public reading Archives - Playwrights' Workshop Montréal

January 7, 2025January 10, 2025

Public Reading: Katherine Turnbull’s Translation of 21 by Rachel Graton

Translated through the Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators.

Date: Friday, January 24, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM
Venue: PWM Studio, 7250 Clark St Suite 103, Montreal, QC H2R 2Y3
Please note that PWM is not located in a fully accessible building. Our space is only accessible via a flight of stairs (nine steps). More accessibility information here.

This is a FREE event. Donations help us keep our programming free to artists, and will be gratefully accepted at the door.

Join us for a free public reading celebrating the culmination of a year-long translation mentorship between Katherine Turnbull and acclaimed theatre translator Maureen Labonté as part of the Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators.

This reading will take place as part of a week-long workshop of the translation, with translation dramaturgy by Maureen Labonté, direction by Emma Tibaldo, and featuring the performances of Kathleen Stavert and Masha Bashmakova.

Please RSVP by emailing heather@playwrights.ca: There is limited seating available, so reservations will be first come, first served.

Synopsis of 21 by Rachel Graton

Sara’s job is to help troubled teens with a host of issues. Like Zoe, an angry fifteen-year-old with a tendency to run away. Now, how to get her to open up and begin the journey of personal growth and healing when she doesn’t trust adults? “I hear you like basketball.”

Content advisory

The following are mentioned as opposed to depicted in the play:

Drug and alcohol abuse, sex, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, sex work, homelessness, mental illness, troubled teens, social services

Accessibility Information

You can find accessibility information about our space here. Please let us know if you have any accessibility requests when you RSVP so we can do our best to accommodate them. Some accessibility request examples include, but are not limited to: Reserving a seat close to the front, on an aisle, or close to the exit; reserving a seat for a support person, etc.

About the Translator

Katherine Turnbull is a writer, translator, theatre creator, and actor. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts [Honours] in Acting with a minor in French Studies from the University of Windsor. Based in Montreal, she works in French and English in theatre and film. Katherine is fascinated by the messy and complex aspects of life, and so she explores the nitty-gritty of humanity in her projects.

In 2021, Katherine translated La nuit du 4 au 5 by Rachel Graton, commissioned by Talisman Theatre. The resulting translation, The Night From the 4th to the 5th, has recently been shortlisted for the Tom Hendry Best Drama Award. In May 2022, Talisman Theatre presented it as a digital reading, which has since won awards at the 2023 Snow Leopard International Film Festival (Madrid, Spain) & Sweden International Film Festival for Best Drama, Best Black and White Film, and Best Stage Play. It also received four (4) nominations at the 2023 MAGMA Film Festival (Best Feature & Experimental Film, Best Directing, Best Original Concept, and Best Ensemble).

This reading and program are made possible with support from the Cole Foundation.

October 3, 2024October 3, 2024

Ostinato (I Would Prefer Not To)

A black and white photo of the hair of Strange Victory Performance members David Gagnon Walker and Tori Morrison. On a black background, written in white, the words Public Reading, Ostinato (I Would Prefer Not To) by David Gagnon Walker to the right of the photograph.

Written by David Gagnon Walker

Created and performed with Tori Morrison

A Strange Victory Performance

Developed in collaboration with PWM

Date: Friday, October 25, 2024
Time: 3 PM
Venue: PWM Studio, 7250 Clark St Suite 103, Montreal, QC H2R 2Y3
Please note that Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal is not located in a fully accessible building. Our space is located above street level and is only accessible via a flight of stairs (nine steps). More info here.

This is a FREE event. Donations are welcome at the door.

This work-in-process reading will be the culmination of a week of exploration between David, Tori, Christian Barry and Fatma Sarah Elkashef and will be followed by a conversation with the playwright.

Please RSVP by emailing heather@playwrights.ca: There is limited seating available, so reservations will be first come, first served.

Synopsis

David and Tori tell two stories. One story is true and recent. The other is made up and old. One is about being a certain type of person with a certain type of mind. The other is about dealing with that type of person. They’re kind of the same story on a loop. Every song is kind of the same song. You know a song is over when it stops.

