Come one, come all to Ionesco’s Cabaret! 

Society is collapsing. The crowd is losing its mind. Someone brought wine.

For 3 nights only, Progress Lab transforms into an absurdist cabaret featuring Eugène Ionesco’s Frenzy for Two, and The Leader, alongside the debut audio/visual novel installation Lost Hands by Tim Carlson. 

Part double-bill, part art party, Ionesco Cabaret’s is a playful encounter between friends and foes, entangling audience members in love-collisions, mass persuasion, and social unraveling.

Come for the theatre. Stay for the existential dread.

Starring

Nyiri Karakas | Khoa Mai | Sophia Radford | Christiaan Westerveld

The Leader (1953) directed by David Mesiha

The Leader is coming. The crowd cheers. Everyone loves him. No one knows why…

Sharp, chaotic, and unsettlingly familiar, this dark satire is a portrait of mass hysteria, adoration and blind devotion. Witness how easily power and persuasion takes hold—and how seductive it can feel as it happens. 

Frenzy for Two (1962) directed by Richard Wolfe

A tortoise and a snail. Different or the same? 

A high-stakes collision of love, ego, and survival. As the world fractures outside, a couple clings to conflict instead of connection, picking fights over nothing, while chaos creeps closer and closer to their door. A front-row seat to a relationship unravelling while everything else burns. 

Lost Hands (Photo Installation)

Lost Hands is an audio/visual novel by Tim Carlson/feral.i.d. Echoing themes in Frenzy for Two and The Leader, absurdly worrisome narratives play on multi-channel speakers while a slideshow of absurdly worrisome found objects provide evocative documentation of said worrisome absurdity. Created with literary/philosophical support from Richard Wolfe.

Cast

Nyiri Karakas [Performer] is a theatre artist from the North Shore. Nyiri pursued a Masters in Acting at East 15 Acting School, in London, UK, where she was part of a residency at Shakespeare’s Globe. Theatre credits: Dance Nation (The Search Party); Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Mitch & Murray Productions); Medicine (Pi Theatre); Gaslight (Western Canada Theatre/Chemainus Theatre Festival); Sense and Sensibility (Arts Club); Children of Fire (Nightwood Theatre/Aluna Theatre); The House of Bernarda Alba (Modern Times Stage Co./Aluna); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Bash’d); The Penelopiad (Hart House Theatre). Film/TV: Tiny Pretty Things (Netflix).

Sophia Radford [Performer] is an actor and musician. She is thrilled to be involved in this project! Sophia holds a BFA in Theatre (Performance) from the University of Victoria, and has performed across Western Canada. Select credits include: Waiting for the Parade (Pivot Theatre), The Guardsman (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre), and The Audition (Theatre Inconnu). You can catch her next in Blackbird at the Vancouver Fringe. 

Christiaan Westerveld [Performer] has appeared on stage in An Intervention (Mitch and Murray Productions), At Sea, Staring Up (JUTE Theatre), Polygraph (Pi Theate/Theatre Le Seiziéme) The Leisure Society (Peninsula Productions), Suburban Motel: Featuring Loretta (Punchback Theatre) and Don’t Forget Your Pants (Share Theatre). He has also written (Best Of Men, How Much Are Those Feelings In The Window?) and directed (A Steady Rain) plays at the now closed Havana Theatre on Commercial Drive. His film and television credits as an actor include The Flash, The Man In The High Castle, Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, Van Helsing, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow, Supernatural, Animal Control and Woody Woodpecker. He is a QUT graduate of the Bachelor Fine Arts Acting program.

Creative Team

Richard Wolfe [Frenzy for Two | Director] is a director, producer, dramaturg and specialist in contemporary theatre and performance who has received among other awards: The Ray Michel Award, the John Moffat and Larry Lillo Prize and several Jessie awards and nominations for Outstanding Director as well as one for Significant Artistic Achievement. Richard is past president of LMDA Canada, a caucus rep for PACT and a permanent member of the Lincoln Centre Directors’ Lab in NYC. He studied theatre at the University of Saskatchewan and The College of New Jersey and received his MFA in Directing from UBC. Richard is a co-founder of Theatre Conspiracy and the current Artistic and Producing Director of Pi Theatre.

