They’re all nursing wounds, visible and invisible, and are thrown into further turmoil when their friend Emerson, a rising star in the independent film scene, comes back home to film a documentary about the shooting. How do we go on when the unthinkable happens? What does it mean to point a camera at a catastrophe? How does queerness endure, time and time again? 

Winner of the 2025 Westbury Family Theatre Award and the 2025 Alberta Playwriting Competition, Tough Guy is at once an excavation of a tragedy and a celebration of the tenacity of queer joy. It’s gripping, visceral, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, always unapologetic.

CAST

Mel Bahniuk
Michelle Diaz
Jasmine Hopfe
Marguerite Lawler
Autumn Strom

CREATIVE TEAM

Playwright/Producer - Hayley Moorhouse
Director - Brett Dahl
Dramaturg - Evan Medd
Stage Manager - Jess Haight
Production Manager - Liv Bunge
Set/Lighting Designer - Lieke den Bakker
Sound Designer - Kena León
Projection Designer - Ian Jackson

Persistent Myth Productions engages professional Artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the terms of the INDIE 3.0.