Public Laboratories

Our public labs are a chance for playwrights to interact with an audience in a critical stage of development; when a play is ready for feedback and audience exchange. The purpose of the public labs are to stay in process and discovery with an audience. Playwrights and Directors are afforded the opportunity in these labs to: test new ideas and writing, gather feedback from audiences, experiment with audience interaction and design, and experiment with the audience experience. Each lab will differ in its audience interaction and engagement.

Inner Oceans

By Nicolas Billon

Directed/ Dramaturged by Christine Horne

Starring Liisa Repo-Martell, Ziska Louis and Ben Yoganathan

November 6-9, 2025

4 Nights Only!

From Governor-General Award Winning Playwright Nicolas Billon (Elephant Song, Iceland, Butcher) comes a new play about family and the bonds that tie us. This November we present our final Public Lab of The Vault’s inaugural year, Inner Oceans by Nicolas Billon, Directed and Dramaturged by award winning artist Christine Horne. Starring Liisa Repo-Martell with Ziska Louis and Ben Yoganathan. For four nights only November 6-9, 2025 join us for Inner Oceans!

Synopsis
Anna and her adult children gather for Christmas. It's always a fraught event, as the lingering animosity between the siblings inevitably surfaces. But when Anna makes a controversial request, the family must find a way to make peace and, perhaps, for the children to find a way to give their mother their blessing about her impossible decision.

Audience Questions
The play is an exploration of family bonds and, more specifically, the question of what a mother owes her children once they are self-sufficient. What happens when a mother loves her children but doesn't like them? Is she duty-bound to them until her death? Even if her children don't appear particularly interested in a relationship? Inner Oceans explores the grey areas of the parent-child relationship.

Nicolas Billon
Nic writes for theatre, television, and film. His work has been produced around the world. Nic’s first play, The Elephant Song, premiered at the Stratford Festival; it subsequently ran in Paris for 100+ performances and is currently in its 10th year in rep at Seoul’s NineStory Theatre. It was also adapted into a feature film starring Xavier Dolan, Bruce Greenwood, and Catherine Keener.

Several of his other plays, including Iceland and Butcher, have received major productions across Canada and internationally. His newest play, The Neighbours, opens at the Tarragon Theatre in February 2026. Nic’s work has garnered over a dozen awards, including a Governor-General’s Award for Drama, a Canadian Screen Award, and a Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award.

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The Channel

Created by Alyssa Martin with Spencer Hack

Choreographed and Directed by Alyssa Martin

Starring Spencer Hack

Presented by Rock Bottom Movement in association with The Vault Creation Lab

March 11-14 & 18-21, 2026

The exciting collaboration between The Vault/ Coal Mine Theatre continues as Rock Bottom movement presents a brand new original work from the wild and genius choreography brain of Alyssa Martin, with principal ballet dancer of the National Ballet of Canada Spencer Hack. Rock Bottom Movement takes over The Vault this Spring to rip up the floor with a Public Lab of The Channel. What does this entail? You’ll have to find out.

Synopsis
Intimate yet unbridled, The Channel creates a non-stop dance fantasia starring Spencer Hack, who attempts in real time to ascend past the boundaries of ballet hierarchy and into an unprecedented new rank. Hack auditions for his ghosts, turns himself into a garden snake and dances his heart out all in the hellish pursuit of “keeping the channel open.” We’re thinking about emotional and physical desperation, big ballet, the immensity of personal change, and the dangers of artistic silos. We’re considering surreal transformation as a model for hope, and impossible pursuit as a model for ambition.

About Alyssa Martin and Spencer Hack
Choreographer Alyssa Martin and dance artist Spencer Hack met at The National Ballet of Canada, where they instantly connected through a kindred collaborative bond. With a shared passion for hyperbolic theatricality anchored in aching honesty, they have crafted a collaborative process based in an osmotic back-and-forth of intensely vigorous physicality and deep emotional reckoning. Spencer and Alyssa have collaborated on three works so far: Big Time Miss (2024, Rock Bottom Movement/Fall for Dance North Festival/Festival of Dance Annapolis Royal/Fredericton Playhouse), Desperate Drama of Red (The National Ballet of Canada), and Be the Bird (Rock Bottom Movement/dance:made in canada). As a principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada, Spencer has originated roles in Angels’ Atlas by Crystal Pite and Orpheus Alive by Robert Binet and has performed in works by Wayne McGregor, James Kudelka, Helen Pickett, Justin Peck, George Balanchine and William Forsythe. Alyssa is the founder and Artistic Director of Rock Bottom Movement, the creative home for her works including Sex Dalmatian and hollow mountain. She has created work for Toronto Dance Theatre, The National Ballet of Canada, Alberta Ballet as well as many independent artists and companies spanning theatre, dance, circus and opera. She recently collaborated with Diana on People, Places and Things at The Coal Mine Theatre.

Audience Questions
Alyssa and Spencer will be curious to hear about the audience impressions of the work, and are especially interested in how physical surrealism can impact an audience's emotional experience of a work. We can't wait to share this fresh thing with you!

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