The Cole Foundation Award for KIWI

The Cole Foundation Award for KIWI

Thursday March 29, 2018
7PM

PWM studio, 7250 Clark Street, Suite 103, Montreal, QC H2R 2Y3
(De Castelnau station)

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

Website: www.playwrights.ca

KIWI

Written by Daniel Danis
Translated from French into English by Jack Paterson
Translation dramaturgy by Maureen Labonté
Recipient of The Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators Award

Kiwi is 12 years old. Abandoned on the city streets she meets a gang of homeless youth. She’ll do anything to keep this new family – she’ll change her name, forget her past and be loyal. As the authorities clear out the streets. With her friend Lychee, she learns how to survive: to run, to fly and to dream of a better life. (Recipient of PRIX LOUISE-LAHAYE, 2008)

The Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators Award

The Cole Foundation Mentorship for Emerging Translators was set up to help identify and mentor the next generation of translators. The translation of new work for the stage is an important part of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal’s programming. To share our expertise with emerging translators we have partnered with the Cole Foundation. The successful candidate receives a prize of $1000, dramaturgical support on a new translation by renowned translator and dramaturg Maureen Labonté, and a translation workshop with professional actors.

Gallery

About the playwright

Daniel Danis 

Daniel Danis (he, him, his) is a Canadian playwright. He is a three-time winner of the Governor General’s Award for French-language drama, receiving the award at the 1993 Governor General’s Awards for Celle-là, at the 2002 Governor General’s Awards for Le Langue-à-Langue des chiens de roche and at the 2007 Governor General’s Awards for Le chant du Dire-Dire. His other plays include Cendres de cailloux, Les nuages de terre, Le pont de pierres et la peau d’images, Terre océane, Mille anonymes, Sous un ciel de chamaille, Kiwi and Bled. Although born in Ontario, he grew up primarily in Quebec. He studied theatre at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique in Quebec City.

About the Mentor and Dramaturg

Maureen Labonte

Maureen Labonte (she, her, hers) is a dramaturge, translator and teacher. She has coordinated a number of play development programmes in theatres and play development centres across the country including at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) in Montreal, the National Arts Centre (Ottawa) and Playwrights Workshop Montreal. She was Literary Manager in charge of play development at The Shaw Festival for three seasons. In recent years, she has worked as guest dramaturge at the Playwrights Theatre Centre’s Winter Retreat in Vancouver and at the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre’s Spring Festival held in Saskatoon. In October 2015, she was guest dramaturge at Pat the Dog’s play development conference: Creating Theatre in Northern Ontario. Maureen Labonté has translated more than thirty-five Quebec plays into English. Her translation of And Slowly Beauty by Quebec City director and playwright, Michel Nadeau, published by Talonbooks (Vancouver), was shortlisted for the 2014 Governor General’s Award in Translation. Her adaptation of Olivier Kemeid’s The Aeneid was part of the Stratford Festival’s 2016/17 season.

About the translator

Jack Paterson

Launching from Vancouver, Jack is an award-winning divisor, director, dramaturge, translator, actor and creative producer whose work and practice have taken him across North America, the UK and around the world. Productions have ranged from contemporary devising, cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary projects to main stage and classical theatre in contemporary form. 

He is the founder of Vancouver’s award-winning Mad Duck Theatre Collective for whom he adapted and directed Julius Caesar, Vancouver’s first female Prospero in The Tempest and the Vancouver premieres of Titus Andronicus and Shakespeare’s R&J. In 2012 he founded, BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective dedicated to shared practiced exchange between francophone and anglophone Canadian practitioners. He is the co-founder of Global Hive Labs, a network of international artists and organizations working in shared practice.

Shows under his direction have garnered over twenty-five Jessie award nominations with many wins. He is a recipient of “The Ray Michal Award”, “The Cole Foundation Award for Emerging Translators” and “The John Moffat & Larry Lillo Award for Outstanding West Coast Artist”.

Jack trained at Circle in Square (NYC, USA), GITIS The University of Performing Arts (Moscow, RU), The Indonesian Institute of the Performing Arts (Denpasar, IND) and received his MFA in Theatre Direction from the renowned East 15 Acting School (London, UK).

