It is with great excitement that we invite you to join us for the Hydra Performing Arts Festival 2026!
The Hydra Performing Arts Festival brings together local, new, and innovative shows and works in a multi-day presentation at various venues in Kamloops.
This year the festival will be held at the Kamloops Art Gallery and Bridgeview Theatre.
Please note that doors open 15 minutes before the show time listed below.
The audience waits patiently for Tamarack House Productions' 'Sumthing' to start, Hydra Festival 2022
Peter "nav" Navratil - One of many festival
appearances
Volunteer with us
We are looking for many volunteers roles:
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Front of House (ticket and door support)
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Bar service (must have Serving It Right)
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Production support
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Photography and videography
If you are interested in any of these volunteer roles, please reach out to us at hydra@chimeratheatre.com to learn more.
sponsor us
This Festival wouldn't be possible without our generous sponsors. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please reach out! We are currently seeking sponsorships in the form of cash donations or in-kind offerings.
In Kind offerings we are looking for:
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Catering for the Artist Meet and Greet Social
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Green room refreshments (food and non-alcoholic beverage)
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Printing of paper products including posters, artist name tags, and show programs
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Photography and videography services
Blah Blah Blah media presents half cut conspiracies
The truth is out there, and Todd Sullivan and Carlo Sia are searching for it while heavily under the influence. Be warned! This program should only be watched by grown ups (19+) and arguably should not be watched by anyone. Because you're not ready for the truths they're spitting. But, like, not literally spitting. That would be gross.
You can expect these two to ramble for somewhere between an hour and whenever they get kicked out of the venue, that's how much truth they have to spill (probably about an hour though), and trigger warnings for just about anything you can imagine because honestly, who knows what might get brought up?
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: 19+
Todd and Carlo have been creative collaborators in a variety of projects (including sporadic drunken podcasts) since 2014. They still haven't found the one that will pay them enough to quit their day jobs.
Schedule:
Saturday November 21 | Doors 9:45pm | Show 10pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 28 | Doors 8:45pm | Show 9pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
The Dream Agency presents DUCK-LOOPS
DUCK is a 45 minute absurd musical exploring interpersonal sharing and community building while inviting healing and restoration. It is experimental theatre incorporating musicians, interviews, dance, games, and audience participation into a grand search for the famous Magical Duck!
Join us for Kamloops’ own DUCK-LOOPS! A participatory theatre event that needs your help to fly! NAV leads a long form improv story from the DUCK universe with space for games, music, and you! Come participate as a character in the show, or as a part of the band! To be part of the band all you need is one thing: An instrument! To play a character and have a role on stage, all you need are two things: A name, and some sort of costume piece or prop! It’s not supposed to be good, it is supposed to be fun! (Pre-written characters from the story line are also available for you to embody).
On November 22 there will be an open "rehearsal" for anyone who wants to test the waters and know more of what to expect on our show days the following weekend. No one will be forced to play, and the safe enjoyment of everyone is our top priority. The show is for everyone, but we suggest a PG rating to maintain a freedom of expression for our participants. Audience members who just want to witness the fun from a safe non-participatory vantage point are very welcome and encouraged to come! (The audience is a most vital of roles). Come add your special essence to the chaos of DUCK! We want you here!
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: PG
The Dream Agency is an art collective dedicated to inspiration. We create dynamic, empowering and collaborative works of visual and performance art. Through music, storytelling, sculpture and dance we share ideas of belief, hope, love and peace. Everyone has an important role to play in this world. We want you to achieve your dreams!
Schedule:
Sunday November 22 | Script Reading: 12-2pm
Venue: TBD
Friday November 27 | Doors 8:15pm | Show 8:30pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 4:15pm | Show 4:30pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Dr Sketchy’s Anti Art School presents Time Travel!
Grab your pencils, set your time machines, and prepare for debauchery! Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School brings performance art and life drawing together in a glorious mix of burlesque, booze, and creative chaos.
