Winner of the Spotlight Award at the 2008 Summerworks Festival in Toronto and named by NOW Magazine as an OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE in its ”best of the fest” list, I’m So Close… is a newly devised, physical, tragic comedy conceived and created by the award-winning international ensemble, Why Not Theatre.  I’m So Close… is a heartbreaking love song, droned out by the hum of the technological landscape that is bringing us together and pushing us apart.

 

In I’m So Close..., Steve (Troels Hagen Findsen) finds himself plunged into the fast-paced world of billion dollar business in his desire to make the world a greener place. His success propels him to dive more and more into his iphone and to drift further and further away from his wife Stella (Katrina Bugaj). And Raj (Ravi Jain), Steve’s IVA – “Indian Virtual Assistant” –lives in New Delhi with his daily companion Tycho, a Danish gold'sh.

Why Not Theatre’s acclaimed productions include The Prince Hamlet and Spent, among others. Additionally,  Co-Artistic Director Ravi Jain directed Greenland by Nicolas Billon for Summerworks 2009 where it won the SummerWorks Prize for Outstanding Production and NOW Magazine’s Audience Choice Award. Recently, Jain was named one of 2010's People to Watch by the Toronto Star.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Ravi Jain trained at LAMDA in London, England, graduated with honours from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a recent graduate of the 2 year program of Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. As a director Ravi has directed various pieces in Athens and Paris, as well as Classics like Antigone, Hamlet and Othello in New York City.  Ravi is the Artistic Director of the newly formed international theatre company Why Not Theatre, which garnered rave reviews for their production The Prince Hamlet in Toronto, which was hailed “an astonishingly absorbing piece of theatre” by Paula Citron of the Globe and Mail.  Ravi directed Winter Soldier at the Theatre Centre, an evening of stories from the front lines of Iraq.

Ravi has taught extensively in Singapore, Brazil, Kenya, Italy, Canada and the US.  Teaching workshops in physical theatre, devising theatre, mask, clown, commedia, and storytelling as independent workshops or with companies.  He has also given lectures at McGill University and given many classes at Upper Canada College. ?Ravi is also program director of Schools Without Borders and uses theatre to bridge divides with youth from all backgrounds, races and classes.

I'm So Close ...

Created as part of The Theatre Centre Residency Program

Written by, directed by and starring Ravi Jain (Canada), Katrina Bugaj (USA) and Troels Hagen Findsen (Denmark)