Thanks TSITR…until next time

This Stays in the Room, the show affectionately abbreviated as TSITR, is now wrapped up and thrown into storage. The items that need to be returned are almost all returned, the accounting is almost complete, the venue has been restored to its normal state, the production / creative team has returned to their normal lives and schedules, and the keg is empty.

It was an amazing project, and a fantastic experience. For the audience we’re so grateful to, for the artists we’re so proud to work with, and for the company behind all of this: Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre.

As we come into the final months of this 10th anniversary season, we have a lot to be proud of. Sure, we didn’t pull off everything that we thought we would, but like we said back on July 1, 2013: “If we can’t pull off even 60% of all of this, we’re golden.” Well, we are gilded, for sure.

2013/14 saw us – a small company with no operating support or salaried staff – create and produce two original new works that we ourselves developed over the last 3 years: This Stays in the Room, and Except in the Unlikely Event of War. On top of that, we saw Re:Union get published, and had a staged reading of Re:Union in NYC. And we’ve got even more exciting news coming soon for 2014/15, including two new works, a commission from a NYC theatre company, and a prestigious tour and remount for Re:Union.

For all of that, we’re grateful. And proud. And in need of a nap. Or a sponsor. Or both. But back to This Stays in the Room…

In one way, this show has re-defined the work we do. In another way, it’s merely a wonderful extension of the work that we do. And in another way, it’s brought us right back to our roots. There were numerous times during production of TSITR that people had flashback memories of You Are Here, our first-ever production back in 2004, in which we retrofitted a non-theatre into something beautifully simple, and ended up with a hit on our hands, which struck a resonant emotional chord with our audience. Sound familiar?

Although everyone who worked on TSITR deserves their own Meritorious Service Award, we wanted to single out a few individuals for their contribution:

• Playwrights Theatre Centre (PTC) and Heidi Taylor – For being such a wonderful partner organization to HHG Theatre for 4 years now! The amount of artistic support and expertise they have given us as we’ve created our last 3 original works is stupendous. And on TSITR, PTC came fully on board, helping to shape this project from the ground-floor upwards.
• Laena Brown –  We were casually grateful to Kathryn Shaw and Studio 58 when they offered us the internship support of one Laena Brown. We were all “Sure, whatever, send over the minion.” Holy crap. This woman saved our bottoms on numerous occasasions, and her “spirit filled the room”, to steal from Allan Morgan. We are forever in her debt.
• Mindy Parfitt & Alexa Devine – It was these two women, 2/3 of the braintrust that is HHG Theatre, that first conceived of this project almost 4 years ago. Although Mindy deserves her own paragraph (see below) for her singular vision in getting this beautiful piece of art to where it was, it was both Alexa and Mindy who were so uniquely dedicated to creating something that was unique not only to HHG Theatre’s history, but to Vancouver’s theatre history.
• Our design / creative team of Noah Drew, Andreas Kahre, Cande Andrade and Amber Barton – HHG Theatre is so excited by the unique process that we’ve been able to develop over the past three projects, and it once again served us so well with TSITR, leading to a cohesive production design that seems so well engrained with each element, and where the level of artistic investment and ownership brought out the best in these fabulous designers / creators.
• Our technical / stage management team of Lois Dawson and Jessica Howell – To say these two were over-worked is a crime of understatement. We are very blessed to have such skilled and dedicated people working with us.
• Our producer Sean Devine – Taking a back seat artistically (alright, more like in the trunk), Sean nevertheless helped to steer the ship from the producing point of view. The budget for his services was exhausted well before Opening Night, and so we’re grateful that he was able to keep so much of this project up-and-running.
• Our marketing contingent of Maryanne Renzetti (publicist) and Kristen Johnson (graphic designer) for getting the word out so effectively and impactfully.
• Our wonderful cast of actor-creators – Allan Morgan, Alexa Devine, Rob Salvador and Manami Hara literally gave of themselves: bravely, without compunction, nobly. Their honesty in revealing their innermost lives spurred others in our audience to do the same. What more could you ask for? Their creativity as performer-writers engendered a uniquely potent hybrid of the two halves of the equation. Each of them related to us just how special this project was for them.
• And finally our director Mindy Parfitt – Even though this was billed as “a simple little project”, it was far from so. In creating any new piece of theatre, and especially one as raw as this one, there is always an impossibility of influences and impulses that one must juggle when steering the ship. Mindy has directed severasl shows for HHG Theatre now, and it’s been a pleasure for our company (and our community) to watch her evolution as an artist. Even though this was a collective creation, there came a point when it had to be one person’s vision moving forward, and of course that was Mindy. The results were beautiful, and ground-breaking.

And so we bid farewell to This Stays in the Room, but perhaps only for now. Who knows where this show will end up? There are ideas and rumours already circulating.

Thanks for checking in with us. We’ve got lots more to tell you about soon enough.