Playwrights' Workshop Montréal
Nationally-mandated theatre development centre
Playwrights' Workshop Montréal
Nationally-mandated theatre development centre
Other Worlds will be presented with as a Geordie Theatre mainstage production from September 29 – October 7, 2023.
Alexis Diamond — Translator
A proud Montrealer, Alexis Diamond (she/her) is an anglophone theatre artist, opera and musical librettist, translator, dramaturg and theatre curator working on both sides of Montréal’s linguistic divide. She creates works for a wide range of audiences, from toddlers, to school-aged children, to all ages, to adults only, which have garnered awards, residencies, and attention at home and abroad. Alternately playful, poetic and profound, her texts and performances break open the stories we inherit and the myths we perpetuate, often to our detriment. She was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Award for her translation of Pascal Brullemans’ plays for young audiences, Amaryllis and Little Witch (Playwrights Canada Press). Alexis is a member of the Board of the Conseil québecois de théâtre. She has a B.A. Honours in English and Creative Writing from Concordia University and an M.A. in English Literature from the Université de Montréal.
Headshot by Ron Diamond.
Even Gilchrist — Playwright
Even Gilchrist (he/him) is a theatre designer and creator based on Treaty 6 territory, located in amiskwaciy (or Edmonton, AB). He is a recent MFA Theatre Design graduate of the University of Alberta, and received his undergraduate degree in theatre from the University of Ottawa.
As a scenographer, his desire for creative processes lives in finding ways in which design is the catalyst of storytelling, rather than reactionary to the script, and was very much so the case in the creation of Re:Construct.
Recent design credits include: Boy Trouble (Production Design – Amoris Projects) and 10 Funerals (Set and Lighting Design – Shadow Theatre). Check out evengilchrist.com for more info on new projects!
Headshot by BB Collective.
Jasmine Dubé — Auteure dramatique
Cofondatrice et directrice artistique du Théâtre Bouches Décousues (TBD), Jasmine Dubé est comédienne, au- teure et metteure en scène.
Sa première pièce, Bouches décousues, a été jouée plus de 350 fois au Québec et en Europe. Petit monstre s’est méritée le prix de la meilleure production « jeunes publics » de l’Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre en 1992. La bonne femme a remporté trois Masques décernés par l’Académie québécoise du théâtre en 1996 : Production « jeunes publics », Texte et Mise en scène. Ma petite boule d’amour (2018), Le pingouin (2002), La mère merle (2000) et Le bain (1998) ont reçu le prix du public à Beloeil. La série Nazaire s’est retrouvée finaliste des prix Chronos 1997, en France et en Suisse. En 1998, l’album L’ourson qui voulait une Juliette a reçu le prix Alvine-Belisle, choix des bibliothécaires pour le meilleur livre jeunesse. Certains de ses textes sont traduits en anglais, portugais, espagnol, grec, innu-aimun et en italien.
En 1996, Jasmine Dubé a reçu le prix Arthur-Buies pour l’ensemble de son œuvre. En 1998, Artquimédia lui décernait l’Agathe de distinction pour son rayonnement artistique à l’échelle nationale et internationale et elle recevait de la Renaissance française, la médaille du Rayonne- ment Culturel. En 2006, TBD était le lauréat du Grand prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal pour « son apport immense à la vit alité et au déve- loppement du théâtre d’ici ». En juin 2010, on inaugurait la bibliothèque Jasmine-Dubé à Amqui. En 2013 elle recevait le Prix Raymond-Plante pour son travail exceptionnel en littérature jeunesse.
Headshot par Angelo Barsetti.
Émanuel Dubbeldam — Translator
Émanuel Dubbeldam is a queer and transgender franco-albertan artist based in Edmonton. He has been acting onstage and onscreen since his childhood and began working in the industry as a professional in 2010. With many years of acting, hosting, and emceeing under his belt, Émanuel also writes sketches, screenplays and stage plays in his two first languages.
