HHG Theatre News – Jan 2015

First: Our Big News

Well, it’s hardly news anymore, but as of July 2014, HHG Theatre has set up operations in Ottawa, while maintaining operations in Vancouver as well. Crazy, but true.

This came about when HHG co-artistic directors Alexa Devine and Sean Devine moved to Ottawa with their family this past summer. Obviously, they wanted to bring HHG’s work with them, just as co-artistic director Mindy Parfitt wanted to continue her work with HHG in Vancouver. And so we came up with the largely unprecedented idea of having HHG Theatre create and produce theatre in both cities, while operating as one “company”. In other words, we take the spirit and practice of Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, our mandate and our vision, and expand it into two halves.

The ultimate objective, if we can pull it off, is to create theatre in BOTH cities, engaging artists from BOTH cities, and for the community of BOTH cities. It’s a crazy experiment, but one that we’re excited about. So keep your fingers crossed.

RE:UNION at Magnetic North Theatre Festival

Here’s another secret that we’ve been holding onto for a while! Our 2011 award-winning production of Sean Devine’s Re:Union has been selected for the mainstage program of the 2015 Magnetic North Theatre Festival in June 2015!

Equal parts fact and fiction, Re:Union is the harrowing tale of American Quaker Norman Morrison, who took his life in a political protest in 1965. But the manner in which he did it, and the repercussions of his actions felt around the world, and within his own family, are the stuff of myth. Only it wasn’t myth.

HHG Theatre has always hoped that this painfully relevant tale would have a second life, and to get a second-showing at Canada’s pre-eminent festival for contemporary Canadian theatre is simply amazing. Considering that their theme for 2015 is “Radical lessons for a meaningful life”, we feel that we’re about to fit right in.

And the 2015 Mag North festival is happening in Ottawa! What an opening number for HHG Theatre in the nation’s capitol!

HHG Theatre Associate Artists

Along with the news of expanding HHG Theatre’s operations to both Vancouver and Ottawa comes the parallel news that we’re finally about to formalize an initiative that we’ve long considered, and even practiced, to an extent.

For the last several projects, HHG Theatre has often found itself working with several people over and over again. These aren’t just theatre makers at the top of their game, they’re people who we admire, with generous spirit, professional integrity, amazing talent, great collaborators, and that intagible quality that just makes you want to have them in the room with you.

And so we’ve put together a group of theatre artists that we will soon proudly announce as HHG Theatre’s Associate Artists. Right now there’s about 25 of them, from Vancouver, Ottawa and some other places as well.

Of course this doesn’t mean that we’re working with these people exclusively. The door is always open to new collaborators. But these folks have found a special place in our organization, and we wish to acknowledge them for it.

THIS STAYS IN THE ROOM – The Remount

n Spring 2014 HHG Theatre produced the collective creation THIS STAYS IN THE ROOM, easily one of the most innovative and beautiful projects we’ve ever had the pleasure of creating. It’s only fitting, then, that TSITR is getting a rare remount in Vancouver.

THIS STAYS IN THE ROOM is a bold exploration of what it requires to face ourselves and others as we grapple with shame, forgiveness, vulnerability and hope. A collaborative project, the play recruits from the true life stories of its cast and creative team. It’s an unbelievably touching meditation on the nature of shame and forgiveness.

And it made at least 3 lists of the Best Vancouver Theatre Productions of 2014, and was the 2014 Critics Choice Innovations Award Winner at the 2014 Jessies!

Although this remount is being produced independently by the fearless and talented Mindy Parfitt, we are so proud of what these artists have done and want to help ensure that it gets as much visibility as it can.

THIS STAYS IN THE ROOM plays 6 times only from February 4 – 7 at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island. Tickets can be purchased here.