Vancouverscape, a Vancouver based blog covering travel, tech, and lifestyle

“If you want to find God, look at your family story.” In Pacific Theatre’s upcoming production of Bill Cain’s How to Write a New Book for the Bible, it is the mundane, everyday details of life that reveal a greater spiritual story. Here, the Bible is not a book of rules or an untouchable guide to life, but a collection of family stories. Families that are just as messy, argumentative, difficult, and ultimately loving as the ones we spend time with every day. What better way to understand the story of the Bible than by examining your own family?

“Sublimely articulated, crafted with infinite honesty, love and humour, How to Write a New Book for the Bible lifts up this ordinary family and makes sacred the story of their lives.” – Broadway World


In this autobiographical play, Bill Cain plays the lead character, sent home to look after his ailing mother. What follows is a remembrance of his family’s story, told partially through conventional theatrics and partially through direct address to the audience. On this unique form, actor Anthony F. Ingram says, “I love the style of this show, the way it becomes a sort of conversation with the audience – the script acknowledges that the audience is there – no fourth wall.”

This production will be directed by Morris Ertman, returning for his second show at Pacific Theatre this season following his work on Leave of Absence. How to Write a New Book for the Bible stars Anthony F. Ingram (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot), Daniel Arnold, Byron Noble (Wolf at the Door), and Erla Faye Forsyth (Doubt).

How to Write a New Book for the Bible
Dates: April 26 to May 25; Wednesday to Saturday, 8 pm; Saturday matinee, 2 pm
Venue: Pacific Theatre, 1440 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver
Tickets: $17.99-29.99, plus HST; available online or via phoning 604.731.5518
Pay-what-you-can preview: Thursday, April 25, 8 pm