Join us May 19th and 20th at 7:00 PM EST for our Young Creators Unit Showcase on Gather. Tune in for 2 nights of staged readings from the YCU emerging creators!
Every year Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal produces two evenings of readings where creators from our Young Creators Unit (YCU) read excerpts of their work to an enthusiastic audience of peers, community leaders, and theatre lovers.
“We are so excited and proud to present to you this year’s Young Creators Unit. After an exceptional year of digging in and dynamic creation, these participants took on the challenge of working and meeting virtually during this socially distant and difficult time, held together as a group, and now want to welcome audiences at home to join our circle and witness some of the work in development.”
JESSE STONG Young Creators Unit Leader
Starting today and until the showcase, we will be releasing content about the YCU on our social media! Learn about the process, what’s unique about the YCU, and what goes into their work. Follow us on social media to see more!
THIS YEAR’S YOUNG CREATORS
Click on the portraits to learn more about the creators and their work.
Alex Brault
Camille Mankumah
Elizaveta (Liza) Makarova
Mayala-Kali’ Elter
Anaïs Damphousse Joly
Charles Gao
JC Bitonti
Nelly Esméralda Zarfi
Brandon Adam
Eish Van Wieren
Laura Buchanan
Rachel Renaud
HOW TO CATCH THE SHOWCASE
At 7:00 PM EST on May 19th and 20th, our showcase will be livestreamed on Gather with introductions and commentary by YCU leader Jesse Stong. There will be ASL interpretation available for this event. Auto-generated captioning is available in Gather for people who use Chrome.
SCHEDULE
MAY 19TH SHOWCASE
(co-hosted by Anaïs Damphousse Joly) featuring:
Mayala-Kali’ Elter
Alex Brault
Charles Gao
Rachel Renaud
Eish Van Wieran
Nelly Esméralda Zarfi
MAY 20TH SHOWCASE
(co-hosted by Alex Brault) featuring:
Anaïs Damphousse Joly
Elizaveta (Liza) Makarova
Camille Mankumah
Laura Buchanan
Brandon Adam
JC Bitonti
You can RSVP for the YCU Showcase via the google form here:
Thanks to generous funding from the RBC Foundation, Canadian Heritage and the Zeller Family Foundation, as well as the dedicated mentorship of PWM dramaturg Jesse Stong, the Young Creators Unit has become a mainstay for young Canadian playwrights. Since its beginnings in 2015, YCU has supported more than a hundred young creators as they take artistic risks, develop their voices and find their place in Canadian theatre.
The Queer Reading Series- a selection of staged public readings showcasing emerging Canadian Queer Playwrights is back for two nights only at Centaur Theatre!
QUEER READING SERIES SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, MARCH 18 at 7:00 PM – NO JUSTICE/NO PEACE by Blxck Cxsper
With direction by Jesse Stong
Please note that for the reading of “No Justice/No Peace” by Blxck Cxsper, there will be strobe lights as well as loud music.
SATURDAY, MARCH 19 at 7:00 PM – SCORPIO MOON by Adjani Poirier
With direction by Murdoch Schon. Financially supported by Y4Y Québec
SATURDAY, MARCH 19 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM – QUEER LEADERSHIP IN THEATRE PANEL
Centaur Theatre and PWM are delighted to present the Queer Leadership in Theatre Panel as a part of our Queer Reading Series! This panel discussion, moderated by Jesse Stong, will be looking at how queerness intersects with art-making. We will talk about the shows, the movements, and the key players making amazing Queer art. Then, we will open the discussion to the community to gather more stories, insights, and questions. This panel will take place in the Centaur Theatre gallery.
Panelists: Gabe Maharjan, Co-Chair, Quebec Drama Federation Corrina Hodgson, Artistic Director of Rose Festival Greg MacArthur, Playwright & Professor at Concordia University Alisa Palmer, Artistic Director of the English section of the National Theatre School of Canada
The Blxck Cxsper universe is a multidisciplinary work of fiction based around a vigilante who questions super hero culture and the many ways it negatively affects society.