Headshot by Liam Mackenzie.
François Grisé — Auteur dramatique
François Grisé est comédien et artiste multidisciplinaire. Sa pratique englobe les codes du théâtre, mais aussi de la performance, de l’installation et des arts visuels. En 2012, il fonde Un et un font mille pour accueillir ses créations hybrides: œuvres multidisciplinaire, événements, tableaux vivants et activités d’innovation sociale.
En 2017, il écrit Tout inclus, une pièce de théâtre-documentaire. Elle a enclenché un grand cycle de création et d’action face aux réalités du vieillissement. Dans son prolongement, il a créé le mouvement HABITATS, un espace d’innovation sociale et d’action citoyenne où l’on se pose activement la question : Comment voulons-nous habiter notre vieillesse?
Violeta Sarmiento Marabotto — Traductrice
Née à Mexico, Violeta Sarmiento est comédienne, diplômée du Centro Universitario de Teatro (CUT) de l’Université Nationale Autonome du Mexique (UNAM). Elle a aussi un diplôme en psychologie avec mention honorifique (UNAM).
De 2012 à 2014, elle suit le programme de maîtrise sur les méthodes de formation théâtrale pour les pratiques pédagogiques innovantes intitulé The New Face of Acting Teachers, sous la direction de Jurij Alschitz (UNAM). Elle a également une maîtrise en psychothérapie intégrale à l’Instituto de Psicoterapia Integral y Ciencias de la Salud en 2021.
En 2011, elle participe au séminaire sur la traduction de littérature dramatique francophone organisé par Boris Schoemann et Humberto Pérez Mortera.
En 2012, elle fonde l’Instituto Magia Producciones, où elle est traductrice, productrice, metteuse en scène et comédienne. Elle se spécialise dans la traduction en espagnol de la dramaturgie en langue française.
En 2018, elle est invitée à la rencontre internationale Dramaturgies en Dialogue, organisée par le Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) à Montréal, en tant que productrice, traductrice et metteuse en scène.
Parmi les œuvres qu!elle a traduites, produites et jouées, on peut citer Portrait Chinois d’une imposteure de Dominick Parenteau-Lebeuf, Petite Sorcière de Pascal Brullemans, Huis clos de Jean Paul Sartre, qui a remporté le prix de la meilleure production au XIVe Festival National de Théâtre au Mexique en 2006. Iris tient salon de Dominick Parenteau-Lebeuf a été présentée de 2015 à 2020, y compris dans des festivals au Mexique et au festival Les Coups de Théâtre en 2018.
En 2022, Petite Sorcière a été en nomination par l’ACPT (Agrupación de Críticos y Periodistas de Teatro) dans deux catégories : meilleure pièce pour le jeune public et meilleure conception de mouvement. En 2016, Iris tient salon a été nominée par l!ACPT dans la catégorie : meilleure actrice révélation.
Entre 2014 et 2018 elle est membre de la troupe permanente de la Compañía Nacional de Teatro (CNT). À deux reprises, (2011-2012) et (2019-2020), elle reçoit la subvention gouvernementale du FONCA (Fonds national pour la culture et les arts) dans le programme Créateurs de scène.
Entre 2011 et 2013, elle a joué en espagnol les œuvres d’origine québécoise Forêts et Ciels de Wajdi Mouawad, sous la direction de Hugo Arrevillaga.
Sa formation multidisciplinaire comprend la musique, le chant, la danse et le théâtre. Dans le domaine vocal, elle a étudié les techniques de Bel Canto, Roy Hart et Linklater. Elle possède aussi une formation en danse classique et fait de fréquentes mises à jour des techniques contemporaines. Elle a fondé le groupe musical Expresso doble. Pendant cinq ans, elle a produit des spectacles et enregistré des chansons en studio.
