Tremors: Giant Invisible Robot

Director’s Lab 2013

February 25 to March 1, 2013

Directors’ Lab is a development initiative for Vancouver-based professional directors who want to get rigorous with the foundations of their craft, unhindered by production and scenographic considerations. Using an established text as a working model, the Lab focuses on the director’s preparation process, early stages of rehearsal and assessment and critique of the work. This … Read more Director’s Lab 2013

Obstructions

June 8, 2013

Obstructions is a radical initiative intended to rattle the cage of local theatre makers. Inspired in part by the film The Five Obstructions, by Jørgen Leth and Lars Von Trier, Obstructions is the latest project from the group of theatre companies known as Progress Lab, producers of the wildly popular and innovative HIVE series. Over a one-year … Read more Obstructions
Obstructions

Penelope

Enda Walsh’s riveting, savage and wildly funny take on the classic Greek myth.
Penelope

National Elevator Project

January 23 - February 2, 2014

Rumble Theatre was thrilled to be one of the companies participating in Theatre Yes’s National Elevator Project, which featured short plays written for and performed in working elevators.
National Elevator Project

Directors’ Lab 2014

March 10 to 14, 2014

The 2014 Directors’ Lab was geared specifically towards Vancouver-based emerging directors who want to get rigorous with the foundations of their craft

Sound System Launch

June 27th, 2023

Come to the launch of the Rumble Sound System Project with the debut of live works by sound artists, and live performances by Mad Riddim, Anju Singh, the Rumble Sound System Band.
Illustration by Amina Creighton-Kelly

Tremors 2023

May 18-20, 2023

Join us for Rumble’s 2023 Tremors Festival showcasing new visions of live performance, presenting 5 works from across Canada
Tremors 2023

Ephemera 5

June 26, 2022 5-8pm

Celebrate, commemorate, and collectively tell the stories of performance in our community. Share the traces of performances once present but now gone, capturing a moment in time and preserving it in the SFU archive.
Ephemera 5

Genuine Happiness

June 18, 2022

Expressing joy through community-bridging music-making.
Genuine Happiness

New Societies

June 1-5, 2022

New Societies draws together forms of a strategic game night with a theatrical narrative, shaped by the audience’s choices.
photo by Sebastien Galina

Ostara: Untrue Stories Live

April 8-9, 2022

For the third iteration of our Cabaret series, we honour the magic of Spring Equinox, “Ostara.”
Ostara: Untrue Stories Live

Lupercalia: Untrue Stories Live

April 1-2, 2022

You joined us for some Liminal Magic in October. Now it's time for more stores told live, real or otherwise.
Lupercalia: Untrue Stories Live

New Societies Online

December 10 - 11, 2021 ; January 7 - 8, 2022

An interactive theatrical experience to create your ideal society in a mega-game of collaboration, competition, and potential.
New Societies Online

Lakbay

September 11-12, 2021

Drawing upon his mother tongue of Tagalog, pivotal personal experiences, and journeys into the natural world of the west coast rainforest, Ongcol breathes life into the undercurrents of their queer and filipinx identity.
Lakbay

Isolation Suite

Premiered April 15, 2021

UnDone is going grey. Fast. Not just physically but socially, psychologically and even technologically.
Isolation Suite

Good Things to Do

June 9-13, 2021

GTTD invites participants to place themselves within a dreamscape in which they possess extraordinary powers.
Good Things to Do

Ephemera IV

June 26 - 27 June, 2021

Ephemera is an ongoing archiving project that celebrates all of the performing arts community on these lands.
Ephemera IV

Rishi & d Douen

February 4 – 28, 2021

The show brings Caribbean folklore to the West Coast of Canada to share a story filled with adventure and discovery.
Rishi & d Douen

Pathetic Fallacy

November 25-29, 2020

An original collision of DIY cinematography, action film, choreography, a gallery talk, and weather forecasting.
Pathetic Fallacy

Tremors 2020

October 28 - 31, 2020

Intersections of art and performance.
Tremors 2020

Good Things to Do

April 16 – 18, April 24 – 26, April 30 – May 2, and May 9 & 10, 2020

A meditation on goodness, generosity, and the struggle to stay tender in a world that asks us to be hard.
Good Things to Do

B

May 21 – 24, 2020

A darkly comic dive into the absurdity of reality, B examines cross-generational tension in the mobilization of resistance and interrogates the role of violence in revolution.
B

Director’s Lab 2020

February 24 – 28, 2020

Led by Siminovitch Prize-winning director Maiko Yamamoto, Directors' Lab 2020, “Directing from the Inside > Out”, focused on adapting autobiographical material and found texts into performance. 
Director’s Lab 2020

Sound of the Beast

February 19 - 23, 2020

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.
Sound of the Beast

Blank

April 30 – May 4, 2019

Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s intimate and experimental play, BLANK, reverses the typical theatre experience: A script riddled with blanks leaves the audience in charge of how the story will unfold.
Blank

Medea (In Development)

August 12- 15, 2019

Euripides’ Greek tragedy to Vancouver’s Little Saigon in the 1980s, into the heart of the Vietnamese diaspora.
Medea (In Development)

Take d Milk, Nah?

Oct 16 – 26, 2019

A refreshingly candid and delightfully funny look at race, religion, and nationalism(s): what divides us. Oh, and there's a cow.
Take d Milk, Nah?

Director’s Lab 2018

February 27 – March 3, 2018

Directors’ Lab is an integral component of Rumble’s Mentorship Program.
Director’s Lab 2018

Tremors 2018

August 16-25, 2018

The 2018 edition of Tremors, our festival of emerging talent, featured a talented young company of 38 emerging theatre artists.
Tremors 2018

The Wolves

October 19 – November 10, 2018

About the Show A pack of teenage girls prepares for battle on the soccer field. In the exhilaration of adolescence, they grapple with everything from pop culture to politics, discovering their identities as individuals and as a team. Who will come out on top? This debut script from playwright Sarah DeLappe was a finalist for … Read more The Wolves
The Wolves

Director’s Lab 2016

February 15 – 19th, 2016

Using an established text as a working model, the 2016 Director's Lab focused on the director’s preparation process, early stages of rehearsal and assessment and critique of the work.
Director’s Lab 2016

Tremors 2016

August 11 – 20, 2016

Our festival of emerging talent.
Tremors 2016

Indian Arm

April 8 – 18, 2015

A ruthless exploration of what it means to live together, to lose everything, and to survive unimaginable grief. Based on Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen.
Indian Arm

Cock

Oct 29 – Nov 8, 2015

Winner of the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award, Cock brilliantly questions the dual nature of sexuality and the complexities of love in the modern world.
Cock

Tremors 2014

November 12 – 15, 2014

Mingle in the lounge, grab a snack at a food truck and take in performances by some of Vancouver’s hottest burlesque, spoken word artists and musical acts.
Tremors 2014