Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT) opens 2025 with On The Other Hand, We’re Happy by Daf James featuring the celebrated 2022 Rogue Machine Theater cast from L.A., originally directed by Cameron Watson, whom the Wall Street Journal calls “the best in the country.” BCT brought this play as a reading last season, and after considerable acclaim, decided to fully produce it on their Main Stage for their 24|25 Season. Previews start Wednesday, January 22 and shows continue through Saturday, February 8, 2025.
On The Other Hand, We’re Happy by award-winning Welsh playwright Daf James is a play about love, hope, and redemption crafted around a young couple’s dreams of adopting. A single dad agrees to meet his adopted daughter’s birth mother. Will what they have in common outweigh their differences? Three lives forever changed. A tender, funny, hopeful play about being a mum when your name is Dad. In the playwright’s words, “Fundamentally, this is a play about love. I hope it will give people an insight into adoption, challenge presumptions across class, and give audiences a chance to interrogate their own sense of social responsibility. It seems to me that we’re increasingly in need of stories of hope and redemption.”
Winning the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for the 2022 production, On The Other Hand, We’re Happy garnered this praise from the LA Times, “Good theater that challenges us to rethink our concept of family and social obligation.” The Times UK called it, “A funny, tender and endearing play… bring tissues but expect to laugh.” Theatre Weekly gave it five stars and called it, “Quite simply a triumph… a piece you cannot afford to miss.”
Producing Artistic Director Benjamin Burdick added, “I had the incredible fortune of being directed by Cam Watson in one of the last plays that I did. And I played opposite Alexandra Hellquist. To have their incredible talents come to Boise is hard to believe. Adding Christian and Rori to that mix, with Daf James’s hilarious and touching script means even more. I am so excited to bring all of it to BCT’s amazing patrons.”
Production Details:
On the Other Hand, We’re Happy
by Daf James
January 22 – February 8, 2025
Cast:
Rori Flynn
Alexandra Hellquist
Christian Telesmar
Production and Design Team:
Director – Cameron Watson
Stage Manager – Elena Maddy
Technical Director – Nicholas Jules Hewitt
Scenic Designer – Stephanie Kerley Schwartz
Sound Designer – Chris Moscatiello
Lighting Designer – Jared Sayeg
Master Electrician – Matthew Wagner
Wardrobe – Cassandra McCarty
Sound Engineer – Brayden Buckley
Previews: 7 PM Wed, Jan 22 – Fri, Jan 24, 2025
Pay What You Want Night: First preview, 7 PM Wednesday, Jan 22, and the last Wednesday, Feb 5. No online sales: pay what you want at the door. Accepting cash and cards (cards incur a small transaction fee).
First Thursday Happy Hour: 5:30-6:30 PM, Thursday, Feb 6. Only at our box office during this happy hour event get 20% off tickets to any performance of this play (excluding closing night). Local artist reception with charcuterie and discounted tap beers from Esto Indie, wines generously provided by Hayden Beverage. Also available for purchase are coffee from Dawson Taylor, and treats from The Chocolat Bar, City Peanut Shop, and Yeast and West.
Opening Night: 7 PM Saturday, Jan 25. Tickets to opening night include the exclusive after party!
Educators’ Night: 7 PM Wednesday, Jan 29. Any school district employee with a valid school I.D. may buy one $20 ticket through our box office with code EDUNIGHT25. Show school I.D. at the door. (Not just for teachers, but any school district employee with a school I.D.).
Post-Show Convos: 2 PM Sat, Feb 1, & 7 PM Fri, Feb 7. Stay after the performance to talk with actors and other theater makers.
Closing Night: 7 PM Saturday, Feb 8.
Performances run Wednesday through Saturday for three weeks, January 22 – February 8, 2025. More information and performance times are available at https://bctheater.org/2425-mainstage-season/on-the-other-hand-were-happy/.
Tickets: $32 to $45, plus tax and fees. Previews: $28, Students: $15, Military 20% off with code MILITARY20. Available online at https://bctheater.ludus.com/ or by calling the BCT box office at 208-331-9224.
For more information, please visit:
Playwright Daf James: https://curtisbrown.co.uk/client/daf-james
Pay What You Want Night: https://bctheater.org/pay-what-you-want-night/
First Thursday Happy Hour Event: https://bctheater.org/first-thursday-happy-hour-event/
Educators’ Night: https://bctheater.org/educators-night/
About Boise Contemporary Theater
Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT) is a professional nonprofit theater company in Boise, Idaho, whose mission is to inspire our community to examine our perspectives and better understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us by creating thought-provoking stories of the human experience. Founded in 1997, BCT is the only nonprofit professional theater within 300 miles dedicated to producing challenging new work. BCT is a recipient of the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, a two-time recipient of the National Theater Company Award from the American Theater Wing, and the 2022-23 City of Boise Cultural Ambassador. Currently in its 27th season, BCT has presented over 100 Main Stage productions, including over 25 world premieres such as Eric Coble’s The Velocity of Autumn (which continued to Broadway).
