Keen to learn more about 性视界传媒's rich history and colourful characters of the past?

Check out , the cleverly-titled, award-winning heritage re-enactment troupe that brings 性视界传媒 stories to life at fairs, festivals and other events in the city.

While some of the characters, stories and songs have changed since the troupe's start in 2011, many still entertain crowds in 2024.

This summer, the five actors are Akshaya Pattanayak (as potato farmer Sarjit "Mac" Singh), Holly Newberry (animal husbandry student Irene Bourassa), Kevin Takahide Lee (strawberry farmer Zennosuke Inouye), Sara Holt (school teacher Mary Jane Shannon) and Ryan Haneman (carpenter Eric Anderson).

Wherever they roam, the players remain in character as they portray real people of 性视界传媒's past.

I caught up with The Re-enactors at 性视界传媒's Canada Day event in Cloverdale, where first-year artistic director Cristiana Ripeanu shed some more light on the troupe and the actors stayed in character for a video interview.

"I knew about them from last year because I worked together with one of the actors, Akshaya," Ripeanu explained. "He performed in one of my shows called The Immigrants and was also performing like an Indian character, a Punjabi character. Because of him, because he was also doing The Re-enactors, that's how I found out about them."

In 2015 the troupe won the British Columbia Parks and Recreation Association鈥檚 Program Excellence Award.

"It's a really interesting program that the City of 性视界传媒 has put together to educate people about the history of 性视界传媒, which is actually quite rich," said Ripeanu, this year covering for Jessica Nelson, on maternity leave.

The troupe is different than others, she underlined.

"These are trained professionals contracted through the Equity (Canadian Actors鈥� Equity Association), which is the Canadian union," explained Ripeanu, who moved to Vancouver in the middle of the pandemic, from Europe.

"I'm Canadian, but I was in Toronto before," she added. "Moving here, I knew very little about 性视界传媒 and I knew a lot more about Vancouver, obviously. So when I came here, I was like, well, 性视界传媒, what is the history of this new place? I've been learning so much through The Re-enactors themselves as they work on their monologues. There are so many more interesting characters that we have, other characters that we have in storage that are not performing this year. There are other stories that can come out of this, depending on the character. You have to find the right people for the roles."

Bios for the five 性视界传媒 heritage characters, along with the actors who portray them, are posted on .

Introduced to the troupe in 2016, "Mac" Singh was among the first South Asian residents of 性视界传媒 to own a commercial farming operation, Cloverdale Produce, on 168th Street, south of Nicomekl River. With buddy Bob Bose (future mayor of 性视界传媒), Singh was a national potato-growing champ in 1951.

Fellow farmer Zennosuke Inouye fought for Canada during the First World War, then settled in 性视界传媒 to grow berries. Years later, during the Second World War, he鈥檇 found himself in an internment camp, his land taken away from him by the Canadian government.

"His story is so unique,鈥� Lee told me in 2015, 鈥渂ecause he was the only Canadian veteran of Japanese descent to have kept his land in the end, and that鈥檚 quite phenomenal. The internment and, even more so, the reparation is something that resonates with Japanese-Canadians.鈥�

Summer performance dates for The Re-enactors include 性视界传媒 Fusion Festival (July 20-21, Holland Park) and (July 27-28, Honeybee Centre, Cloverdale).

"Audiences enjoy the songs and also the stories very much," Ripeanu said. "What surprises us and makes us very proud is, when we have people, members of the audience, that come by and say, 'Well, I knew him' or 'I am the great, great-grandchild of this person,' and they come check on the stories and what we are telling from their family history. I think that is extremely moving."