Loading Events
The University of British Columbia

UBC Connects SVG
Robson Square
  • This event has passed.

Postcards: Trans Narratives on Stage

November 12, 2023
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
at UBC Robson Square (map)

**This event is sold out**

About the Event

This event brings together a panel of trans theatre artists and UBC graduate students exploring arts-based research to consider the affordances of theatre to centre trans voices, drawing on strategies from theatre-as-research approaches. The panel will be accompanied by performed excerpts from a work-in-progress play, Postcards to My Younger Transexual Self [or YTS], Age 0-119, by Christina Cook.

While more trans performers and artists are becoming more featured in popular media, there remains a dearth of narratives by and for trans communities. Furthermore, although numerous academic disciplines, such as Psychology and Education, are working to center trans voice in their research literature, research by and for trans communities must be supported. This event explores the interweaving of art and scholarship to address these inequities. Trans artists and researchers need to tell trans stories, particularly those based on memoirs and autobiography, to answer back to the centuries of othering in arts and academic spaces and to make room for trans joy, community building, and liberation.

Hosted in partnership with Playwrights Theatre Centre (PTC) and the frank theatre company, with support from the UBC Research-based Theatre Lab.

Event Schedule

1:30 PM Doors open

2:00 PM  Welcoming remarks

2:10 PM Excerpts of “Postcards” shared

3:00 PM Q&A with playwright and performer Christina Cook, dramaturge Joanna Garfinkel and other guests

3:30 PM Program end, mingling and light refreshments available

Cast and Panelists

Christina Cook – Playwright & Performer
Christina Cook (she/they) is a theatre artist and therapist. Christina’s writing credits include the play Quick Bright Things, nominated for a Governor General’s Award in 2021; and Gerty, half electronic-communication-from-the-future, half radio-drama-drag-show, and all Genderqueer, published in Educational Fabulations (2022). As a therapist in private practice, she works with adults and youth in the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. They are also a Ph.D. student in Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where they explore and create scholarship exploring psychology, gender liberation, and theatre.

Rae Takei – Performer
Rae (they/he) is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist, grateful to be born and raised on Unceded Coast Salish Territory. A graduate of Studio 58, Rae is a Jessie-nominated actor, creative collaborator and consultant, and has devoted the better part of the last decade to the invention and imaginings of their drag persona, Rose Butch (CBC Gem’s Canada’s A Drag).

Sabrina Symington – Performer
Sabrina “Bria” Symington is a transgender artist from Gabriola Island, British Columbia. In addition to being known for her webcomic series, graphic novels, and Youtube videos, she has regularly appeared in local theatre productions since 2018. She lives in Vancouver, where she tries to do one new thing every day.

Joanna Garfinkel – Dramaturge
Joanna Garfinkel is Dramaturg, Creative Engagement at PTC and co-founder of Universal Limited. Current dramaturgy: National Queer & Trans playwriting unit; UL’s To the Sea; Kamila Sediego’s Engkanto, José Teodoro’s Binary Star, Christina Cook’s PTMYTS, Tara Cheyenne’s Pants, and Anais West’s Tomboy. Co-creator, with Yoshie Bancroft, of JAPANESE PROBLEM, a piece about the Japanese Canadian Incarceration, performed site-specifically in Vancouver, at Soulpepper in Toronto, and more. Other credits: Berlin: The Last Cabaret (PuSh), PQLB, (Passe Murailles) Nominated for three Jessie awards; Pure Research grant (Nightswimming), Sydney Risk award for directing. MFA in directing at UBC.

Sara Vickruck – Sound Designer/Composer
Sara Vickruck (they/them) is an award winning queer, multi-disciplinary performer, host, musician, song writer, sound designer, and creator currently living on the unceded territories of the Halkomelem speaking peoples. They work both onscreen, and onstage in many venues across the country. Sara is a Jessie Richardson award winning sound designer and an Equity and Stage West 2020 Emerging Artist award winner. You may know them from the critically acclaimed show Poly Queer Love Ballad, a slam poetry musical, as Mercutio from Bard on the Beach’s Romeo and Juliet, or perhaps as part of the band The Quarantettes. 

 

Event Partners

logo

 

logo, company name

Illustration with elements of health equity.

November 4, 2024

Voices for Health Equity

This event is dedicated to showcases the groundbreaking work of leading and emerging public scholars and innovators in the health equity space.

Illustration of floor plan with single exit staircase.

October 25, 2024

Unlocking Housing Potential: How the New Single-Egress Code Can Help Us Build Better Communities

Experts will discuss a building code allowing single exit stair building design for smaller apartment buildings of up to six storeys, creating opportunities for new infill housing to meet the demand for ‘missing middle’ solutions in urban areas. 

