Pier 21 is a moving musical, written and directed by Allen Desnoyer, and uses a blend of Celtic and swing music to tell the stories of those who fled from Europe and arrived at Pier 21, the gateway to Canada.

Desnoyers said the concept for the show was something he had been thinking about for the better part of a decade.

“When Syrian refugees began arriving in my hometown of Ladner, B.C. in late 2016, the tenant at my home was from Libya and became a translator to local refugees and it seemed crucial to find a way to tell a story of people fleeing a war zone, but also make it an entertaining show,” he said in an email interview.

A visit to Pier 21 in Halifax in 2017 inspired him to begin writing a Celtic flavoured show that could incorporate immigrants and Second World War brides as well as swing music.

“Finding out that Pier 21 was where the troops departed from clinched the need to focus on the (Second World War) era itself and provided the show with a clear beginning, middle and end,” he said.

The production has been embraced and has been performed close to 250 times across Canada including a visit to Pier 21 in 2019. The pandemic cancelled the show that was planned for Ottawa on the 75th anniversary of VE Day and one planned for Steinbach in spring of 2020.