Tim Carlson [Lost Hands | Creator] is a theatre-maker, writer, musician and performing arts producer/consultant. He creates new work under the label feral.i.d. Tim co-founded Theatre Conspiracy (1995) with Richard Wolfe, and served as Artistic Director 2008-2022. He led the creation of Foreign Radical, which toured nationally in English and French, and the UK (Edinburgh Fringe First Award 2017; published in Canadian Theatre Review 2018). He has written over a dozen plays, including: Victim Impact (The Cultch, 2018); Extraction (The Cultch, 2013); and Omniscience (Vancouver, Berlin, Lisbon and Chicago; Talonbooks, 2007). He recently produced Offending the Audience for The Biting School. His fiction has been published in subTerrean and Prairie Fire. Lost Hands is his first audio/visual initiative since Holiday in Hell (1984), supported by a Saskatchewan Youth Initiatives grant. (@feral.i.d)

Brianna Bernard [Technical Director] is a theatre artist who takes an interest in both the creative and practical departments of art and live performance. With a background in technical direction and production management, Brianna has worked on productions such as My Little Tomato, Dead Drone, Tomboy and Faye’s Room. She holds a BFA in Theatre Production & Design from Simon Fraser University. Originally born and raised in Jamaica, Brianna is thankful to now work, create and reside on the stolen lands of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.

Emily Friesen [Costume Designer] is a multidisciplinary designer, artist, and graduate of the University of Victoria theatre program. Select credits: The Fiancée (WCT) Ms Holmes and Ms Watson- Apt 2B (Gateway)  If You Could Read My Mind: The Songs of Gordon Lightfoot, Kindred (Belfry), Women of the Fur Trade (Firehall Arts Centre) We Are Boy Band, Metamorphoses (Studio 58), The Last Five Years, Ride The Cyclone, Salt Water Moon, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Blue Bridge Repertory), Great Works Festival (Puente/BBRT), The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Allihipporhinocrocodilligator(Kaleidoscope), Snow White (Carousel), The Mixolydian (Green Thumb), Othello, The Children’s Hour (UVic Phoenix Theatre), and It’s Just Black Hair (Staging Equality). http://emilyfriesen-theatredesigner.com/

Claine “Gorgoth” Lamb [Sound Designer] is a Vancouver-based sound artist and videographer working at the intersection of extreme metal and avant-garde horror sound design. Their main projects: Misyrion, FL3SH ERR0R, and Gorfan, explore the visceral limits of sonic intensity and emotional expression. Alongside their artistic practice, Claine works as an audio technician at Lobe, a 4DSOUND spatial audio studio, where they develop immersive, multidimensional audiovisual environments. With over a decade in the underground music scene, Gorgoth channels chaos and catharsis through the transmutation of emotional expression into brutal sonic architecture.

Kayleigh Sandomirsky [Stage Manager] is a Vancouver-based production manager, Equity stage manager, producer, curator and performer, who works across both theatre and dance. She is also the Operations Coordinator for The Chop Theatre, has toured both large scale and independent performances across Canada and internationally, and is currently developing her skills in design and Tour Management.

Recent Stage/ Production Management credits: BOLT (PM – Jeanette Kotowich), Wolf Cull (SM – Cheyenne Scott), Everything Has Disappeared (SM – Mammalian Diving Reflex/ Unit Theatre), Women of the Fur Trade (PM – Touchstone Theatre), and Matriarchs Uprising Festival (PM – O.Dela Arts). 

Parjad Sharifi [Lighting Designer] is an Iranian-Canadian scenographer, performance maker, and associate professor of theatre at University of the Fraser Valley. Parjad has been nominated for and has won multiple Jessie Richardson Awards for his designs. His recent design work includes set and lighting design for Rice and Beans’ Lasa NG Imperyo (Taste of Empire), performed at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Other notable recent projects include set design for The Arts Club’s Teenage Dick and lighting design for The Arts Club’s Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol. At UFV, Parjad’s recent directing credits include productions of Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco, Art by Yasmina Reza, and Pariah (Outcast) by August Strindberg.

The post Ionesco’s Cabaret appeared first on Rumble.

100,000 years ago Guillermo, Marcus and Mr. Magnificent! (2) made a show called Ali & Ali and the aXes of Evil. The Vancouver Province called it “The smartest Canadian political theatre of the 21st century, and the funniest.” After a couple of weeks trying to see if the madness of 2026 is worth having another go, they’ve agreed to share their findings with you through an exclusive discounted event somehow funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.

