“This is one of those plays that I think everyone has to see at least once. Or preferably twice, so as to really hear all the nuances in playwright and performer Pamela Mala Sinha’s snappy, fast-paced writing.” Mooney on Theatre (Toronto)
VANCOUVER – Touchstone Theatre’s debut fall production is play by an Indo-Canadian playwright called Happy Place. Written by Pamela Mala Sinha, it is also the directorial debut of Touchstone’s Artistic Director Roy Surette, who is supported by a top notch team of designers: Pam Johnson on Set, Christine Reimer on Costumes, Adrian Muir on Lights, with Original Music and Sound Design by Dorothy Dittrich.
The show features a cast of amazing Vancouver actresses with over 50 Jessie nominations and awards between them: Diane Brown (The Duchess a.k.a. Wallis Simpson, A Beautiful View), Nicola Cavendish (4000 Miles, Bakersfield Mist), Sereana Malani (Pericles, Valley Song), Adele Noronha (Brothel #9, Walt Whitman’s Secret), Laara Sadiq (Brothel #9, The Penelopiad), Colleen Wheeler (Elizabeth Rex, Peter and the Starcatcher), Donna Yamamoto (5 @ 50, Salmon Row).
Happy Place takes us into the experiences of seven women in an in-patient care facility, living together in the most extraordinary circumstances. Though each woman must navigate her own survival in a world that challenges that possibility, they are also the ones who teach one another how to live in a way no therapist ever could. Happy Place is a glimpse into lives filled with courage, compassion, humour and startling surprise; lives which, in many ways, are not so different from our own. Happy Place premiered in September 2015 at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre.
Pamela Mala Sinha is an award winning Canadian actress and playwright. Selected Theatre credits include Happy Place (Soulpepper), Nirbhaya (Assembly Theatre/UK, NY), The Little Years (Tarragon Theatre) and The Penelopiad (Nightwood Theatre). Selected TV/Film: three seasons on ER (NBC), Huff (HBO), Traders, Live From Baghdad, Breakaway, and What We Have. Her first solo play, CRASH (Scirocco Drama), received Dora Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Lead Actress; an excerpt of which was included in Bloomsbury’s (UK): Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors as well as the anthology Love, Loss and Longing (Playwright’s Canada Press. Pamela is currently at work on the feature film adaptation of Happy Place with Sienna Films, directed by Helen Shaver, and slated for production in early 2018.
Diwali in BC is a new initiative founded and produced by Rohit Chokhani. After producing and curating numerous Diwali celebrations over metro Vancouver for the last four years, culminating in a Jessie Richardson theatre award, Rohit is embarking on this new, bold and ambitious initiative to make the Diwali Celebrations province-wide over the next five years. This initiative will continue to curate and program Diwali based content in metro Vancouver during its launch year of 2017/2018. The first ever Diwali in BC celebrations will take place over 5 weeks from Oct-Nov, 2017.
Happy Place
By Pamela Mala Sinha
Directed by Roy Surette
October 20 – 29, 2017
Preview October 19 @ 8pm (only $17)
Opening October 20 @ 8pm
Tues at 7pm | Wed to Sat at 8pm | Saturdays & Sundays 3pm matinees
Wed October 25 at 1pm (Pay What You Can Matinee)
Tuesday, October 24 at 7pm
Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova St.)
Tickets: tickets.firehallartscentre.ca | 604-689-0926
Adults: $30/33 | Students/Seniors: $25/28 | Under 30: $20 | Preview: $17
www.touchstonetheatre.com | www.rubyslippers.ca