Kyng “Blxck Cxsper” Rose (they/them) is a multidisciplinary hip hop artist based in Montreal best known for being the founder of Trans Trenderz, the world’s first record label dedicated to trans musicians. In 2021 they were named by Billboard in their Change Agents list alongside names like Jay-Z and The Weeknd, the same year they debuted their fictional Blxck Cxsper universe at the Montreal Fringe Festival.
SCORPIO MOON
By Adjani Poirier
Night, the hot summer air hangs heavy with regret. Two estranged friends find themselves together again in a crumbling abandoned warehouse. Lily wants absolution, Koa has other ideas. A story about the complexities of Blackness, queerness, art, love, and the ever agonizing question: is forgiveness possible in the face of heartbreaking betrayal?
Adjani is interested in creating work that explores the beauty and the ugly of the human experience. She’s drawn to stories that reveal the complexity of navigating a world where systemic “isms” oppress and yet love and connection still seep through the cracks, strong and fierce, giving us life. Her plays include Celebrity Dogs, part of Boca del Lupo’s national project “Plays2Perform @ Home”, Still Gay When I’m Not In Love and On Life and Living: A History of AIDS Community Care Montreal. She curated the 2021 edition of QueerCab with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and currently lives and writes in her hometown of Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal where she studies playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada.
ABOUT THE QUEER READINGS SERIES
Centaur Theatre and Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal believe in the importance of providing young theatre artists with tools for developing and showcasing their work. The Queer Reading Series is a free reading series that seeks to provide a platform for emerging artists to experiment with their writing.
The Young Creators Unit was not created as a queer-specific program, but over the past three years has become a vibrant space for self-discovery and political/personal creation. I am so proud that we’ve gained a reputation for being a supportive space for emerging queer artists to be bold, dive deeply into the intersections of their identity, and make work for the stage that reflects their unique existence in our contemporary world.
JESSE STONG Festival Director and Young Creators Unit Leader
Centaur Theatre is so happy to collaborate with PWM’s Young Creators Unit by supporting the process of bringing the voices of the next generation of Montreal’s diverse artists to the stage. They are the future of theatre.
EDA HOLMES Artistic Director of Centaur Theatre
About the Young Creators Unit
Thanks to generous funding from Canadian Heritage, RBC Foundation, the Zeller Family Foundation, and the dedicated mentorship of PWM dramaturg Jesse Stong, the Young Creators Unit has become a mainstay for young Canadian playwrights. Since its beginnings in 2015, YCU has supported more than a hundred young artists as they take risks, develop their voices and find their place in Canadian theatre.
Join us June 3-4 at 7 PM EST for our livestreamed Young Creators Unit showcase on YouTube — 2 exciting nights of staged readings by emerging theatre creators!
Every year Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal produces two evenings of readings where creators from our Young Creators Unit (YCU) read excerpts of their work to an enthusiastic audience of peers, community leaders, and theatre lovers.
Last year, our first virtual showcase was a resounding success, with more people tuning-in than we ever had in-person in our studio space. Since then, our organization dived deep into the digital rabbit hole — launching programs such as the Digital dramaturgy initiative, the Digital dramaturgy clinic, and adding Digital dramaturgs Emily Soussana and Andrew Scriver from collective potatoCakes_digital to our team — we are excited to leverage these new skills to bring you an even better virtual event.
“We are so excited and proud to present to you this year’s Young Creators Unit. After an exceptional year of digging in and dynamic creation, these participants took on the challenge of working and meeting virtually during this socially distant and difficult time, held together as a group, and now want to welcome audiences at home to join our circle and witness some of the work in development.”
JESSE STONG Young Creators Unit Leader
Starting today and until the showcase, we are also releasing video interviews of the Young Creators. Learn about their process, what’s unique about the YCU, and what goes into their work. Follow us on social media or subscribe to our YouTube channel to see them as soon as they are released!
Click on the portraits to learn more about the playwrights and their work.
Rebecca Bauer
Miriam Cummings
Victoria Hall
Darragh Mondoux
Nicolas Retson
Anna Burkholder
Sophie El Assaad
Megan Hunt
Tyson Night
Kyng Rose
Willow Cioppa
Steven Greenwood
Sam Melnick
David Noël
Anne-Marie St-Louis
HOW TO CATCH THE SHOWCASE
At 7PM EST on June 3rd and 4th, our showcase was livestreamed on YouTube Live with introductions and commentary by YCU leader Jesse Stong. We are not planning to release the complete recordings of the nights, but will release individual excerpts in the coming months!