This blurb might be all they’ve done. Which is ok, because Mr. Magnificent! has questions for you. Would you buy Ali & Ali skin care products made with “52 Virgins Olive Oil” and shipped – tariff free – directly through the Strait of Hormuz? Is Big Daddy (aka Mark Carney) the Manchurian Candidate? Is Kid Rock the modern day Bob Dylan. Is journalism now even more archaic than theatre? (3) 

1.  Or not
2. Not his real name
3.  There are more questions

Meet the Creative Team

Mr. Magnificent! first realized his magnificence when floating in the womb. His greatest artistic achievement was serving as a page for Sir Ian McKellan – for one day. He was once accidentally held hostage by a gangster in the basement of a strip bar, eluding a proper beating through one of the greatest performances of all time. Mr. Magnificent wishes for peace on earth and thanks his family for supporting his career.

Guillermo Verdecchia is delighted to be back in Vancouver working with his dear pals Marcus and Camyar. When not engaged in theatrical collaborations, Guillermo reads much of the night and dreams of going south in winter.

Given these strange times, Marcus is relieved to be back considering these characters with his OG bestie collaborators — what’s his name and the one with the goofy bio. Soon Marcus will turn 60, which is still younger than what’s his name.

The post Studio Visit: Ali & Ali and the End of Everything appeared first on Rumble.

Several times a year, Rumble hosts the Living Room, a gathering for the artistic community to get together and talk about what’s going on. All of it. It’s a great opportunity to connect, network, and share news in a casual and fun environment. Refreshments are served. (That’s for the mingling….mingling snacks.)

So listen, think, speak. Be welcome. Expect creative contributions around provocative ideas, and some good laughs.

More info here!

April 27, 2026 – Where My People At? A Black Artists & Industry Workers’ Salon

Calling all Artists of the Black/African diaspora! We’d love to connect with you! 

Rumble Theatre in collaboration with GVPTA and host, Adonis King, invite Black artists and cultural workers to Where My People At? A Black Artists & Industry Workers’ Salon. Happening Monday, April 27 at 7:30 pm at Progress Lab (1422 William St.).  

How often have you heard that we’re “hard to find”? *eyeroll emojil* We know that the Black population is steadily growing in Vancouver, but how many of us still find it hard to find a Black artistic community? There is a long and significant history of Black Arts and excellence in BC. For instance, the widely known Hogan’s Alley was home to several influential Vancouver artists and athletes including Leonard Lane, Ernie King, Barbara Howard and the Gibson Siblings. The Sepia Players, Vancouver’s first Black theatre company, was founded in 1969! 

The community was here, and despite the city’s best efforts, we’re still here. So, come join us for an intergenerational Black Artist’s chat and hangout. Meet your elders and the next generation. Eat some food and deepen the bonds of our community as we explore the legacy of Black Arts in Vancouver; past, present and future. 

We will be joined by special guests; Celeste Insell, Siobhan Baker and Britany Buren. 

Doors will open a half hour early at 7 pm. Light food and refreshments will be provided. 

This is a FREE event and registration is required. 

Time: 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:00 pm)
Location: Progress Lab 1422 – Studio (1422 William St – map)
Tickets: Free Registration Here! (Capacity is limited, please RSVP ahead of time)

Got questions you want to bring to the Living Room? Fill out the Registration Form or email Alisha the day before with the Subject Line: Living Room Questions for April 27th, and the questions you have relevant to the theme.

About the Artists

Adonis Critter King is a queer, Black, trans and non-binary, inter-disciplinary artist, theatre creator, writer, director, producer, and dramaturg. Their work uses Afrofuturism and Afro-surrealism to explore the intersection of the divine and the mundane, technology and spirituality, horror and joy, to examine the change and sacrifices required for our personal and collective liberation.

Adonis was the 2016 Youth Poet Laureate of Victoria, received the 2020 Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art, and the JAYMAC Outstanding Production Award (2025).

Celeste Insell was born in Jacksonville, Florida in the early 1950’s. Her family moved around but in the 1960’s they finally settled in the Bronx.

In her early twenties, she moved to Toronto and studied acting at Ryerson (TMU) and Drama Studies at York University. In the 1980’s, in Vancouver, Celeste landed a role in an Arts Club production; and was cast in a hit production of “For Colored Girls” at City Stage. In 1982, She was also cast in her first Principal speaking role in a made for TV movie performing in a scene with Bette Davis.

She has written plays and poetry; given spoken word performances; and organized community events. During the 1990’s she was active in the Black community; and helped found “Crossroads Theatre ”in the 1980’s (a multicultural theatre company) and was also an Associate Producer for a Sepia Players production called “A Double Bill”.

