About

We are fundraising to support the launch of The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale -- its premiere in London (UK) & Canadian tour.

W H A T I S T H E E X - B O Y F R I E N D Y A R D S A L E ?
The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale is a multi-platform (massive) project about the cost of love, led by artist Haley McGee (me) in collaboration with math expert Melanie Phillips & a dream team of artists and mathematicians. It's comprised of two parts: a live theatre show & an interactive art exhibition.

W H A T I N S P I R E D T H I S P R O J E C T ?
A couple years ago I found myself on the phone with my credit card company promising to pay off my bill by having a yard sale. As I said this, I looked around my apartment and realised the only things I own, that have financial value, are all gifts from my ex-boyfriends.

As I began to pack up these objects to sell, I started to wonder what they were really worth, given all the ways we invest (or don’t) in our romantic relationships -- and all the ways our romantic relationships cost us.

I started to wonder, how can we determine a price for the objects we’re left with after a relationship ends? A price that accounts for all of the time, emotion and money we invested in the relationship? Can we turn sentimental value into cold, hard cash?

I got obsessed with these questions, and started reaching out to people who know how to create mathematical formulas. And so, The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale was born.

A B O U T T H E L I V E T H E A T R E S H O W
Hilarious and daring, the live theatre show smashes together personal divulgences, maths, recorded interviews with Haley's ex-boyfriends, economics and the politics of commerce in a quest to determine what our romantic relationships are actually worth. This autobiographical work offers eight items “for sale” – all gifts from Haley’s exes – and introduces a brand new mathematical formula, written by expert Melanie Phillips, to calculate the cost of love. The show is directed by Mitchell Cushman.

A B O U T T H E E X H I B I T I O N
Playful, poignant and interactive, the exhibition features the same eight items given to Haley by different ex-boyfriends. The public is invited to engage with the exhibit as much or as little as they wish — they can appraise Haley’s objects, listen to audio interviews with her exes and even contribute their stories about how love has cost them. We piloted the Exhibition in London at Meanwhile Art Space/Euston Square in June 2018.

W H E N & W H E R E
The live theatre show will premiere in London (UK) at the Camden People’s Theatre, running for 3-weeks, November-December 2018. And in March 2019, both the live show & the exhibition will tour in Canada to The Belfry Theatre's SPARK Festival (Victoria), Pi Theatre (Vancouver) and Outside the March (Toronto).