THEATRE PREVIEW

APRIL 2026 | Volume 262

 

The Firehall Arts Centre concludes its ELBOWS UP – Made in Canada season, an inspiring and successful celebration of bold Canadian voices and storytelling, with Mayumi Lashbrook's Enemy Lines from Wednesday, May 6 to Saturday, May 9, 2026.

Enemy Lines is a live dance performance that looks at how a climate of fear led to the incarceration of Japanese Canadians. Held by curiosity, choreographer Mayumi Lashbrook looks back at the actions taken against her family during World War II. Suddenly deemed a threat after the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941, over 22,000 Canadians of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from the coastline of British Columbia – their lives forever altered.

Lashbrook seeks to understand these events in Canadian history and the hold it has had on her life. Her work illuminates the cycles of fear-based oppression and intolerant thinking that still afflicts us today. In Enemy Lines, she elucidates our hardwired need for each other, and the way that disconnection can hinder our growth.

Enemy Lines is a tender reminder of the fractures of our collective past and the possibilities for our shared future.

"A Must-See Performance for All Canadians" – The Nikkei Voice

"Enemy Lines is a self-aware account of the harm indifference and fear can inflict." – The Dance Current

Credits for Enemy Lines:
Choreographer:  Mayumi Lashbrook 
Dramaturg:  Denise Fujiwara 
Ensemble:  Mayumi Lashbrook, Michael Mortley, Lucy Rupert, Denise Solleza, and Gerry Trentham
Lighting Design:  Logan Cracknell 
Sound Design:  Heidi Chan
Associate Lighting Design:  Nathan Bruce
Projection Design:  Jasmine Liaw
Costume Design:  Alessia Urbani & Cheryl Lalonde
Stage Manager:  A.J. Morra 
Presented by:  Firehall Arts Centre in association with Powell Street Festival

May 6 – 9, 2026 | Firehall Arts Centre| 280 E. Cordova Street
Opening Night:  Wednesday, May 6 at 7:30pm
Performance Times:  Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm 
Post-show Talkback:  Thursday, May 7
Tickets:  From $25 at firehallartscentre.ca | 604.689.0926

About Mayumi Lashbrook:
Mayumi (she/her) is a yonsei (fourth generation) Japanese Canadian settler who seeks to create transformative dance theatre experiences that invite attentive presence. Her primary practices span performance, choreography, production and education. A graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University on the Dean's List, she trained in Eurocentric dance forms until igniting her passion for Butoh. She utilizes these skillsets to choreograph and perform thoughtful works that bravely reveal our humanity. Mayumi is a 2025 nominee of the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Award and the Artistic Director of Hamilton based AerisKörper, recipient of the 2024 Arts Creator Award. She is a mentee of renowned Japanese Canadian dance theatre artist Denise Fujiwara, as well as a company member of Fujiwara Dance Inventions. She has presented and screened her work in esteemed platforms such as Dusk Dances, CanAsian Dance, Fall for Dance North and her heralded work Enemy Lines has been presented across the country. She aims to create spaces that pursue an equilibrium of artistic excellence and compassionate care.

About Firehall Arts Centre:

With over forty years' history of weaving diverse storytelling into the fabric of Greater Vancouver, Firehall Arts Centre is where stories come alive. Through theatre, dance, music, inter-disciplinary work and the visual arts, The Firehall has embraced its mission to enrich lives and expand minds through the arts. One of the most unique cultural institutions in British Columbia, The Firehall - in more predictable times - hosts over two hundred performances per year. Located in the city-owned heritage fire station built in 1906, The Firehall's intimate black box studio theatre along with its outdoor courtyard performance area and its rehearsal studio has served to support innovative, eclectic, and often politically-charged theatre productions as well as exquisite, cutting-edge dance and music performances. The Firehall is proud to support emerging and established performing artists and companies, and strives to program work that is inclusive, culturally rich, and reflective of the many voices and perspectives in Canada.

 

 

 

 

get in touch with vancouverplays:

EMAIL US

SUBMIT LISTINGS

 SUBMIT PREVIEW

 ADVERTISE WITH US