Suburban Beast' s All Our Happy Days Are Stupid, by Sheila Heti, had it's World Premiere in Toronto October 24 - November 3 at Videofag. It was subsequently presented by Harbourfront Centre's World Stage February 11-14, 2015 and by McSweeney's and Warby Parker at The Kitchen in New York City, from February 19 - 28, 2015. The production lived in three very different sold-out spaces: The cast played first to audiences of 35 people, then to Toronto houses of 350 people, and finally to crowds of 150 New Yorkers. The colour images above are from the 2015 production and the black and white images are from the first incarnation in 2013.
ALL OUR HAPPY DAYS ARE STUPID by Sheila Heti, Songs by Dan Bejar
Directed by Jordan Tannahill with Erin Brubacher
Featuring Erin Brubacher, Alexander Carson, Henri Faberge, Nick Hune-Brown, Kayla Lorette, Becky Johnson, Jon McCurley, Michael McManus, Meghan Swaby, Naomi Skwarna, Anne Wessels, Carl Wilson and Lorna Wright.
Stage Manager, Laura Hendrickson
Production Manager, Zack Russell
Set Designer, Rae Powell
Lighting Designer, Zack Russell
Costume Designer, Juliann Wilding
Sheila Heti's debut play All Our Happy Days Are Stupid. Featuring songs by Dan Bejar (Destroyer, The New Pornographers), is an irreverent and gut-punching critique of the pursuit of happiness. The play's surreal narrative follows The Oddis and the Sings, two families on vacation in Paris, France. But far from the blissful respite they seek, their holidays become their undoing. Heti's struggle to write this infamously 'unproduceable' play over the past ten years is one of the central plot-lines in her internationally heralded novel How Should a Person Be? The original Videofag production was nominated for 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the Independent Theatre Division: Outstanding Production, Outstanding New Play (Sheila Heti), Outstanding Ensemble, and Outstanding Scenic Design (Rae Powell).
PRESS
The New York Times: Revenge of the 'Impossible' Play
ARTINFO: Real Life Characters...
The original production at Videofag was made by the following team:
Directed by Jordan Tannahill with Erin Brubacher
Featuring: Erin Brubacher, Alexander Carson, Henri Faberge, Nick Hune-Brown, Kayla Lorette, Becky Johnson, Jon McCurley, Michael McManus, Meghan Swaby, Naomi Skwarna, Anne Wessels, Carl Wilson and Lorna Wright, with Nancy Bocock.
Producer, Renna Reddie
Stage Manager, Laura Hendrickson
Set Designer, Rae Powell
Lighting Designer, Zack Russell
Costume Designer, Jordan Tannahill
Carpenter, Ben Carson
Photos above: © Paula Court, Samuel Choisy, Erin Brubacher and Jordan Tannahill.