Translation Commission & Workshop: Robin & Marion

Translation Commission & Workshop: Robin & Marion

BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective
in Association with PTC, Ruby Slippers Theatre and Upintheair Theatre

MAY 21, 3PM
English Language Premiere
ROBIN & MARION
By Étienne Lepage
Translated by Bobby Theodore
Dramaturged and Directed by Mindy Parfitt

Featuring Meaghan Chenosky*, Matt Reznek, Matreya Scarrwener* & Markian Tarasiuk*

In a bucolic, distant and dark universe, while the adults sleep, the young in the forest chasing each other like beasts. Love, revenge, confusion. A voyage to the end of night where age-old desires take hold.

“This is a trigger event of passion for young people…it’s pure, it’s charged with sensation, it’s very contemporary, with beautiful language…” – Claudia Larochelle, On aura tout vu, 98,5 FM

Join us for a talk back with the playwright and translator after the performance.

The Cultch | The Founders’ Lounge | 1895 Venables Street
PAY WHAT YOU CAN AT THE DOOR

This translation was commissioned with the support of Canada Council for the Arts.

Étienne Lepage, Playwright

Étienne Lepage is playwright, scriptwriter, translator and transdisciplinary creator. Based in Montreal, his work has been seen across North America and Europe. Among his many creations, are Rouge Gueule, L’Enclos de l’éléphant, Ainsi parlait…et Histoires pour faire des cauchemars.  His work has twice been a finalist for The Governor General Award French Language Theatre

Bobby Theodore, Translator

Bobby Theodore is a screenwriter, playwright, and translator. Bobby’s worked on several TV series, including Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint, and Knuckleheads (an adaptation of the hit Québecois cartoon, Têtes à claques). He’s also written episodes for the acclaimed CBC radio drama, Afghanada. Nominated for a Governor General Award in 1999 for his translation of 15 Seconds by François Archambault, Bobby has now translated over 20 plays from French to English. For the stage, Bobby co-created 300 Tapes (with Ame Henderson), a devised performance that premiered at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and at ATP in Calgary, and he’s currently working on Swallow, a play set in the drama-filled world of minor hockey. His translation of François Archambault’sYou Will Remember Me, which premiered at ATP and won a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, will be staged at Tarragon Theatre this spring. Bobby is the resident dramaturg and host of the Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac.

Mindy Parfitt, Dramaturge and Director

Mindy Parfitt is a founding Co-Artistic Director of Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. Theatre credits for HHG include directing This Stays in the Room, Palace of the End, 4.48 Psychosis and You Are Here. For the Arts Club, Mindy directed the World Premiere of Colleen Murphy’s Armstrong’s War and Joan MacLeod’s The Valley. This past spring she directed Hooker Monologues, which told true stories about sex work performed by sex workers and their allies. In 2012 Mindy completed her MFA in Directing at UBC.

Encounter/ Rencontre: Étienne Lepage, Playwright

Encounter/ Rencontre: Étienne Lepage, Playwright

Encounter/ Rencontre: Étienne Lepage, Playwright

Étienne Lepage is a playwright, screenwriter, translator and transdisciplinary creator. His work has been presented throughout North America and Europe. Among his many noted creations are Rouge Gueule, L’Enclos de l’éléphant, Ainsi parlait… and Histoires pour faire des cauchemars.  This amazing richness and diversity of genre has lead to multiple awards and nominations. He collaborated several times director Catherine Vidal, notably for Robin and Marion, an adaptation of a pastoral, presented in 2012 at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui

Encounter/ Rencontre: Bobby Theodore, Translator

Encounter/ Rencontre: Bobby Theodore, Translator

Encounter/ Rencontre: Bobby Theodore, Translator

Bobby Theodore is a screenwriter, playwright, and translator. Bobby’s worked on several TV series, including Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint, and Knuckleheads (an adaptation of the hit Québecois cartoon, Têtes à claques). He’s also written episodes for the acclaimed CBC radio drama, Afghanada. Nominated for a Governor General Award in 1999 for his translation of 15 Seconds by François Archambault, Bobby has now translated over 20 plays from French to English. For the stage, Bobby co-created 300 Tapes (with Ame Henderson), a devised performance that premiered at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and at ATP in Calgary, and he’s currently working on Swallow, a play set in the drama-filled world of minor hockey. His translation of François Archambault’s You Will Remember Me, which premiered at ATP and won a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, will be staged at Tarragon Theatre this spring. Bobby is the resident dramaturg and host of the Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac.