For Hydra Fest, we're travelling through the decades with three original productions celebrating the 1930s, 1960s, and 1990s. Each show features a unique cast, live burlesque, life drawing, drawing contests, and raunchy interview games. Whether you're an accomplished artist or barely know which end of the pencil to hold, come for the spectacle and stay for the debauchery!
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: 19+
Since May 2016, Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School - Kamloops Branch has been bringing performance art and visual art together in a gloriously unconventional celebration of creativity, chaos, and debauchery.
Forget the quiet classrooms, serious faces, and stuffy rules of traditional life drawing. Here, burlesque performers take the stage while artists of all skill levels sketch, sip, socialize, and embrace the wonderfully messy business of making art. Loud, playful, a little dirty, and decidedly unpretentious, Dr. Sketchy’s is a space where creativity thrives and everyone is invited to pick up a pencil and join the fun!
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 9:45pm | Show 10pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Friday November 27 | Doors 6:45pm | Show 7pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 5:45pm | Show 6pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Photo Credits: RDC Photography
The Freudian Slips Present D&D Improv: Spoon of DOOM
The Freudian Slips present 30-45 minutes of Dungeons and Dragons Improv Adventure with an added twist of high-stakes hot potato.
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: 16+ (but if your parents are nerds they’ll probably let you)
The Freudian Slips are Kamloops’s funnest improv team. Operating since 2016, The Freudian Slips have been bringing Kamloops wacko comedy for a decade!
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 8:15pm | Show 8:30pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 21 | Doors 4pm | Show 4:15pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 21 | Doors 6:45pm | Show 7pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Heather Clark presents A Letter to My Daughter
A Letter to My Daughter is a powerful dance-theatre production that brings to life the collective hopes, truths, lessons and words of wisdom that women want to share with the next generation.
Through movement, music and storytelling, this show speaks to the experiences that shape us, the challenges we face, and the strength we discover along the way. It is a reminder to love hard, be curious about life, take the stairs, stop comparing yourself to others, and always remember that you are enough.
It speaks to the pressures placed on women and girls, the expectations we struggle to meet, the hurt we carry, and the courage it takes to find our voices. It reminds us that we are not alone, that our stories matter, and that we have the power to make a dent in the world simply by being brave enough to show up as ourselves.
One scene addresses sexual assault, acknowledging a painful reality that affects far too many women and girls. Presented as part of the show's larger message of awareness, compassion and solidarity, it reinforces the importance of believing survivors, supporting one another, and creating a world where every woman and girl can feel safe, respected and heard.
At its heart, A Letter to My Daughter is more than a dance show. It is a love letter, a conversation across generations, and a reminder of the things we wish every girl could carry with her as she grows into the woman she will become.
Length: 45 min
Audience Rating: PG
The cast of a letter to my daughter has been dancing together for a variety of time lengths with some having over a decade of history sharing the stage. The cast all trains together at Kamloops Performance Company and has a passion for seeing the arts used as a way to impact people's lives. Dancers train in multiple disciplines for many hours a week. Though not with this show, members of the cast have toured internationally together performing shows on social justice topics such as human trafficking and the sex trade, child soldiers of war and poverty. It is their passion to bring meaning to the stage through movement.
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 6:45pm | Show 7pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 21 | Doors 5:15pm | Show 5:30pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 21 | Doors 8:15pm | Show 8:30pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Jeremy G. presents The Legend of the Saxman
This is the origin story of the local folk hero The Saxman. It's a mix of storytelling and music with a possible hint of dance mixed in to help express the emotions evoked in the tale.
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: G
Jeremy started playing saxophone as a way to cope with the isolation of covid. He has gone on to play 40-50 shows per year in and around the Kamloops area. He plays a variety of styles and genres.
