When writer/director Julie Hammond learned that Gidget, the quintessential California girl and 1950's spark of a global surf boom, was really the Jewish daughter of Austro-Hungarian refugees, she began to imagine events in reverse. What would happen if a California-born Jew went to Central Europe to learn to surf?

Armed with an audio recorder and faith in sun and waves, Hammond travelled east in a quest to weave her surf-bum family with her grandmother's Holocaust survival, and a hope to discover the details of her family's silence.

Performed by Stephanie Wong, Dominique Hat, Bana Biltaji and featuring live music from Matthew Ariaratnam, Other Inland Empires is part travelogue, part adventure, and part meditation. In this world, the Holocaust brushes up against inflatable seagulls, a lost tooth holds hands with a lost earring, and palm trees slow dance with identity politics.

The Cultch Historic Theatre - 1895 Venables St., Vancouver, BC
May 22 @ 7:00pm
May 23 @ 9:30pm
May 25 @ 7:15pm - ASL Interpreted - followed by an artist talkback
May 26 @ 5:30pm - Vocal Eye description

Written and directed by: Julie Hammond
Performed by: Matthew Ariaratnam, Bana Biltaji, Dominique Hat, and Stephanie Wong
Sound Design: Matthew Ariaratnam
Lighting Design: Gillian Hanemayer
Scenic Design: Robert Leveroos
Dramaturg: Caroline Liffmann