Happy Face

Marion, AJ, and Tom have everything they ever pictured. Tom and Jill are newlyweds, AJ and Terry just adopted baby, and Marion is preparing to send her daughter Sarah off to college--everything is falling into place. But on the brink of these new beginnings one phone call changes everything. Marion, AJ, and Tom all face an unexpected diagnosis. Their worlds collide at the Cancer Center as they step into a life they never intended. Jill and Terry wrestle with how to walk alongside their spouses as they face grueling treatment schedules and the societal expectation to always stay positive. When a quirky neighbor tries to help, the pairs end up facing a never-ending onslaught of platitudes, empty self-help promises, and proffered silver lining. As treatment drags on, relationships fracture the cracks begin to show. When neither chemo nor casseroles yield what they longed for, hope becomes the greatest danger of all. Happy Face is a new musical that explores the journey people take when the possibility of death shows up much earlier than expected. If laughter is the best medicine, Happy Face provides a cocktail of both heart and humor. Connection and community are the heart of this show, and audiences will see themselves in both the characters and situations. Happy Face offers a voice to those who have been touched by cancer, grief, or any difficult situation where putting on a happy face was the expectation and somehow nearly impossible.