Space-obsessed Sam is given an out-of-this-world opportunity the night of her 14th birthday. An alien (who looks suspiciously like her missing mother) promises a whirlwind adventure that will help Sam escape from the reality she’s living in. Instead of salvation the adventure leads to deadly repercussions. How to Believe in Anything explores what happens to the brain after sexual assault when you don’t have the language to process it, and how family trauma gets carried forward; intentionally and unintentionally.

35 minutes 
Recommended for ages 13+
Content Warnings: Description of sexual assault; discussion of trauma; explosion and loud sounds.

Once upon a time I was asked what the most important thing is that I hope audiences will take away from this show. While the digital edition is a little different than the stage version, my answer remains the same: The most important thing I hope audiences will take away is how it feels to be a witness to something you cannot stop, and how to listen when someone really, really needs to tell you their secret. This isn’t really a show about aliens. This is a show about how we can convince ourselves to believe in anything, no matter how impossible. And how, sometimes, that’s all we can do to survive. The digital edition let us tease out some of the more imaginary concepts in the show, creating a piece of hybrid theatre that bends perception and reality in ways the stage version couldn’t quite do. It’s an experimental piece of theatre, and I hope it helps you believe in… Something. 

One of the reasons I was drawn to the script was that I identified with the character of Sam. How many times have you asked if we were alone in the universe? In this world we can sometimes collide with the wonderful and immediately tailspin into the horrific. How can one cope? 

We wanted to preserve as much of the stage performance but have cinematic tricks to capture the intimacy and mercurial shifts in thoughts and memory that Sam was narrating. The brilliant production design, by Ariel, is dreamlike, and suggestive of a world of the mind. Often the mind, is a labyrinth of constructed memory, lies, and imagination. 

Will Sam find out the truth?

dreamphase productions team

Ariel Slack – Writer/Actor/Production Designer
Christopher Lam – Director 
Julia Lank – Stage Manager/On-set Coordinator
Jonathan Kim – Lighting Designer
Matthias Falvai – Sound Design/Composition and Post-Production Sound 
Shanae Sodhi – Co-producer

Cultch team

Cameron Anderson – Videographer and Editor
Ash Shotton – Head Electrician
Neal Miskin – Head Audio
Mariya (Masha) Birkby – Head Electrician 
Daniel Guzman – Grip Carpenter  
Kris Boyd – Co-producer

Julia Lank (she/her) is a stage manager and graphic designer. She’s so happy to return to How To Believe in a whole new format. Selected SM: Don Pasquale, Le Portrait De Manon (Vancouver Opera); Gertrude and Alice (United Players), [title of show] (Play On Words), How To Believe In Anything (Vancouver Fringe); Marjorie Prime (ETC); Gramma, The Cake (Pacific Theatre); Alice In Glitterland (Geekenders); City Of Angels (PIT Collective); Putnam County Spelling Bee, Jasper In Deadland, Tuck Everlasting (Arts Umbrella).

Christopher Lam 林子榮 is a director/actor/ and playwright who is based on unceded and ancestral territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, which Vancouver is located on. As director some of his work which was last seen include Canadian premieres of Stiles and Drewe’s 3 Little Pigs (Carousel Theatre); The Nether (Firehall Arts Centre); Girlfriend (Fighting Chance Productions); Amélie (West Moon Theatre); world Premieres of How to Believe in Anything (Dreamphase Productions) which won the Cultchivating the Fringe Award and will be presenting a new digital hybrid in 2024; Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night! (Revolver Festival); and Frankenstein: Lost in Darkness (Pacific Theatre) to name a few. He was the assistant director on the new translation of Grand Magic directed by Antoni Cimolino at the Stratford Festival. He has been avidly performing as well, his credits include A Prayer for Owen Meany (Ensemble Theatre Company) and 100 Saints You Should Know (Pacific Theatre) both of which he was nominated for the Jessie Awards for best performance for an actor in leading and supporting actor roles. He has performed and worked with Arts Club Theatre, Gateway Theatre, Pacific Theatre, Ruby Slippers Theatre, Firehall Arts Centre, United Players, Carousel Theatre, Rumble Theatre and Ensemble Theatre Company, and Musical Stage Co. His plays have been workshopped with the following companies: Andre and Xavier bb for the First Time (The Frank Theatre) which had a public presentation at Q2Q Queer Theatre Symposium and Shanghai Black Beer was workshopped with VACT. During the pandemic, he conceived and devised a digital play with the students of Studio 58 entitled I, Myself, Am Strange and Unusual. He is a graduate of Douglas College in Fine Arts and Capilano University in Performance Studies. He is also the recipient of the Ray Michal Award for an Emerging Director, Jean Gascon Award for direction, Ovation Award and CTC for best direction. Find out more: thechrislamshow.com

