bandcamp_banner_975w.png

Jade Circle 玉環

World Premiere, March 6th-17th, 2024
Presented by the Gateway Theatre
In Association with vAct

Jade Circle is a multidisciplinary performance in Mandarin and English performed by Jasmine Chen.  Jasmine is a second-generation immigrant who has lost her mother tongue through cultural assimilation. After the death of her grandmother, she recalls the fragments of Taiwanese children’s songs she was taught as a child. Feeling the loss of being unable to connect with her grandmother while she was still alive, Jasmine begins her journey of relearning Mandarin. Through interviews with her mother, Jasmine travels through memory to learn the hidden story of her grandmother. Using music, movement and storytelling, Jasmine finds her place within the legacy of her matriarchs.


DBLSPK: Hymn of the Weaver Birds

Join us for a workshop presentation of a new multilingual theatre work by Johnny Wu and Jocelyn Yuchia Chang, followed by a moderated community discussion.

Working with regional Mandarin and English, Hymn of the Weaver Birds follows the ventures of a group of unidentified strangers, who serendipitously occupy the same address-less abandoned Japanese bathhouse. When the village leader discovers their convert living arrangement, their peace is disrupted and they must band together to turn the bathhouse into a money-making establishment. During the process of re-imagining the bathhouse, they expose each other’s inner vulnerability and unsettled anxiety alongside the bathhouse’s past.

The event will take place Monday, December 11th at 6:00pm PST in the Alice MacKay Room of the Vancouver Public Library 350 W Georgia St, Vancouver, BC.


Join us for our 2023 Joint AGM with PTC!

Once again, we are at the time of year when we need to take care of some legalities to continue being societies - our Annual General Meeting! Please join us for a fun, warm gathering of board games, books and of course, a bit of business.

On Dec 3rd, bring along a book to swap and a board game or two to play as we tickle your ears with PTC’s and rice & beans' end of year reports! No book to share or board game to play? No problem! Only your charming self is required to attend.

Location: Progress Lab 1422, Vancouver, BC or Online via Zoom
Date: December 3rd at 11am PT

Thanks for your support of rice & beans and we hope to see you there!


Peace Country

By Pedro Chamale

Presented by the Firehall Arts Centre October 12-22, 2023

Inspired by playwright Pedro Chamale’s growing-up in Chetwynd, BC, Peace Country is an examination of intercultural friendship, the realities of northern living and the vilification of northern communities in the fight against the climate crisis. Set in a small rural town in BC’s Northern interior, a new political party has swept into office with the promise of big changes: changes that could put the nail in the coffin for a little carbon-economy town, that is, if climate change doesn’t wipe it out first. In a time where it feels easy to spit rhetoric and blame each other, a familiar face in the party forces childhood friends to have tough conversations and work together for change. Through Peace Country, we see a plea for dialogue around climate action, in a time of great division.

This production is presented by the Firehall Arts Centre and produced by rice & beans theatre. It is developed in association with Playwrights Theatre Centre, in association with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre and created with support from the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.



We are now accepting submissions for the second annual Polyphonic Residency!

The Polyphonic Multilingual Creation Residency is an expansion of our existing DBLSPK Program and prioritizes deepening the field of multilingual theatre makers. Next spring, rice & beans will once again welcome two multilingual projects in development, one from a local artist and one from out-of-town. Artists will be hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia at a local house rental for 10 days, and be provided everything they need for focused, uninterrupted time on their work. Over the residency, they will have access to studio and writing space where they can workshop with collaborators, and then, as a culmination of the residency, they will take part in a public presentation where community members can attend and engage in discussion with the artists around language and its dramaturgy. 

With the Polyphonic Multilingual Creation Residency, artists will have the space to reclaim their languages unapologetically through the art they create and foster a space where community members can see their languages legitimized onstage. 

The 2024 residency will run from May 20th-30th, 2024. For more information on how to submit a proposal, click here.


Poster by Kiana Hipolito

Halo Halo! Filipinx Mix Mixer & DBLSPK!

We invite the community to attend this FREE event full of Filipinx Art, Food and Joy on Saturday, July 15th from 6pm till 11pm:

  • 6pm Community Mixer - Free Food, DJ, Art

  • 7:30pm DBLSPK: A reading of a multilingual work "Bien Facil" by Karla Comanda, followed by an audience/artist discussion

  • 9:00pm-11:00pm Karaoke Party

Come enjoy live entertainment, free food, an opportunity to connect with community, as well as a licensed bar with drinks for purchase!

