opening night!:
Vidura bandara
rajapaksa
Thursday, July 9th, 2026
Vancouver Playhouse
600 Hamilton St
Vancouver
BC V6B 5N6
Opening Night Happy Hour: 6:00pm
Show: 7:00pm
Accessibility Information:
For information about seating, parking, washrooms, and other accessibility information see Vancouver Playhouse Accessibility Page. For more, see Vancouver Playhouse RAMP Audit.
Join us at Vancouver Playhouse for the Opening Night Kick-Off of the 16th edition of Indian Summer Festival! Come early, dress to impress, and connect with the Indian Summer community during our Opening Night Happy Hour before the show begins.
Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa has taken the comedy world by storm, with over 1M followers online and popular clips such as "Why Germans Love Recycling” and "Particularly Shitty Parents,” from his beloved comedy special, Woodapple Jam. This spring, Vidura began his multi-continental Paradise Gothic Tour, with stops across Europe, the UK, Asia, Australia, and North America, including his Vancouver debut.
Vidura’s Paradise Gothic, is a sharp, darkly funny new hour exploring immigration, “radical” buddhism, and the absurdities of attempting to build a life within late-stage capitalism. With his trademark deadpan delivery and postcolonial wit, Vidura takes on corporate tech culture, spiritual burnout, and the strange comedy of trying to stay human in a world running by numbers. Smart, subversive, and quietly explosive; this is Vidura at his most fearless.
Charlie Demers, Canadian comedy legend, author, Indian Summer Festival
alum and CBC Debater, will open the evening. Genre-defying musician Piu punctuates the evening with work from her upcoming album, Milao, an exploration of memory, time, and the shifting landscapes of belonging.
MUSIC SERIES PARTNER
CO-PRESENTER
about the artists
vidura bandara rajapaksa
Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan comedian, writer, & director. His self-directed & self-written comedy specials include Monsoon Season (2022), French Kiss Tunnel (2024), & his most recent special Woodapple Jam (2024). His dead-pan style puts audiences at ease while challenging conventional wisdom with a unique tone that is often irreverent, at times poignant, and always hysterical.
CHARLIE DEMERS
Charlie Demers is a Juno-nominated stand-up comedian, BC Book Prize-nominated author and co-start of two Emmy-winning Netflix animated series, Beat Bugs and The Last Kids on Earth. He is one of the stars of CBC Radio’s long-running comedy smash-hit The Debaters.
PIU
Priyanka Chakrabarti (Piu) is a Vancouver-based vocalist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist exploring the intersection of raga-inspired vocals, electronics, and movement. Anchored in Indian classical training and pulled towards the frontiers of experimental and electronic music, Piu has performed at major Canadian electronic music festivals including MUTEK Montréal, performs with groups like Absolute Unit and Gamelan Bike Bike, and collaborates widely with artists across genres and continents.