Applications for VSP 2024 are now open!
Application Deadlines
June Session:
March 22, 2024
(extended from March 1, 2024)
July Session:
April 5, 2024
UBC VPS is a four-week experience for international undergraduate students at one of the world’s top universities. It is as much about academics as it is about social and cultural experiences in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. This summer nurture your academic pursuits, build friendships, and expand your perspective of the world around you.
The Department of Theatre and Film offers a course package in June, From Stage to Screen: How Vancouver ‘Plays’ to a Global Audience:
From Drama to Theatre: What does a Play Mean?
This course will explore the languages of theatre within Vancouver’s rich and lively performance culture. How do individual artists–directors, actors, designers–transform a playwright’s ideas into unique and original art? In what ways, for example, will a Shakespeare play produced in Vancouver become a Canadian play? These questions and more will be explored in relation to two plays a week in production in Vancouver during the term. We will examine and discuss the play scripts, attend the plays, and meet “backstage” with some of the artists themselves. Plays chosen will span a variety of genres, including Shakespeare (in production at Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival), musicals (in production at Theatre Under the Stars and the Arts Club Theatre Company), plus additional dramas and comedies in production.
Documentary and the City
For the first time in human history a majority of the world live in cities. While there are multiple threats posed by the growth of cities, such as poverty, migration, and social divisions, there are also surprising and innovative practices that emerge. The city of Vancouver is brimming with stories that can tell us many things about the world we live in. Focusing on documentary films and film making, this course introduces students to these often hidden stories of the city through key writings, films, and direct engagement with life in Vancouver. Students will use creative methods to connect critical analysis with their everyday experiences, while authoring basic documentary projects in neighbourhoods throughout the city.
