“Savagely funny!”
— Glenn Sumi, Now Magazine

“DARKLY COMEDIC AND EMOTIONALLY DARING”

— Andrea Warner, The Georgia Straight

“LIKE A MIKE HOLMES EPISODE PENNED

BY FRANZ KAFKA”

— J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail

CRAWLSPACE

Created and performed by Karen Hines

Award-winning writer and performer Karen Hines explores the darker side of real estate in CRAWLSPACE, a comic, Kafka-esque monologue that snakes through the brutal battleground of real estate, decorative twig orbs and the state of the human soul.

CRAWLSPACE is inspired by Hines’ true story of buying a fully detached 'condo alternative' in a hip downtown neighbourhood in a heated market... and how it all went horribly, nightmarishly wrong. The story became a National Magazine Award-nominated feature called My Little House of Horrors (Swerve Magazine). It was then adapted as a stage play and readings were performed for ‘boutique’ audiences in an Edmonton basement, a Northern Ontario dining room, and a tiny Toronto kitchen. CRAWLSPACE premiered publicly at Videofag, a cultural hub in a storefront space in Toronto’s Kensington Market.

From 2015–2018, CRAWLSPACE has enjoyed sold-out theatrical runs and staged readings: Edmonton, Calgary’s Wordfest, Debajehmujig, Vancouver and twice in Toronto, where the play was nominated for 5 Dora Mavor Moore Awards including Best New Play. Published by Coach House Books, CRAWLSPACE was finalist for the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Award for Best New Play, and recently won the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Literary Prize for Best Play. The High Performance Rodeo marks Crawlspace’s first theatrical run in Calgary.

Now being adapted as a feature film, CRAWLSPACE is a darkly comedic tale that moves past ‘cautionary’ as it unearths the darker side

of property ownership.

CAVEAT EMPTOR.

HIGH PERFORMANCE RODEO

(Calgary Theatrical Premiere)

January 15 — 19, 2019

Crawlspace is a comic, Kafka-esque monologue about the darker side of home ownership that moves past “cautionary” as it snakes through the brutal battleground of real estate, decorative twig orbs and the state of the human soul.

upcoming productions

Read the full reviews here

“A wonderful piece of theatre created and delivered by

a master of understatement

to great effect.”

— Lynn Slotkin,

The Slotkin Letter, Toronto

“One of the ten best productions of 2015.”

— J. Kelly Nestruck,

The Globe and Mail

“A blistering commentary on our consumer culture. Pitch-black funny.”

— Jo Ledingham,

Vancouver Theatre Reviews

PRESS QUOTES

"The captivating Hines spins a good yarn… and Hines’s cautionary tale is, of course, more relevant than ever. Her giant middle finger to the system is potent therapy for everyone feeling left behind or shut out from the dream (or nightmare?) of home ownership."

— Jordan Bimm, NOW, Soulpepper, Toronto

"Hines’s performance is wonderful, but the real magic here is her writing. Crawlspace is full of incredible details and observations … darkly comedic and emotionally daring. Crawlspace is resistance theatre and it’s nothing short of inspiring."

— Andrea Warner, The Georgia Straight, Boca del Lupo, Vancouver

"Revealing her story like a gothic thriller with a shadowy real estate agent, a duplicitous seller … she pushes its impact beyond shock value through sheer ability and mastery of her craft."

— Carly Maga, Toronto Star

"Hines’s story is about what happens when we let greed undermine decency—her character accuses herself of being credulous, but it’s much clearer that she was massively deceived… Fear not. Hines finds hilarity in darkness as surely as a pig finds truffles in the mud."

— Colin Thomas, Vancouver

"Crafty, comical and self mocking, Karen Hines’s one-woman show Crawlspace
will draw you in."

— Robert Cu shman, National Post, Toronto

"A blistering commentary on our consumer culture. Pitch-black funny."

— Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Theatre Reviews

"Hines at her most horrifyingly hilarious."

— J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe & Mail

For more info and licensing inquiries, please contact:

To download a press kit
CLICK HERE

crawlspaceplay@gmail.com