Soft Squishy Things Trailer
ABOUT
Soft Squishy Things Co-Created by Robin Leveroos & Eric Rose
A tiny, lo-fi sci-fi odyssey with a big, soft, squishy heart.
A trans-fem astronaut is stranded in space… so she starts making things.
A Kleenex becomes an alien pet. A humidifier becomes her hype squad. Flashlights terraform entire worlds. Cotton balls drift through galaxies that look suspiciously like your Mom’s ironing board..
Inside this handmade tabletop universe, nothing is wasted, everything and everybody is transformed into a companion, an absurd ritual… a reason to keep going.
Part object-theatre magic, part cosmic daydream, Soft Squishy Things is funny, strange, and unexpectedly moving, a playful, tender ride through loneliness, identity, and the beautifully weird ways we create connection when there’s nothing left to hold onto.
Come for the miniature DIY sci-fi. Stay for the soft squishy feelings.
Performance History & Future
SummerWorks Performance Festival: https://summerworks.ca
Schaubude Berlin: https://schaubude.berlin/en/
Performance History
Soft Squishy Things is an original devised object-theatre performance co-created by Eric Rose and Robin Leveroos through an ongoing international collaboration between Ghost River Theatre (Canada) and Macromatter (Germany).
Originally conceived under the working title Transcendent Space, the project has evolved through a multi-year artistic dialogue between Rose and Leveroos, exploring how ordinary household objects can evoke the vast emotional and physical landscape of outer space.
Creative Lineage
Soft Squishy Things is the third major collaboration between Eric Rose and Robin Leveroos, following GIANT, an award-winning visual theatre production exploring the mythology of André the Giant, and STRUCK, an innovative live-cinema performance combining object manipulation, live Foley, projection, and devised theatre. Together, these works represent an ongoing artistic investigation into materiality, visual metaphor, and the hidden emotional lives of objects.
Development
January 27 – February 9, 2025
Phase One Development Laboratory — Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Produced by Ghost River Theatre, the first creation laboratory established the project's visual language, object vocabulary, and devising methodology.
May 2026
Macromatter International Residency — Berlin, Germany
A two-week residency focused on scenographic research, object experimentation, and performance development while deepening the international partnership between Ghost River Theatre and Macromatter.
Performances
August 13-15th, 2026
Avant-Premiere — SummerWorks Performance Festival, Toronto, Ontario
Selected for the SummerWorks Presentation Series, Soft Squishy Things receives its first public performances prior to its official world premiere.
Venue
Factory Theatre Studio
THU AUG 13, 9:00 PM
FRI AUG 14, 7:30 PM
SAT AUG 15, 3:00 PM
Upcoming
November 11-15th, 2026
World Premiere — Schaubude Berlin, Germany
January–February 2027
Canadian Premiere — Ghost River Theatre, Calgary, Alberta
Availability
Designed for international touring, Soft Squishy Things is a technically nimble production suitable for black box theatres, studio venues, festivals, galleries, museums, and unconventional performance spaces.
Current Status
Running Time: 60 minutes
Audience: 10+ (Primarily Adult Audiences)
Language: Non-verbal
Touring Company: Two artists plus one touring technician (as required)
Genre: Contemporary Object Theatre • Visual Theatre • Devised Performance • Lo-Fi Sci-Fi
World Premiere: Schaubude Berlin (November 2026)
Canadian Premiere: Ghost River Theatre (January–February 2027)
in the MEDIA
CREATIVE TEAM
Robin Leveroos
Co-Creator, Designer, and Performer
-
Robin Leveroos (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and insatiable tinkerer. Her practice focuses on queer use of objects, experimental animation, and playfully questioning how we see and experience the material world around us. In addition to producing Macromatter works, she also collaborates with other artists and companies as a performer and scenographer.
Some presentation highlights include: Schaubude, Berlin, Festival de Casteliers, Montreal, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver, Macau Puppet and Object Theatre Festival, Macau, Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design, Prague, World Stage Design ScenoFest, Taipei, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Originally from Minneapolis, MN, Robin immigrated to Canada in 2005. She graduated from The National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal and holds an MFA in Performance and Design from Simon Fraser University. She served three seasons running the youth programming at The Cultch in East Vancouver, and continues to work with youth and young artists of all ages. Now residing in Berlin, some passions include reading, cycling, farming, sewing, jewelry design, and rave dancing.macromatter.com
Eric Rose
Co-Creator and Director
-
Eric is an award-winning director, deviser, playwright, educator, and the Artistic Director of Calgary’s acclaimed Ghost River Theatre (GRT). Eric’s work is fueled by his dyslexic brain and is characterized by a striking audio-visual aesthetic that embraces the impossible, constantly reframing and rediscovering what theatre is and what it is capable of. Eric’s passion for the creative process has inspired the diversity of his performance experience, spanning sensory, experiential, site-specific, immersive, and devised performance, as well as large-scale contemporary, classical, and design-driven theatre and dance.
As a sought-after teacher, Eric has shared his unique approach to theatrical creation with students and professionals worldwide. For GRT, Eric has taught its 4-Day and National 3-Week Devised Theatre Intensives for the last 15 years. He has taught for the Young Vic in London UK, Prague Quadrennial of Performance and Design, Kathy Knowles Theatre Company in Accra, Revolutions International Festival in Albuquerque, and across Canada at various post-secondary institutions and festivals. Eric has been honoured to be the Playwright in Residence at Alberta Theatre Projects, be named to Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, and receive the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Artist Award for his body of work as a theatrical innovator.
Recent GRT credits include: Concept/Co-Creator, Echoes of the Land (Betty Award Best Musical Direction); playwright /director STRUCK (Betty Nomination Best New Play); director/co-playwright SensoryBox; director/co-playwright GIANT (Betty Mitchell Nomination Outstanding Director & New Play – Award for Outstanding Ensemble); concept/direction/co-creation of Intuition Project; co-adaptor, sound designer and director Tomorrow’s Child (Edinburgh Fringe), director/co-playwright TheLast Voyage of Donald Crowhurst (Betty Mitchell Awards for Outstanding Production, Direction, NewPlay and shortlisted for the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Prize in Playwriting).
Additional credits include directing a lab workshop of Troilus & Cressida for Stratford Festival; concept/co-creator I am Canada, Canadian Museum for Human Rights; concept/co-creator TropiCalgary, GLOW Festival; director/co-creator A Date With The Night for The Globe Theatre; director/dramaturg a new version of Hannah Moscovitch’s The Huron Bride for Vertigo Theatre; director the Canadian premiere of The Kite Runner for Theatre Calgary/Citadel Theatre; director/co-playwright Once Upon an Atom Bomb with Jennie Esdale and David Rhymer for the Green Fools Physical Theatre; director/co-playwright Peril in Paris with Ethan Cole (Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play) a new musical for Lunchbox Theatre; director/dramaturg The Forbidden Sacrifice for the Kathy Knowles Theatre Company in Ghana.
For Film and TV, Mr. Rose recently co-wrote the feature documentary Close the Divide (AMPIA Award Best Documentary Screenwriter). He co-wrote / co-directed a new 5-part streaming series, So Dark the Sky (TOWebFest Award for Best Sci-fi Series), which has been screened at over 15 international festivals. He is currently co-writing a feature film with Kyle Thomas, which is in development for North Country Cinema.