Many Happy Returns

You likely have no idea what this show is. And we love that. After the show’s many extensions in New York, WMPAC is incredibly excited to bring Many Happy Returns by Monica Bill Barnes & Co to Big Sky for the Montana premiere. Come sit on stage in an intimate crowd to laugh and find joy in a heartwarming evening of dance and storytelling.

Created by Robbie Saenz de Viteri and Monica Bill Barnes, Many Happy Returns is like a memory play, if memory plays had more dances. There is language. There is movement. There is the possibility that it’ll never be this way again. And there’s the possibility that it will always be the same. They Monica Bill Barnes & Company began with a suitcase of costumes and a collection of solos that could be performed anywhere. Since the company’s inception in 1997, founder Monica Bill Barnes has worked with numerous artists and performers, including long-time collaborators/designers Jane Cox and Kelly Hanson and performer Anna Bass, in developing relatable work with a subversive sense of humor.

Check Out Monica and Robbie at Baryshnikov Arts

Since 2013, MBB&CO has been led by Monica Barnes in partnership with Robbie Saenz de Viteri. Under their direction, the company’s mission has evolved to “bringing dance where it doesn’t belong.” Together, Barnes and Saenz de Viteri make performances that combine their shared interest in the underlying comedy at work in our lives and create shows that strive to find something sacred in the mundane. They cross genres between dance, theater, storytelling, creative nonfiction, feminist treatises, and comedy. Their work has traveled to a wide range of theaters ranging from off-Broadway’s WP Theater to The Sydney Opera House, and many in between. They’ve also created performances in malls, conference rooms, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and interactive websites. They redefine what constitutes performance in every show, while maintaining the audience’s experience as the center of everything they create. Their work has been honored by the Bessie Awards, the Lilly Awards, and the Chita Rivera Awards, as well as numerous foundations.