Schedule:
Friday November 27 | Doors 8:30pm | Show 8:45pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 28 | Doors 3:15pm | Show 3:30pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 7:15pm | Show 7:30pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Julien Marcano presents I’m a Big Boy Now
A thoughtful meditation on entering adulthood and the confusion and hysterics that come along with it. From first jobs to first student debts, memories of childhood whimsy and the implosion of it. Join a young comic in his odyssey of the absurd as he navigates one of life's greatest challenges: Growing up. Julien reminisces on early childhood memories, the heavy weight of learning about the real world over time and asking himself, "So now what?"
They teach you lots of things in school, but one thing they don't seem to have fit into a curriculum is how to be a grown up. Enjoy the ramblings of the Kamloops comedy scene's favourite caffeine addicted, hyperactive, well-spoken wreck in an opera of oddities!
Length: 30-45 mins
Audience Rating: 16+
A young and (more or less) up and coming member of the local comedy scene. Between Doctor Who marathons and skipping on homework, Julien carefully crafts some of the sharpest comedy you'll hear!....If you don't have anyone better to listen to anyway.
Pouring heart, soul, and crippling anxiety into his material with passion on par with histories finest burnouts. Many young adults are mortified by the lone stage but Julien thrives on the adrenaline and embarrassment that come with it!
Schedule:
Saturday November 21 | Doors 6:45pm | Show 7pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Friday November 27 | Doors 9:45pm | Show 10pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 28 | Doors 6pm | Show 6:15pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Photo Credits: Matthew Hoflin-Kowalczyk (TikTok: @yopdrink_)
Kamloops Burlesque presents Burlesque Improv
Photo Credits: RDC Photography
After over 15 years of carefully curated, meticulously rehearsed productions, Kamloops Burlesque is throwing the security blanket out the window!
Welcome to Burlesque Improv, where performers spin the wheel to discover their music, draw a mystery prop, and have just minutes to prepare before taking the stage. The song might be sultry burlesque perfection or an absolute nightmare to strip to. The prop might be a classic chair or… something considerably less helpful.
This is no half-assed production. It’s a high-stakes experiment in creativity, confidence, and improvisation - and absolutely nobody knows what's coming next.
Will it be brilliant? Will it be a hysterical disaster? Come watch us find out.
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: 19+
Kamloops Burlesque is one of Kamloops' longest-running ongoing theatrical experiences. In January 2026, we celebrated 15 years of presenting unique, locally focused shows throughout the year.
Every showcase is an original production, created and produced locally, featuring a diverse range of performers, performance styles, and themes. Rooted in burlesque's rich history as a revolutionary art form, Kamloops Burlesque is committed to honouring its rebellious spirit, pushing boundaries, and keeping the art form vibrant, accessible, and evolving.
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 5:45pm | Show 6pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 21 | Doors 8:15pm | Show 8:30pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 10pm | Show 10:15pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Rob Wickstrom presents Rob’s Got Some Debt to Pay Off
Rob's got bills to pay and by bills I mean he's got gambling debts to pay. Rob likes the horses but the horses don't like him. So in order to earn some quick cash he's put together a slapdash show of songs and awkward banter to keep his legs functional. Come see a desperate man perform for your entertainment. Please.
Length: 45 mins
Audience Rating: PG-13
Taller than a dream. All the energy of a mid afternoon nap. With the confidence of a curler at a barn dance. Sad songs. Awkward stage banter. Rob has played in a local band for ten years and started doing stand-up a few years back.
Schedule:
Friday November 27 | Doors 5:15pm | Show 5:30pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 4:30pm | Show 4:45pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 8:30pm | Show 8:45pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Rowdy Spectacles presents 2047 - The Singularity Soirée
It's the year 2047. The audience finds themselves as participants in the gala event of the year, the "Singularity Soiree, a godawful small affair put on by the world's... uh... the universe's... wealthiest man. What sort of gala does a man like this desire? Yep, one brimming with humiliation as humour, cruelty as entertainment, and hate as the main course.