Elle enseigne Jeu réaliste à Casazul (École des arts du spectacle), de même que Voix et parole à la Casa del Teatro. De 2008 à 2016, elle a enseigné Expression du vers du Siècle d’Or espagnol au CUT-UNAM, et, en 2012, à CEUVOZ. Elle exerce également sa pratique comme psychothérapeute intégrale.
Charles Bender — Translator
Charles has been a regular presence at the helm of the Indigenous Day Live event and is the host of Sans reserve on APTN. We recently saw him as host of the National Truth and Reconciliation live event broadcast on CBC and APTN. He has also worked as host/facilitator for many aboriginal organisations or events across Canada.
As an actor, you might have caught him in Sioui-Bacon, Mohawk Girls or, more recently, as Joe Naveau in Eaux Turbulentes or Frère Brière in Pour toi Flora. On stage, he has worked with many companies with social justice as part of their mandate such as Teesri Duniya, Ondinnok and Tableau d’Hôte.
In 2015, Charles co-founded productions Menuentakuan, an indigenous theatre company invested in creating new paths of dialogue amongst indigenous and non-indigenous people in Canada. He has translated various plays by indigenous authors such as Where The Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring, Thuderstick by Kenneth T. Williams, Free as Injuns by Tara Beagan and alterNatives by Drew Hayden Taylor. He has just finished translating Maria Campbell’s Halfbreed and is currently working on translating Tomson Highway’s Permanent Astonishment. As part of his community involvement, he sits on a variety of boards and comities to make sure indigenous voices are represented and heard.
Developed plays include Governor General Award nominated works by Sean Dixon, Brendan Gall, Jonathan Garfinkel, Michael Healey, Joan MacLeod, and Hannah Moscovitch, and Governor General Award-winners Erin Shields and David Yee; eleven Dora Award Outstanding New Play nominees and three winners; and a Trillium Book Award winner. Throughout her career, Andrea has been a regular panellist for the Directors Lab North, and contributed a chapter entitled “Master Class: Dramaturgy and New Play Development” to the book The Directors Lab edited by Evan Tsitsias (Playwrights Canada Press 2019). She has mentored both graduate students and professional theatre makers through university training programs, internships, and play development programs at a variety of theatres. Previously, she has worked with Brian Quirt at Nightswimming and with Maureen Labonté and Neil Munro at the Shaw Festival, and contributed to Canadian Stage’s inaugural Festival of Ideas and Creation. Andrea also participated in workshops at the National Theatre Society (Dublin) while she pursued her MPhil in film and theatre at Trinity College, Dublin.
No one is multi-disciplinary artist, poet and singer-songwriter from Montreal.
No one fell in love with theatre while studying in school. No one is a past participant of the 2019 Artista cohorte at Imago théâtre. No one’s first play will be presented at Revolution They Wrote 2020. No one also participated in the 24e recueil intercollégiale de poésie, Escale Montmorency, Udem en spectacle, Concours Musique jeunesse…
Aborted is a metaphorical play about a moment in a woman/daughter’s life when they can step out of self-protection, and see the whole story of their life more objectively.
Through this nonlinear, musical, poetic and image-based performance, a young woman starts to revisit a particular day in her life and the years that led to it, revealing her own pain and suffering.
Nicolas is a playwright and actor who graduated from Bishop’s University and Humber College (relatively recently!).
With a particular interest in comedy and humour, he is dedicated to exploring the absurdities of life. After all, we don’t need to look further than reality to laugh at our quirky actions.
Two university graduates struggle to share a 1½ in Montreal, as they completely invent THE SAME fictitious theatre agent in order to make their lives sound more interesting.
Kyng “Blxck Cxsper” Rose (they/them) is a multi disciplinary hip hop artist who also happens to be a workaholic.
Why else would they decide to start writing their own play on top of self producing their music career, acting in other people’s plays, freelancing in graphic design, managing a record label and working full time as a video game tester?
Capricorns… Am I right? #smh
« So the play opens in two weeks, tickets are selling and everything but the playwright has not written a word so this is the description we’ve been given: “this play sucks, don’t go see it. Also fuck that title.” – Kyng Rose »
Lar Vi specializes in making bizarre magic-realist feelings-comedies.
Inspired by a multi-disciplinary background in improv, dance, puppetry and clown, they strive to create work that explores vulnerability, engages the uncomfortable and cultivates empathy.
Based on the “myth” that you swallow seven spiders in your life while you are sleeping, this interdisciplinary eco-gothic horror/dark comedy imagines the stories of spiders as they navigate the haunted house of human experience.
Revan Badingham III is a queer Filipinx multidisciplinary artist.
As a theatre creator, they are the founding artistic director of Voices of Asia International, a Filipinx theatre company based in Montreal. Their last major production was Beats Around the Bush: The Word Opera, which ran in Newfoundland to critical acclaim. They have done work for Tuesday Night Theatre Café, Theatre NDG, and Sigaw ng Bayan CKUT.
Revan has also been involved in the spoken word scene. They were part of Spoken Word St. John’s and Throw Poetry Collective. As a poet-performer, they have performed in stages across Canada, including McSway, The Words & Music Festival, and the 100 Thousand Poets for Change. They have also facilitated workshops, including the Axana Poetry Spa.
In addition, Revan is a trained actor, musician, and designer. They can also speak ten languages.
To The Boys Who Wear Pink is their debut novel.
Weaving through nine scenes, a character unravels, deconstructs, and redefines what it means to be BPD
Miriam is a Montreal-based theatre artist.
In 2012, she co-founded Hopegrown Productions and with Hopegrown, has workshopped and performed three new plays by Montreal playwrights, which have toured within Canada and internationally.
In 2019, Miriam wrote and performed her first play, The One, a solo piece about a woman in her early (late) twenties searching for love in real life (online) while developing the world’s most authentic (fake) dating app. The One premiered at the Montreal Fringe Festival and enjoyed a sold-out run, was nominated for two awards, and won Most Promising Local English Theatre Company (Segal Centre). The One was developed with support from PWM, Young Creators Unit.
Miriam graduated from Concordia’s Theatre Performance program in 2013 and currently trains with the Moving Voice Institute and Tectonic Theater Project. As an actor, Miriam has worked with Repercussion Theatre, Playwright’s Workshop Montreal, In Your Face Entertainment and Passionfool Theatre, among others. Miriam instructs acting at Concordia University and Geordie Theatre School and has taught for the English Montreal School Board.
www.hopegrown.ca | @HopegrownPro
In 2092, cities are no longer cities and individuals must be self-sufficient or perish. A family torn apart by grief struggles to maintain a failing farm in Southwestern Ontario. GIRL is an old soul; at age nine she understands grief, though she doesn’t have the word for it. While her father falls deep into himself, GIRL is left to care for her baby brother and visit her dark place.
Sabrina is currently living and working in Montreal.
She was previously in Toronto, studying Criticism and Curatorial Practice at OCAD University.
When she first moved to Montreal last year she took up playwriting courses at the National Theatre School. Now a part of the Young Creators Unit of Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, she is further developing her work as a writer and working towards greater goals in the theatre industry.
Sabrina has several creative interests and skills in drawing, panting, photography and styling – she look forward to utilizing this creative mixed bag to bring her stage ideas to life.
Lyris is a play about a young woman awaking from an eternal slumber to be thrown into a new world she does not yet understand.
As she meanders through this world interacting with the characters that colour it, she is called to understand her role and impact on this world. As her experience plays out as a sort of map of North American culture, she witnesses the insidious realities of disempowerment that plague the people.
In the end, Lyris and her loss of innocence bring forward a greater redemption.
Kieran Dunch is a graduate of the University of Victoria (BFA Theatre),
where he specialized in directing and devising collective creation from historical sources. His performances and projects have taken him as far as Prague and Thailand, and now brings him here, to Montréal. Kieran is hoping to capture the environment of this city built on conflict and use it to better his practice.
SAS is a play that tries to examine the politics of space (and what keeps us apart) by dissecting the history of two neighborhoods in Montréal, and more notably the fence that was built to separate one from the other.
Frederic graduated from Concordia University in design for the theatre,
and loves reimagining plays and concepts in a new light. In addition to Antoine: l’esquisse d’un rêve, he is directing The bald soprano by Eugène Ionesco that will be presented at Mainline theatre.
The story follows Antoine de Saint-Exupéry at the time which he was exiled in New York in early 1940s chasing his own childhood in order to find his lost creativity and imagination that a young child has in order to write his beloved novel: The Little Prince.
As well as YCU, the project is being developed through the program “Young Volunteers” under the supervision of Director/Dramaturg Diane Roberts.
Ander is a clown, drag queen and longtime cabaret performer.
With a background in clown and dance, Ander has trained with John Turner at the Manetoulin Conservatory for Performance and Creation (The Clown Farm), and with Lynsey Billing at Scream Dance Academy. No stranger to the Fringe Festival, he has participated in three collective theatre creations with the House of Laureen, as well as playing Twinkerbell in Glam Gam’s sold-out production, Peter Pansexual in 2017. Last year, he debuted his solo clown show, Fairy Fails at the Montreal Fringe Festival and is excited to learn and further develop the play with the Young Creator’s Unit!
This magical and whimsical tale about a gentle fairy who cannot fly explores the themes of self-love, failure, and embracing our imperfections.
Full of big and small mistakes, this deeply playful physical theatre piece with drag and cabaret influences, features a generous serving of dance, costume changes and audience interaction as this tender fairy discovers his true destiny as the Prince of Prance.
Steven Greenwood is a writer and director whose works are often focused on genre, fantasy and fairy tales, and all things geek.
He is also strongly invested in LGBTQ+ storytelling and culture. He is the artistic director of Home Theatre Productions, and is currently finishing his PhD at McGill with a focus on musicals and queer audiences.
8 of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac have disappeared from the sky; the remaining four take on human form and descend to earth to investigate the disappearances.
In this immersive experience, audience members take on the role of the scholars who must work together with these four Zodiacs to help them solve the mystery of where the others have gone. Though completing challenges and solving clues, audience members will be able to put together the pieces and uncover the secrets, stories, and scandals of all 8 of the rogue constellations.
Megan Hunt is an Ontarian by birth, a Montrealer by choice, and a storyteller by nature.
She is a Leo, a graduating Concordia student, a fan of oversized cable knits, a former high school theatre nerd, a recovering contrarian and a writer.
Fifteen-year-old Eliza sees the apocalypse everywhere: in school locker rooms, in the moths that get caught in her hair, in the rotting jack-o-lanterns on the veranda. Peter thinks that’s just how every teenager feels, and he might be right. Late one night they discuss Indian summers, divorce, bad dreams, the sticky residue from nicotine patches, Southern Ontario cults, the weight of the world, the end of it.
Arianne is an emerging playwright and cat herder, I mean creative project manager, working in the game industry.
She studied management and communication though her passion for theater, improv, and writing spurred her to pursue artistic creation.
Her topics of focus are memories and the beauty in the mundane.
Young workers try to balance their dreams and responsibilities as the first generation set to be less wealthy than that of their parents. An exploration of the meaning of happiness and the effects of comparing your life to the lives of others.
Calder is an actor/creator, a graduate of John Abbott College (Professional Theatre: Acting) and Concordia University (B. Ed.).
He has directed two theatre pieces and produced one short film, Sin Eater, which was nominated as part of the 100-Hour Film Fest.
Recently, he has played in Blue Stockings with Persephone Productions ; a touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for young audiences; and Genius, a podcast play spin-off of Sherlock Holmes. His favourite roles include Rooster in Annie and Ariel in The Tempest.
On the eve before his last flight, Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, recollects on the highs and lows of his life.