Hand placing an election ballot into a voting box.

October 10, 2024

BC Election 2024: How Will the Parties Meet BC’s Policy Challenges? 

A panel discussion with experts from the UBC Political Science who will speak to the challenges in various areas of public policy in BC, how the parties propose to meet those challenges and more.

January 27, 2024

Imagining Multisensory Art: Learning from Objects; Literacy and Inclusion

Join Vancouver Art Gallery and UBC's Vision Research Cluster in exploring multisensory art and inclusion through collaborative and tactile experiences, ensuring full accessibility for a diverse audience.

January 26, 2024

Stories of Change: Documentary Screening + Climate Atlas

An exclusive documentary screening that takes you through a journey of the lives of resilient communities in Bangladesh, facing the brunt of climate change.

January 20, 2024

Wellbeing Festival: Celebrating Local Mind-Body Health

MIHCan is hosting an event centred around BIWOC (Black, Indigenous, Women of Colour) themes, with activities focusing on wellbeing including meditation, reflection, and creativity.

a hand holding a cellphone

November 29, 2023

Let’s Talk About Your Data: A Discussion of Public Health Data

Engage in a discussion of sharing public health data and technological advances that assure security with health professionals, researchers, and patient representatives presenting their community health research endeavours.

November 12, 2023

Postcards: Trans Narratives on Stage

A panel of trans theatre artists and UBC graduate students explore arts-based research to consider the affordances of theatre to centre trans voices, drawing on strategies from theatre-as-research approaches.

October 27, 2023

The Age of Disruption in Public Policy: DRIPA and Social Media

Dive into the latest trends and strategies in public policy, with a special focus on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) and the influential role of social media.

October 22, 2023

The Floating Man: Canadian Film Premiere

This Canadian premiere of The Floating Man by Michael V. Smith is an intimate memoir that unpacks Smith's journey as a radical drag performer and genderqueer.

October 10, 2023

Besa: The Promise – Albania’s Untold Story of Sanctuary for Jewish Refugees in WWII

To commemorate the Muslim Albanians who hosted Jewish people during World War II, this event will showcase a screening of the film, Besa: The Promise, along with expert speakers from UBC and beyond. 

September 28, 2023

Folil Trafün (Joining Roots) Festival – Main Showcase

Connects at Robson Square is proud to host Folil Trafün (Joining Roots) Festival's main showcase, screening Indigenous and Afro-diaspora films from Latin America, followed by dialogues to deepen understanding of the films and their relationship with local realities.

September 16, 2023

Word Vancouver 2023

Join Word Vancouver for their main festival day on September 16th at UBC Robson Square! This festival will feature a special session with UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections and look at how its archival materials were used in the work of poets Rina Garcia Chua and Carolyn Nakagawa.

August 19, 2023

To Speak in Community: A Gathering of Philippine Languages and Cultures

To Speak in Community is an informational, interactive half-day gathering about Philippine heritage languages and cultural sharing featuring presentations and programming from community experts and facilitators.

July 29, 2023

The Right to Repair

UBC's Bike Kitchen presents "The Right to Repair", a sustainability forum targeting industry issues surrounding the sale of “built-to-fail” products and consumers’ right to repair their own products across various industries.

July 27, 2023

Tackling Climate Change and the Just Transition to Renewable Energy

This discussion and panel session are part of a series of French-Ameri-Can Climate Panels (FACTS) on climate change.

June 17, 2023

STEAMing Ahead: A Science Community Day

A day of science for all ages and a chance to meet world-class researchers and innovators, participate in hands-on experiments, and see amazing scientific demonstrations at UBC's Downtown Campus.

June 5, 2023

Big Fight in Little Chinatown: Film Screening and Discussion

Big Fight in Little Chinatown will be available for a free screening on June 5th at UBC Robson Square, followed by a panel discussion featuring filmmaker Karen Cho and other UBC and community experts.

May 24, 2023

Water4Seasons: Using Research-Based Theatre to Explore the Status of Water Health Equity

Water4Seasons draws on Research-based Theatre to explore the status of water health equity for Indigenous and rural communities in Canada, featuring a live theatre performance and talk from Dr. Stephani Woodson.

May 17, 2023

The Empress of Vancouver: Film Screening and Q&A

Join us for a celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia at a free, public screening of the TELUS original film The Empress of Vancouver.

May 13, 2023

Passage to Freedom: Film Screening and Discussion

Passage to Freedom is a documentary film following the oral histories of Southeast Asian refugees coming to Canada from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The screening will be followed by a discussion from UBC faculty and alumni.

May 13, 2023

Hearts of Freedom: Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees

The Hearts of Freedom exhibition featuring stories of Southeast Asian refugees in Canada will be hosted at UBC Robson Square for free public viewing from May 13 to May 31.

