#Canoe Theatre Festival 2015 makes waves

Cult initiations, relationship truths and lies, as well as Shakespearean folly are just a few of the stories pulling their weight at #Canoe Theatre Festival 2015.

Programmed by Workshop West, this five-day playwrights' festival, beginning tonight at the Westbury Theatre, navigates straight into the headwaters of non-traditional theatre. Its mandate is to make waves by pushing buttons and boundaries.

“It's our chance to show people what kinds of theatrical experiments people are cooking up from around the world,” says newly appointed artistic director Vern Thiessen.

The Canadian playwright served as playwright-in-residence at the Citadel Theatre and is recipient of numerous awards including the Governor General's Award (Einstein's Gift), the Carol Bolt Award (Vimy) and a Sterling Award (Apple).

Thiessen's goal is to provide a different perspective in the way people look at the world whether theatre-goers laugh, cry, or become frightened and confused. The point is to connect in a different way.

Below is a list of shows:

PCL Studio, ATB Financial Arts Barns

Are you a seeker and life-long learner? If so check out The Hierarchy of the lost Children, an interactive theatre experiment and cinematic experience where 50 chosen people participate in a mock cult initiation.

Westbury Theatre, ATB Financial

Edmonton's hottest dance troupe is back with their latest outrageous show, Fortuitous Endings (What to Do When You Wake Up Drunk in a BBQ Cover in Your Neighbour's Back Yard).

Artistic director Jake Hastey describes the visceral dance piece, “like watching a car accident while riding a camel on a busy street in San Francisco, but the performers don't spit, or at least they try not to.”

Knox Evangelical Free Church

Alan Williams returns to Edmonton after a 20-year absence with an intimate, funny and touching story of one man's fall and redemption. It's about coming back where everything is familiar but everything has changed. In this one-man performance, Williams plays 20 characters.

ATB Financial Arts Barn

Emerging Edmonton theatre star Jon Lachlan Stewart takes several Shakespearean female characters involved in various acts of violence and puts them in a survivor group where some of their unfinished stories continue in the modern world.

Played by a single male actor, Lavinia also deliberately examines the historical tradition of men appropriating women's stories. It is about a man coming to terms with deeply rooted problems and a woman finding power in her voice.

How iRan: Three Stories for iPod

Ken Cameron

Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, multiple shows daily

Strathcona Branch, Edmonton Public Library

Free event: reserve at [email protected]

Participants choose one of three iPods and are guided around library stacks through a shuffling of recorded stories of Iranian-Canadians. No experience is the same as another. After each showing, participants are invited to share their journey in a discussion.