Siobhan Barker is a published, nationally recognized, and multiple award winning bilingual creative and performer honouring ancestral teachings of the Griot. Having worked in schools, festivals, and special events, they are celebrated as a mesmerizing storyteller that captivates audiences of any age. They have developed a groundbreaking ceremonial practice of opening events in recognizing and celebrating African ancestors across the diaspora. They are an expert consultant in equity, disability justice, accessibility measures, body liberation, and the Director of Hogan’s Alley Society Community Care; Housing, Culture & Land Stewardship Programs.

Britney Mocca is a Vancouver-based actor with 10+ years of experience in film and television. Her credits include High Potential, Upload, and Untamed. She trained at Capilano University and holds degrees in Psychology and Performing Arts. Britney also teaches at Arts Umbrella and is currently in fellowship training as a film programmer.

The post Living Room Series – Where My People At? A Black Artists & Industry Workers’ Salon appeared first on Rumble.

Composer + Musician Anju Singh and Bharatnatyam Dance Artist Arno Kamolika will share 4 short experiments from their research studio dates supported by Rumble Theatre. The artists are exploring this classical Indian dance form in relationship to contemporary music and composition as the two artists survey the potential for collaborations between Arno’s movement work and Anju’s sound work for music, dance, theatre, and opera applications.

This informal event will show experiments in progress rather than completed works and invite visitors to learn more about the two artists’ research.

To learn more about Bharatnatyam Dance click here.

The post Open Studio Visit With Anju Singh and Arno Kamolika appeared first on Rumble.

Karen Hines is an award-winning, genre-defining creative. As a writer, director and cult-comedian, she is the long time director of High Performance Rodeo favourites, Mump & Smoot.

Also known for her short films featuring the character Pochsy, Karen has traveled the globe to international critical acclaim.

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

Cast & Crew

Karen Hines – Creator and Performer
Blake Brooker – Dramaturgy
Peter Moller – Images

Produced by:

June Fukumura and Paige Louter

Karen Hines’ high performance satires have won multiple production and literary awards and citations including twice being finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and shortlisted for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre She is the author of The Pochsy Plays, All the Little Animals I Have Eaten, Drama and Crawlspace among others – all published by Coach House Books. She is a Dora Award-winning performer and director (Pochsy, Mump & Smoot) and her short films featuring the character ‘Pochsy’ have screened on five continents. Combining such disparate elements as magical realism, pink brand feminism, performance clown and horror, Hines’ works have won her a reputation as "One of the gems of Canadian theatre" (Toronto Star). Her true life real estate horror Crawlspace (Boca del Lupo, cross-Canada tour) is currently streaming on CBC Radio and her Pochsy IV recently closed to sold-out houses at Toronto’s VideoCabaret. Hines is a Gemini nominee and for three years played “Karen” in the Emmy Award-winning Newsroom (CBC/PBS)

Paige Louter (she/they) is a queer theatre creator and producer based in so-called Vancouver. She holds an MA in Drama and Theatre from the University of Galway, and works as a performer, writer, outside eye, and intimacy director. Paige produced The Café (ITSAZOO/Aphotic) and Sunrise Betties (ITSAZOO), produced/assistant directed Meeting (ITSAZOO/Pacific), co-produced and performed in The Wolves (With a Spoon/Rumble; Jessie Nomination: Outstanding Production) and performed in The Lonesome West (Cave Canem), Twelfth Night (Tottering Biped) and Coarse: The Brontes (Edinburgh Fringe). Year-round, they work as ITSAZOO’s Co-Artistic Producer and Currently Arts’ Operations Manager. Upcoming: solo shows God Joke Play and Nod.

June Fukumura is a multidisciplinary, nisei (second-generation) Japanese-Canadian theatre artist living on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonially known as Vancouver. She is the Co-Artistic Director of Popcorn Galaxies, an experimental theatre company dedicated to re-enchanting the everyday through unconventional, site-responsive and site-specific new works. Since 2013, Popcorn Galaxies has created over fourteen productions and has been presented in Vancouver, Richmond, Edmonton, Whitehorse, and Dartmouth. Her personal artistic practice includes: acting for theatre/film/tv/voice over, clowning/bouffon, puppeteering, directing, dramaturgy, devising, and writing. She has worked with a number of theatre companies across Canada including The Stratford Festival, Theatre Calgary, Arts Club Theatre, Theatre Replacement, Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, Playwrights Theatre Centre, The Chop Theatre, Little Onion Puppet Co., The Biting School, and Hong Kong Exile. As a dyslexic artist, she also works as a speaker, advocate, and educator. She is passionate about creating diverse, inclusive, and safer spaces for all neurodiverse and neurodivergent artists. June holds a BFA in Theatre Performance and a Certificate in Sustainable Community Development from Simon Fraser University.

