"To be in love with Pochsy, as I am, is an exquisitely perverse addiction. Karen Hines's character, with her breathlessly innocent voice, butterfly lashes, and Cupid's-bow mouth is as gorgeous as the ghost of a silent film star and as rancid as the corpse. She's like a disease you want to get in the hopes that it will purge something bigger." - Colin Thomas, The Georgia Straight
Pochsy Productions was founded in 1992 for the company's first show, Pochsy's Lips, which won Pochsy a loyal cult following, and went on to play theatres and festivals across Canada and the U.S.A. Since then the company has produced four more shows: Oh, baby, Hello...Hello, Citizen Pochsy and Pochsy Unplugged. Over the years, Pochsy Productions has won a growing audience as well as numerous production and literary nominations and awards, and has earned a reputation for provocative, original and hilarious theatre.
.....
"A miracle of bitter hope." (Simon Houpt, Eye, Toronto)
"Wicked, original and superb." (Denver Rocky Mountain News)
"Imagine Greek Tragedy by Betty Boop" (Monteal Gazette)
(Photo here and above by Gary Mulcahey)
Karen Hines's Pochsy, the crown princess of narcissism, has become one of the little gems of Canadian theatre ... an unforgettable character steeped in equal measures of honey and acid.
(Toronto Star)
A potent, high-performance, cabaret-style selection of the company's chosen favourites from the Pochsy trilogy. Stories and songs from the nastiest little minx this side of Alexanderplatz.
- Written and performed by Karen Hines
- Directed by Sandra Balcovske and John Turner
- Score by Greg Morrison with Karen Hines
- Music performed live by Greg Morrison
- 2005: World Stage Festival; Theatre Passe Muraille (late night cabaret)
- Variations performed at Universty of Lethbridge (2006), York University (2007)
- Upcoming: 2009 University of Toronto, Literature for Our Times Series
Exquisitely crafted ... seamlessly stylish and intellectually provocative. (Globe & Mail)
This play with songs probes the sweet, sexual, and suicidal impulses that thread through a century of escapist Hollywood films, consumeristic urges and romantic desire. An affectionate but unforgiving deconstruction of that most escapist of entertainments, the boy-meets girl love story.
- Script and lyrics by Karen Hines
- Score composed by Greg Morrison with Hines
- Music performed live by Greg Morrison
- 1999: Factory Theatre Studio, Toronto - Pochsy Productions in association with Factory Theatre - directed by Chris Earle, produced by Naomi Campbell with David Jansen, Steven Morel, Teresa Pavlinek, and Hines and Morrison.
- 2003: Produced by Tarragon Theatre, Toronto. Directed by Chris Earle, with Aurora Browne, Steven Morel, Peter Oldring, and Hines and Morrison.
- Chalmers nomination: outstanding new play
- 5 Dora nominations (Pochsy Productions): outstanding new play, production, direction, score, performance (Hines)
- 4 Canadian Comedy Award nominations: outstanding new play, performance (Hines), score and direction
- Dora nomination (Tarragon): outstanding new musical
- Winner: Alberta Writers Guild Award for Drama
A brilliant piece of play construction ... Karen Hines is an astonishing artist both as writer and performer. (Edmonton Journal)
Set in the waiting room at an audit from hell, Citizen Pochsy takes a labyrinthine tour through the incomparable mind of Canadian cult cutie Pochsy. Take a peek through her thick-lashed eyes as she grapples with karmic reckoning, ponders the future of the human soul, and marvels at the wonders of a market-driven world. Sort of like a chat with the girl next door only ... more complex.
- Written and performed by Karen Hines
- Directed by John Turner
- Score by Greg Morrison with Karen Hines
- Music performed live by Greg morrison
- 2003: Magnetic North Festival, Ottawa; One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo, Calgary; Kaboom Festival, Edmonton; Ruby Slippers at The Firehall, Vancouver
- 2004: One Yellow Rabbit's Big Secret Theatre, Calgary
- (Citizen Pochsy has not yet played in Toronto)
- Governor General's Literary Award Finalist in "The Pochsy Plays"
- Betty Mitchell Award nomination: performance
- Winner: Alberta Writers Guild Award for Drama in "The Pochsy Plays"
Pochsy is a must-see, a blend of charm and vitriol who traipses blithely over mercuy-traced waters ... she skewers middle-class aspirations and consumer obsessions with poison-tipped arrows and relentless slings. (Eye Weekly)
On vacation from her job packing mercury, Pochsy trips lightly across a beach of slag, splashes in silver-lined waters, and communes with 2-foot minnows. From her perch atop a mammoth seashell, Pochsy delivers a Shirley-Valentine-on-ecstasy meditation on this, our horribly beautiful world.
- Written and performed by Karen Hines
- Directed by and written with the collaboration of Sandra Balcovske
- Score by Greg Morrison with Karen Hines
- Music performed live by Greg Morrison
- 1993: Fringe Festivals: Sudbury, Toronto, Edmonton
- 1994: Factory Theatre Studio, Toronto
Vancouver East Cultural Centre (Women In View) - Chalmers nomination: outstanding new play
- 5 Dora nominations: production, direction, set, lighting, performance
- Dora award: performance
- Governor General's Literary Award Finalist in"The Pochsy Plays"
- Winner: Alberta Writers Guild Award for Drama in "The Pochsy Plays"
Pure poetry spun smooth as silk ... Imagine Greek Tragedy by Betty Boop. (Montreal Gazette)
Alone in her hospital room, Pochsy muses on her job at mercury packers, dances with her i.v. pole, fever-dreams about her doctor, and transforms complex consumer obsessions into gossamer fantasies. Black comedy. Not for children.
- Written and performed by Karen Hines
- Directed by and written with the collaboration of Sandra Balcovske
- Score by Greg Morrison, David Hines and Karen Hines
- 1992: Fringe Festivals: Orlando, Montreal, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria
- Poor Alex Theatre (Toronto)
- 1993: Festival of Wrack and Ruin: Alice's Fourth Floor (N.Y.C.)
- 1994: Minneapolis Fringe, Mixed Blood Theatre, Denver International Women's Theatre Festival
- 1995: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Dallas Theatre Centre
- Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination: performance
- Governor General's Literary Award Finalist in "The Pochsy Plays"
- Winner: Alberta Writers Guild Award for Drama in "The Pochsy Plays"
Pochsy Productions: Upcoming Theatrical Projects
Drama
A black comedy in seven acts. In development under the auspices of Alberta Theatre projects: public reading March 6, 2010 as part of ATP's PlayRites Festival.
In development.
Plaid Blanket
Set at Chalk River circa 1950.
In development.