Men Express Their Feelings

Men Express Their Feelings

Currently Touring

CURRENTLY PLAYING IN SASKATOON & REGINA! A comedy about hockey, culture and relationships. Two dads and their sons are sequestered to a hockey rink dressing room to sort out an incident. Amidst a series of wild misunderstandings and ridiculous antics, these guys get to know each other and themselves a whole lot better, while redefining what it means to WIN. MEN EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS premiered in Calgary in 2020 with Downstage, then had a Vancouer production in 2022 with Zee Zee Theatre.

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Creative Team

Written by:

Sunny Drake

Hindi translation by:

nisha ahuja and Isaac Thomas

Dramaturgs:

Kathleen Flaherty, Matt McGeachy, Isaac Thomas

Cultural Dramaturgy + Other Script consultants:

nisha ahuja, Rohit Chokhani, Chanelle Gallant, Arti Mehta, Daniel Perry, Dana Prather, Paneet Singh, Isaac Thomas, Joelle Wildgoose

Cover Art:

Sam Mendoza

World Premiere Production (Calgary 2020)

Direction by:

Clare Preuss

Produced by:

Downstage with the generous support of Hit & Myth Productions

Actors (premiere live production):

Brett Dahl, Ray Dhaliwal, Nathan Pronyshyn, Richard Young

Actors (audio drama):

Chris Bullough, Conner Christmas, Ray Dhaliwal, Isaac Thomas

Production photos by:

Katy Whitt Photography

Full live production credits (Calgary premiere)

Click here

Full audio drama credits

Click here

Vancouver Production (2022)

Direction by:

Cameron Mackenzie

Produced by:

Zee Zee Theatre

Actors:

Quinn Churchill, Jeff Gladstone, Ishan Sandhu, Munish Sharma

Full production credits (Vancouver)

Click here

Saskatoon & Regina Production (2024)

Direction by:

Joshua Beaudry

Produced by:

25th Street Theatre

Actors:

Kody Farrow, Ian Harmon, Powell Nobert, Munish Sharma

Full production credits (Saskatoon)

Click here

Information

TOUR DATES

Production history

- Calgary 2020, Downstage: MEN EXPRESS THEIR FEELINGS first premiered in 2020 in Calgary with Downstage Theatre, with generous support of Hit & Myth Productions, just before the lockdown. We also took it deep into the belly of masculinity at a site-specific version in a locker room at the University of Calgary.

- Calgary 2021, Downstage: live listening parties for the 3 episode audio drama adaptation, with beer tastings and show-inspired interactive fun. Nov 12 - 14, 2021: Tickets and more info.

- Vancouver 2022, Zee Zee Theatre Company: Mar 17 - Apr 3, 2022. Firehall Ars Centre.

- Saskatoon 2024, 25th St Theatre:  Mar 7 - 20, 2024. Tickets and more info.

- Regina 2024, 25th St Theatre: Mar 29 - 31, 2024. Tickets and more info.

Read the script!

You can purchase the digital script here.

Read the script!

You can purchase a digital copy of the script here.

The origin of the work: 

"Growing up in Australia, I played and coached field hockey for 10 years, so when I went to my first (ice) hockey game here, I was that clueless guy cheering: "c'mon, get the ball back!" Thankfully, I now know it's called a puck. I only saw snow or ice a few times in my life before moving to Canada 10 years ago–so I'm totally in awe that hockey players get out on a slippery surface with blades on the bottom of their shoes and achieve anything other than NOT DYING. 

Hockey can be awesome: the fast pace and energy, comradery, skill and strategy. And hockey culture can also be brutal, crushing and hostile. I have similarly complicated feelings about masculinity and so writing a hockey play felt like the right choice for Men Express Their Feelings.

Writing this play, I got to learn about a lot of things. I couldn’t have done so without the support of a great team, including cultural dramaturgy and other consultants - THANK YOU to the many voices who shaped this work.

I debated whether to acknowledge in this program note that I’m a trans man. And additionally that at this point in my life I’m quite effeminate–I’m probably the guy sitting next to you in a flamboyant shirt. These parts of myself give me particular insights into the themes in this work since I’ve had a wide range of gender experiences in my life. Who gets let in to the locker rooms of masculinity–and the entry costs and member benefits–have been lifetime studies for me. Yet my fear is that in acknowledging that I am trans, some cisgender (non-trans) men might claim I’m “not a real man” to discredit my attempts to playfully re-envision masculinity. 

Here’s the irony: this fear is one of the biggest things I have in common with most cisgender men, who are continually pressured to live up to the ideals of masculinity, or risk being “not real men”. 

So I take this risk–and the risks of this play–alongside and in support of all of you. More and more men and masculine people are realizing the enormous costs of these narrow ideals of masculinity–so let’s be not-real-men, together. Or better yet, let’s rewrite the playbooks for masculinity and being men. Oh, and let’s have some laughs while we’re doing it."

- Sunny Drake


Awards

Best Original Play nomination, Calgary Theatre Critics Awards, 2020 

Press

An instant Canadian classic

- Calgary Herald (Canada)

Should be produced at every regional theatre in Canada, not just because it juggles so many insights into the notions of masculinity but because it is wildly, unabashedly funny

- Calgary Herald (Canada)

Exudes wit and authenticity

- Van City Vince (Vancouver, Canada)

You wouldn’t want to miss this

- 5X Press (Vancouver, Canada)

A terrific ride

- Colin Thomas – The Georgia Straight (Vancouver, Canada) 

Smart but unpretentious

- Colin Thomas – The Georgia Straight (Vancouver, Canada)

Other Info

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