April 21, 2023

2023 International Comic Arts Forum: Artist Talk Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Haida graphic artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas presents a keynote as part of the 2023 International Comic Arts Forum.

March 30, 2023

Peer-Led Intervention Work to Promote Dignity

A UBC public dialogue event centered around the importance of peer-led work, with formerly incarcerated lived-experience speakers.

March 27, 2023

Connecting Online Safely

UBC experts explore the subject of how youths can cope with and develop healthier approaches to social media, cyberbullying, and more.

March 25, 2023

Screening & Exhibition of Leslie Cheung—Hong Kong Icon

We are proud to present the screening of Rouge, accompanied by a special exhibition “Leslie Cheung—Hong Kong Icon” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passing of the legendary Hong Kong actor, singer, and performer, Leslie Cheung.

March 15, 2023

Cinema Thinks the World: Fail to Appear (2017)

A free screening of Fail to Appear, a film from UBC professor Antoine Bourges, followed by a discussion featuring the filmmaker.

February 24, 2023

Sue Big Oil Launch Party

Join us for the launch of Sue Big Oil's campaign.

February 16, 2023

Cinema Thinks the World: Rewind & Play (2022)

A free screening of Rewind and Play, followed by a discussion and Q&A led by UBC scholars and local experts.

January 23, 2023

Cinema Thinks the World: The Goddess (1934)

A free screening of The Goddess (1934), followed by a discussion by Professor Christopher Rea.

December 17, 2022

Africans in BC Town Hall

An end-of-year townhall for Africans in the diaspora to come together to network, connect, and discuss how to give back to the development of the continent.

November 25, 2022

Cinema Thinks the World: Mariupolis (2016)

A free screening and discussion of Mariupolis, a documentary made in 2016 by Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius about the contested Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

Hand placing an election ballot into a voting box.

October 18, 2022

BC Votes: What Happens Next?

Join a panel of UBC Political Science faculty and alumni as we break down the results of the province’s municipal elections and their consequences for future policy and the future of local government.

October 11, 2022

Cinema Thinks the World: Coming Out (1989)

A free screening and discussion of the 1989 film, Coming Out.

September 15, 2022

Cinema Thinks the World: Irma Vep (1996)

A free screening of Olivier Assayas’ meta-cinematic masterpiece, Irma Vep (France, 1996).

August 25, 2022

Summer Pop-Up Concert Series

Join us for our Summer Pop-Up Concerts at UBC Robson Square! We're bringing our most talented students to perform for you right in the heart of downtown every Thursday in July.

August 18, 2022

Summer Pop-Up Concert Series

Join us for our Summer Pop-Up Concerts at UBC Robson Square! We're bringing our most talented students to perform for you right in the heart of downtown every Thursday in July.

August 17, 2022

Students Underground: UBC Downtown Takeover

Calling all students! Join us for a hands-on, social night of building community and learning how to use your power to make local change.

July 28, 2022

Summer Pop-Up Concert Series

Join us for our Summer Pop-Up Concerts at UBC Robson Square! We're bringing our most talented students to perform for you right in the heart of downtown every Thursday in July.

July 21, 2022

Summer Pop-Up Concert Series

Join us for our Summer Pop-Up Concerts at UBC Robson Square! We're bringing our most talented students to perform for you right in the heart of downtown every Thursday in July.

July 14, 2022

Summer Pop-Up Concert Series

Join us for our Summer Pop-Up Concerts at UBC Robson Square! We're bringing our most talented students to perform for you right in the heart of downtown every Thursday in July.

July 7, 2022

Summer Pop-Up Concert Series

Join us for our Summer Pop-Up Concerts at UBC Robson Square! We're bringing our most talented students to perform for you right in the heart of downtown every Thursday in July.

June 14, 2022

All Our Father’s Relations: Film Screening and Dialogue on Settler Colonialism, Identity, and Migration

In a special partnership with the UBC AMS Indigenous Committee, The Ismaili Centre, Vancouver and UBC Connects at Robson Square will be hosting a FREE, exclusive screening of All Our Father’s Relations, followed by an in-person talkback with Elder Larry Grant and filmmakers, Alejandro Yoshizawa and Sarah Ling.

May 14, 2022

In Tune With Your Brain

A half-day symposium all about the intersection of music and the brain presented by UBC Faculty of Science, Faculty of Applied Science, Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, UBC Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Image collage of a diverse group of people collaborating.

November 13, 2024

CMS-Sector Research Collaborations Day 2024

This event explores migration research through a decolonial lens and aims to build mutually beneficial connections between CMS migration researchers and BC’s Settlement sector.