The Worst Thing I Could Be (Is Happy)

Produced by Tiny Bear part of Why Not Theatre’s Riser Project 2020*, past workshops and presentations at The Diving Bell Social Club (Montreal), Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times (Toronto), and TJ Labs at Theatre Junction (Calgary).

Elena Eli Belyea – Co-creator, producer, performer 
Ira Doré – Co-creator, performer, choreographer
Tori Morrison – Co-creator, producer, performer, video and original music and sound design 
Philp Nozuka – Co-creator, performer, video and original music and sound design 
Tanya Rintoul – Director, facilitator, dramaturgical support 
Alison Yanota – Costume and prop design, dramaturgical support 
Rebecca Durocher – Technical Director, dramaturgical support
Mel Hague – Outside Eye, dramaturgical support
Kole Durnford – Emerging Artist Mentee / Outside Eye 
Additional dramaturgical support by Mel Hague, Laurel Green, Tedi Tafel, Andrea Donaldson, Gianna Vacirca
Photo Credit- Geoffrey Simon Brown, Philip Nozuka, and Dahlia Katz

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

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

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, augmented reality and onstage experiments, this cross-Canadian collaboration is a spontaneous investigation of grief, technology, and the things people do to be happy at any cost. 

The Worst Thing I Could Be (Is Happy) is presented as part of RISER Project, a collaborative producing model presented by Why Not Theatre with the generous support of RBC Foundation, TD Bank Group, and the Government of Canada.

PAST AUDIENCE FEEDBACK FOR “THE WORST THING I COULD BE (IS HAPPY)”
“The aches and anxieties of a generation, bound together by an optimistic, compassionate energy.”
– Nick Carpenter, Playwright
“An overwhelming world where everything is FUN and ON SALE and GOOD for you or BAD or BOTH.”
– Audience member
“The absurdity of seeking happiness in a world that is crumbling.”
–  Audience member

*2020 presentation was cancelled due to Covid 19