Skip to content

Capitol Theatre offers free tickets to healthcare workers and teachers for Oct. 29 performance

Invitation expresses thanks for their help in the pandemic
30737387_web1_221020-KWS-Capitol-Kwan_1
Vancouver actor Derek Kwan in The Cave, by the Indigenous Canadian playwright and novelist Tomson Highway. Photo: Submitted

Submitted by the Capitol Theatre

The Capitol Theatre is offering free admission to healthcare workers and teachers for its Oct. 29 production, The Cave.

“We all struggled through the global pandemic, but looking back, it is these members of our communities who really stepped up,” says the theatre’s executive director Stephanie Fischer. “Health care workers went above and beyond to care for the most vulnerable, and teachers carried on despite all odds.

“So this invitation is a small token of our appreciation, and we sincerely hope that many will take advantage and join us for this remarkable performance.”

In the show’s cabaret-style story, a ragged group of animals flee for their lives from a forest fire and take refuge in a cave where they consider the environmental crisis and their own situation through songs that are at times comic, at times tragic. The lyricist is celebrated musician and author Tomson Highway. The four performers, who sing in English and Cree, play abstractions of Bear, Moose, Beaver, Skunk, Snake, Wolf, Crow, and Fox.

Anyone working in healthcare or education who would like a complimentary ticket is invited to call the box office from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.

The Capitol has always been a place for community to gather. For the past two years, the team at the theatre has needed to draw on their creativity to find new ways to connect with their audiences. But this fall has seen a return to a full roster of in- person, live events and with this return, so has the opportunity to re-emerge as a hub for locals been restored.

“We want to nurture the sense of commonality with our friends and neighbours that comes with sharing in an evening that provides entertainment, or that invites us to think about something and debrief and discuss with others after it is over,” says the Capitol’s engagement manager Allison Girvan.

“This is an experience that the theatre wishes to extend to those in the community who have been, and continue to be, at the vanguard of safe-keeping our population — healthcare workers and teachers.”

Tickets can be purchased through the box office or online at capitoltheatre.ca.