Join us at Gateway Theatre for a special performance of Vancouver’s wildly popular storytelling series, The Flame: Anniversary Edition. Host Deborah Williams, the award-winning actor and one of the creators of Mom’s the Word, and talented local storytellers create an event full of “stories that are true”. With themes of birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations, this event features live musicians and storytelling that will delight and move you.
TICKET PRICE
General Admission: Pay-What-You-Will
MEET THE STORYTELLERS
Josh Epstein*
Performer
Josh Epstein*
Performer
Writer of Astrid’s Deathlist (Paramount), Youngblood (Aircraft Pictures). Writer/Producer of Eadweard and Adventures in Public School. His films have received 39 Leo Award nominations, premiered at TIFF, and secured global distribution.
Four-time Jessie Award winner, Stratford Festival’s Most Promising Actor, and two-time Ovation Award-winning director (Oliver!, Cabaret)
Producer facilitator for the National Screen Institute, mentor for Whistler Film Festival & Telus Storyhive, and panel host for VIFF, WFF, and Women in Film.
June Pang
Performer
June Pang
Performer
June Pang is a maker and aspiring storyteller. Her first play, Oh Sandra! was workshopped as part of Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre’s MSG Lab. She is a past participant of two Flame workshops, including one at the Gateway last Fall. She’s learning to let go of perfectionism while taking baby steps towards the danger.
Kathleen Oliver
Performer
Kathleen Oliver
Performer
Kathleen Oliver is a dormant playwright, retired theatre critic, and fledgling birder. She teaches English and Creative Writing at Langara College, where she is currently a department chair. For the first time in her life, she has just started learning to drive a car.
Renee Fajardo*
Performer
Renee Fajardo*
Performer
Renee is a Filipino opera and theatre artist, educator, and producer, based within the lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking peoples (Richmond, BC). She most recently sang the role of Flosshilde in Edmonton Opera’s 2024 production of Das Rheingold. She currently sings with Juno-nominated vocal ensemble, Musica Intima, and is producing her digital song-cycle project, Liham, which speaks to experiences within the Filipino diaspora. Committed to artistic storytelling both on and off-stage, Renee is also the Education Manager at Gateway Theatre and the Artistic Producer for Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre. Renee is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the University of Toronto. She believes that theatre should be a place of belonging for everyone!
Chris Nowland
Performer
Chris Nowland
Performer
Chris has been performing music on stages for over forty years. He is one of the founding members of the funk band “Foundation”, and is currently playing with “Souled Out”, an 11-piece funk/soul/rock dance band at venues across the lower mainland. Also an experienced and versatile actor, Chris Nowland lives and works in Vancouver, and has been a part of the Vancouver film and television industry for 20 years. Some of his film and tv credits include, A Million Little Things, Under The Bridge, Animal Control, Valley of the Boom, Arrow, Supernatural, Stargate: Atlantis, The Killing, Psych, Sucker Punch, The Good Wife, Bates Motel, and Ice. Chris has had the privilege of being Beverley Elliott’s backing guitarist and co-songwriter for 11 years.
Beverley Elliott*
Performer
Beverley Elliott*
Performer
Beverley has over 150 film/tv credits to her name. She has worked as a professional actor, singer, songwriter, storyteller, writer, teacher and coach for 43 years. She’s told stories at the Flame, Vancouver Story Slam, has performed at the MOTH in NYC four times, in addition to being aired on CBC, and Public Radio, USA. Both her autobiographical one woman shows, Sink or Swim and Didn’t See That Coming won Pick of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, and Sink or Swim won best musical at NYC United Solo Festival. Beverley did a TEDx talk in January on the power of storytelling. Watch for her in upcoming episodes of Happy Face, One Mile and Tracker.
Deborah Williams*
Host
Deborah Williams*
Host
Deb Williams is a multi-talented artist with over 35 years of experience in acting, playwriting, and producing. She co-created and starred in the Mom’s The Word plays. Deb is also the co-founder and Artistic Producer of The Flame, Vancouver’s top storytelling event. She has written several plays, including Broccoli and Butterflies and Drift Wood, and has been an Associate Artist at the Belfry Theatre for ten years. Deb is also an experienced personal storytelling teacher, coach, facilitator, and consultant, having taught nearly 1000 tellers of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, cultural identities, and mental and physical abilities.
Website – www.theflame.live/about-deb-1
Veronica Armstrong
Performer
Veronica Armstrong
Performer
Veronica is a lawyer and performer wannabe. She appeared in a number of theatre productions in South Africa and in Richmond, a memorable one being a mischievous nun in The Sound of Music at the Gateway. She is a long-standing member of The Richmond Singers, a community women’s choir. Veronica believes passionately in the work Gateway does to make theatre inclusive and relevant for the community.
Kelly Zhou
Performer
Kelly Zhou
Performer
Kelly Zhou is an actor, multidisciplinary artist, and arts educator who has been performing for over a decade. She is a graduate of the Theatre Performance Program at Douglas College and performed as a storyteller for The Flame in the 2024 Vancouver International Children’s Festival. Other credits: Dissected (Or Festival), The Matchmaker (Theatre in the Country), and Bog Body (Foolish Productions). She was a part of the 2023 Riotous Youth Internship at Bard on the Beach and is a playwright in the Arts Club LEAP Intensive. Kelly is passionate about uplifting underrepresented communities within the arts.
