Tough Guy

By Hayley Moorhouse

Tough Guy follows a group of friends as they navigate the aftermath of a shooting at Aria, a queer nightclub. 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.

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Image Description: The word "Tough" is projected on a black background 3 times. The words are stacked one on top of the other, in all caps and a bright red neon font. In front of the words there is a distorted image of a person screaming. They have shoulder length black hair and are wearing black clothes. Their hands are in fists at their sides. 

Photo Credit: Brianne Jang

Image featuring Jasmine Hopfe

• Drama
• $26.00 inc $4.00 fee
• October 28, 2025-November 8, 2025
• 75 minutes
• Fringe Theatre Arts Barns
• Backstage Theatre
• 14A
• 
  Contains: Adult Language/Content, Death, Drugs/Alcohol, Violence, Homophobic and Transphobic Violence, Gun Violence