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Alexander Crowther plays Casimir, and Hallie Seline plays Caroline, in The Howland Company’s production of Casimir and Caroline.

Casimir just got fired, his phone’s not working and his shoes are falling apart. Caroline wants to dance, sing karaoke, and forget about the weight of the world for just one night. They are engaged… for now. Casimir and Caroline is a play about love in the cold atmosphere of modern capitalism. We follow these ultra star-crossed lovers, as they navigate clingy co-workers, sketchy best friends, questionable HR representatives, the playboy boss, that powerhouse from the Montreal office and those beautiful few who might actually possess an ounce of wisdom. They all desperately long for something more. None of them can say what that might be. But at least their lives look #goals on Instagram.

CASIMIR AND CAROLINE, European playwright and novelist Ödön von Horváth’s 1932 tragicomedy, is one of the most frequently staged plays in the modern German repertoire, but until now has never been staged for a North American audience. It seems to be on the mind, however, with its recent shout out in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (Thank you Adam Driver)! After nearly five years in development, The Howland Company is proud to present the North American premiere of this new adaptation of a modern classic by company member Paolo Santalucia with Dr.Holger Syme and The Howland Company, based on an original translation from German to English by Dr.Holger Syme. The play will be directed by Paolo Santalucia and will run at Crow’s Theatre’s East End arts hub Streetcar Crowsnest this January 14th to February 9th, 2020.

More about the Adaptation & Production: Moving from the original beer hall setting in Octoberfest to a glitzy Toronto roof-top corporate party that quickly deteriorates as the drink tickets run out, this new adaptation takes its cue from Horváth’s insistence that the play takes place ‘now’, and explores Horváth’s distanced but faithful, unflinching but sympathetic portrayal of ‘people as they are’ in Toronto 2020.

“CASIMIR AND CAROLINE cares little for decorum,” says director Paolo Santalucia, “It relentlessly reminds us that we’ll never be rich enough, happy enough, or important enough to satisfy our desires. And when faced with the disappointment of falling short, it laughs at how outrageously we try to prove everyone otherwise.” Read more about the show here.

This 10-person ensemble will feature Howland Company members Alexander Crowther (Pure – CBC/WGN America, The Glass Menagerie – The Grand Theatre), Hallie Seline (The Wolves – Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre, Winner of the Outstanding Ensemble Award – Toronto Theatre Critics Association), James Graham and Cameron Laurie (Punk Rock – Howland Company, Outstanding Ensemble Award – Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominated), joined by six more of Toronto’s most exciting performers: Michael Ayres (Bang Bang – GCTC, What I Call Her – In Association/Crow’s Theatre), Michael Chiem (Asking For It – Thousand Islands Playhouse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare in Action), Veronica Hortiguela (NOW Magazine’s Breakthrough Toronto Stage Artist, Dry Land – Cue6 Theatre), Shruti Kothari (Three Seasons at The Stratford Festival), Kimwun Perehinec (The Watershed – Porte Parole/Crow’s Theatre), and Caroline Toal (Selfie, To Kill a Mockingbird – Young People’s Theatre).

Rounding out the creative team is award-winning set and costume designer Ken MacKenzie, lighting designer and Howland Company member Jareth Li, with sound design by Jeremy Hutton and original composition by Evan MacKenzie.

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