#IAMTHECHEESE
By Josh MacDonald
Based on the book, I Am the Cheese, by Robert Cormier.
Produced by Eastern Front Theatre and Halifax Theatre for Young People.
An award winning thriller about growing up in the digital era.
#IAmTheCheese is a reimagining of Robert Cormier’s 1977 novel by the same name and written by local playwright Josh MacDonald that has been in development since 2017 and won the Playwright Guild of Canada’s Sharon Enkin Theatre for Young Audiences Award in 2020.
IAmTheCheese is set in the present day, and follows a traumatized teenager named Adam Farmer through a series of interviews with an analyst named Brint, as Adam struggles to recall deeply repressed memories of his past. Beginning with just a wisp of a children’s nursery rhyme—“The Farmer in the Dell”—Adam begins to reassemble his sense of self, bit by bit. Eventually, Adam remembers the social stigma of his preteen years, when his parents inexplicably banned the use of the internet: no cellphones, no computer, no wifi, etc. But Adam dares to begin a relationship with a girl from his school named Amy Hertz, and this relationship blooms in cyberspace. However, the more that Adam remembers about Amy, and about his own parents, the closer he comes to recognizing that a massive, faceless danger might be surrounding him still.
Through exploring the complex and intricate world of growing up in the digital era, #IAmTheCheese is an enriching and reflective thriller for young audiences.
RUNTIME
74 minutes
VENUE
PRICE
Pay-What-You-Can-Afford (Free / $5 / $10 / $20)
NOTES
Ages 13+
Filmed January 31, 2022 at Alderney Landing Theatre, Dartmouth/Punamu’kwati’jk.
AWARDS
Playwrights Guild of Canada Tom Hendry Prize 2022: The Sharon Enkin TYA Award
Theatre Nova Scotia Robert Merritt Award 2023: Outstanding Projection Design
Theatre Nova Scotia Robert Merritt Award 2023: Outstanding New Adaptation
HALIFAX THEATRE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
NOVA SCOTIA
Halifax Theatre for Young People was founded in 2009 by Tessa Mendel and Chris Heide as a means to fill the local gap in professional theatre created specifically for young audiences. Since 2009, Halifax Theatre for Young People has had the opportunity to create, share and produce numerous theatre productions, and meaningfully engage young audiences across Nova Scotia. Halifax Theatre for Young People occupies a unique place within the theatre ecology of both our local community and our region as the only full-time Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) Company in Halifax Regional Municipality.
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
Sam Vigneault - Adam
Micha Cromwell - Amy
Susan Stackhouse - Brint
Sebastian Labelle - Farmer
Josh MacDonald - Playwright
Ann-Marie Kerr - Director
Christian Ludwig Hansen - Projection Designer
Brenda Duran - Scenic Designer/Builder
Everette Fournier - Costume Designer
Jackson Fairfax-Perry - Composer & Sound Designer
Olivia Rankin - Lighting Designer
Patricia Vinluan - Production Manager
Tessa Mendel - Artistic Director, HTYP