'Tis the season—for remounts. Of these, the best, in my books is the Ruby Slippers production of Hotel Bethlehem. Drew McCreadie's script turns the story of the Nativity into a Fawlty Towers episode that focuses on the famously unaccommodating innkeeper. Diane Brown...

  I've seen three shows this week that are about female experience, that are written by women, and that feature largely female casts. It's been a terrific week and I recommend all of the shows. The top of my personal list is Electric Company's Initiation Trilogy,...

I opened my mailbox at lunch today and found a copy of Alanda Greene's Napi's Dance, which I story edited and which Second Story Press has just released. Alanda has a poetic voice, the book looks handsome, and I was very touched that Alanda mentioned me in her...

Sometimes when you're writing—especially if you're writing fantasy material—the sheer pleasure of invention can become seductive and you start making up all sorts of groovy stuff: there are 18 ranks in the Air Command; your hero travels to an alternate universe. Cool....

Two of the last three nights, I've been at Rebecca Northan's Blind Date at the Cultch. That's how good it is. In the show, Northan's red-nosed clown character, Mimi, picks a guy from the audience. In the ensuing improvised performance, they go on a date together....

I saw John Grady's solo show, Fear Factor: Canine Edition at the Fringe last night and loved it. There's only one performance left: Saturday, September 15 at 7:20 pm in the Waterfront. I highly recommend that you catch it. It's one of the best things I've seen at this...

So far, I've seen 19 shows that are playing the Vancouver Fringe Festival. (I saw ten of 'em in Victoria.) Kathleen Oliver, my pal and colleague at the Straight, also saw 10 in Victoria and she has seen another five here. KO's top pick so far is Bookworm. I'm a big...

Okay, I want to join the Die Roten Punkte fanclub. The Cultch opened its 2012/2013 season last night with Die Roten Punkte's new show, Eurosmash. Die Roten Punkte, which translates as The Red Dots, is a two-person parody band. Its German members Astrid and Otto Rot...

            Stories are about struggles—successful or not—to grow in wisdom and understanding. In a HAPPY story, the hero starts from a position of relative weakness or vulnerability, decides to face his fear, struggles to overcome his...