VANCOUVER, BC – Following a critically acclaimed run in Toronto, the Firehall Arts Centre and PuSh International Performing Arts Festival are proud to present the Cliff Cardinal’s solo show Huff (Feb 2-6, 2016). In this raw, darkly comic story, produced by Native Earth Performing Arts, the award-winning Indigenous playwright and performer plunges headfirst into the world of Canada’s most taboo subcultures – solvent abuse, sexual abuse and suicide.
This captivating and unflinching performance by one of the brightest new talents of Canadian theatre brings into the light the harsh realities and injustices that many Indigenous youth face. Wind and his brothers are caught in a torrent of solvent abuse while coping with their mother’s suicide. Wind’s gas-induced fantastical dream world bleeds into his haunting reality as he desperately seeks to escape the cycle of despair and poverty he finds himself trapped in.
Huff was first developed at Native Earth’s Weesageechak Begins to Dance festival in 2012. This new Native Earth Performing Arts production is touring nationally in early 2016, with nine stops from Quebec to BC (see below for dates). Huff is a Native Earth Performing Arts Production, presented by the Firehall Arts Centre and PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.
Cliff Cardinal has been described as “one of the most talented and intriguing writers in the country” (NOW Magazine). He was recently named the 2015 winner of the RBC Tarragon Emerging Playwright Prize and received the 2012 Buddies in Bad Times Vanguard Award for Risk & Innovation for Huff. Cardinal’s first play, Stitch, premiered Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival in 2011 to great acclaim, winning both the Spotlight Award for Performance and Theatre Passe Muraille’s Emerging Artist Award for notable artistic impression. As an actor he received a Jessie Richardson Award nomination for Outstanding Performance for Tales Of An Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis (Green Thumb Theatre).
Playwright & Performer: Cliff Cardinal | Director: Karin Randoja | Set & Costume Designer: Jackie Chau | Lighting Designer: Michelle Ramsay | Sound Designer: Alex Williams | Stage Manager: Jennifer Stobart | Production Manager: Pip Bradford | Technical Director: June Epstein
LISTINGS INFO
Feb 2, 7pm | Feb 3-6, 8pm | Feb 6, 4pm (Post-show talk Feb 4)
Tickets from $23-$33
Available from the Firehall Arts Centre (firehallartscentre.ca / 604-689-0926)
PRAISE FOR HUFF
“Huff took my breath away… in this searing play of his, perhaps we can go beyond simply knowing.” – J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe & Mail
“the most stunningly powerful piece of theatre that I’ve seen in a long time… It reaches inside and grabs you so hard that you forget it’s make-believe.” CBC RADIO
“strong, uncompromising storytelling” – NOW Magazine
“Huff is a heartbreaker.” – Torontoist