Content advisory

Mental illness, suicide

Accessibility Information

About the Playwright

David Gagnon Walker is an award-winning writer, performer, and translator born in Edmonton and based in Toronto. His work has been performed and developed in cities across Canada, and through residencies in Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, and the USA. David’s interactive play This Is the Story of the Child Ruled by Fear has been touring since 2021, with twelve presenters to date including an upcoming Ontario Presents tour, and is published by Playwrights Canada Press. Other recent projects include Premium Content (Major Matt Mason Collective/High Performance Rodeo), The Last Children (Curtain Razors), and the English translation of Gabrielle Chapdelaine’s The Retreat (Imago Theatre). He holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from the University of Toronto, and is a graduate of the playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada. www.davidgagnonwalker.com

David is Artistic Producer of Strange Victory Performance, a collaboration with composer and production manager Tori Morrison. Their projects collide highly personal content with new performance forms and modes of audience engagement. While grounded in text-based theatre practices, their work has included artists and methods from music, dance, circus, visual art, and digital performance. SVP’s primary interest is the mystery of creativity: the movement from an impulse, to an image, to a structured artistic work, and how this movement can inspire, heal, and transform the human beings it passes through.

This event has been made possible with support from PGC through the PlayConnect program.

April 15, 2022August 23, 2023

Young Creators Unit Showcase 2022

Young Creators Unit graphic with green and pink lines; grey, black and white banners; and blue a background. The image has text which reads: “Young Creators Unit” and the dates: “May 19, May 20”

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!

ABOUT THIS YEAR’S CREATORS

HOW TO CATCH THE SHOWCASE

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

Aharon 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:

RSVP

ABOUT THE YOUNG CREATORS UNIT

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.

LEARN MORE

ThE YOUNG CREATORS UNIT is financially supported by

February 15, 2022March 18, 2022

Queer Reading Series

Abstract graphic art of shapes in shades of blue, purple, pink and red arranged with one larger blue square which has text that reads: "Queer Reading Series, March 18, March 19, 7:00 PM".

The Queer Readings Series is Presented by Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal’s Young Creators Unit and Centaur Theatre with Festival Director Jesse Stong.

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

Jesse Stong, Moderator

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS

Admission is free. Space is limited.

QUEER READING SERIES VENUE: CENTAUR THEATRE

453, rue Saint-François-Xavier
Montréal, QC H2Y 2T1

For questions regarding accessibility, please email accessibility@playwrights.ca. Please refer to Centaur Theatre’s accessibility webpage to plan your trip to this venue.

ABOUT THE PLAYS

NO JUSTICE/NO PEACE

By Blxck Cxsper

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.

Click here to find out more about the Young Creators Unit.

PRESENTED IN COLLABORATION WITH

FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY

May 17, 2021June 23, 2021

Tune in to the Young Creators Unit – Virtual Showcase 2021

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.

MORE ABOUT THIS YEAR’S
YOUNG CREATORS

HOW TO WATCH
THE SHOWCASE

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.

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!

WATCH THE FIRST INTERVIEW

SEE ALL THE INTERVIEWS

THIS YEAR’S YOUNG CREATORS

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!

GO TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

More 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.

LEARN MORE

ThE YOUNG CREATORS UNIT is financially supported by

March 3, 2021March 19, 2021

Staged reading of Behaviour

Poster for the play Behaviour. A collage of photographs representing a woman is on the forefront of a pastel background on which we can discern a city skyline

Coming up March 20th and 21st 2021, join us for the staged reading of Behaviour, produced by Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and presented by the Segal Centre For Performing Arts!

An exploration of gender, power, labour and abuse, Behaviour, written by Darrah Teitel and directed by Emma Tibaldo, will be read on-site at the Segal Centre on March 20-21, and live-streamed to the public.

Dates

Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 5 PM.
Re-streamed at 8 PM.

Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 4 PM.

Venue

Livestreamed via Segal Centre’s website.

