Comedy show by Louis-Josée Houde - Valspec

A treatise on memory, illness, and the people we love who leave us.

But I also do comedic moments!

For this new endeavor, I won't pull the "a more personal show..." trick.

I've already done that.

Here, I turn to others—to one other person in particular—and to an incurable illness that has taken our mother from us, my family and me: an inimitable iconoclast, a free thinker open to the world and its beauty; a lover of life who left a colossal impact on mine.

Our family's journey through the healthcare system, its flaws, its successes (yes, really...), our role as caregivers, and our rather curious collective relationship with aging and the fate of the elderly.

I wrote this show over a period of seven years. Through accompanying someone through illness, loss of independence, anger, and small rays of light. A personal diary that has become public.

My sister Marie is very much present in this. She's my teammate, the captain of our family ship. Here, in her words, is what I've been trying to express for some time now:

"That's what illness leaves behind: beauty. When the frenzy of obligations and life plans fades away, beauty remains. Not the formatted, garish kind imposed by the outside world, but the kind that hides in the in-between spaces of life. The ones we spend most of our lives not seeing because we're busy with other things. Moments suspended in the very heart of time. Little jokes, the tenderness of a caress, a knowing glance, a hummed tune. When illness erases everything from meaningful life, beauty remains."

*The show is sold out