All are welcome :) There is limited space so RSVP here.

Livestream tickets are available for the reading of "Bien Facil" by Karla Comanda. The rest of the event will be in-person only.

ASL interpretation
will be available all night in person, as well as for the stream of the reading through a dedicated livestream page. CLICK HERE FOR AN ASL VLOG!



Support multilingual theatre and you could win….

One roundtrip flight for two guests to any regularly scheduled and marketed WestJet destination!*

Funds raised through rice & beans theatre's "Help Multilingual Theatre Thrive" raffle will support our DBLSPK program, which provides multilingual creators with the resources, time and space they need to develop new works authentically in a process-driven environment. Featuring over 14 languages since the program's inception in 2017, we have seen first hand how multilingual work unites artists and communities of all different backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented on Canadian stages.

Chances are 1 in 1000 (total tickets for sale)
BC Gaming Event License #142791
Must be located in BC and 19 + to Play

This Raffle closed on June 9th / 2023. The winner was DD Kugler! Thanks to everyone who supported r&b by buying a ticket :)


The World Premiere of

馬照跑.舞照跳
Happy Valley 

By Derek Chan 陳嘉昊

Presented by the Firehall Arts Centre May 25 - June 4, 2023

Conceived and performed by Sydney Risk Award-winning playwright Derek Chan 陳嘉昊, Happy Valley is a solo, interdisciplinary performance. Through text, song, multimedia and music, Happy Valley is a new performance piece that dissects the historic, political, and cultural context surrounding Hong Kong’s current democratic struggles. Named after the historic race course that hosted the (in)famous Concert for Democracy in China back in 1989, almost exactly one week before the Tiananmen Massacre, Happy Valley is a follow-up to Derek Chan's 2021 yellow objects theatrical installation at the Firehall Arts Centre.

Mainland China promised Hong Kong a high level of autonomy and the right to self-determination back in the ‘80s, in preparation for the 1997 Handover from British colonization. It has been almost 25 years since Chris Patten and his family tearfully waved Hong Kong goodbye at Victoria Harbour. It has been 3 years since the first yellow raincoat drifted from the sky at Pacific Place. And it has been never since the people of Hong Kong had any agency over their fate. Fast forward to 2023: everything that has happened since is in danger of having never happened at all. To us, democracy is a luxury.

Happy Valley remembers everything. But what will you remember of Hong Kong in 50 years? Meet ‘Uncle Chan’. Will he ever be able to go home? In English, Cantonese, and memoriam. He'll give that a go.

Click HERE for tickets.


DBLSPK: Yvonne Wallace

“entsā sYvonne lil’watūllhkan, ucwalmícwkan, st’at’iymckan. nilhs ēkya7 mūta7s David nslāliltma. Cūzlhkan sweqwel’mín I tsūqwaoz’a. Wa7 lhkān zāwaten ku mētsen i ucwalmícwtsa qwāllutten mūta7 ku pakwal’ikst.”

“My name is Yvonne. I am true Lil’wat, I’m ucwalmícw from the st’at’iym Nation. My parents are Gloria Wallace and Dave Stennitt. I want to tell you a story of salmon. When I write in our language I learn to speak and read.”

Join us on Friday, March 24th at 7:30pm PST at Progress Lab 1422 or online for a presentation of Yvonne's exploration, followed by a discussion with the artists. ASL interpretation will be available for the reading & discussion both in-person and online through a dedicated livestream page.

Tickets are pay-what-you-can for both in-person and the livestream, with a suggested price of $15. Get your ticket here!


“All My Cuzzins” Indigenous Showcase!

We invite the community to attend this FREE gathering in so-called Vancouver on Wednesday March 8, from 8pm-10pm at Progress Lab (1422 William Street). All My Cuzzins is a multi-faceted event with Indigenous comedians, singers, dancers, and rappers with roots from North, Central, and South America.

Come and enjoy live entertainment, free food and beverages, an opportunity to connect with the community, as well as a licensed bar with drinks for purchase!

RSVP through this link


Deaf and Hard of Hearing Accessibility Panel and Bingo!

Join us for a panel with Deaf and Hard of Hearing artists as they dive into their experiences with accessibility in theatre and performing arts. Happening on February 4 at 4pm at Progress Lab 1422. Featuring Dawn Jani Birley and Christian Vasquez, moderated by Ladan Sahraei and Pedro Chamale.

