New Play Tuesday

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades (HHG) is thrilled to partner with undercurrents for this edition of New Play Tuesday.

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre is drawn to where the political and the personal intersect – the politics of everyday life. In curating this edition of New Play Tuesday, we were drawn to stories that center on individuals and their identities within a larger societal question: these are stories of community and belonging as much as they are capital “P” political. And while each of these texts addresses a serious or important “Political” issue, they all do so with nuance, and often humour, engaging the audience in discussion or reflection, rather than being didactic about serious topics

 HHG is also committed to supporting Ottawa area artists in developing their work and finding pathways for these works to be staged professionally. We therefore prioritized works with a completed full draft for which New Play Tuesday can be a catalyst towards a full, professional production.

Content Warning Mature Language

LINEUP:

Wind by Cullen Elijah McGrail 

Directed by Mary Ellis

Featuring Ananya Antony, Sasha Dominique, Geoff McBride, Will Somers and Puja Uppal

When Will discovers his neighbours up in arms over the recent wind farm development in the area, he sees it as the opportunity to write his first big play. The deeper he digs, however, the more he realizes that these neighbours — and his dad — are quickly falling for dangerous anti-science groupthink. Struggling to feel part of his rural community while maintaining his progressive beliefs, Wind offers a glimpse into the complex and heavily nuanced relationship between a father slipping out into the fringes and the son trying to pull him back in.

 

A Different Kind of Job by Jessica Anderson

Directed by Mary Ellis

Featuring Ananya Antony, Geoff McBride, Will Somers and Puja Uppal

After two students end up in an interlude that goes horribly wrong, a young teacher at a Conservative Catholic school ends up providing forbidden sex education to a teenage girl. The play is a darkly comic look at the fallout of this instruction and the ensuing results on the students, the teachers and the community. A Different Kind of Job explores how we evaluate pushing boundaries or just plain crossing the line.

 

Our Lives Inseparable by Sanita Fejzić

Directed by Manon St-Jules

Featuring Ananya Antony, Gabrielle Brunet-Poirier, Will Somers and Puja Uppal

Convinced they can make the world a better place through writing and reading, Saša, Director of Sunnyside Library’s non-fiction department, is forced to confront the harsh reality of living in a class society that elevates some at the expense of others. Saša, George, Iman and Cassandra meet at the library’s café, a space where everyone is welcome. But are they really? George, a gay unhoused man, is desperate to change his situation, while Iman, the child of refugees, struggles to get out of intergenerational poverty. When Cassandra, a wealthy noblewoman from Europe, enters their lives, difficult truths come to surface. A failure of governments to offer quality, affordable housing, homelessness is not a reflection of individual worth or will. A broken social net lacks dignity and limits authentic connection with others. Likewise, absurd inherited wealth can be isolating and a barrier to genuine social bonds, especially across class differences. Our Lives Inseparable dwells on the impacts of poverty in a time of escalating social and climate crisis. Homelessness and poverty are not just a policy and budget choice; they are embedded in our sexual and emotional lives, and deeply rooted in our psyches, echoing through the centuries like Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.

 

Y’es-tu trop tard pour apprendre à aimer les écureuils? 

By Sabrina Auclair

*Spectacle francophone avec sur-titres en anglais*

Réalisation par Manon St-Jules

Distribution: Mélanie Beauchamp, Gabrielle Brunet-Poirier, Marie-Ève Fontaine, Alexandre Gauthier et Gabriel Gosselin

«Y’es-tu trop tard pour apprendre à aimer les écureuils?» est une épopée dystopique et apocalyptique sur la fragilité humaine et surtout, sur notre rapport à notre propre mortalité. Alors qu’il ne reste que 60 minutes avant la fin du monde, cinq personnages colorés et parfaitement imparfaits naviguent leur finalité imminente, chacun à leur manière. Quand les codes sociaux astreignants et la quête effrénée du bonheur s’envolent, on peut enfin choisir de faire ce qui nous plaît, de laisser libre cours à nos désirs les plus profonds, sans contraintes. Bref, on fait quoi quand il nous reste juste une heure à vivre? Dans cette pièce tragico-comique, qui allie sincérité poignante et folie absurde, le spectateur est témoin des derniers moments de Lori, qui se buzze aux champignons magiques et s’invente une connexion profonde avec Tite-Fouine, son furet. Y’a aussi Jeanne, une adepte de la non-violence qui aimerait ça dans le fond, aimer ça la violence. Y’a Tom, influenceur et agoraphobe qui n’est pas sorti de chez lui depuis cinq ans. Il cherche le courage de fuir son univers numérique rassurant et d’affronter le monde réel, avant qu’il ne soit trop tard. Y’a Lia, ancienne catholique non-pratiquante qui regrette amèrement son apostasie et qui aimerait beaucoup finir ses jours au Paradis finalement. Et y’a Dave, qui lui attend la fin avec exaltation en mangeant du popcorn extra-beurre. «Y’es-tu trop tard pour apprendre à aimer les écureuils?» c’est une histoire de fin, mais aussi une grande histoire de vie. Parce que quand il n’y a plus de lendemain, on peut enfin commencer à vivre.