Sujoy's play, Happy Birthday, to open in Toronto

Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee's Happy Birthday, a semi autobiographical play, is all set to open in Toronto's prestigious Buddies in Bad Times auditorium in October 2.
The play , directed by Sudipa Bose for its Kolkata edition that opened in July , has been directed by Gein Wong for its North American Showcase. It all began in July 2013, when Sujoy visited Toronto as an invited artiste for NABC 2013 (North American Bengali Conference).There, in the Fringe Toronto theatre festival, he watched Men Seeking Men — a dance theatre deconstructing the idioms of sexual identity at Randolph theatre and met Cole Alvis, a key actor of the production. Cole, he says, introduced him to the queer arts per iphery of the city. He had no idea that in two years, he would be invited to present his play in Buddies in Bad Times.
“I was thrilled to know that I will be the first Bengali, if not among the very few Asians to be performing at this extremely prestigious theatre. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre creates vital Canadian theatre by developing and presenting voices that question sexual and cultural norms. As the world's longest-running and largest queer theatre, Buddies is uniquely positioned to develop, promote, and preserve stories and perspectives that are challenging and alternative," said Sujoy.
Gein Wong is an interdisciplinary director, playwright, spoken word poet, composer and video artiste, who, interestingly, also co-owns the world's oldest LGBT bookstore, Glad Day Bookshop. Sujoy adds, “Cole has agreed to work as a dramaturge with me on this project and I'm glad that the play is going through a serious phase of critiquing. In fact, the play has been amended and I am also grateful to actor Jayant Kripalani, who asked me not to hold back," Sujoy signed off.