Afterwards, stay for bingo (with prizes!), food, community sharing, and good times! Priority seating will be given to Deaf and Hard of Hearing community members.

This event is part of rice & beans theatre's 2023 Multilingual Community Engagement Project that seeks to host community and audience engagement activities to invite new audiences into our work and make our programming more equitable and accessible for more multilingual audiences. Look out for our next event coming up this Spring 2023!


Meet Our Polyphonic Artists!

Read more about playwrights Emily Jung and Sarvin Esmaeili who will be joining us for the Polyphonic residency in our Polyphonic Page!


Help Multilingual Theatre Thrive this #GivingTuesday with rice & beans theatre!

Your attendance and engagement with our work is extremely valuable, and if you have capacity, cash contributions can really help to further support r&b. Monthly donations are particularly great in supporting our long-term sustainability and growth and the best part is - you can set them up for as little as $3/month (cheaper than a latte!).

Whether you go with a one-time or monthly donation, your help will support: 

- Increased development of multilingual works, particularly through our new national Polyphonic Translation Residency

- Sustainable, extended rehearsal processes for artists, including resources and access support 

- Higher fees for artists to meet the raised living wage

- Further mentorship and in-kind support for emerging and IBPOC artists

- Continued culturally and linguistically diverse theatre for our community, with increased accessibility for all


This #GivingTuesday, please consider donating to help multilingual theatre thrive on Canadian stages for years to come. Click here for our CanadaHelps Page.


DBLSPK: Yankl & Der Beanstalk

Set in London’s East End, Yankl & Der Beanstalk (Yiddification of Jack and the Beanstalk) is a show that redefines pantomime for the new century, revelling in the comedy & nostalgia of panto to explore the stories and experiences of poverty and revolution of 19th-century Jewish immigrants in England. The tale follows the journey of Yankl, a hapless pickle seller who lives with his mum off the Brick Lane. One day Yankl swaps some pickles for beans, climbs a beanstalk and ends up in … Hampstead?!Follow Yankl’s journey as the cast turn this familiar British tradition and format on its head, exploring class, assimilation & the price we pay for ‘moving up in the world’.

Join us on Monday, November 7th starting at 1pm PST at the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre or online for an excerpt presentation and discussion with the artists, all the way from the UK! Please note that ASL Interpretation will be available in-person, but not online, for this event.

Tickets are pay-what-you-decide. Get them HERE.


Blink is Back! Come celebrate with us and Leaky Heaven!

S tart your Halloween weekend off right with BLINK!

BLINK: Theatre for the Modern Attention Span is back with an evening of innovative and edgy 60-second performances. With everything from live music to burlesque to a Psychic Banana, get ready for a night to remember! All proceeds are in support of rice & beans theatre and Leaky Heaven Performance.

Click HERE for Tickets ($15 or PWYC)

Doors at 7:30pm / Show at 8:00pm / Music and Dancing til late

Halloween costumes STRONGLY ENCOURAGED

Hosted by Pedro Chamale & Sara Vickruck

Performers to be announced

About our Partner

L eaky Heaven

For over 20 years Leaky Heaven has been producing experiments in devised performance with a multidisciplinary coalition of artists. Works include Conference of the Birds, Typhoon, Birthday Boy, the circus tent show Ziggurat, Bonobo, Antigone Undone, Streetcar, Bone in Her Teeth, Project X , Peter Panties, and (Leaky Heaven Performance Society operating under the name Fight With A Stick) Steppenwolf, revolutions, Cinerama and A Vista and most recently Dream Machine a film project directed by children from RayCam Community Centre. The company is currently in pre-production for Neck of the Woods a contemplation of expanded perception, objects and place.



DBLSPK: Canta Karaokê

When immigrating means erasing your identity, singing other people's songs might be the only way to find your voice.

Canta Karaokê follows Hélio, a 20-something Brazilian-Taiwanese comedian, as he wades through Canada's slippery immigration process while his family is back in São Paulo, Brazil. As he's met with one lamentable obstacle after another, their Akon's sudden cancer diagnosis forces Hélio to decide whether to abandon the life and career he's built for himself in Vancouver over the last decade; or admit defeat and "go home."

Join us on Friday, July 15 starting at 7pm PDT at Progress Lab 1422 or online for a presentation of Jessie’s exploration, a discussion with the artists, and a karaoke party afterwards! 

This event is free to RSVP and attend. Please note both the in-person and livestreamed event will have ASL interpretation.