Supported by:

My Name is Karen is made possible with financial support of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. 

The post My Name is Karen appeared first on Rumble.

Several times a year, Rumble hosts the Living Room, a gathering for the artistic community to get together and talk about what’s going on. All of it. It’s a great opportunity to connect, network, and share news in a casual and fun environment. Refreshments are served. (That’s for the mingling….mingling snacks.)

So listen, think, speak. Be welcome. Expect creative contributions around provocative ideas, and some good laughs.

More info here!

March 26th, 2026 – Mental Health Through An Artist’s Lens Long Table

Join us for a special Living Room edition where the evening will bring 14 participants together to dive into this topic in the form of a Long Table Discussion. 

What is a “Long Table” you ask? It’s a discussion format created by artist Lois Weaver. Inspired by the need for more inclusive and informal public conversations, this form uses a long table to encourage self-moderated dialogue and establish an “everybody has a seat at the dinner table” community-based atmosphere.

Co-facilitators: Alisha Davidson, Angie Descalzi, Carmen Ostrander

Paper, pens and markers will be provided along with tea and snacks.

Time: 5:30 pm (doors open at 5:00 pm)
Location: Progress Lab 1422 – Studio (1422 William St – map)
Tickets: Free Registration Here! (Capacity is limited to 14 people, please RSVP ahead of time)

Got questions you want to bring to the Living Room? Fill out the Registration Form or email Alisha the day before with the Subject Line: Living Room Questions for March 26th, and the questions you have relevant to the theme.

FAQ’s

What is a Long Table?

A Long Table, conceived by Lois Weaver of the lesbian theater duo Split Britches, is a physical space and non-hierarchical process for people gathering in conversation on topics of communal concern. It allows for an abundant, free flow of ideas, opinions, information and energy. The Long Table structure requires a physical long table to embody an “everybody has a seat at the dinner table” atmosphere; chairs, paper table cloth, pens and markers for note taking, scribbles, etc and an etiquette sheet. Learn more about the project, origin and etiquette practice for the Long Table here.

What if I just want to listen, do I have to participate in the conversation?

You are 100% welcome to just sit and listen.

Why this topic in this format?

Associate Producer Alisha Davidson was interested in holding a living room to give space for artists to talk openly about the state of mental health; not just within the context of the industry but also the greater context: the price of living still climbing, funding cuts, social and political shifts, and global and climate upheaval a.k.a..how are ya’ll doing right now?

We are all dealing with a lot; while still making art and while still confronting the ways in which our global communities are splintering and understanding ways we can stand up against violent systems of imperialism. But how do we actually talk about it? The heavy or the taboo? Hence, the Long Table format was brought to Rumble’s attention as the format itself was born from the need to explore difficult topics openly, equitably and non-hierarchically.

Do I have to disclose any personal information?

There is absolutely no requirement to disclose anything you don’t want to.

What should I bring?

Bring your whole self, as you are!

What is the intention of the space?

Provide a meaningful space for exchange, reflection and the sharing of ideas. Bring our own expertise based on our lived and shared experiences. Start conversations that are on-going (removing the need to finish them).

The post Living Room Series – A Long Table on Mental Health Through An Artist’s Lens appeared first on Rumble.

‘The horse in Arabic is a symbol of freedom. But to us, this horse is much more. This horse is us.’

Built from the debris of a major invasion, the Horse of Jenin sculpture became a constant presence in Alaa’s life growing up in Occupied Palestine. It stood proudly in the center of the city for twenty years, symbolizing hope and resistance.

Then, on OCT 29, 2023, an Israeli bulldozer entered the city, ripping the sculpture from its place — and from its people.

Now, Alaa is left wondering… What happened to the horse?

Combining storytelling, mask and stand-up comedy, The Horse of Jenin explores the everyday life of a boy growing up in Jenin in Occupied Palestine who, like every child in the world, just wants to play and have fun.

Content Advisory: Recommended for ages 13+. Contains mature themes.

The post The Horse of Jenin appeared first on Rumble.