Young Creators Unit - 2020 Showcase - Playwrights' Workshop Montréal

Sophie Gee — Translator

Sophie is a director and creator of multidisciplinary work. Through her company Nervous Hunter, her works include Bonnes Bonnes (Théâtre Aux Écuries), Lévriers (MAI (montréal, arts interculturels), National Arts Centre, CAM en tournée), and The Phaedra Project (No! I! Don’t! Want! To! Fall! In! Love! With! You!) (MAI (montréal, arts interculturels)). Her directing work for other companies include Habibi’s Angels: Commission Impossible by Hoda Adra and Kalale Dalton-Lutale (Talisman Theatre), The Tropic of X by Caridad Svich (Imago Theatre), and Duos en morceaux for Théâtre INK. In January 2024, she was a directing consultant on Chimerica at Théâtre Duceppe where she directed the scenes in Mandarin. Alongside set and costume designer Eo Sharp, she recently completed Un an en défilés, a monthly series of participatory parades in Verdun to explore the act of walking together as a community over a year. Sophie is a graduate of the directing programme at the National Theatre School.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Cabrera

Evelyne de la Chenelière — Playwright

Écrivaine et comédienne, Evelyne de la Chenelière est une figure incontournable de la scène québécoise et de la dramaturgie contemporaine.

Ses pièces de théâtre, traduites et montées au Québec et au Canada comme ailleurs dans le monde, interrogent les limites du langage et l’expérience de l’écriture. En 2017, elle est finaliste pour le Prix Siminovich à l’excellence et à l’innovation en théâtre canadien, et reçoit en 2018 la distinction de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la République française.

Parmi ses pièces, La vie utile, créée à Espace Go et présentée au Festival TransAmériques dans une mise en scène de Marie Brassard, a reçu le prix Marcel Dubé de l’Académie des lettres du Québec. Bashir Lazhar a fait l’objet d’une adaptation au cinéma par le cinéaste Philippe Falardeau, sous le titre de Monsieur Lazhar. Le film a été mis en nomination pour l’Oscar du meilleur film en langue étrangère. Son plus récent texte, Le traitement de la nuit, a été créé par Denis Marleau à Montréal et par Kornelius Eich à Francfort dans sa traduction allemande.

Régulièrement invitée à aborder sa pratique et les thèmes parcourant son œuvre, elle a participé comme conférencière à différents festivals de littérature et de théâtre à Mexico, Barcelone, Limoges, Toulouse, Paris, Édimbourg, Londres, Sarrebruck, ainsi qu’au Caire.

Elle a également donné des classes de maître et participé à des colloques (Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal, Université de Munich, Conservatoire de Tours, Université de Valencia, Université de Madrid, École Normale Supérieure de Paris).

Comme comédienne, on a pu la voir s’illustrer, entre autres, sous la direction de Marie Brassard, Daniel Brière, Jérémie Niel, Brigitte Haentjens, Florent Siaud, Cédric Delorme-Bouchard, et plus récemment le cinéaste Denis Côté.

Le parcours d’Evelyne de la Chenelière est marqué par une exploration formelle et un désir de questionner l’art vivant, tant par l’écriture que par le jeu. Sa singularité fait d’elle une artiste qui déjoue les attentes. Elle est présente dans les grandes institutions au Québec et à l’étranger, mais aussi dans le secret de leurs marges.