To check out the team's bios in English, click here.
Para biografias em português, clique aqui.
中文版簡歷,請點選這。


Peace Country

A new play by Pedro Chamale

Presented by the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. Produced by rice & beans theatre in collaboration with Playwrights Theatre Centre. Created with support from the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

Two sisters, five friends, a lifetime of knowing each other. What happens when the people who know you better than yourself are the ones losing their livelihoods for the sake of your cause. Peace Country follows five friends in a small BC town over the course of their friendship. Through childhood, to grad and all the way to the present, we see people who became friends because of circumstance but remained friends because of love. Peace Country is a new piece of theatre set in the Peace River Area of British Columbia. Inspired by the experience of playwright Pedro Chamale’s growing-up in Chetwynd, BC, the play is an examination of intercultural friendship, the realities of northern living and how our northern communities can be vilified by Southern urban Canadian centers for simply trying to provide for one’s family. Peace Country is the result of Pedro’s love for the region that he grew up in and the concern for it as climate change affects the whole world not just BC’s south coast.

Running at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts and online from April 27th-30th, 2022.

Tickets $15-$35

Book tickets here!

Content advisory

This performance includes food grade mineral oil haze, strobe and loud noises. The content includes alcohol use, reference to colonialism, racism, ableism and homophobia. It also includes frequent cursing.

If you require more information about the content to decide if this production is right for you, please contact rice & beans theatre: heather@riceandbeanstheatre.com


DBLSPK at PuSh!

Co-produced with PuSh International Arts Festival

菠蘿麵包Pineapple Bun is a new play by the rice & beans 2021-2 Associate Artist Howard Dai. Revolving around a bakery in Taipei, the protagonist must confront their diasporic guilt as they visit their hometown. It is a study in nostalgia. A poem to the moon. A lottery. A legend. A tribute. A futile gesture. A testament of blind faith. A celebration of everyday hope.

Check out the bios of our awesome team here: Team Bios // 團隊簡歷.

In-person tickets are SOLD OUT, but you can still join us online on Saturday, January 29th at 4pm PST for an excerpt presentation and to hear from the artists!

FREE ADMISSION: Get your tickets HERE.
ASL INTERPRETATION: ASL interpretation will be available for the reading & discussion in-person and on the livestream!
COVID-19 UPDATE: https://pushfestival.ca/january-6-2022-covid-19-update/


help artists flourish!

Help Artists Flourish!

The COVID pandemic hasn’t stopped rice & beans theatre from producing shows that are artistically, culturally, and linguistically diverse. Throughout the past 20 months, we continued to tell stories through a podcast, a full album and concert tour, a video game and art exhibition, and online performances which allowed our artists to collaborate with artists outside the borders of Canada. 

With #GivingTuesday coming up on November 30, we are asking for your support in continuing to write, adapt, and devise work that is relevant and artistically responsible in a healthy and safe environment.

When you donate to rice & beans theatre, you are helping artists flourish by allowing for more sustainable creation and extended rehearsal periods with shorter work weeks; funding platforms for new playwrights through our DBLSPK program; and furthering mentorship opportunities for emerging artists.

No donation is too small-- every dollar makes a big difference! Make a one-time or monthly donation to rice & beans theatre today.

Click here to donate!


DBLSPK is back in person ( & with ASL interpretation!)

We are excited to announce our first in-person DBLSPK in a year and a half, featuring Alexandra Lainfiesta with her project Bella Luz! Please note that ASL interpretation will be available at this event and at all our DBLSPK events this year!

Bella Luz is an ode to those who live in the “in between”, belonging neither here nor there. Sumailla, a new young immigrant to Canada, is a living and breathing dichotomy between the oppressed and the oppressor, navigating two opposing cultures in the myth of Canada. A Latinx odyssey through magic realism, music, movement and humour, we watch Sumailla’s worlds constantly colliding, creating the bang of multicoloured layers only immigrants know.

Join us on Thursday, November 25th at 7:30pm PST at Tightrope Studio (2343 Main Street) or online for a presentation of our exploration and engage in discussions with the artists.

PAY WHAT YOU DECIDE: The event is free to RSVP and attend! Following the event, you'll be sent an email where you will get the choice to pay whatever you decide.

ASL INTERPRETATION: ASL interpretation will be available for the reading & discussion in-person and on the livestream!

COVID PROTOCOLS: For in-person attendance, masks will be required to be worn by audience unless actively drinking. Official proof of vaccination and photo ID will be required at the door.

To reserve your ticket, CLICK HERE!