THE ARTS CLUB THEATRE COMPANY’S B.C. PREMIERE OF
THE HEART-RACING CRIME CAPER
By Arun Lakra
September 17–October 18, 2026
The Arts Club Theatre Company’s B.C Premiere production of Heist by Arun Lakra opens the 2026–2027 season at the historic Stanley BFL CANADA Stage. Directed by Andrew Kushnir, this heart-racing crime story runs from September 17 to October 18, 2026.
Packed with snappy dialogue, high-tech theatrics, and more thrills per minute than even Ocean’s Eleven can deliver, this is one Heist for the ages. The play follows a team of four brilliant thieves—the conman, the hacker, the cat burglar, the muscle—and the mastermind who brought them together as they orchestrate the perfect crime to steal a multimillion-dollar gem.
When the job goes awry, the team discovers that this caper is far more than it seems. As the stakes rise, they must calculate who they can trust and who will stab them in the back. Blending suspense, humour, and shocking twists, the nonlinear story unfolds through present action and revealing flashbacks, inviting the audience to piece together clues in a whodunit full of unexpected turns.
“Heist is a fast-paced, cinematic stage thriller that brings a classic crime caper to life at full tilt,” said Ashlie Corcoran, Arts Club Theatre Company Artistic Director. “What I love about this play is how cheekily it takes a story we all instinctively read as cinematic, and says, nope, theatre can do this too. It has the pace, humour, and jaw-dropping twists of a great heist movie but it’s engineered for the stage, using theatrical structure and surprise to pull off its biggest reveals.”
Heist was originally developed and commissioned by Constellation Stage & Screen (Chad Rabinovitz, Artistic Director), where it also received a workshop production in 2022 under the title “Fortunato Heist” (Bloomington, IN). It received additional development at the Citadel Theatre Playwright’s Lab in 2022 (Edmonton, AB) and support from the Black List x Warby Parker Writer’s Vision Grant. Heistreceived its world premiere production with Vertigo Theatre (Jack Grinhaus, Artistic Director) in February of 2024 (Calgary, AB).
ABOUT ARUN LAKRA
Arun Lakra is an India-born, Calgary-based playwright, writer, and former ophthalmologist whose work bridges science and the arts. He trained as an eye surgeon at the University of Toronto and practiced medicine for over two decades while building a successful writing career. His award-winning playSequence has been produced across North America and earned multiple honours, including the Betty Mitchell Award and Calgary Theatre Critics Award. His high-octane theatre work Heist premiered in 2024 and continues to be staged internationally. Lakra’s writing is known for its wit, structural ingenuity, and genre-blending energy.
CAST
Patti Allan (The Spider), Charlie Gallant (Marvin), Tainui Kuru (Ryan), Alexandra Lainfiesta (Angie), Andrew McNee (Kruger), Jennifer Tong (Fiona)
CREATIVE
Andrew Kushnir (Director), Ryan Cormack (Set Designer), Barbara Clayden (Costume Designer), Sophie Tang (Lighting Designer), Malcolm Dow (Composer & Sound Designer), Wladimiro Woyno Rodriguez (Projection Designer), Jonathan Hawley Purvis (Fight Director), Lisa Goebel (Intimacy Director), Alana Hawley Purvis (Dialect Coach Support), Michelle Harrison (Stage Manager),Angela Beaulieu (Assistant Stage Manager), Camila Newton (Production Resident)
ABOUT THE ARTS CLUB THEATRE COMPANY
The Arts Club Theatre Company is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, in particular the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations, We invite you to reflect on your relationship to these lands.
The Arts Club is one of the largest not-for-profit theatre organizations in the country and is the principal gathering place for the theatrical arts in British Columbia. Comprising three unique venues across Vancouver, the Arts Club welcomes more than a quarter million guests annually, tours provincially and nationally, and engages students and artists alike through educational and professional programs.
Above all, the Arts Club is dedicated to the advancement of local artists telling stories from around the globe and, in particular, those of our region. From this, we believe that culture expands, an understanding of differences is nurtured, and art bursts forth. The Arts Club was founded in 1964 and is currently led by Artistic Director Ashlie Corcoran and Executive Director Peter Cathie White.
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