And what sort of target does this man loathe the very most? It's the dreamer, the artist, those freed from the constraints of conformity, heteronormativity, hierarchy: the ones whose very existence pose questions that he cannot comprehend.
Sounds like fun? Well things aren't going as planned. The cattle are not content. Human spirits are under pressure and, baby, when they blow it's not gonna be pretty.
Length: 45 min
Audience Rating: 19+
Art hooligans ready to tear it all down in the name of human creativity, universal liberation and freedom of the soul. Is it science fiction? Is it musical theatre? Is it a movie? Is it a drag show? Does it have something to do with David Bowie? Mars? AI? Does it have the woke mind virus? Is it utter chaos? HELL YEAH!!!
Humphrey Cockburn has been rocketing through the stage galaxies Kamloops and beyond! From burlesque to drag to performance art to spectacles Humphrey brings high energy, interactive humour and art activism to audiences.
Gene Debender is Kamloops' beloved bedazzled androgynous king. Gene bends gender and genres, bringing a drag-lesque element to his performances. He fights the fascists with ridiculous dance moves, sparkles and versions of masculinity he would like to see in the world.
Mike Litoris has been winning hearts in the Kamloops drag scene for a couple years. After finding himself Under Pressure, he’s now running with a dangerous crowd on a Space Oddity. Can he Rebel Rebel and become one of the Heroes?
Beau Sardonik, adored song and dance man, brings a big nightclub/musical theatre vibe to the stage whenever he appears. When not treading the boards of the legitimate theatre, Beau can be found wandering post-apocalyptic wastelands in search of life’s true meaning.
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 5:15pm | Show 5:30pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 21 | Doors 9:45pm | Show 10pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Friday November 27 | Doors 7pm | Show 7:15pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Rowdy Spectacles presents The Bicycle Show
The Bicycle Show - Selected Events & Inventions of Canadian Human History from 1826-2026 ...OR... That's A Lot Of Poutine
Get your helmet on and get ready to GEAR UP for a Hilarious Time Machine Ride through 200 Years of Canadian History. From Foghorns to Basketballs and Pablum to Plexiglass - The Bicycle show takes you on a ride to the highs and lows of Canadian Landscape History.
You'll meet the Inventors, the Events and the Clowns that have made Canada what it is today and might become tomorrow.
Length: 30 mins
Audience Rating: G
Petee Poutine has been cycling the "star studded stage galaxies" in Kamloops for 13 years- Performing on Burlesque, Drag, and Effie Comedy stages - Petee always brings a whacky, humourous, informative and participatory engaging presence for audiences of all ages.
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 8:30pm | Show 8:45pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 21 | Doors 5:30pm | Show 5:45pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Saturday November 28 | Doors 7:30pm | Show 7:45pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
thom vernon presents Nelson Algren’s The Brothers’ House
Photo Credits: Dixie Sheridan
Nelson Algren, one of the great mid-century American writers, earned his first O.Henry Prize with "The Brothers' House." In this short story, performed onstage exactly as written, with performer and musician improvising, a prisoner surmounts the wreckage of his life to find out if he can, after all, go home again. Poetic and haunting, The Brothers' House wonders if we can, despite the lives we've led and the mistakes we've made, still be embraced.
Length: 30 mins
Audience Rating: PG (adult themes, no cursing)
thom vernon is an award-winning writer, multi-media artist, and scholar transmuting sites of social harm into those of agency and connection. A longtime actor/creator in theatre/TV/film (The Fugitive, Seinfeld, General Hospital, Saving Hope, Murdoch Mysteries, etc. etc.), thom has also two novels in the world (The Drifts (Coach House 2010), I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley (Guernica Editions 2024)), and the next at market: Ashes Come With, or Walter Benjamin Is Stuck In A Tuna Can. He has a PhD in English Literature and Creative Writing and is an assistant professor at Thompson Rivers University.
