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A bold new work from award-winning playwrights James Long and Marcus YoussefThirty years from now, three social planners visit Vancouver's Russian Hall, long abandoned due to earthquakes and flooding, with a seemingly straightforward task: repurpose the hall for common use. But the trio soon discover the project won't be an easy fix. An eccentric squatter, armed with a trove of Soviet industrial films on 16 mm stock, has made the damaged hall their home ... and they're not leaving.
James Long and Marcus Youssef's multimedia play
Do you mind if I sit here? dares us seriously to consider the possibilities of radical transformation and to imagine a future born from our most important beliefs, fears, and hopes.
Cast of 3 actors of any gender
About the author
James Long has been making theatre since 1995. He directs the Theatre Replacement with Maiko Bae Yamamoto. As a freelance actor and director, he has had the pleasure of working with Rumble Productions, Neworld Theatre, Cindy Mochizuki, urban ink, Leaky Heaven Circus, The Chop, The Only Animal, Stan's Cafe, CBC Radio, and Electric Company Theatre, among many others. He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University.
In 2015, Talonbooks published his co-written play Winners and Losers.
Summary
A powerful new play exploring social issues, interclass dialogue, and the possibility of communal improvement
Award-winning playwright Marcus Youssef and his collaborator James Long take readers to the future with the riveting new play Do you mind if I sit here? Thirty years from now, three social planners visit Vancouver’s Russian Hall, long abandoned due to earthquakes and flooding, with a seemingly straightforward task: repurpose the hall for common use. But the trio soon discover the project won’t be as easy as they’d thought. An eccentric squatter has made the damaged hall his home, and he not only possesses a trove of Soviet industrial films on 16-mm stock but also refuses to leave. Do you mind if I sit here? is a witty theatrical allegory about the possibilities of radical transformation, in which Youssef and Long dare us to imagine a future borne from our most important beliefs, fears, and hope.
Foreword
