Why We work out
by anita majumdar
Wednesday, July 15th, 2026
to Saturday, July 18th, 2026
The Fishbowl
#100-1398 Cartwright St
Vancouver, BC
V6H 3T5
Accessibility Information:
For information about seating, parking, washrooms, and other accessibility information see The Fishbowl Accessibility Page
A highly physical and deeply moving new immersive performance by Anita Majumdar, commissioned and in development with Nightswimming and directed by Brian Quirt.
Why We Work Out invites the audience into the ways in which Anita’s embodied relationship with exercise has become entwined with major events in her life.
Having used various exercise regimens over the years to train for her dance and storytelling work, Anita returns to the video routines she once referenced, drawing points of connection between critical moments in her diasporic lived experience and the movements she once felt compelled towards.
Why We Work Out weaves together rigorous practice, Hindu mythology, classical Indian dance and Indian pop culture as Anita looks back at her training regimes. In doing so, she discovers something about her future self. Join us for this serious, yet comic, survey of the bridge between our lives, our bodies, and our interior selves.
There are six showings for this piece (see ticket link for full details):
Wednesday, July 15th, 2026
7:00pm
Thursday, July 16th, 2026
7:00pm
Friday, July 17th, 2026
First show: 7:00pm
Second show: 9:00pm
Saturday, July 18th, 2026
First show: 7:00pm
Second show: 9:00pm
CO-PRESENTED WITH
MAJOR PARTNER
COMMISSIONED AND IN DEVELOPMENT WITH
about the artists
anita majumdar
Anita Majumdar is a powerhouse actor, playwright, and multidisciplinary artist whose work has lit up stages around the world. A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and the University of British Columbia, Anita has performed in leading roles across the country from Arts Club Theatre Company to the Stratford Festival. Her film debut in Murder Unveiled led to many on-screen projects including Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children as well as a judge for the reality tv competition show Bollywood Star.
Anita is most popularly known as the creator of the acclaimed theatre production, The Fish Eyes Trilogy, which premiered at Vancouver’s PuSh Festival at The Cultch and has since enjoyed 15 years of touring alongside her award‑winning play Boys With Cars (which recently played at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre). Her honours include the Governor General’s Protégé Prize, Outstanding Actress at the Asian Festival of First Films in Singapore as well as the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance.
BRIAN QUIRT
Brian Quirt is the founding Artistic Director of Nightswimming, a dramaturgical company based in Toronto since 1995, and was the Director of the Banff Centre Playwrights Lab from 2012-2024. With Nightswimming he has commissioned and developed 35 new works, toured 10 shows nationally, directed the premieres of many Nightswimming commissions including Carmen Aguirre’s Broken Tailbone, Anita Majumdar’s The Fish Eyes Trilogy, Bombay Black by Anosh Irani, and created and toured eight of his own plays. His latest project The Wolf in the Voice (with Martin Julien) premiered at the Tarragon Theatre in 2025 and he directed a revival of Anita Majumdar’s Boys with Cars at Young People’s Theatre in 2026. In 2023 the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas recognized him with the Lessing Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dramaturgy.