‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’ hits Calgary’s Vertigo Theatre Valentine’s weekend
Posted Feb 10, 2026 10:39 am.
Last Updated Feb 12, 2026 10:39 am.
If you were going to kidnap a celebrity and force them into marriage, who would you pick? It may depend on your age.
A dark comedy about celebrity obsession, teenage fantasy, and parasocial relationships is landing in Calgary just in time for Valentine’s Day weekend.
I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire, by U.S. playwright Samantha Hurley, runs Feb. 12-15 in The Studio at Vertigo Theatre, and is presented by Baker Miller Pink arts collective.
The 90-minute, one-act play is set in 2004 and centres on a 14-year-old girl who kidnaps actor Tobey Maguire at the height of his “Spider-Man” fame and forces him into an imagined engagement.
The play has previously been staged off Broadway and on the West End. This Calgary production marks Baker Miller Pink’s first presentation as a resident company at Vertigo Theatre.
“It’s a wild ride for sure,” says director Cayley Wreggitt, who is also a creative partner with the company.
“It’s the show that is really about parasocial relationships with celebrities and how we feel less alone when we feel like there’s a celebrity who experiences the same things we do, and how that could potentially run the other way in the show.”
Baker Miller Pink is a multidisciplinary arts collective based in Calgary and Edmonton, focused on female-led storytelling. The company has been operating for nearly four years and is presenting its first of two shows in its mini-season this year.
This production leans heavily into its Y2K setting, using thrifted props and period-specific details to anchor the story. Audiences can expect visual references to early-2000s pop culture, including music, dance, and nostalgic design elements.
As an interdisciplinary company, Baker Miller Pink has also incorporated movement and music into the production, including choreographed sequences and a Britney Spears montage that reflects the cultural moment the play inhabits.
At ninety minutes with no intermission, the show moves quickly and relies on sharp tonal shifts. “It’s really funny,” Wreggitt says. “Every time you think that you know what’s happening, there’s a twist where you’re just taken totally off guard.”
While the premise is extreme, Wreggitt says the themes are familiar. The play explores how easily identification with celebrities can slip into obsession, particularly for young people navigating isolation and identity in a media-saturated world.
Information about the show and how to snag tickets can be found on the Baker Miller Pink Instagram page.
