If you haven’t heard, the Rio Theatre is fighting The Man—specifically, a 118-year-old man responsible for a host of archaic provincial liquor laws, including one that forbids the theatre from screening movies in any shape or form if it wants to sell alcohol at licensed non-movie events such as concerts. This weekend, the East Van theatre (1660 East Broadway near Commercial Drive) hosts two fundraisers, Feb. 3 and 4. Friday night’s event is a variety show featuring live music, comedy, spoken word, magic and burlesque performances courtesy of Burgundy Brix and April O’Peel, among others. On Saturday, Patrick Maliha hosts an evening of standup comedy with Carter Hortie, Ivan Decker, Art Factora, Sean Emery, Damonde Tschritter, Graham Clark and dance numbers from 23 “non-nude girls.” For more info, go to riotheatre.ca.

Photograph by: submitted , for Vancouver Courier