Applications are now open for the 2023-2024 Young Creators Unit! The deadline is September 14th, 2023. Click here to learn more.
Our Young Creators Unit (YCU) has become an important incubator through which we discover exciting new voices from our community. Open to emerging creators and performers under the age of 30, YCU offers emerging artists innovative, interactive, and dynamic workshops that focus on creation, dramaturgy, and professional development. Young creators have the opportunity to experiment with form, content, and narrative structure, regardless of where they are in the process of creation.
Another key aspect of the YCU is its support in showcasing the artists and their creations. Every year we produce two evenings of readings, where creators read excerpts of their work to an enthusiastic audience of peers and theatre community leaders. We have supported YCU artists further through the Queer Reading Series co-produced yearly with the Centaur Theatre. YCU participants have also showcased their work through the Rose Festival and the Montreal Fringe Festival, garnering recognition and experience. In December 2019, we co-presented full productions of two YCU solo shows: Crybaby by Kalale Dalton-Lutale and Dark Red by Willow Cioppa with Black Theatre Workshop at the MAI.
The YCU is facilitated by dramaturg Leila Ghaemi.
Leila Ghaemi (she/elle) is a first generation Iranian-Canadian theatre maker. She returned to her hometown of Montreal, Quebec during the COVID-19 pandemic after a decade of working for theater companies in the United States, including American Conservatory Theater, New Repertory Theatre, and Boston Playwright’s Theatre; where she grew her love for and skills in new play development.
Leila received her BFA in Theatre Arts and MFA in Theatre Education & Direction from Boston University’s School of Theatre and currently serves as co-artistic director of Persephone Productions Montreal. Her artistic pillars include: responsible MENASA representation, radical theatre empowerment, and arts advocacy.
Recent projects include: dramaturg for The Flick at Centaur Theatre, cultural consultant for English at The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, teaching-artist at The Study School, and director for Pool No Water at The Segal Centre for Performing Arts.
Past participants
A huge thank you to the funders of the program:
