Vancouver theatre artist Tom Cone is being honoured with a festival of original plays created by students at Capilano University.

Sacred Space: The Tom Cone Festival of New Plays takes place at the university in North Vancouver from today (April 16) to Saturday (April 20).

Cone, a celebrated poet, playwright, and librettist, passed away in April 2012 after struggling with cancer.

The festival grew out of a long-running project Cone helped develop at Capilano University that saw students collaborate to create new plays.

Dawn Moore, chair of Capilano’s visual and performing arts school, praised Cone for mentoring students and supporting their original work.

“The name Sacred Space, it’s a reference to him because he always talked about the theatre as being a sacred space and was really enthusiastic about how important telling stories is,” Moore told the Straight.

The festival, now in its second year, features 20 short plays written, directed and performed by students studying creative writing and acting for stage and screen. This is the first year the festival is officially named after Cone, Moore said.

The festival is being presented by Capilano University at the Arbutus Studio theatre on the campus in North Vancouver.