Photo Credit: Charlotte de la Chenelière

Maud de Palma-Duquet — Playwright

Maud de Palma-Duquet obtient son diplôme du Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Québec en 2012. La même année, elle participe aux Chantiers du Carrefour International de théâtre de Québec. Elle bénéficie également d’un mentorat d’écriture avec l’auteur Fabien Cloutier grâce à la mesure Première Ovation. La pièce qui en résulte, Enfant unique, est mise en lecture au théâtre Premier Acte. En 2013, elle participe à la soirée de clôture du Festival du Jamais Lu Québec en tant qu’autrice et comédienne. C’est dans le cadre de ce même festival, lors de l’édition montréalaise du printemps 2022, que son texte Bénévolat est mis en lecture pour la première fois. Cette pièce lui mérite le prix Gratien Gélinas et est présentée au Théâtre La Licorne en janvier et février 2024 avant d’être reprise en décembre. Comme interprète, on a pu la voir notamment dans Act of god, une production du Théâtre Niveau Parking, ainsi que dans Chante avec moi d’Olivier Choinière. Éternelle curieuse, elle a aussi étudié en droit et en journalisme à l’Université de Montréal.

Photo Credit: Paule Beaudoin

Tamara Nguyen — Playwright

Tamara Nguyen est autrice et conseillère dramaturgique. En 2016, elle obtient un baccalauréat en littératures de langue française et philosophie de l’Université de Montréal et en 2019, elle complète une formation en écriture dramatique à l’École Nationale de Théâtre du Canada. Sa pièce Légendes de canapé est montée par Héloïse Desrochers en 2020 au Théâtre des Béloufilles. En 2023, la pièce Bonnes Bonnes qu’elle a co-écrite avec Sophie Gee est présentée au Théâtre Aux Écuries. La même année, sa pièce Les papillons du littoral est montée par Claudia Chan Tak au Quai 5160. En 2024, sa pièce Maelström est mise en scène par Annie Ranger au Théâtre Aux Écuries. À titre de conseillère dramaturgique, Tamara a travaillé avec Claudia Chan Tak sur Au revoir zébu présenté à La Chapelle en 2022 et avec Stephie Mazunya sur la pièce S’enjailler qui est présentée au Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui en 2024. Tamara s’intéresse à la satire politique, à la manière dont l’art peut mettre un frein au défilement de l’actualité pour permettre une réflexion de fond.

Photo Credit: Maxime Côté

Linda Gaboriau — Translator

Translator and dramaturg, Linda Gaboriau has translated over 125 plays and novels from the French, including the works of Québec’s most prominent playwrights. Her translations of plays by Michel Marc Bouchard, Normand Chaurette, Daniel Danis, Wajdi Mouawad and Michel Tremblay have been published and widely produced across Canada and abroad. Her long collaboration with Michel Marc Bouchard has included the film adaptations of Lilies (1996 Genie Award, Best Motion Picture), The Tale of Teeka et The Girl King, directed by Mika Kaurismaki. Her theatre translations have garnered many awards across Canada. She has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Translation six times and she won this award in 1996 for Stone and Ashes (Daniel Danis), in 2010 for Forests (Wajdi Mouawad) and in 2019 Birds of a Kind (Wajdi Mouawad). Her most recent publication is with Talon: TWISTS OF FATE which includes the translation of two Michel Tremblay novels: AU HASARD LA CHANCE/IF BY CHANCE et LES CLEFS DU PARADISE/DESTINATION PARADISE. And soon to be published and premiered at Centaur Theatre: EMBRASSE/KISSES DEEP by Michel Marc Bouchard. For several years she was in charge of the dramaturgical workshops at Montreal’s Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CeAD) where she subsequently coordinated translation and exchange projects with English and Spanish-speaking countries. At the Banff Playwrights Colony she was an associate director, in charge of translation projects. From 2002-2007, she was the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. Linda Gaboriau was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015 and an Officer of Ordre national du Québec in 2023.

Photo Credit: Josée Lambert

Olivier Choinière — Playwright

Depuis plus de vingt ans, Olivier Choinière œuvre comme auteur, metteur en scène et traducteur pour le théâtre. Il est co-directeur général et artistique de L’ACTIVITÉ, compagnie de création basée à Montréal. Diplômé en écriture de l’École nationale de théâtre en 1996, Olivier Choinière est lauréat du Prix Gascon-Thomas 2015 et du Prix Siminovitch 2014, remis à un auteur dramatique canadien.

