Canadian icon Mary Walsh, comedian Brent Butt, and popular indie band Said The Whale are part of the new line-up for the 2023/24 season at the ACT Arts Centre.
Tickets are on sale now for the new season that will begin in September with Juno-award winning singer and songwriter Jimmy Rankin who will be bringing a ‘kitchen party’ of maritime musical styles to the centre’s Mainstage.
Mainstage performances will also include: Grant Lawrence and Friends; Ridge – described as an unforgettable and moving piece created by by Brendan McLeod and the Fugitives in honour of the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives at Vimy Ridge; Ballet Rocks with Ballet Victoria; Sunday with Sondheim, featuring members of City Opera Vancouver and BOOM X, a rollicking high-powered show about all things Generation X.
Due to its popularity, the Listening Lounge Series will be continuing into the new season with: country/folk group The Travelling Mabels; Soul and R&B powerhouse vocalist Tanika Charles; the eclectic and playful Quartetto Gelato; country/folk group Jackson Hollow; celebrated jazz pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton; and will close with Celtic fiddle and guitar masters, the Schryer, Dobres and Hillhouse Trio.
This year the Theatre Series will be welcoming back Arts Club productions after a three year hiatus. Shows will include: The Birds and The Bees; Beneath Springhill; and Made in Italy.
Holiday programming has been expanded in the new season as well. Ballet Victoria’s The Nutcracker and Winterharp will still be a staple at The ACT, but coming back will be acclaimed comedian Mike Delamont in his God is a Scottish Drag Queen Christmas Special, and Early Music Vancouver will be returning with A Baroque Christmas, featuring members of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and acclaimed director Alexander Weimann.
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For families there will be a ‘first theatre experience’ for the littlest audiences with the creation of a ‘story tent’ for children aged 18 months to four years, in what is described as an enchanting experience by Quebec’s Le Théâtre des Confettis entitled Waves, all that glows sees.
VENTASTIC - Reimagining the Art of Ventriloquism will delight the audience on Family Day, in a hilarious and entertaining show for the whole family.
The Sunday Chamber Music Series, curated by violinist and UBC Professor David Gillham, will be returning with five concerts, inviting classical fans and curious newcomers to a series themed on The Music of Youth featuring astonishing works by young prodigies. The series will be concluding with one of the most exciting young string quartets on the world stage, the Viano Quartet, winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and recently appointed in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program from 2024-2027.
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Tickets are now available online at theactmapleridge.org/act-presents, or in person at The ACT Arts Centre located at 11944 Haney Place, from 12-5 p.m. Monday to Saturday, or by phone at 604-476- 2787.
The ACT Arts Centre, opened in 2003, is operated by the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows Arts Council, and provides excellence in live professional performing arts presentations, arts learning programs, gallery exhibitions – in addition to many cultural and community events.
The centre reaches more than 70,000 patrons annually.
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