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Staging the unstageable. Harbourfront Centre welcomes All Our Happy Days Are Stupid to World Stage, Feb. 11-14 – #artlive

TORONTO, ON (January 8, 2015) – ’s eclectic play, All Our Happy Days Are Stupid, was deemed ‘unproduceable’ by the theatre company that first commissioned it nearly a decade ago. With a cast of thirteen, ten original songs and numerous ruptures in conventional dramatic structure, many puzzled directors attempted to make sense of the play until eventually abandoning their attempt to produce it. Jordan Tannahill, Suburban Beast founder and 2014 Governor General’s Award winner, stepped up to the challenge. In 2013 he and multidisciplinary artist Erin Brubacher assembled a company of Toronto-based artists who were bold enough to reveal the play’s playful seriousness. Harbourfront Centre welcomes All Our Happy Days Are Stupid to World Stage, Feb. 11-14, 2015.

All Our Happy Days Are Stupid explores the fallacy of two ensconced Western institutions – ‘the perfect family’ and ‘the perfect holiday’. The play’s surrealist and comedic narrative follows two families, the Oddis and the Sings, on vacation in Paris, France as they search for contentment and authenticity beyond the confines of their mundane existence. But far from the blissful vacation they had each planned, their holidays eventually become their undoing. New York Times best selling author, Sheila Heti, uses each family’s ‘perfect’ Parisian holiday to amplify her characters’ selfishness, illustrating how these traits are the root of their misery.

Heti’s struggle to write All Our Happy Days Are Stupid was one of the most central plotlines in her internationally heralded novel How Should a Person Be? Tannahill, though initially daunted by the play’s scope and reputation, fell in love with Heti’s shunted script and inquired about the possibility of producing it. Before committing to the challenge, Tannahill gathered a group of friends and organized an initial reading of All Our Happy Days Are Stupid in a friend’s backyard. With the songs of Destroyer/New Pornographers songwriter Dan Bejar and the eclectic cast comprised of emerging interdisciplinary artists Tannahill and Brubacher were able to assemble, Suburban Beast's production was able to reveal the play’s offbeat comedic sensibility in a way that numerous workshops had previously failed to do.

The world premiere of All Our Happy Days Are Stupid opened in 2013 at Tannahill and William Ellis’ , a Kensington Market barbershop turned storefront cinema performance lab dedicated to the exhibition of new media, live art and film. The premiere production was nominated for four Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the Independent Theatre Division in 2013. Suburban Beast has continued to earn and secure a notable reputation within Canada’s performing arts community. The company remains committed to creating works of performance that examine the contemporary human condition, using multimedia theatre practices to tell real stories in

MEDIA CONTACT Spencer Emmerson Office: 416-954-6728 | Cell: 647-881-6941 [email protected] 1

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surreal ways. Directly following its run at World Stage, and with the help of Harbourfront Centre, All Our Happy Days Are Stupid will be presented at The Kitchen, one of New York City’s oldest nonprofit spaces showing innovative work by artists across disciplines.

“We’re proud to be supporting Suburban Beast during this exciting time in their creative development,” shares Tina Rasmussen, artistic director of World Stage. “Adapting their production of All Our Happy Days Are Stupid from the small gallery of Videofag to the big stage at Harbourfront Centre and The Kitchen is no easy feat. We’re proud to support them through this important transition.”

For full company and performance information, including photos, videos and details surrounding World Stage Extras, please visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage and connect with the season on Facebook and Twitter using @WorldStageTO #artlive.

Please visit harbourfrontcentre.com/gettinghere for information about getting here during the Queens Quay revitalization.

WORLD STAGE EXTRAS

All Our Happy Days Are Stupid – Pre-show Tea Wednesday, February 11, 7 p.m. – Harbourfront Centre Theatre All Our Happy Days Are Stupid can be seen as the collaborative love child of several Toronto-based interdisciplinary artists. Has their work created a new kind of indie theatre that looks distinctly Torontonian? When culture-seeking tourists visit Toronto, what do they look for and what do they see? Join Harbourfront Centre Scholar-in-Residence Matthew Sergi for an open-ended, informal pre-show tea, in which he invites participants to help navigate Toronto’s theatre scene (both past and present), while providing insight on how Toronto distinguishes itself from other cities culturally. Admission is free with the purchase of a ticket to the opening performance of All Our Happy Days Are Stupid .

All Our Happy Days Are Stupid – Talkshow Thursday, February 12, immediately following the performance – Harbourfront Centre Theatre The second performance of each World Stage production is followed by a Talkshow, where the artists connect with the audience outside their work, fielding questions with the moderation of their colleagues in the community. Admission is free with the purchase of a ticket to All Our Happy Days Are Stupid .

ABOUT WORLD STAGE Since 1986, World Stage has evolved into Canada’s most diverse season-length international contemporary performance series. Every year, Harbourfront Centre brings innovative and groundbreaking performance leaders from both the international and local arts community to World Stage. Committed to bold curation and audience accessibility, World Stage programming continues

MEDIA CONTACT Spencer Emmerson Office: 416-954-6728 | Cell: 647-881-6941 [email protected] 2

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to foster opportunities for cultural development and the artistic exchange of ideas. Following last year’s Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning season, World Stage 2015 features nine groundbreaking international contemporary performance works, welcoming artists and productions from England, France, Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, United States and Canada.

ABOUT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE Harbourfront Centre is a Canadian charity operating the 10 prime acres of Toronto’s central waterfront as a free and open public site. We celebrate the multiplicities of cultures that comprise Canada and enliven the city through the creative imaginations of artists from across the country and around the globe.

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MEDIA CONTACT Spencer Emmerson Office: 416-954-6728 | Cell: 647-881-6941 [email protected] 3