Thanks to generous funding from Canadian Heritage and the Zeller Family Foundation, and the dedicated mentorship of PWM dramaturg Jesse Stong, the Young Creators Unit has become a mainstay for young Canadian playwrights. Since its beginnings in 2015, YCU has supported more than a hundred young artists as they take risks, develop their voices and find their place in Canadian theatre.
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.
“We are so excited and proud to present to you this year’s Young Creators Unit. After an exceptional year of digging in and dynamic creation, these participants took on the challenge of finishing our time together in the current socially distant reality. We held together virtually as a group, and now want to welcome audiences at home to join our circle and witness some of the work in development.“
JESSE STONG Young Creators Unit Leader
Every year we produce two evenings of readings where creators from our Young Creators Unit (YCU) read excerpts of their work to an enthusiastic audience of peers and theatre community leaders. Because of the confinement put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been working with this year’s 18 YCU members to capture the readings on video.
At 8PM EST on May 29th and 30th, we will showcase their work on Youtube Live with introductions and commentary by YCU leader Jesse Stong. Join us virtually on this page, or directly on YouTube. Watching the showcase on our YouTube channel also gives you access to a live chat where the artists and our staff will be present to answer your questions and have a good time!
Keep scrolling to access the livestreams on this page and learn more about the playwrights.
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
Thanks to generous funding from Canadian Heritage and the Zeller Family Foundation, and the dedicated mentorship of PWM dramaturg Jesse Stong, the Young Creators Unit has become a mainstay for young Canadian playwrights. Since its beginnings in 2015, YCU has supported more than a hundred young artists as they take risks, develop their voices and find their place in Canadian theatre.
Coming up from February 24th to 27th 2020, join us and delve into the history of English Montreal theatre!
WHAT: Chez Nous: A Staged-Reading Series Showcasing English-Language Drama in Québec (1930-1979) WHEN: Monday, February 24 – Thursday, 27 February at 7 P.M. WHERE: Moyse Hall, McGill University – 853 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal H3A 0G5
Chez Nous: A Staged-Reading Series Showcasing English-Language Drama in Quebec (1930-1979) is a collaboration between Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and professor Erin Hurley (Department of English, McGill University), with the artistic collaboration of four of Montreal’s English-language theatres: Black Theatre Workshop, Centaur Theatre, Imago Theatre, and the Segal Centre. The event will spotlight influential writers like Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, Mada Gage Bolton and more, including PWM’s founders Carol Libman and Aviva Ravel, who helped shape Montreal’s English-language theatre tradition.
The series, which is free and open to the public, runs from Feb. 24 to 27, 2020 in McGill University’s Moyse Hall at 7 p.m. Each evening will be followed by a talk-back with the director, cast, and research team. The research team is composed of Alexis Diamond (playwright and translator) and Alison Bowie (dramaturgy and PhD candidate at Concordia), along with Emma Tibaldo (Artistic and Executive Director of PWM).
Feb. 24:Theme: “A Question of Class” – Rethinking the ‘good life’ during the Depression and WWII.
Mada Gage Bolton, Dealer’s Choice(1937) — A working woman comes up with a plan to trade her independent New York lifestyle for a family homestead in the country.
Janet McPhee and Herbert Whittaker, Jupiter in Retreat(1942) — A haughty mathematician and his two servants play a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse in a Laurentian cabin.
Directed by Micheline Chevrier, Artistic and Executive Director, Imago Theatre.
Feb. 25: Theme: “He said X, She asked, Why” – A poetic take on the darker aspects of human nature.
Carol Libman, The Reluctant Hero(1956) — One miner, two reporters, and a media circus. Who will determine what makes a hero?
Linda Ghan, Coldsnap (1979) — An immigrant from Jamaica must get married in order to stay in Canada, but he questions his motives and recounts his experience with racism.
Directed by Quincy Armorer, Artistic Director, Black Theatre Workshop.
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.
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.