Il se fait connaître avec Le bain des raines (1998), puis par Autodafé (1999), mis en scène par André Brassard. Ses pièces Venise-en-Québec (2006) et Nom de domaine (2013) ont été finalistes des Prix du Gouverneur Général du Canada. Félicité (2007) a été présenté au Royal Court Theatre de Londres. Plusieurs de ses pièces ont été traduites et ont été jouées au Canada, en Europe et en Asie.

En 2000, il fonde L’ACTIVITÉ, compagnie de création basée à Montréal, avec laquelle il met en scène près de 20 spectacles, dont Chante avec moi (2010), Mommy (2013), Ennemi public (2015), qui s’est valu le Prix Michel-Tremblay, Manifeste de la Jeune-Fille (2017), qui s’est vu récompensé par le Festival Primeurs ainsi que Zoé (2020), Prix Marcel-Dubé. 8 de ces spectacles prenaient la forme de déambulations sonores à travers la ville.

Olivier Choinière enseigne à l’École nationale de théâtre du Canada et donne fréquemment des conférences et des ateliers. Ses textes sont publiés chez Atelier 10, Leméac et Dramaturges éditeurs.

À travers ses œuvres, il explore différentes formes de représentations et cherche à donner un rôle actif aux spectateurs.

Photo Credit: Charles Lafrance

Bobby Theodore — Translator

Bobby Theodore is a scriptwriter, dramaturg, and translator. After graduating from the
National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting section in 1998, he was a Governor General Award finalist in 2000 for his translation of 15 Seconds by François Archambault. Since then, Bobby has gone on to translate over 35 plays from French to English and has received 2 Betty Mitchell Awards (with François Archambault) for Outstanding New Play. For the stage, he co-created 300 Tapes (with Ame Henderson), which premiered at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary. His most recent projects include a translation of Paradise in Flames by François Archambault, a transadaptation of Public Enemy by Olivier Choinière (Published by Playwrights Canada Press, Produced by Canadian Stage), and working as content developer and scriptwriter on the new visitor experience for Province House in PEI. Currently, Bobby is co-writing (with JC Niala) The Importance of Being Oscar Wilde’s Valet, a counterfactual exploration of Wilde’s relationship with Stephen Stephens, a Black minstrel performer he hired as his valet while touring the US.

Photo Credit: Keith Barker

“Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal has completely transformed my experience of being an artist. Fatma Sarah Elkashef and I had our first dramaturgical conversation in 2018, and in a way, it hasn’t stopped. For the past five years, we have collaborated on two very different projects: a five character play with music about a rockstar family and the complicated legacy of our cultural icons, and a digital-hybrid solo show about power, coercion, and escaping a cult. We share a belief that how we make work is as important as the work itself. From ongoing dramaturgical conversations, to dramaturgical residencies (2022, 2023), to full-cast workshops (2020, 2021, 2023), to the Gros Morne Residency in Newfoundland (2022), Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal has provided me with unparalleled and essential support. I wouldn’t be the playwright I am today without this organization.”

– Scout Rexe

“Ever since my graduation from theatre school in 2015, Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal has been an invaluable support, both institutionally and personally. They supported further development of my solo show Miss Katelyn’s Grade Threes Prepare for the Inevitable, which went on to have over 75 performances in English and French, as well as my site-specific Everyone We Know Will Be There, which ran in residential houses in Edmonton in Calgary back in 2016. They’ve offered me ongoing access to an environment where I’m able to witness new play development in action. As a playwright, it can be rare to receive support that has no agenda, where your supporters’ only objective is to help you germinate a story that you yourself are happy with before anyone else. This has always been my experience with PWM, making it one of my favourite theatre institutions in Canada, and a place that I recommend to other playwrights enthusiastically and often.”

– Elena Belyea

“I really got involved in activities during the pandemic, searching for ways to stay creative and stay sane; I came across PWM’s call for submissions – online opportunities. PWM’s Digital Dramaturgy Initiative – Montreal residency in 2021 was my first experience and I had a wonderful and enlightening experience learning and deepening my understanding of theatre and the art of thinking and writing for theatre. I went on to also participate in:

PWM + MAI Joint Support for Artists (2021 – 2022)
Exploring Practice workshop – Spatial Dramaturgy: Developing an Urban Performance Practice with Shauna Janssen (Apr – May 2022)
Exploring Practice – The Dramaturgical Process: First Principles and Practical Applications with Andrea Romaldi (Jan – Feb 2023)
PWM X Arrivals Legacy Project (2023)
PWM’s Cross Cultural Adaptation Lab (Jul 2023 – Oct 2025)

I enjoy the fact that they always have interesting offerings for development and mentorship. I love the staff, as well as the individuals they bring in to facilitate workshops. They have all been down to earth, open, knowledgeable, and just fun to be around and speak to on a human level.

Having the opportunity to incorporate theatre and writing into my dance practice has been a very rewarding journey. I am grateful for the time I’ve been able to spend with both Sarah and Aki in conversation and for the relationships fostered. The individuals who make up an organization are important and PWM has wonderful individuals all throughout.

As I’ve been working on my first play, ‘Wild Roots’, PWM has been gently riding the wave, supporting my explorations and development in playwriting. I never feel pressured to present as anything or one other than me, allowing myself to feel the freedom to really find my own voice and solidify my own footing. That is huge for me.

In the end, what I can say is PWM, ‘Thank you for being a friend!’”

– Jamila Joseph

“For as long as I can remember, PWM has been an artistic and social hub of the community. One can always depend on great conversation and artistic exchange when you spend time there. As a young actor it was always a point of pride to be hired to read a new script in workshop: it was a wonderful job no matter how quickly you passed through their doors or how long you stayed; it has been some of the best training I have ever received as an actor. It taught me how to be clear and rigorous and respectful. As a playwright, I have received an incredible amount of support from the folks at PWM and would have never completed my last play without their belief in me. The relationship I have with PWM is a rare one. I have taken that and used it to build the artist I have always wanted to become. Dramaturgy received through PWM: The Tashme Project: The Living Archives and Mizushōbai- The Water Trade. Residencies through PWM: Gros Morne, ÉsterELLE- 2019. I have participated in endless workshops and a multitude of invaluable Master Classes, like playwriting with Daniel MacIvor, Carole Fréchette and Robert Chafe.”

-Julie Tamiko Manning

Actor, theatre creator, playwright, mentor, independent producer

Montreal/ Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang

“Without Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal, I would not have the career in theatre translation that I have. Nor would I have been able to sustain a career in Montreal as a playwright working in both English and French. PWM introduced me to the Francophone-theatre milieu as a potential translator in the 2010s. From there grew my familiarity with the agents and stakeholders of the milieu, which led to me serving as a kind of bridge between Anglophone and Francophone theatre in Montreal, a role I happily play today, along with a growing number of bilingual and multilingual artists who make their livelihoods in both English and French in this city.

I had my first experience with theatre translation in the PWM Translation Unit with Maureen Labonté in 2010-2011. That was when I initially started work on the translation of Amaryllis [Vipérine] by Pascal Brullemans. In 2016, I participated in PWM’s Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac for Amaryllis [Vipérine], this time with the guidance of Bobby Theodore. The book Amaryllis and Little Witch (Playwrights Canada Press) would later go on to be nominated for the Governor General’s Award for translation in 2021.

In 2013, I was the first ever recipient of PWM’s Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators to translate Je n’y suis plus (Marie-Claude Verdier), which was workshopped and received a public reading at PWM. I would go on to mount a production, directed by Jen Quinn, at Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival in 2016, to great acclaim.