 Ariel Slack is a theatre artist. Recent design credits: assistant set/costume design, Much Ado About Nothing (Stratford Festival); assistant set design, Love’s Labours Lost (Stratford Festival); Set, Stiles and Drewe’s The Three Little Pigs (Carousel Theatre, Ovation Awards winner for outstanding set design); assistant set/costume designer, Richard III (Stratford Festival); Set, The Pillowman (Untold Wants); Set, Amphitruo (United Players); Set, Mx (Off the Corner Productions/The Cultch); Set, Spine (Backbone Theatre Collective) Set, Cariboo Magi (Far From The Tree Productions); Set, Dancing Lessons (Naked Goddess Productions); Set, Alice in Glitterland (Geekenders); Set/Scenic Paint, Superior Donuts (Ensemble Theatre Company, Jessie Nomination); Props, Best of Enemies, Gramma, Mother of the Maid (co-props), The Cake, Jesus Freak (Pacific Theatre). Upcoming: Assistant set/costume designer, The Diviners (Stratford Festival). Studio 58 Graduate (2018). Website: www.arielslack.squarespace.com

Matthias Falvai is a Canadian-Hungarian artist from Nanaimo, BC. Raised in a refugee home, hard work and ambition were instilled at a young age, thus fueling his relentless creativity into his passion for storytelling. Completing his BBA in four years at Vancouver Island University on the Dean’s List, Matthias promptly moved to Vancouver to pursue his music career. It was here rehearsing with local Vancouver acts, that he was accepted into Studio 58’s Acting Program. Matthias performed in six main stage shows and received praise in his acting, writing, and sound designing capabilities, receiving the Anthony Holland Award and the Studio 58 Writing Award for his first fully-produced play, Freedom ’56. Now, a Theatre Artist Graduate, Matthias’s design work has spread throughout Vancouver, including an Off-Broadway Credit in New York City. A once in a lifetime opportunity has taken Matthias to Budapest, attending the Balassi Balint Hungarian Culture and Language Studies Program on a full scholarship. His next project Husk (Musica Intima) alongside co-writer, Joelysa Pankanea, explores choral music and transhumanism, production in April. matthiasfalvai.com @matthiasfalvai

Jonathan Kim, better known as Jono, is a Korean-Canadian artist born and raised on unceded traditional Coast Salish territories, who currently works and lives on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories (Vancouver, BC). He holds a BFA degree in Theatre Production and Design from Simon Fraser University. Recent credits: The Wrong Bashir (Touchstone Theatre); My Little Tomato (vAct & Zee Zee Theatre); Happy Valley (rice & beans theatre); God Said This (Pacific Theatre); Bright Half Life (Persephone Theatre); Empire of the Son (Pacific Theatre); Peace Country (rice & beans theatre); How Black Mothers Say I Love You (the frank theatre company); Zahak, The Serpent King (The Biting School); Into the Woods (Studio 58).

Shanae Sodhi (He/Him) is a graduate of Studio 58 where he was one of the establishing members and Head Organizer of the school’s Student Diversity Committee, a student lead group which works to give strength to marginalized groups within the theatre community by empowering students with the tools and knowledge to engage the conversations of inclusivity around them. He aims to create work that is community oriented and bridges performance with direct action activism. Recent producing credits include: associate producer on The First Stone (New Harlem Productions), producer on Catalina La O: Ahora Conmigo (winner of the 2020 Fringe New Play Prize) and Mx by Lili Robinson (winner of the 2019 Fringe New Play Prize and Cultchivating the Fringe Award).

Projects die when they get stuck in the dream phase. Actions die when they get stuck in the dream phase. Instead of accepting this, we chose to change the dream phase to an active phase of exploration. Created by Ariel Slack, dreamphase is a playground for new ideas and experimentation. How to Believe in Anything is the inaugural production of this company, and first premiered the stage version at the 2023 Vancouver Fringe Festival.

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