Continuing a season that kicked off with two critically acclaimed productions -THE FLICK, on stage now in the Guloien Theatre, and GHOST QUARTET, currently running in the Scotiabank Community Studio - Crow’s Theatre is extremely excited to announce details for their next mainstage production, the World Premiere of STARS: Together.  Previously scheduled to run to December 8^th, the company is also thrilled to announce they have extended the show to December 15^th to meet audience demand.

A collaboration between Montreal’s beloved indie-rock band STARS, Crow’s Theatre Artistic Director Chris Abraham, and writer and filmmaker Zack Russell, STARS: Together is a theatre/concert hybrid by one of Canada’s most theatrical indie-rock bands. After more than 20 years, 8 albums, and more fights than anyone can remember – the band finally gets real and meets their destiny: to make a play together. STARS: Together is an intimate odyssey about the joys and pains of sticking by the ones you love. 

STARS have spent their 20+ year career being a musical confidant to the innermost secrets of their fans’ lives. They tell the tales we keep in the darkest, and most hopeful parts of our souls. They have persevered as a band, friends, musical and social curators, staying true through countless tours and every imaginable obstacle.

Now, coinciding with the release of a career 'best of' retrospective, LaGuardia, the band will premiere their first ever theatre/concert hybrid. The play meets the band where they live – in their practice space in Montreal. They make music, tell the audience their secrets, and try to avoid being seduced by Spotify headquarters’ plentiful supply of oat milk and kombucha. Careening between tragedy and comedy, hallucinations and reality, old tunes and new ones, STARS: Together promises to be “one of the strangest concert experiences of your life” – says Torquil Campbell. Part rock-doc, part tragicomic fantasia, and all STARS concert – join the six band members for a limited engagement at Streetcar Crowsnest.  

“This is a play about us but it’s also a love letter to our fans,” says Amy Millan. “There is a heart to the play that is about their story inside the story of our songs. We have always been a band that pulses through people’s big moments - first kisses, last kisses, fear, sex, living through the death of a loved one to sound-tracking their first dance on their wedding day. With Together,we get a chance to connect with our fans under a completely new structure.  This unique ability to weave our stories together. They will have an opportunity to experience us just as raw and as vulnerable as they are when they listen to STARS music while also seeing themselves in the play with us.”

“People might ask why?” adds Torquil Campbell. “Why would we put ourselves through this? Why would we reveal this much of ourselves? The answer is Chris Abraham. I've never met a person who loves or understands the process of storytelling more than Chris. He is an insatiable, brilliant, big hearted artist, and I wanted my friends and compatriots to experience what it's like to work with someone who cares as much as Chris. Like everything else with STARS, we make choices based on love. Also, the money. Theatre is just the easiest way to make big, big money. Everyone knows that.”
 “I’d been a fan of their music for years, and always marveled at their ability to tell these beautiful, detailed narratives in just a few short verses,” comments Abraham. “Heartbreak, loneliness, love – they tackle big themes in their music, and always make them achingly personal. So I was interested in getting personal with them and learning about the people behind the music. The great surprise is not only were they willing– they’re also very funny people. After 20 years together they have this distinct, shared sense of humour that’s helped them get through a lot. That sense of humour was key for navigating some of the darker realities we explore in the show. But more than anything, this is a group of people that really love each other. They’re family. And that closeness enables them to be vulnerable with one another and their fans. I can’t wait for audiences to encounter STARS and their music in a whole new way at Streetcar Crowsnest this fall.”

Abraham and co-writer Russell shadowed the band members over a period of a year, creating a hybrid piece that marries verbatim text and pure fantasy. The end result is an experience that straddles reality and fiction, with STARS members playing themselves in a hyperreal recreation of their Montreal rehearsal space. Intimate, funny, and unsparingly honest, the team has created a wholly original and highly personal theatrical concert experience, thrilling for STARS fans and theater audiences alike.

Crow’s relationship with STARS began when lead vocalist Torquil Campbell – who comes from a long personal and family history in the theatre – partnered with Chris Abraham to make the acclaimed one man show True Crime. The show marked a return for Campbell to the theatre, who had a career as an actor in Canada and New York City long before he became a band frontman. While Campbell and co-lead vocalist Amy Millan have both done theatre before, for band members Chris McCaron, Chris Seligman, Evan Cranley and Pat McGee, the show is unchartered territory.

STARS: Together is the creation of STARS, Chris Abraham, and Zack Russell, with lighting and set design by Ken MacKenzie.

STARS: Together runs November 26 – December 15 (Media night: November 29) at Streetcar Crowsnest (345 Carlaw Avenue) in the Guloien Theatre. Performances are scheduled Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00pm, with 2:00pm matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

Crow’s Theatre offers 4-play and 8-play subscriptions. 4 play subscribers save 20% on the single ticket price; 8-play subscribers save 30%. Subscriber benefits include discounts on additional tickets, and access to special offers at on-site restaurant Gare de l’Est.  

This year, Crow’s introduces 3 new curated subscription packages: the Crow’s Immersive Package, the Female Playwrights Package, and the Big Ideas Package. Each curated package includes 4 plays, and a drink or snack at the lobby bar at each show, for $175 plus fees and taxes.

Single tickets for 2019.2020 performances range from $20.00 to $73.45 CDN. Subscription and single ticket discounts are available for seniors and students.

Get more information and buy tickets at crowstheatre.com.