In 2018, Talisman Theatre commissioned the translation of Minuit by Marie-Hélène Larose-Truchon. Workshopped through PWM, it gave me the opportunity to benefit from the tutelage of the Grande Dame of Québécois-theatre translation, Linda Gaboriau, and also to journey to New Orleans, where we had a workshop with local actors and a public reading at the Southern Repertory Theatre.

In 2019, I participated in “Theatre Translation Workshop with Frank Heibert”, offered through PWM’s Exploring Practice program, to work on Marie-Claude Verdier’s touring play, Andy’s Gone (Playwrights Canada Press). The book was one of five selected in 2022 for Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom, a program run by the Association of Canadian Publishers’ Children’s Committee.

In 2020, I was commissioned by PWM to translate Camille : le récit by Audrey-Anne Bouchard and Marc-André Lapointe and in 2022, Camille: The Story was produced at the Segal Centre, where it won a META Award for best production.

Having benefited from the tutelage and mentoring of the giants of Québécois theatre translation – Maureen Labonté, Linda Gaboriau and Bobby Theodore – PWM then deemed me ready to serve as a mentor to emerging translators. Since 2019, I have had the honour of being the translation mentor for Traductions Croisées, the program jointly organized by Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and Centre des auteurs.trices dramatiques (CEAD) to encourage the emergence of new translators for Québécois plays.

As part of the Traduction Croisées mentorship program (Introduction to Theatre Translation), I mentored Katherine Turnbull for her translation of La nuit du 4 au 5 by Rachel Graton, which was produced by Talisman Theatre in 2022. Katherine Turnbull was just selected as the 10th mentee for the Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators.”

-Alexis Diamond

Other Worlds will be presented with as a Geordie Theatre mainstage production from September 29 – October 7, 2023.

Visit Geordie Theatre to learn more.

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.

The artist known as No one

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…

Play in development

Aborted

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 Retson-Fournier

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.

Play in development

ReLease

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 Rose

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

Play in development

I Wish my Family was Dead

« 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

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.

Play in development

Seven Spiders

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

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.

Play in development

The Nine Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder, According to the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, 2013

Weaving through nine scenes, a character unravels, deconstructs, and redefines what it means to be BPD

Miriam Cummings

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

Play in development

GIRL

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 De Bellefeuille

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.

Play in development

Lyris

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

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.

Play in development

Something About Space

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 Ellis

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.

Play in development

Antoine: Sketchings of a dream

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 Gates

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!

Play in development

Fairy Fails

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

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.

Play in development

In The Stars

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

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.

Play in development

Cool

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 Lapierre

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.

Play in development

The Barista (working title)

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 Levine

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.

Play in development

Cosmonaut Number One

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

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.

Play in development

Love guide for unicorns or something like that

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

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 !!

Play in development

JUST A NOTE

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.

Darragh Mondoux

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.

Play in development

KaFka’s Hunger Artist

An adaptation of Kafka’s short story that explores the Irish legacy of hunger and the canvas of a woman’s body.

Josh Johnston

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.

Play in development

EYES

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

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.

Play in development

Untitled

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.

Young Creators Unit – 2020 Showcase

An extraordinary showcase for an extraordinary year!

We are taking our Young Creators Unit showcase live to YouTube for TWO nights of staged readings from new work by emerging theatre creators.

Night 1

LIVE Friday, May 29th at 8PM EST

Click on a playwright to learn about their work

Night 2

LIVE Saturday, May 30th at 8PM EST

Click on a playwright to learn about their work

About the Young Creators Unit

The artist known as No one

Nicolas Retson-Fournier

Kyng Rose

Lar Vi

Revan Badingham III

Miriam Cummings

Sabrina De Bellefeuille

Kieran Dunch

Frederic Ellis

Ander Gates

Steven Greenwood

Megan Hunt

Arianne Lapierre

Calder Levine

Camille Deslauriers Ménard

Christine ML Lee

Darragh Mondoux

Josh Johnston

Alice Wu