Tickets

GET TICKETS

All tickets are Pay What You Can.

A donation will be made to the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal and Chez Doris matching the amount collected via ticket sales.

“One of the smartest plays to respond to the #MeToo movement”

– Kelly Nestruck (The Globe and Mail)

“One of the most important, powerful, traumatizing, and simply essential plays happening right now.”

– Ryan Pepper (Capital Critics Circle)

“Behaviour unsettles and forces us to question ourselves and our compliance with existing structures.”

– Patrick Langston (ArtsFile)

Behaviour is the story of Mara, a woman who seems to be living her dream: she has a career in politics where she is making a difference, and she’s in love with an artist who challenges norms. But what lurks underneath is devastating. With humour, precision, and unrelenting honesty, Behaviour probes at what we accept as normal. The play challenges our acceptance of existing structures, exploring the interplay between power and abuse. Behaviour reflects the world as we experience it, where speaking out against sexual abuse is the abnormal act.

This play comes at a time when dismantling gender and labour hierarchies has never been more important. Teitel has set her play on the Hill, where workers are particularly vulnerable to power imbalances. Behaviour shouts out against the normalized silence against abuse, to the point that Teitel says, “what is abnormal is speaking out against it.” This reading, then, is an attempt to say out loud what usually remains unspoken.

The play premiered at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, co-produced with SpiderWebShow. The script was developed in collaboration with Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal through a variety of programs, including the Gros Morne Playwrights’ Residency.

GET TICKETS

About the Playwright

Darrah Teitel is a Canadian socialist and a playwright, currently living in Berkeley California as the 2020 Peleh International Artist in Residence. Her most recent credits include The Omnibus Bill (Counterpoint Players, May 2019) Behaviour (GCTC, 2019) Corpus (Teesri Duniya 2014, Counterpoint 2014) The Apology (Alberta Theatre Projects 2013, Next Stage Festival 2011) Marla’s Party (SummerWorks 2008) the CBC radio drama Palliative (2007) She Said Destroy (National Theatre School of Canada, 2007). Darrah was the GCTC’s Playwright in Residence in 2015 and 2017, during which her two most recent plays were written. Her journalism, fiction and poetry have appeared in various periodicals and journals throughout the country. Darrah is the winner of several awards, including the 2011 Canadian Jewish Playwrighting Award, and the 2007 Canadian Peace Play Prize. Her plays have received nominations for Dora, Betty Mitchell, Rideau and META Prizes for Outstanding New Plays. Darrah also works for Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and is a founding member of the Courage Coalition and a proud member of Independent Jewish Voices.

About the Director & Dramaturg

Photo by Bernardo Fernandez

Emma Tibaldo became Artistic and Executive Director of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal in early 2008. In 2020, she was the recipient of the Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy.

In addition to collaborating dramaturgically on plays through her work at PWM, she has directed new Canadian plays across the country such as Winter’s Daughter by Jesse Stong, SCUM: A Manifesto by S.E. Grummett and Caitlin Zacharias, Okinum by Emilie Monnet (co-director), Miss Katelyn’s Grade Threes Prepare for the Inevitable by Elena Belyea, The Baklawa Recipe by Pascale Rafie, Refuge by Mary Vingoe, Falling Trees by Megan Coles, Model Wanted by Step Taylor. In 2005, she co-founded Talisman Theatre for whom she has directed award-winning production That Woman by Daniel Danis, Down Dangerous Passes Road by Michel Marc Bouchard, and The Medea Effect by Suzie Bastien. She has just completed work on Skin, a new performance piece with the interdisciplinary company The Bakery, livestreamed during the Centaur’s Wildside Festival in January 2021.

Next she will be co-directing a radio play for Imago theatre, Ringtone, by Audrey Dwyer.

She has been a guest artist at the National Theatre School and Concordia University. Emma is a graduate of Concordia University’s Theatre Department and the National Theatre School of Canada’s Directing Program.

She feeds her inner (and outer) punk rocker by playing in the family band The Tibaldos and The Dépanneurds.