Homebuddies (2023+)

Homebuddies: the hottest new trend in micro-living! Promenade theatre, wearable puppetry, and mini-games combine in this absurdist roving show where audiences can compete to buy a Homebuddy in this harrowing new housing market. This roving collection of anthropomorphic houses are freshly built and eager to find their new owners with the help of their Property Manager. Will you help them find the perfect buyers and expropriate the perfect place to start a neighbourhood? All they need is some untapped property value, ripe for the taking!

As they roam, the Property Manager invites audiences to participate in a host of interactions with the Homebuddies, including dances, auctions, “house-hunting,” a petting zoo, and more — all to sell the Homebuddies to the most deserving. Keep your Homebuddy out of trouble as they are prone to mischief and disaster. Remember: you gotta earn it to earn it!

A co-production between It’s Not A Box Theatre and So.Glad Arts, Homebuddies is our performance response to the relentless commodification of both homes and our bodies. Currently in Canada there are five empty homes for every unhoused person — that’s 1.3 million empty houses that stand as monuments to the artificial scarcity demanded by neoliberal capitalism. Drawing from Bouffon clown, puppetry, game design, and protest theatre, Homebuddies is a playful and grotesque exploration of the absurd ways that housing politics and body politics meet, inviting audiences to examine their relationship to property, architecture, and agency.

PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL 2023

CO-PRODUCERS: It’s Not A Box Theatre & So.Glad Arts
PERFORMED & DEVISED BY: Kris Alvarez, Torien Cafferata, S.E. Grummett, Danny Knight, Sam Kruger
BASED ON CONCEPTS BY: Torien Cafferata, S.E. Grummett, Amberlin Hsu
DIRECTOR: Charlie Peters
DRAMATURG: Caleigh Crow
DESIGNERS: Amberlin Hsu, Emily Rempel, Brooklynn Bitner
STAGE MANAGER: Brooklynn Bitner
VENUE: Holešovice Market (Outdoors) & Trade Fair Palace (Piazzetta), Prague, CZ.

SUMMERWORKS PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL 2024

CO-PRODUCERS: It’s Not A Box Theatre & So.Glad Arts
PERFORMERS: Kris Alvarez, Torien Cafferata, Jesse Fulcher-Gagnon, S.E. Grummett, Sam Kruger
BASED ON CONCEPTS BY: Torien Cafferata, S.E. Grummett, Amberlin Hsu
DIRECTOR: Charlie Peters
DRAMATURG: Caleigh Crow
STAGE MANAGER: Amberlin Hsu
VENUE: Evergreen Brickworks & Lisgar Park, Toronto, ON.