Hi! If you’re new here, this is a thing I do every month, where I provide a roundup of all (or at least most) of my writing that has been published in the preceding month. An exciting bonus this month is that I get to share a photo of mine that was published as well. That’s the image above, from the world premiere performance of Boca del Lupo and ArtstageSAN’s remarkable Me and the Forest, which I also reviewed.
It’s all Stir content this time around, but I am working on some other pieces for other publications as well. And, as always, I remain open to freelance assignments.
Theatre review: Me & the Forest prefers profound pondering to straight-ahead storytelling
(Stir, June 1, 2026)
YOU SEE HIS HEAD first, appearing just past the rise of the hill at Ron Basford Park. Well, his top, at any rate; being a tree, Mitig doesn’t have a head, although he does have a face, one that’s as ancient and inscrutable as you might expect a tree’s face to be.
Soon enough, the rest of Mitig appears as he crests the hill and heads ponderously down toward the audience. At some five metres tall, he cuts an impressive, even awe-inspiring figure, and as he ambles about, you hardly notice that his every movement is controlled by a team of five talented puppeteers working in seamless union.
Actually, there was one moment during the opening performance of Me & the Forest—a coproduction of Vancouver’s Boca del Lupo and South Korea’s ArtstageSAN—when the illusion was broken…
Composer celebrates natural wonders at Cascade Peaks ChamberFest
(Stir, June 3, 2026)
AT THE RISK of understating things, Imant Raminsh has written a lot of music. The Canadian Music Centre has 263 works by the composer in its catalogue, dating back to the early 1970s, and these include violin concertos, orchestral pieces, and the choral works for which he is best known.
All that work has not gone unrecognized. In 2018, Raminsh was made a Member of the Order of Canada, and in 2024, he was made a Member of the Order of British Columbia. The composer is also an officer in the Order of the Three Stars of the Republic of Latvia, the highest civilian honour in the country of his birth.
Like most creative people, Raminsh no doubt feels a connection with everything in his catalogue, but his latest composition has a deeper meaning than most…
Merry Wives of Windsor star is an old hand at bringing Sir John Falstaff to the stage
(Stir, June 5, 2026)
NO LESS THAN Orson Welles once declared the character Sir John Falstaff to be William Shakespeare’s greatest creation. This remains a controversial take, and Welles certainly had a vested interest, having cast himself as the dissolute knight in his film Chimes at Midnight. The truth is, though, that Falstaff was one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated characters during the Bard of Avon’s own lifetime. After providing the comic relief in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2, Prince Hal’s erstwhile companion proved so popular with audiences that Shakespeare wrote a spinoff, The Merry Wives of Windsor, giving Sir John top billing.
It’s a credit to Shakespeare’s deft hand with characterization that a man who on paper should be irredeemably repugnant—Falstaff is a gluttonous, licentious schemer, and a drunkard to boot—is generally accepted as an endearing rogue.
“Falstaff is such a lovable, likeable character that even his faults, people sort of look over,” actor Ashley Wright tells Stir. “He’s one of those bumbling fools that everyone loves…”
For Vancouver’s Missy D, music is a way to communicate, no matter what the language
(Stir, June 15, 2026)
FOR ANY ARTIST, realizing that there’s a whole new audience just waiting to discover your work can be one of the most gratifying parts of living the creative life. Rapper and singer Missy D, for instance, has spent much of the past two years bringing her songs to a fan base that she never foresaw. The Vancouver-based performer has been touring the country, playing to school groups and children’s festival crowds.
“I’m sharing a little bit of my story about learning English through music, and how I’m how bilingual now,” explains the emcee, who was born in Rwanda and lived in Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe before coming to Canada. “Sometimes music can do things to help you learn something new.”
Missy D, whose first language was French, certainly never set out to be a children’s entertainer—or a professional musician of any kind, really…
Josh Epstein’s job is to ensure everything goes right in The Play That Goes Wrong
(Stir, June 17, 2026)
YES, IT’S CALLED The Play That Goes Wrong, but for it to truly live up to its title, everything needs to go just right. In the smash-hit comedy—which was created by the U.K.’s Mischief Theatre Company in 2012 and has since seen numerous touring and local productions—doors get stuck, props malfunction, and floors collapse.
Josh Epstein, who’s directing the Arts Club’s mounting of the play, tells Stir that the key to making it all work is to have it appear to the audience that the show is flying off the rails, all while keeping a tight rein on the apparent chaos.
“Let me tell you, as we work through it, trying to get everything to go wrong right is incredibly technically difficult,” Epstein says in a telephone interview. “I think the result you’re going to see is effortless, but it’s one of the most technically demanding comedies ever written…”
Vancouver International Jazz Festival artist-in-residence Wendy Eisenberg got in touch with her 13-year-old self to craft self-titled album
(Stir, June 19, 2026)
MANY MUSICIANS AND BANDS make their recorded debuts with a self-titled release. It’s a logical choice, since a first album is like an introduction—and it’s an easy solution to the conundrum of thinking up a title.
But when someone with a discography that’s several albums deep releases a self-titled LP, it seems to signal something more profound—such as a reinvention or a renewed sense of purpose.
When singer and guitarist Wendy Eisenberg calls Stir from the home in Brooklyn she shares with her partner and frequent musical collaborator Mari Rubio, she offers an explanation for giving her eighth solo album, released earlier this year, the title Wendy Eisenberg.
“I think in part it was genuinely a statement of intent and resolution, but also the writing of this one was simultaneous with a personal, private process of understanding who I was…”
Vancouver’s Uncle Strut is doing its part to make guitar solos, and moustaches, cool again
(Stir, June 26, 2026)
THERE’S SOMETHING TO be said about a band with a distinctive image. Think of the Beatles in their marching-band uniforms circa Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, or the guys in Devo with their matching jumpsuits and red “energy dome” hats.
Uncle Strut hasn’t gone to quite those lengths, but as Jasper Matthias learned, there are certain elements that go into the band’s look. Matthias—also known as “Raspy Shreds”—now plays lead guitar in Uncle Strut, but he started out as a fan.
“Before I joined the band, I saw these guys play at the Hollywood Theatre,” he tells Stir during a slightly chaotic five-way Zoom call alongside his bandmates. “I was in line to get in, and the security guard comes out with a bunch of fake moustaches. And I was like, ‘Uh, what the hell is this? What are you giving me a fake moustache for…?’”
John Lucas 
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