We are so pleased to welcome Bronwyn Carradine as our new Artistic Managing Producer.

Bronwyn Carradine is a queer administrator, theatre creator and playwright. As an artist, she’s collaborated with Zee Zee since 2015 when she was the Assistant Director of Elbow Room Café: The Musical at Studio 58, since then she’s Assistant Directed Elbow Room Café: The Musical (The Cultch), My Funny Valentine (Buddies in Bad Times), written for Nyet: Again (2017) and most recently wrote Unexpecting (2023). She’s beyond thrilled to be joining the team of this company whose mandate is so close to her heart.

As an arts administrator she has focused much of her work on building community connections and furthering equity for artists in terms of safe working conditions, clear & concise contracting, deliberate hiring, inspiring auditioning, and more robust on-boarding. In her most recent role as Company Manager & Assistant to the Artistic Director at the Arts Club Theatre Company, Carradine worked to open doors for artists by implemented programs such as: Arts Worker Rush Tickets, Industry Nights, Relaxed Auditions, Audition Childcare, as well as Write from the Wings, and the Incubator Series.

When she’s not at the theatre, you can find her either on the couch with her partner and their cat watching Below Deck, or running in the mountains.

We are thrilled to announce our 2022/2023 season of programming, including three MainStage productions:

• The official launch of the National Queer & Trans Playwriting Unit (October)
• The Rainbow Elders & Allies Collection at the Vancouver Public Library (November)
• In My Day by Rick Waines, produced with Norman Armour & Rick Wianes, presented by The Cultch (December)
• My Little Tomato by Rick Tae, co-produced with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, in association Rice & Beans Theatre, presented by The Cultch (March)
• Unexpecting, by Bronwyn Carradine (May)

Click on Productions in left menu to check out what we have In Development.

Our favourite Zee Zee tradition is back: the Annual Glamour Meeting! Part society business, part season sneak peek, part drag show, all good fun!

Join us for our official AGM then stick around as we launch our entire season with another sneak peak of our show in development “Cool Moms” by Thanks Jem.

Tickets $5 at the door which includes a one year membership to Zee Zee!

This is a limited capacity, distanced and masked event. All will need to show a record of their vaccine status and must stay in the seats unless going to the bar or bathroom and remain masked unless they are consuming food or drink and only then while in their seats.

Featuring Thanks Jem

The following business will be considered by the membership:

1. Acceptance of agenda (motion required).
2. Approval of minutes of 2020 AGM (motion required).
3. Report by management to the members with financial statements presented (motion required).
4. Election of directors of the Society (motion required)
5. Any further information respecting the society required by the bylaws or the regulations.

Zee Zee Theatre is inviting submissions for our upcoming production of 

Men Express Their Feelings

By Sunny Drake

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CREATIVE TEAM:

Director:  Cameron Mackenzie 

Stage Manager: Jenny Kim

Creative Consultant: Paneet Singh

Intimacy Coach / Choreographer: Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg

Design Team: Kimira Reddy, Donnie Tejani, Sara Vickruck, Carol Macdonald

Technical Director: Ash Shotton

Other Cast Members: Munish Sharma, Jeff Gladstone

AUDITION DATES & LOCATION: 

November 24, 11-3pm, location TBC

DATES:

Preliminary Cast Reading: December 9, 2021

Rehearsals begin:  February 22, 2022 at The Greenhouse Rehearsal Hall (1885 Venables St, beside The Cultch)

Performances :  March 17-April 3, 2022 at Firehall Arts Centre (280 East Cordova Street)

Artists will be engaged under the Equity DOT Contract

THE ROLE: 

RAJ SHARMA, 17, male, hockey player and star goalie, first generation Indo-Canadian, beginning to explore his pansexuality.

Zee Zee is committed to equity, diversity, and representation. With regard to cultural specificity, for this role we will only be seeing male identified actors of South Asian descent. 

TRIGGER WARNING:

The show deals with race-based bullying and implied sexual activity. The role will require kissing another male actor four times. Intimacy coach will be provided.

TO SUBMIT:  

Please send headshot and resume and any questions to Associate Artistic Director Dave Deveau at dave@zeezeetheatre.ca

Please note:

In order to better serve our local community we will only be seeing actors based in the Lower Mainland.

