Address
6361 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC
Getting to the building
This Wayfinding Map includes accessible directions to Dorothy Somerset Studios from areas across campus as well as the location of the Accessibility Shuttle stops.
We All Need a Home
DATE: Tuesday, December 15, 2026
TIME: 2:00pm – 3:30pm
LOCATION: Dorothy Somerset Studio, 6361 University Blvd, Vancouver
We All Need a Home is a play about the rights and needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to have a home.
The housing crisis in British Columbia and Canada impacts many Canadians and impacts members from equity-deserving groups including self-advocates disproportionately. Canada’s National Housing Strategy recognizes housing as a “cornerstone of inclusive communities.” In BC, the Inclusive Housing Task Force (2018) points out that “lack of affordable housing has resulted in a large number of individuals [with intellectual disabilities] remaining within their families’ homes long past their same-aged peers or living in a housing situation not of their choice.”
The recognition of the housing crisis and a vision for inclusive housing inspired the Self Advocate Theatre Company to identify housing as their choice for a third disability theatre production.
Schedule
2:00–3:00 p.m. – Welcome and performance
3:00–3:30 p.m. – Talk-back with the actors/co-creators, who are also co-researchers on the project
Presented in partnership with the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship (CIIC).
Presenters
Since 2018, the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship (CIIC), the Community Living Society (CLS) and the Massey Theatre have collaborated on devising, producing and researching two critical participatory theatre projects. The first production was Romance, Relationships and Rights (RRR), and the second production was We Deserve to Work! Spurred by the learning, growth and impact of these two successful disability theatre for social change productions, and upon the urging of the theatre company comprised of a diverse group of actors and co-creators with intellectual disabilities (self-advocates), the Self-Advocate Theatre Company has embarked on a third disability theatre project focused on self-advocates’ right to inclusive housing.
At its core, disability theatre embraces the profound recognition that disabled lives and experiences are inherently valuable (Johnston, 2016). Moreover, disability theatre necessitates that the topic and messages come from the people most affected: we must lift up, listen to, follow and highlight the perspectives of those who are most impacted by the systems of ableism and other forms of oppression (Sins Invalid, 2019). Informed by disability justice principles (Sins Invalid, 2019), the self-advocate co-creators from CLS have identified the topic, housing. With the support of CLS, UBC researchers and the Massey Theatre, the co-creators are creating and acting in the production through disability theatre for social justice.
Accessibility information
- All performances will be relaxed with dimmed lighting, soft sounds, and space for audience members to move around.
- A quiet sensory space will be provided outside of the theatre in a section of the lobby.
- The actors will be using microphones to assist people who are hard of hearing.
- ASL will be provided.
- Scripted captions will be projected on the stage.
- The program is in plain language.
- Wheelchair seating is available.
