2017 House Programs All the Sex I Ever Had

CREDITS Performers BEATRIX BRENDA LIONEL NOEL PHILIP SUZIE Writers TINA FANCE ALICE FLEMING DARREN O’DONNELL In collaboration with BEATRIX, BRENDA, LIONEL, NOEL, PHILIP and SUZIE Director DARREN O’DONNELL Co-Director/Co-Producer ALICE FLEMING Producer TINA FANCE Lighting Consultant PAUL LIM, ADDITIVE Sound Designer/MC MOSES CARR Casting Consultant BEC REID CREATOR NOTE All the Sex I’ve Ever Had is what it is: a show about all the sex ever had by a small crew of your neighbours over the age of 65. But all the talk about sex is just an excuse to share something extraordinary: the older people get, the more courageous we are to accept and share our vulnerabilities. It is a courage born of enduring hardship and tragedy and understanding that vulnerability is universal and constant. Life is a bitch and then we don’t die—we keep on living and living and living as our sight, hair, muscles, joints and neurons hit the road and the people we love evaporate. This shit is not for the faint of heart. But our world doesn’t place much value on this vulnerability—displays of vulnerability tend to make people feel uncomfortable. Through learning to accept our own vulnerability, we build the courage to accept the vulnerability of others, even when their vulnerability appears to be an affront. A calm generosity is produced. We hope that All the Sex I’ve Ever Had can re-establish the idea of the community of elders who share their experiences and, most importantly, their vulnerabilities, helping the rest of us step up and be brave and acknowledge that life is going to kill us, both in the short and the long term. The pain of life is constantly coming and going, as This presentation of All the Sex I’ve Ever Had has been made possible in part by grants from the Canada Council for the Arts Theatre International Program and the Ontario Arts Council’s National and International Touring program. is every single person we’ll ever love, leaving us a wreck for a moment, a week, a few years. Legal scholar Martha Albertson Fineman points out that vulnerability defines the very meaning of what it means to be human. It’s how we begin, it’s how we end, and it lies in wait for us every time we cross the street or attempt to make a connection with another person. If there is anything that absolutely unifies all of us, it is our vulnerability. Further reading: Vulnerability: reflection on a new ethical foundation for law and politics. Edited by Martha Albertson Fineman and Anna Gread. (Ashgate, 2013)

2017 House Programs All the Sex I Ever Had | Page 2