In accordance with our COVID-19 Safety Plan all artists, staff and contractors must be double vaccinated except for those who have a verifiable medication condition or religious exemption based on a prohibited ground in human rights legislation. Artists will be required to provide proof of vaccination to Zee Zee prior to commencing work. Other COVID-19 protocols, such as masking, are also in place and evolve to reflect best recommended practices at the time of production. These protocols will be communicated clearly to artists at the time of offer, and be included in the rider to their contract.

PLAY SYNOPSIS: 

A comedy about culture, hockey, relationships and sex. Two dads and their sons are sentenced to stay in the hockey locker room until they’ve talked through their feelings about a violent incident. In 90 hilarious minutes, these guys get to know each other and themselves a whole lot better, while redefining what it means to WIN. Men Express Their Feelings enriches, instigates, and empowers questions of gender, sexuality, identity and the cultural impact on all of these. 

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT:

November 22, 5 pm

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For questions or accommodation requests related to the submission process, please email Associate Artistic Director Dave Deveau dave@zeezeetheatre.ca

OMG WE’RE LIVE!

Welcome back to your favourite tradition: our Annual Glamour Meeting.

Part society business, part season sneak peek, part drag show, all good fun.

Join us for our official AGM then stick around as we launch our entire season.

With a sneak-peak scene from our Spring main stage production, drag performance from our playwright-in-residence and story by one of the curators and storytellers from this past year’s Virtual Humanity.

This is a limited capacity, distanced and masked event. All will need to show a record of their vaccine status and must stay in the seats unless going to the bar or bathroom and remain masked unless they are consuming food or drink and only then while in their seats.

Tickets $5 at the door which includes a one year membership to Zee Zee.

Featuring Alysha Collie, Thanks Jem, Munish Sharma, Jeff Gladstone

The following business will be considered by the membership:

1. Acceptance of agenda (motion required).
2. Approval of minutes of 2020 AGM (motion required).
3. Report by management to the members with financial statements presented (motion required).
4. Election of directors of the Society (motion required)
5. Any further information respecting the society required by the bylaws or the regulations.

We are living through extraordinary times of global complexity, uncertainty, and a sea of question marks within many sectors. 

As live event makers, we create the unexpected, we respond in the immediate, we investigate community building in new ways that are still heartwarming, eye opening, challenging, and subversive. Artists create beauty and we create opportunities to reflect and we create moments of communal laughter and joy.

Our question for this, our 13th season, in the midst of a pandemic and a revolution dismantling white supremacy is “How do we share our humanity now?”  Please join us on this journey.

Thank you for believing in Zee Zee and the arts as a force for positive change.

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The Season:

Family Drag Brunch & Dress-Up

Curated by Dave Deveau & Cameron Mackenzie
October 4, 2020, 11am via Zoom
Part of Transform: A Cabaret Festival
Presented with the Cultch & Urban Ink

With DJ O Show
Featuring Celestial Seasons, Jaylene Tyme, Karmella Barr, Thanks Jem
Hosted by Isolde N. Barron & Peach Cobblah

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TERF Wars & Transgressions

by JD Derbyshire & Dave Deveau
In consultation with Jessie Anderson & Morgane Oger
October 25, 2020 3 pm via Zoom (Reading)
April 2021 (Workshop)

Featuring JD Derbyshire, Andrew McIlroy, Deborah Williams

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Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women

by Paul Lucas
November 14, 2020, 7 pm Streaming Online
Part of Trans Awareness Week
Originally produced with the frank theatre
in association with the Firehall Arts Centre

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Quarantine at the Elbow Room

by Dave Deveau
Based on Elbow Room Café: The Musical by Dave Deveau & Anton Lipovetsky
December 12, 2020 on Zoom
Presented with The Cultch

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Virtual Humanity

curated by Zee Zee Theatre
Inspired the Human Library created by Stop The Violence (Copenhagen)
March 2021 via Zoom

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On Tour:

Home is A Drag

by Dave Deveau & Cameron Mackenzie
(On Virtual Tour)

