How the Flin Flon Cowboy made his way to a Toronto stage

Toronto's theatre season includes a number of intriguing shows for 2024-25, from Goblin:Macbeth (the Shakespeare classic as performed by goblins) over at Tarragon Theatre to established blockbusters such as The Lion King luxuriating there in the city's more opulent theatre palaces.

But tucked away in the listings is a title that would give any visiting Manitoban pause. Theatre Passe Muraille, a warm, intimate brick-and-wood theatre space a few blocks off Bathurst near Queen, offers a new country-western musical, titled The Flin Flon Cowboy, from Oct. 19 to Nov. 2.

The promotional material for the show promises "country music and queer crip love" and "freedom and fetishes."

And just who is the Flin Flon Cowboy?

Meet Ken Harrower, a long-haired gentleman in a motorized wheelchair, demonstrating no visible signs of yippie-ki-yay in the days prior to rehearsal, sporting a blue and white striped T-shirt and charcoal grey sweatpants.

Harrower does indeed hail from Flin Flon, a Manitoba community of just over 5,000 people that's about 630 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

He was born there 63 years ago with a condition commonly known as AMC, or arthrogryposis multiplex congenita. It's a term encompassing a variety of conditions involving multiple joint contractures — a tightening of muscles, tendons and skin that causes joints to shorten.

He has used a wheelchair all his life, and faced many challenges alone, spending his first five years "mostly in the hospital," he said.

"A worker told me my mom had put me into a garbage can," Harrower said during an interview in a darkened rehearsal space adjoining the theatre, speaking in a cadence that is halting, yet firmly assertive.

"After that, I ended up becoming a ward of the province of Manitoba from about age five."

He was moved to Winnipeg, where he cycled through five foster families until he turned 18. The experiences, recounted in the play, varied from abusive to empowering.

When he was around 19 or 20, the social worker he had through the Society for Crippled Children and Adults of Manitoba (later the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities and now Manitoba Possible) gave him an ultimatum, he said.

"That was either I go into an institution, or I go it alone. And I told her, 'F--k no, I'm not moving into an institution.'"

Pursuing a dream

That decision was the start of a series of highs and lows for Harrower. But he did realize a dream of living a life beyond Winnipeg, including a move to Vancouver in 1986 and then to Waterloo, Ont., in 1987, where he went to university and finally confronted a long-suppressed aspect of himself.

"I knew from about age 10 that I liked the guys. But I didn't come out openly until about 1997-98, when I was about 37," he said.

"I left Waterloo because it had a small gay community and I just found it hard to fit in," he said. "And I had gotten myself into some awkward situations."

In 1999, Harrower finally landed in Toronto, where he began to realize many dreams, including becoming an actor, which he pursued by attending the acting program at Toronto Film School.

"I started in 2011 at the acting school, and I found out that most of the teachers made a bet that I wouldn't go all the way through," Harrower said. "But I ended up graduating in 2013 with honours."

He continued to pursue a film career, acting in a couple of short films before deciding to make a place for himself on stage.

That started in earnest when he cold-called Marjorie Chan, then the artistic director at Cahoots Theatre on Queen Street E. (now the AD of Theatre Passe Muraille).

"One day, I had enough guts to go into Cahoots to introduce myself, and I said, 'Hey, I'm new at acting and I don't know any directors, so could you help me to find a director?'"

Given that theatre's mission to provide a space for marginalized creators, Harrower chose well.

'Ken is a super-fascinating guy'

By 2023, he was starring in a play titled Access Me, featuring himself and two other gay, disabled men.

It was while working on that show that Harrower met Debbie Patterson, the Winnipeg-based artistic director of Sick and Twisted Theatre and a longtime local performer since before she became disabled herself.

"Ken is a super-fascinating guy," said Patterson, who is credited as dramaturg on The Flin Flon Cowboy.

"He just had to fight hard to have an independent life," Patterson said. "It's amazing that he's still alive, given the amount of difficulty he faced and the way he started life."

Patterson said Harrower came up with the musical's central image of the cowboy.

"It's a send-up of the idea of a strong, independent, out-there-alone kind of guy. Because obviously, life is interdependent as a disabled person," Patterson said.

"Undermining that trope of the hyper-masculine man was Ken's idea as a gay wheelchair user."

Indeed, the reliance on support is one of the key themes of the musical, going well beyond the backup provided by a four-piece country band led by Johnny Spence, who composed the play's music in collaboration with Harrower.

"Music has always been a part of my life," Harrower said, including exposure to "a lot of country music" in one of his foster homes.

"Ever since I started actually acting, I've wanted to put my story to music."

He acknowledged the country genre may not seem an obvious fit.

"I haven't heard many country songs that talk about same-sex relationships," said Harrower, who lists Johnny Cash and Shania Twain among his personal favourites.

"Old country music is great, but none of it talked about what I've been through," Harrower said. "So I thought, why not put my story out there with country music?"

He's spent about eight years working on the play, "and now it's about to go on stage, I'm pretty happy about it," he said.

There are hopes it will have a future beyond the Toronto run, including in Winnipeg.

"We're really trying to get it out there," said Erin Brandenburg, the show's director and co-creator. "I know we're talking to some theatres in Winnipeg."

"I'm hoping that someday it will tour, and one of the places that I would love to do it is in Winnipeg," Harrower said. "Because while I was growing up, I didn't see too much opportunity for people with disabilities."