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In 2017, when the public agency Waterfront Toronto decided to put up a parcel of land for development, Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Google’s Alphabet Inc., swept in with a proposal to create the city of the future. Waterfront Toronto jumped at the opportunity to advance housing sustainability and affordability by exploring Alphabet’s innovative technology and data-driven techniques. But the project quickly started to fall apart from uneasy partnerships, sclerotic local politics, and an overwhelmingly negative public response.
In this biting comedy about the failure to build a smart city in Toronto, Michael Healey lampoons the corporate drama, epic personalities, and iconic Canadian figures involved in the messy affair between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto. Based on the bestselling exposé, Sideways: The City Google Couldn't Buy by Josh O’Kane, The Master Plan exposes the hubris of big tech, the feebleness of government, and the dangers of public consultation with sharp wit and insightful commentary.
Michael Healey spent a decade as an actor before writing his first play. His second play, The Drawer Boy, was a surprise success and gave him eight years of runway to learn how to write. He needed every minute. Plays from this period include Generous, Courageous, Proud, The Innocent Eye Test, Plan B, and Rune Arlidge. He has collaborated with dead, unwitting playwrights like Chekhov, Molnar, and Hecht and MacArthur on adaptations for Stratford, Shaw, and Soulpepper. More recently he has adapted nonfiction by journalists in plays like The Master Plan and Rogers v. Rogers.