Part of Children’s Festivals, Conferences, and Pride Celebrations throughout the year including Campbell River Pride, Burnaby Pride, Pender Island Price, Nutrient Children’s Festival (Saskatoon), BC Teachers’ Federation Conference

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Parents Are A Drag

by Dave Deveau & Cameron Mackenzie
Touring (maybe) Spring 2021
Originally commissioned by the Vancouver International Children’s Festival

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In Development:

Cool Moms

by Charlee Sideen aka Thanks Jem
A new Zee Zee commission

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Launching Summer 2021

A National Queer & Trans Virtual Playwriting Unit

A Zee Zee Theatre initiative in partnership with:
Gwaandak Theatre (Whitehorse)
The Frank Theatre (Vancouver)
Theatre Outré (Lethbridge)
Theatre Projects Manitoba (Winnipeg)
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto)
Native Earth Performing Arts (Toronto)
Imago Theatre (Montreal)
Neptune Theatre (Halifax)

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Season art by Isa Rodrigues

With DJ Slade

September 13th, 2020, via Zoom meeting link

Official AGM 5:00-5:30pm  

Season Launch 5:30-6pm ish

Join us for a Locktail Hour, Annual General (aka GLAMOUR) Meeting and show off YOUR lock-down glamour while we report on the financial statements.

Maybe it’s your fave mask, maybe it’s the giant necklace you put on over your PJ’s for those 8 am Zoom meetings.

Let’s enjoy those quaratinis together apart enjoying the soothing soulful sounds of DJ Slade, while looking back at 2019 and toward the future of 2021.

And this AGM is a special one!  We’ll be amending our society bylaws.  

The following business will be considered by the membership:

1. Acceptance of agenda (motion required).
2. Approval of minutes of 2019 AGM (motion required).
3. Approval of Amendment to Society Bylaws (motion required)
4. Report by management to the members (financial statements will be presented).
5. Election of directors of the Society.
6. Any further information respecting the society required by the bylaws or the regulations.

Click for the PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENT

Thanks to all those who participated in Zee Zee’s Annual Fundraising Raffle. And congratulations to this year’s winners: Jamie Watson (runner up prize), and Kelly Barker (Grand Prize!!). A huge thanks to all the incredible organizations who donated.

Grand Prize: “The Ultimate Staycation” 1 night stay at the Fairmont Waterfront Self-Guided Brewery Hop – Gift cards from Luppolo, East Van Brewing, Strange Fellows & Faculty Brewing $150 GC to LIFT Restaurant $60 GC to Meet in Gastown Massage by RMT David Marsden 2 tickets to Kinky Boots at Arts ClubTheatre 2 tickets to the Museum of VancouverAdmission tickets to UBC Botanical Garden, Museum of Anthropolgy (MOA) and Nitobe Garden Plus a second prize including a 2-night stay at the Pacific Gateway Hotel in Richmond!

Not your ordinary garden party!

POSTPONED

4843 Sophia Street
Tickets $30

You’re invited to join friends and family of Zee Zee Theatre for our second, now annual Garden Party in support of Zee Zee’s upcoming season! 

Hosted by award-winning local actor and playwright, Deborah Williams, in her stunning backyard, with special appearances by the effervescent drag duo Isolde N. Baron and Peach Cobblah. If you enjoyed this last year you’ll love it this year. 

In 2018 we commissioned the creations of TERF Wars: a dark, comedic, political “gender intervention” by acclaimed playwrights JD Derbyshire & Dave Deveau wrestling trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) politics.

We are gathering again, around the creation of this show, for an evening with social and political bite.  We will put into practise Zee Zee’s mission to tell our small stories, to have unique and provocative conversations, and to build connection with our surrounding community in order to inspire unity in shared human experience, and we want you to be part of it.

Come hear the next phase in the script’s development, and let it fuel an inquisitive conversation with cocktails in hand. 

This is a fundraiser to support Zee Zee’s next season, and the development of important stories like TERF Wars. We need to reach our goal of $7,500 by the end of the evening to make our season possible–we hope you’ll join us for important conversation, delicious refreshments and food, compelling storytelling all in support of art that brings us together in shared human experience.