HUGE NEWS: 2013/14 Season Announcement

IN BRIEF: Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre celebrates our 10^th Anniversary with our most ambitious season by far. This year’s programming will include the world premieres of two original creations: Except in the Unlikely Event of War and This Stays in the Room. We’re also taking our 2011 hit Re:Union to a prestigious Canadian festival, and for a quick stop in New York City, with an appearance by an amazing Academy Award  nominated actor. Read more below…

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VANCOUVER, B.C – Our season begins with Except in the Unlikely Event of War, the newest play by HHG Theatre co-artistic director Sean Devine. This is to be a co-production with Pi Theatre, directed by Pi Theatre’s Richard Wolfe.

A summit of minds in a secret military base. A radio broadcast from the brink of arctic war. A group of actors under government muzzle. This darkly comic, distinctly Canadian work is a probing exploration of art, politics, and war – and the messy areas where they become indistinguishable.

Performances November 15 – 30 at the Roundhouse Performance Centre. Ticket info: artisaweapon.ca

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On December 8, HHG Theatre co-artistic director Sean Devine will be in New York City for a public reading of Re:Union, HHG Theatre’s 2011 hit. This reading is the result of a new partnership with NYC’s EPIC Theatre Ensemble, a similarly mandated company to HHG Theatre. This reading will be presented to an audience of NYC artistic directors and presenters. The reading will be directed by EPIC Associate Director of Artistic Programming Will Pomerantz, and will feature a cast including EPIC Artistic Director Melissa Friedman and Academy Award-Nominee David Strathairn as Robert McNamara. In referring to Re:Union, Mr. Strathairn called the play “…an exquisite piece of writing on so many levels.”

While in NYC, from Dec 9 – 13 Sean Devine will also be working on a new project called Daisy, inspired by the devastating political advertising campaign at the centre of the 1964 U.S. Presidential election. This project marks the beginning of a new partnership with NYC’s Epic Theatre Ensemble.

This exciting research and partnership development project will see Sean Devine conducting interviews and archival retrieval at the headquarters of the world-famous advertising agency DDB as well as at the Library of Congress in DC.

In March HHG Theatre presents our second world premiere of the season, This Stays in the Room, a collective creation conceived of by co-artistic directors Mindy Parfitt and Alexa Devine. An intimate and revealing piece, This Stays in the Room serves as a meditation on the universal experiences of shame & forgiveness. Working collectively with several of Vancouver’s finest theatre artists, This Stays in the Room uses the dual themes of shame & forgiveness as springboards for capturing and depicting authentic lived experience, both individual and communal, and reflecting that experience back upon our audience.

Performances March 20 – 30 at Gallery Gachet.

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Finally, in June HHG Theatre takes Re:Union to Halifax for a presentation at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, one of Canada’s top showcases for contemporary Canadian theatre. We’ve been developing a relationship with the festival for several years, and are thrilled at Mag North Artistic Director Brenda Leadlay’s invitation to bring our production to Canada’s East Coast for their 2014 Festival.

Performances in mid-June at a Halifax venue TBD.

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And that’s not all…

• HHG gets new digs: this August we moved into our new shared office space at 739 Gore Street, along with Playwrights Theatre Centre, Pi Theatre and a host of other companies and independent artists.

• HHG Theatre was excited at the October 2013 publication release of Sean Devine’s Re:Union, published by Scirocco Drama. Sean Devine was able to attend the book launch at Heliconian Hall in Toronto.

• Following the success of our Pull the Pin series of community engagement events last April, we’ll be producing satellite Pull the Pin series during our productions of Except in the Unlikely Event of War and This Stays in the Room.

• Belated congratulations to HHG co-artistic director Mindy Parfitt for making her Arts Club directorial debut this October in Armstrong’s War, and to co-artistic director Sean Devine for his involvement in Rumble Theatre’s production Penelope.