Camille Deslauriers Ménard studied first in acting.
She’s now also a storyteller, a writer, a director, a teacher, a (future) puppeteer, an historical interpreter, a cultural mediator…
She’s basically doing everything she finds interesting.
She’s there. With a unicorn. Alone. Asking herself what the hell love, sex and shit. Hopefully, she will figure out something before the end of the play.
Christine ML Lee is a writer/composer/lyricist based in Montreal.
Following her final year as the composer-in-residence at the University of Montreal Choir, she completed the Songwriting Workshop at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
She continued her exploration of the dynamics between words and music with the Canadian Musical Theatre Workshop in Montreal where she wrote the music, book and lyrics to Game On!, an original ten-minute musical that was showcased at the NTS and at the Segal Centre in 2019. Working with dance and spoken word, Christine’s work has been performed in at Festival Quartiers Danses and in Montreal Botanical Gardens.
Her choir piece, Bloom, was premiered in Montreal in June 2019 by the Choeur du Brouhaha. Look forward to her musical theatre piece Just a Note!
Follow the adventure on Instagram @kris.mllee !!
As part of the Young Creators’ Unit (Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal) and of the Canadian Musical Theatre Workshop, Just a note is a 45min musical about a young Hong-Kong-Canadian university student in her last year who lies to her immigrant parents about getting into medical school and secretly pursues her passion in music instead.
Set in Canada, before and during the Hong Kong protest in the summer 2019, the story explores the dynamics between a daughter too ashamed to be selfish to pursue her own ambitions, and her parents who have done everything to give their daughter what they wished they could have received from their own parents.
Torn between what she feels she owes her parents and what she owes herself, Leah must find out how she will be able to repay, in her own way, the sacrifices made by her parents while also allowing herself to live her own life.
Actor, writer and producer, Darragh is the founder of Heart of Gold Productions,
which has been behind the prize-winning short film Sin Eater, and last summer’s world premiere of Burning Bridget Cleary at Montreal’s St Ambroise Fringe Festival. Her company’s mandate is to focus on Irish historical and mythical stories with relevance to today’s calls to social justice.
An adaptation of Kafka’s short story that explores the Irish legacy of hunger and the canvas of a woman’s body.
Josh is a punk theatre artist born in Toronto and recently moved to Montreal.
He holds a BFA in Acting from York University and is an Alumnus of Stratford’s Birmingham Conservatory. As a playwright, he has developed his craft through Tarragon Theatre’s Paprika Festival and PWM’s Young Creators Unit.
Josh is an artistic leader on multiple independent theatre projects, including Endless Love, who’s first show played in Montreal, Toronto and Brooklyn, RANT, a developing Playback Theatre experience and Hooks and Crooks who are working on creating a carbon-negative theatre production model, to help curve the dire impacts of climate change.
On the payroll of the 1%, genius engineer Samhill has constructed his dream project: Molten Facility End, a monitoring facility that is a game changer in hacking technology. But what will this scientific brilliance be used for? Freeing humanity from the dominance of megalomaniacs or locking us in homogeneity?
Alice Wu is a first-year McGill student originally from Waterloo, Ontario.
Growing up as a second-generation Chinese immigrant, she has long found comfort in the similarities between western and Chinese folklore. Stories helped her grasp her dual identity, and they made her feel less alone.
Now, she is excited to spin her own narratives through the medium of theatre. She’d like to thank the rest of this year’s YCU cohort and Jesse Strong for creating such a special space full of humour and heart.
Once a formidable matriarch, an elderly woman in Beijing clings onto her sense of control. As she prepares for her son’s upcoming visit from Canada, illusions crumble and family secrets are brought to light.
The play is a captivating meditation on immigration, loss, and the life-giving power of imagination.
PWM is located on unceded Kanien’kehà:ka/People of the Flint (Mohawk Nation) territory. Tiohtià:ke/Broken in two (Montreal) is historically and presently a gathering place for many First Nations.