Schedule:
Friday November 20 | Doors 7:15pm | Show 7:30pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
Saturday November 21 | Doors 2:45pm | Show 3pm
Venue: Kamloops Art Gallery
Friday November 27 | Doors 5:45pm | Show 6pm
Venue: Bridgeview Theatre
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20
Times listed are show start times. Doors open 15 minutes before all show times.
KAMLOOPS ART GALLERY
101-465 Victoria Street, Kamloops
5:30 PM 2047 - The Singularity Soirée presented by Rowdy Spectacles
7:00 PM A Letter to My Daughter presented by Heather Clark
8:30 PM D&D Improv: Spoon of DOOM presented by The Freudian Slips
BRIDGEVIEW THEATRE
106B Tranquille Road, Kamloops
6:00 PM Burlesque Improv presented by Kamloops Burlesque
7:30 PM Nelson Algren's The Brothers' House presented by thom vernon
8:45 PM The Bicycle Show - Selected Events & Inventions of Canadian Human History from 1826-2026 ...OR... That's A Lot Of Poutine presented by Rowdy Spectacles
10:00 PM Time Travel! presented by Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21
Times listed are show start times. Doors open 15 minutes before all show times.
KAMLOOPS ART GALLERY
101-465 Victoria Street, Kamloops
3:00 PM Nelson Algren's The Brothers' House presented by thom vernon
4:15 PM D&D Improv: Spoon of DOOM presented by The Freudian Slips
5:45 PM The Bicycle Show - Selected Events & Inventions of Canadian Human History from 1826-2026 ...OR... That's A Lot Of Poutine presented by Rowdy Spectacles
7:00 PM I'm a Big Boy Now presented by Julien Marcano
8:30 PM Burlesque Improv presented by Kamloops Burlesque
10:00 PM 2047 - The Singularity Soirée presented by Rowdy Spectacles
BRIDGEVIEW THEATRE
106B Tranquille Road, Kamloops
5:30 PM A Letter to My Daughter presented by Heather Clark
7:00 PM D&D Improv: Spoon of DOOM presented by The Freudian Slips
8:30 PM A Letter to My Daughter presented by Heather Clark
10:00 PM Half Cut Conspiracies presented by Blah Blah Blah Media
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27
Times listed are show start times. Doors open 15 minutes before all show times.
KAMLOOPS ART GALLERY
101-465 Victoria Street, Kamloops
5:30 PM Rob's Got a Lot of Debt to Pay Off presented by Rob Wikstrom
7:00 PM Time Travel! presented by Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School
8:30 PM DUCK-LOOPS presented by The Dream Agency
BRIDGEVIEW THEATRE
106B Tranquille Road, Kamloops
6:00 PM Nelson Algren's The Brothers' House presented by thom vernon
7:15 PM 2047 - The Singularity Soirée presented by Rowdy Spectacles
8:45 PM The Legend of the Saxman presented by Jeremy G.
10:00 PM I'm a Big Boy Now presented by Julien Marcano
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28
Times listed are show start times. Doors open 15 minutes before all show times.
KAMLOOPS ART GALLERY
101-465 Victoria Street, Kamloops
3:30 PM The Legend of the Saxman presented by Jeremy G.
4:45 PM Rob's Got a Lot of Debt to Pay Off presented by Rob Wikstrom
6:15 PM I'm a Big Boy Now presented by Julien Marcano
7:45 PM The Bicycle Show - Selected Events & Inventions of Canadian Human History from 1826-2026 ...OR... That's A Lot Of Poutine presented by Rowdy Spectacles
9:00 PM Half Cut Conspiracies presented by Blah Blah Blah Media
BRIDGEVIEW THEATRE
106B Tranquille Road, Kamloops
4:30 PM DUCK-LOOPS presented by The Dream Agency
6:00 PM Time Travel! presented by Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School
7:30 PM The Legend of the Saxman presented by Jeremy G.
8:45 PM Rob's Got a Lot of Debt to Pay Off presented by Rob Wikstrom
10:15PM Burlesque Improv presented by Kamloops Burlesque
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