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Arts Club Theatre Co. to bring 3 plays to Surrey next season; Stanley stage for ‘Elf’ musical

Company reveals its 60th-anniversary season of productions
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Farren Timoteo in his solo comedy production “Made in Italy,” coming to Surrey Arts Centre as part of the 2023-24 season of Arts Club Theatre Company. (Submitted photo courtesy Moonrider Productions)

Surrey Arts Centre and other theatres in the region will again stage Arts Club Theatre Company’s touring productions during the 2023-24 season, the company announced Tuesday (Feb. 28).

The Vancouver-based company’s touring shows have been postponed since the pandemic days of 2020. For many years before that, the Bear Creek Park venue staged three Arts Club plays per season, for multi-night runs.

Next fall and winter, the company’s three touring productions will be Mark Crawford’s unconventional bedroom comedy “The Birds and the Bees,” followed by Beau Dixon’s music-filled “Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story” and Farren Timoteo’s hilarious “Made In Italy,” a coming-of-age musical about family, food and the life of Italian immigrants in rural Jasper, Alberta.

Ticket details and show dates at Surrey Arts Centre’s Main Stage will be revealed later, closer to the end of March.

• RELATED: Quick-change artist Timoteo hits the ’70s with hilarious ‘Made In Italy,’ his one-man musical.

The return to touring was revealed by the company Tuesday (Feb. 28) as part of the Arts Club’s 60th-anniversary season of shows at three theatres in Vancouver (Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, Granville Island Stage and Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre).

The company’s flagship Stanley stage will present five shows during the “diamond” season, starting in September with “Little Shop of Horrors,” a co-production with Citadel Theatre. The other shows will be “Elf: The Musical” (billed as “a gleeful holiday present based on the beloved film”), “Choir Boy” (a co-production with Canadian Stage of the Tony Award-nominated coming-of-age story), “Red Velvet” (the story of Ira Aldridge, the first Black actor to play Othello in London) and the romantic musical comedy “Guys & Dolls.”

On Granville Island, the four productions will be “Mom’s the Word: Talkin’ Turkey” over the holidays, the comedy “Father Tartuffe: An Indigenous Misadventure,” the touching romantic comedy “Sexy Laundry” (by Vancouver playwright Michele Riml) and “Ring of Fire,” Johnny Cash’s life story told through his music.

At Olympic Village, the three shows at BMO Theatre Centre are the world premiere of “Someone Like You” (billed as “a millennial take on Cyrano de Bergerac by Vancouver-based playwright Christine Quintana”), followed by “Every Brilliant Thing” (“an immersive exploration into the small joys of being human”) and the Canadian premiere of “Cambodian Rock Band” (“the captivating play about the power of music and the resiliency of family”).

Subscription packages are available now at artsclub.com, or call 604-687-1644. Seats for the five-show Stanley Series, the most popular subscription, start at $132. Single tickets will go on sale to the general public in June.

Arts Club Theatre Company was founded in 1964 and is currently led by Artistic Director Ashlie Corcoran and Executive Director Peter Cathie White.



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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