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"Let's Start A Country!" is a live, experimental comedy show opening July 2nd at the Tarragon Theatre Mainspace, created and performed by Brit-ish semi-professional nation-builder Gerard Harris and his trusty French-Canadian Lieutenant Al Lafrance. Each night, under the mostly benevolent leadership of these two brave pioneers, the audience-cum-Parliament will pass laws, establish a system of justice and create a national culture from scratch, resulting in a brand new country to call their own. The question is, what does this mean for Canada?
The framework for these nations was constructed by Gerard, with significant contributions both to the foundations and the filigree by Al and Asaf Gerchak, the previous Deputy Leader, a resident GTAlien recently returned from serving life without parole for crimes against huge manatees on a large floating prison 1000 miles west of New Zealand
| Let's Start A Country! en: Let's Start A Country! |
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| Micronation | |||
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| Anthem: | Not sure yet but we've put a good man on it | ||
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| Status | Awaiting UN recognition | ||
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| Area claimed | About 1200 sq ft (more if we can colonise the sidewalk) | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Population | ~200 if we sell out | ||
| Date of Foundation | July 2, 22:30 July 4, 17:45 |
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| Organisational structure | Parliamentary Free-For-All | ||
| Leadership | Resident-For-Life Rabbi General Sir Gerardo B. Hardspear | ||
| Deputy Leadership | French Lieutenant Al-Cadian “Vive” LaFrance | ||
| Constitutional Head | TBA | ||
| Currency | TBA | ||
| Capital | Parliament Square, Tarragon Theatre | ||
| Demonym | TBA | ||
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Territory edit
Tarragon Theatre, located at 1 Main St. (formerly 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto) is our proud new territory. Starting life as a Kosher brothel before being converted into an experimental theatre space, this well-appointed original brick façade and legacy property is now home to a seated auditorium with a fully-functioning washroom and no condo fees. Shares a border with Canada.
Government edit
Modelled on the British Parliamentary system, the State decision-making machinery functions as a unique system of direct, instantaneous democracy, unencumbered by partisan politics, red tape or quaint notions accountability. The noble citizens of these brave new nations will get whatever society they wish for and will, accordingly, have only themselves to blame.
Economy edit
Revenues come mainly from Immigration fees for the Standard Entry Visa and any loose change found under the seats from previous shows.
Culture edit
Every country needs a national holiday, defence strategy and pizza topping. Ours will be no different.
History edit
During the Montreal Fringe Festival of 2012, 6 sell-out nations were created to great critical acclaim and nominative recognition from well-known Canadian NGO's Just For Laughs, Cirque du Soleil and the Centaur Theatre for Best Comedy, Best Original Production and Best Script respectively. Most impressively of all, it actually broke even. 4 more nations were created at the Mainline Theatre, Montreal in the Spring of 2013 and 5 more at the Theatre LaChappelle for Just For Laughs' Zoofest 2013.
Founding Fathers edit
Gerard Harris edit
Rabbi General Sir Gerardo B Hardspear is a comedian, storyteller, writer, actor and musician from the UK. He performs all over the world and has writing, performing and production credits with the BBC, Channel 4 UK, CBC, CTV, Vice Magazine, the Montreal Biennale and amongst many others. CBC listeners may recognise his posh lispy voice from multiple appearances on Wiretap with Jonathan Goldstein, art lovers from the most recent edition of Canadian Art (Page 7), British comedy fans have heard his jokes performed on stage and TV by Jimmy Carr and train-obsessed 5 year olds would know him from his scriptwriting work on the popular TV show Chuggington if they gave a damn about reading the credits. A recent alumni of the Banff Centre’s Spoken Word programme, he is currently touring the hit storytelling show A Tension To Detail (formerly Verbal Diarrhea, Actual Diarrhea) across Canada, the US, the UK and South Africa this year, debuting his new storytelling show Attention Seeker at the Montreal Fringe 2015 and of course bringing the Montreal Fringe and Zoofest hit Let’s Start A Country! to Toronto. His next project will be writing, producing and performing a show about Tourette’s Syndrome in collaboration with acclaimed musician Andrew Whiteman (Broken Social Scene, Apostle of Hustle, AroarA).
Al Lafrance edit
Al "French Lieutenant Al-Cadian "Vive" LaFrance" Lafrance is an award-winning storyteller, comedian, writer and producer based in Montreal. His storytelling show “The Quitter” won the Just for Laughs Award for Best Comedy at the Montreal Fringe 2014 and was subsequently performed in Regina, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festivals. He is the co-founder of Solos, Montreal’s only solo theatre festival and also runs the renowned Montreal Sketchfest. Recent directorial credits include Alain Mercieca’s “Adopted at Death and Jennifer Ansell-Clark’s “Speak Truth of the Dead” which both received critical success and he will be directing Katie Leggitt’s “The Shiner” at the Montreal Fringe 2015.
Founding Mother edit
Holly Gauthier-Frankel edit
Holly is an award-winning actress, burlesque performer, comedian and accomplished singer of all 13 notes in any order. She is also the only cast or crew member to have [[Holly_Gauthier-Frankel|her own wikipedia page] and she is our secret weapon, with the emphasis on secret. Though her background is in Christian Hymns and Pagan Sea Shanties, she has recently released an EP in the modern Jazz idiom with the Miss Sugarpuss Quintet. You can find out more information by asking her.