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The Worst Thing I Could Be (Is Happy)

as part of RISER Project 2020

don’t worry, be happy. / be worried, don’t happy.

Produced by Tiny Bear Jaws
Presented as part of Why Not Theatre’s RISER Project

Philip, Tori, Ira, and Elena just want to be happy. They also recognize the ways this pursuit furthers systemic inequality and causes unprecedented environmental destruction. But Philip, Tori, Ira and Elena still want to be happy… Using live-streams, projections, and onstage experiments, this cross-Canadian collaboration is a spontaneous investigation of grief, technology, and the things we’ll do to be happy at any cost.

This project is part of Why Not’s PROVOKE stream of activities. PROVOKE projects are about creating change in our community, city and world.

Cancelled due to COVID-19

Elena Eli Belyea – Co-creator, producer, performer, script supervisor (Edmonton)
Ira Doré – Co-creator, performer, choreographer (Calgary)
Tori Morrison – Co-creator, producer, performer, video and sound design (Halifax)
Philip Nozuka – Co-creator, performer, video and sound design (Toronto)
Tanya Rintoul – Director and dramaturg (Toronto)
Alison Yanota – Costume and prop design, dramaturgical support (Edmonton)
Rebecca Durocher – Technical Director, dramaturgical support (Montreal)
André du Toit – Lighting Design (Toronto)
Kole Durnford – Emerging Artist Mentee and collaborator (Edmonton)

Additional dramaturgical support by Mel Hague, Laurel Green, Tedi Tafel, Andrea Donaldson, Gianna Vacirca

This is a Canadian Actors’ Equity Association production under the Artists’ Collective Policy.

For RISER Project 2020:
Production Management by Crystal Lee Chettiar
Publicity by Damien Nelson (Want & Able Arts Consulting)
Produced by Tom Arthur Davis

The Worst Thing I Could Be (Is Happy) is presented as part RISER Project, a collaborative producing model created by Why Not Theatre with the generous support of RBC Foundation, TD Bank Group, and the Government of Canada. RISER is also supported by Aluna Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Cahoots Theatre, Factory Theatre, fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company, Modern Times Stage Company, Necessary Angel Theatre Company, Nightwood Theatre, Roseneath Theatre, Shaw Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, and The Theatre Centre. The first three years of RISER Project were made possible by Toronto Arts Council’s Open Door program.

Founded in 2015, Tiny Bear Jaws (TBJ) is agile, femme/queer run cross-Canadian company co-run by Artistic Director Elena Eli Belyea (playwright, performer, dramaturg, arts educator) and Artistic Associate and Producer Tori Morrison (sound and video designer, production manager, technician) which produces innovative, provocative, entertaining, and interdisciplinary new works. TBJ believes in exploring the creative possibilities that exist exclusively in live performance and creating work that is transgressive in both content and form. TBJ is not tied in a particular city or venue, consequently they have worked in a variety of communities and spaces, depending on the needs of each project. TBJ actively seeks out new ways of engaging meaningfully with the communities with whom they share our work. Prior to the creation of Tiny Bear Jaws, Tori and Elena have been working together since 2011.