In this psychological thriller set in a fictionalized 1930s Vancouver, Alex Braithewaite, a troubled but passionate theatre critic, believes he has found the legendary Stanley Lee, director of the infamous avant-garde theatre The Empty Space. Alex becomes convinced that this man’s radically subversive ideas are what the city’s arts community needs to shatter audience complacency. In his pursuit of the truth behind Stanley Lee’s mysterious disappearance and his artistic ideas, Alex becomes caught between the warring factions of two prominent mob families – one controlling the city’s playhouses, the other its cinemas, but both ensnared by the Empty Space Society. At the dawn of the Talkies, can Alex tear through the artifice of these art forms in time to save the city’s art community from ripping itself apart?

The play’s collaborators found inspiration within the walls of Vancouver’s Stanley Theatre, a space that has a dual history as a cinema and vaudeville house. Fittingly, this gritty film-noir production became an exploration of the two kinds of art and how they affect the audience. Tear the Curtain! explores global issues that consider what we want from art: to be shocked and surprised or for order to be restored.

Cast of 2 women and 8 men.

Kevin Kerr is playwright and founding member of Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre, with whom he’s co-written numerous plays including The Wake, The Score, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Flop, The Fall, and Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla.In 2002 he received the Governor General’s Literary Award for his play Unity (1918), which has been produced across Canada as well as in the United States and Australia.In 2005 he co-wrote the feature-length screen adaptation of Electric Company’s The Score for Screen Siren Pictures and CBC Television.Other works include Studies in Motion (Electric Company Theatre) and Skydive (Realwheels). At present he is writing a stage adaptation of Pierre Berton’s children’s classic “The Secret World of Og” for Vancouver’s Carousel Theatre.For Electric Company he’s co-directed Brilliant!, The Wake, and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, and in 2008 he directed Jonathon Young’s Palace Grand, presented at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.Kevin was Lee Playwright in Residence at the University of Alberta in Edmonton from 2007 to 2010. He returned to Electric Company Theatre in 2011 as Artistic Director.

Kevin Kerr's profile page

Jonathon Young’s previous collaborative plays include Brilliant! The Blinding Enlightenment of Nikola Tesla, The Score, and Palace Grand. Young is a co-founders, with Kevin Kerr, Kim Collier, and David Hudgins, of Electric Company Theatre. Originally formed as a theatre collective in 1996, Electric Company Theatre is now a leading force in the Vancouver theatre scene, creating original work that is rich in spectacle, adventurous in form, and strong in narrative.

Jonathon Young's profile page

Kim Collier has co-authored seven original plays with Electric Company Theatre. In 2010 she was awarded the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for directing. She is currently resident artist at Canadian Stage in Toronto. Collier is a co-founder, along with Kevin Kerr, Jonathon Young, and David Hudgins, of Electric Company Theatre. Originally formed as a theatre collective in 1996, Electric Company Theatre is now a leading force in the Vancouver theatre scene, creating original work that is rich in spectacle, adventurous in form, and strong in narrative.

Kim Collier's profile page

"a fascinating puzzle of a production" – NOW Magazine

"brilliant fusion of two enduring art forms"
– Globe and Mail

"prophetic" "stunning" – National Post

"stylish" "a rich pastiche" – Toronto Sun