Translation Workshop: I’m Not Here

Translation Workshop: I’m Not Here

Eflyer I'm Not HereBoucheWHAKED! Theatre Collective
In association with PTC, Ruby Slippers Theatre and Upintheair Theatre

MAY 22, 2:30 PM
West Coast English Language Premiere
I’M NOT HERE
By Marie-Claude Verdier | Translated by Alexis Diamond | Directed by Heidi Taylor

Featuring Melissa Oei*

In a torrent of words, a young woman describes her unraveling daily existence, slipping inevitably towards the brutal unknown.  Between her boss’s cupcake schedule and the distractions of her life as an urban singleton, she breaks down: a total implosion. Nothing’s ever over because nothing ever starts.

“This play of Marie-Claude Verdier’s…in fact her first attempt on the dramatic writing scene and it is excellent.” – Anne Michaud, Bernier et Cie, Radio-Canada Première Ottawa

Winner of Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s Cole Foundation Translation Competition

The Cultch | The Founders’ Lounge | 1895 Venables Street
PAY WHAT YOU CAN AT THE DOOR

Marie-Claude Verdier, Playwright

Marie-Claude Verdier took her first steps in playwriting as a teenager when her tale Paradise.com was selected by Théâtre le Clou for Les nouveaux Zurbains série III in 1999. The text was published in the collection The Zurbains with Dramaturges éditeurs and in Jamais de la Vie by Éditions du Passage. She continued her career by studying at the École Supérieure de Théâtre de L’UQAM in criticism and dramaturgy and she did a master’s degree on the dramaturgy of the museums at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. In the fall of 2013, her first play Je n’y suis plus was presented at the french Theatre of the NAC and at Zones Théâtrales . This production received two Prix Rideau Awards.

Alexis Diamond, Translator

Alexis Diamond is a Montreal-based playwright, opera librettist, musical lyricist and translator. Recently, Alexis won a Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac, Quebec, and an Individual Artist residency at the international Saari Residence, Finland. Her award-winning plays, operas and translations for audiences of all ages have been presented across Canada, in the U.S. and in the U.K. She is currently working on Strange Land, a historical epic set in Montreal in 1942, and two musicals. She is co-founder of Composite Theatre Co., a long-standing member of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal and an active member of Montreal’s Espace Freestanding Room.

 

Heidi Taylor, Dramaturge & Director

Heidi Taylor’s passion for theatre was ignited when she played a robot in a grade six play. Since then, she has moved from acting to dramaturgy as her primary creative activity. Her background in performance creation with cross-disciplinary company Proximity Arts sparked her beginner-mind approach to dramaturgy. She applies principles learned from early mentors DD Kugler and One Yellow Rabbit, and relies on her hands-on experiences with Public Dreams and Leaky Heaven Circus to maintain a sense of passionate liveness in the work. She is interested in the “how” of theatre – how do we create collaborative relationships and processes that inspire artists to make necessary work with transformative power?

Encounter/ Rencontre: Alexis Diamond, Translator

Encounter/ Rencontre: Alexis Diamond, Translator

Encounter/ Rencontre: Alexis Diamond, Translator

Alexis Diamond is a Montreal-based theatre artist and translator. Her award-winning plays, operas and translations for all ages have been presented across Canada and internationally. The 2018-19 season has seen the premiere of the family-oriented piece for orchestra and narrator Making Light, penned with Abigail Richardson (Calgary Philharmonic), and two other translations, for Talisman Theatre and Le Petit Théâtre de Sherbrooke. With composer Stephanie Moore, Alexis is currently creating Zoom-Boum-Boum, an electroacoustic piece for very young audiences (Jeunesses Musicales Canada).  Little Witch and Amaryllis, her translation of Pascal Brullemans’Vipérine (Theatre Direct), will be published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2020.