take rimbaud
By Susanna Fournier
May 6 – 23, 2026
A Howland Company production in partnership with Buddies
Toronto, 2014 / Paris, 1871 / hell, always
This is why I quit art.
Four poets, a sloppy love triangle, an unfinished art film, and an electric oven. Can we still talk about the apocalypse as if it hasn’t already happened? It’s 2014 in Toronto (hell) and 1871 in France (also hell). The artists torture themselves to make work that means something rightnow, but time feels slippery and no narrative can keep them safe.
A performance poem imagining the worlds of Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, Sylvia Plath, Sappho, and post-art school malaise, take rimbaud flirts with creation, revolution, and violence at the end of the world.
photo of Susanna Fournier, photography + creative direction by Fran Chudnoff, styling by CC Calica, makeup by Rahnell Branton
The Howland Company is one of Toronto’s leading independent theatre companies that strives for innovation on and off stage. Artist-led and art-driven, Howland is dedicated to the production of electric stories that speak to the world and the times in which we live. The Howland Company seeks to challenge and inspire audiences through productions, training, and community initiatives like The Reading Group, fostering a new wave of theatre makers and theatre-goers.
Mature themes and language, haze, strobe and flashing lights, use of a prop weapon, suicide, substance abuse, gunshot and loud sounds, partial nudity, honey nut Cheerios with “natural almond flavour” eaten on stage.
Susanna Fournier // playwright
ted witzel // director
Thomas Mitchell Barnet // actor, R
Julian De Zotti // actor, Paul
Ruth Goodwin // actor, Sylv
Rose Tuong// actor, Sapph
Breton Lalama // actor, 1
Hallie Seline // actor, 2
Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster // actor, 3
Cameron Laurie // actor, 4
Troy Taylor // stage manager
Jenna Borsato // apprentice stage manager
Ting – Huan 挺歡 Christine Urquhart // set + costume designer
Darren Shaen // lighting designer
Nicole Eun-Ju Bell // projection designer
Dasha Plett // composer + sound designer
Chanti Laliberte // wardrobe support
Chala Hunter // intimacy director
Julia Dyan // fight director
Meredith Wolting // scenic painter
Rebecca Vandevelde // production manager
Buy Tickets
Dates + Times
Preview
May 6 // 7:30PM
Show Run
May 6 – 23
Wed – Fri // 7:30PM
Sat // 2PM + 7:30PM
Mask Mandatory Performance
Saturday, May 16 // 2PM
Tickets
$10 / $25 / $45 / $75 + fees
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