May the 4th be with you, as we celebrate these Picks of the Week to start the month.
Ship: Vancouver Opera‘s season comes to a close with three more performances of Gilbert & Sullivan’s wildly popular HMS Pinafore at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Thursday May 5, and Saturday May 7 at 7:30 p.m. with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday May 8.
Free: This weekend, Vancouver Opera is also hosting a live simulcast of HMS Pinafore projected onto a large screenin šx???ex?n Xwtl’a7shn (formerly the QET Plaza) on May 7 at 7:30 p.m. while the live event is performed inside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The FREE event includes dance performances and activities for everyone including children
Heart: Taking the Shadbolt Centre Studio Theatre stage tonight May 4th, OKAN is a women-led ensemble that fuses Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk and global rhythms in songs about immigration, courage and love
Invisible: Catalyst Theatre’s The Invisible:Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare, inspired by the true stories of the women who served as Allied agents in the Second World War, plays The Cultch York Theatre to May 7
Signing: Chinatown Storytelling Centre continues to celebrate Asian Heritage Month with “Fresh off the Press!” a Book Signing Event
Sunday, May 8 11am-3pm at Foo Hung Curios, in the Centre’s lobby Meet t three Chinese Canadian writers with books fresh off the press, Wayne Ng – “Letters from Johnny”, Jamie Chai Yun Liew – “Dandelion” and Cheuk Kwan – “Have You Eaten Yet?” Check the Centre website for signing times.
Hair: The Arts Club Theatre Company brings the musical celebration of women of colour, ‘da Kink in my Hair to the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until May 15th
Dance: DanceHouse welcomes L.A.-based BODYTRAFFIC back to Vancouver for the first time since 2015 for an exhilarating program of four works with Mixed Repertoire – A Million Voices, The One To Stay With, SNAP and PACOPEPEPLUTO, on stage May 5 and 6, 2022 at 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse.
Cirque: The fan favourite Cirque du Soleil’s Alegría In a New Light returns with show reimagined for its 25th anniversary, until June 5, 2022 under the Big Top at Concord Pacific Place.
Docs: After two years of online presentation, DOXA, Western Canada’s largest documentary film festival, makes its comeback with a hybrid, screening in theatres and streaming online for its 21st season, screening May 5 through May 15, 2022.
Comedy: Royal Canadian Theatre Company presents the second (covid cancelled the first) Western Canadian Premiere of “Norm Foster’s Screwball Comedy” a hilarious mash up of Hollywood stereotypes and murder mysteries, May 5th – 8th at Anvil Centre Theatre
Blooms: The 16th Chilliwack Tulip Festival is blooming now, walk amongst the largest tulip event in BC, with millions of bulbs bursting in colour as guests to roam amongst more than 20 acres of 30 tulip varieties, plus 15 types of daffodils.
Kicks: Vancouver Whitecaps FC host cross-country rivals Toronto FC for a Mother’s Day match at BC Place Sunday afternoon at 1pm
Classical: Early Music Vancouver’s Digital Concert Hall is open April 20-May 20, 2022 for viewing of Guided by Voices with Bach cello Suite No. 6 with Elinor Frey, originally recorded July 30, 2021
Premiere: Pi Theatre presents the Canadian premiere of Anders Lustgarten’s extraordinary play, Lampedusa, which explores migration, Capitalism, and human connection at The Cultch’s Vancity Culture Lab from May 5 to May 21, 2022
Collection: There’s just a few more days to catch, Per Diem: The Gerd Metzdorff Collection at Griffin Art Projects, the intimate look at one of Vancouver’s most quietly influential collectors closes May 8th.
Tower: The Richmond Art Gallery (RAG) latest exhibition A Minaret for the General’s Wife by award winning Toronto-based Turkish-Canadian artist Erdem Tasdelen is on display until July 31, 2022.
Ballpark: Vancouver Canadians celebrate mom with a special Mother’s Day game at Nat Bailey Stadium on Sunday, May 8th. The first 500 moms (with a child present) get a commemorative baseball hat plus all moms (and kids!) are invited to run the bases post-game.
Invisible: Catalyst Theatre’s The Invisible:Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare, inspired by the true stories of the women who served as Allied agents in the Second World War,comes to The Cultch York Theatre April 29 to May 7
Trio: The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) has a host of new exhibitions now open and running through the summer: Kids Take Over, RESTLESS: Recent Acquisitions, and Everything Under The Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft are a trio of new exhibitions giving visitors to VAG plenty to view through to September 11th
Skate: Catch the action of Boarder X at MOV, a travelling exhibition, featuring work by contemporary artists from Indigenous nations across Canada, drawing parallels to urban areas prohibiting skateboarding, related to the landscapes and territories we occupy, on view until October 2022
Canoe: In the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s featured exhibition, on until July 3, 2022, Canoe Cultures :: Ho’-ku-melh War Canoes and the Gifts They Carry Forward, Indigenous artists and knowledge holders share their gifts through the war canoe in this multi-sensory journey.
Cloth: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art continues to feature the Canadian premiere exhibition of Sho Sho Esquiro: Doctrine of Discovery, by award-winning designer, artist, and activist Sho Sho Esquiro on show until June 5, 2022