Universal Limited is a collective who works to uncover hidden stories in unusual locations. We work collectively to write and design our shows as experiences that are accessible to all. Previously they built the pedicab adventure Tour in Vancouver (premiering as part of the Cultural Olympiad/HIVE 3), Victoria (TheatreSKAM), and Toronto (SummerWorks), telling the hidden histories of previous residents--from First Nations, to waves of immigration, to the current stories buried beneath previously-familiar neighbourhoods.
For JAPANESE PROBLEM Yoshie Bancroft and Joanna Garfinkel set out to tell the unacknowledged story of the Japanese Canadian Incarceration at Hastings Park, interviewing the incredible, resilient survivors and families who are grappling with the legacy of the Incarceration. The creators believe that our country, province, and city’s legacies of racially-motivated uncompensated labour, exclusion and dispersal must never be forgotten.
MANDATE & MISSION
Universal Limited creates and produces original work, prioritizing collaboration, rigorous research, and the use of our platform to share hidden histories and stories that would otherwise be missed. We reflect and represent the diversity of communities in our world through our art.
We will make accessible and affordable work that dismantles colonial art forms and divisions, while showcasing collaborative models of creation, and an inclusive and safe space for assembly and experimentation.
VALUES
Taking care: of each other, our audiences, and putting care into our work
Inclusivity: connection with and in our community
Engagement: our ethics are reflected in our communication, and in our choices, and our engagement in the delights of theatre
Experimentation: with form and structures, and with expectations
Rigour: to research, to our artistic integrity and to our creations
JAPANESE PROBLEM premiered in September 2017, selling out a run at Hastings Park, and garnering exceptional reviews. This year we were included in the Westender's 2017 Year in Theatre and Vancouver Presents' Top Ten for 2017 Theatre lists, and are excited to be nominated for Significant Artistic Achievement and win the Critics' Choice for Innovation Award at the 36th annual Jessie Richardson Awards.
Since September 2017 we have toured to Kaslo, Burnaby, Steveston, Victoria and Nanaimo, remounted in September 2018 at Hastings Park, followed by a tour to Soulpepper in Toronto. We aim to continue sharing the show in the future once the COVID-19 pandemic has retreated.