Wrapping up October, Halloween weekend is upon us, but amongst all the ghostly fun, there’s plenty of other entertainment to keep us busy in these picks of the week.
Frights: The fan-fave Halloween event, Fright Nights at Playland, continues on select nights until October 31st, transforming the park into a terrifying Halloween-themed experience with seven haunted houses, 19 hair-raising rides, creepy décor, roaming monsters and gripping live performances.
Eerie: It’s the time of year when Burnaby Village Museum transforms into a mystical world of Eerie Illusions with frightful new displays, a murder of talking crows joins pumpkin people and costumed staff, with undead performances and surprises hidden in the shadows until October 30
Improv: The Improv Centre’s tries to get away with murder with Stage Fright: Murder at The Improv, a murder mystery-themed show running every Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm until October 29
Latin: The fourth annual Latin American Heritage Month celebrating Latin American Arts Exhibitions and Altar de Muertos at Ocean Art Works Pavilion on Granville Island, this weekend October 28 & 29: Latin Market with food vendors, beer garden and live music with performers from Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and more, as well Dia De Muertos workshops including dance and crafts workshops
Concert: Also part of Latin American Heritage Month, celebrate with a trio of Latin American musicians, enjoy pop rock and jazz fusion with Brazilian composer and vocalist Jorge Vercillo, the acclaimed guitar and multi-instrumentalist Celso Machado and Liliam, at River Rock Show Theatre Friday October 28
Aqua: The Vancouver Aquarium is offering FIN-tastic Fall Days filled with spooky family fun all month, inlcuding hands-on NEW Spooky Wet Lab and experience up-close encounters with colorful snakes, super cool spiders and more.
Witch: Touchstone Theatre kicks off their 2022/2023 theatre season with Dora Mavor Award-Winning playwright Kat Sandler’ YAGA, a genre-bending comedic thriller that conjures the dark magic of wicked old witch and legendary Slavic anti-hero, Baba Yaga, running October 27 to November 5, 2022 at The Cultch Historic Theatre.
Festival: The 19th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival returns October 26 to November 6, featuring s a line-up of free and ticketed, live and online events filling the Eastside neighbourhood with music, stories, poetry, theatre, ceremony, films, dance, readings, forums, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibits, art talks, history talks and history walks.
Stage: The Arts Club Theatre Company fall season continues with the new Canadian play Redbone Coonhound is on at Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre until October 30th, and the comedy Mom’s The Word: Talking Turkey opening for previews on October 27th
Murder: Join Early Music Vancouver’s Digital Concert Hall for a film event, Who Killed Leclair? A Murder Mystery Concert – Infusion Baroque combines music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with theatrical elements, investigating the real-life murder of violinist-composer Jean-Marie Leclair, found stabbed to death in his Paris home.
Music: For in-person enjoyment, Early Music Vancouver offers A New Springtime Off The World, live at Christ Church Cathedral on Friday October 28, featuring Ensemble Diabolus in Musica
Opera: Vancouver Opera‘s Queen Elizabeth Theatre season opened with lush, full-scale production of The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet, on stage for two more performances October 27 & 30.
Club: Vancouver audiences are being transported back in time to the Weimar-era Kit Kat Club, as Raincity Theatre presents the Tony Award-winning musical, Cabaret, until November 5th, The Kit Kat Club comes alive at 191 Alexander St in historic Gastown
Gypsy: Surry Civic Theatres presents the Canadian debut of Together Wherever We Go: Gypsy Rose Lee, true tales about the showbusiness icon by her son, Erik Lee Preminger on October 28th at the Studio Theatre at Surrey Arts Centre
Biennale: The Polygon Gallery is the first stop on a nationwide tour of Stan Douglas’s Venice Biennale exhibition, 2011 ~ 1848, Local patrons will get to view the Canadian Premiere of the exhibition until November 6, 2022.
Exhibition: Coinciding with the Polygon show, Griffin Art Projects presents Allegories of the Present, until December 11, 2022, a survey exhibition in celebration of the works of acclaimed Vancouver-born artist, photographer, filmmaker Stan Douglas and of his representation of Canada at this year’s Venice Biennale.