Marie-Ève Milot & Marie-Claude St-Laurent are the Artistic Directors of Théâtre de l’Affamée. Mandated to invest in a (re) new Feminist/feminine theatre, they create complex characters that can be identified outside the binary mode of gender, question normativity and provoke new possibilities. Active members of Femmes pour l’Équité en Théâtre (F.E.T.), they co-wrote the Jeu magazine cry t action, addressing the under-representation of women in theatre, and created reference documents for students and faculty about the under-representation of women and the systems that marginalize them. They have written 8 works together including Cour à scrap – Portrait d’une famille reconstituée, Débranchée (Unplugged) (shortlisted for the prix Louise-LaHaye 2017) and Guérilla de l’ordinaire, (shortlisted for the prix Michel-Tremblay 2020). Their essay La coalition de la robe, co-written with Marie-Claude Garneau, was published in Editions du remue-ménage in 2017. Théâtre de l’Affamée
Towards an Inclusive Theatre (Summerland, BC)
“…explores with great insight thematic territory I’ve never seen covered before… an intimate — and rewarding — conversation about love.” – Colin Thomas, colinthomas.ca
Ryga Arts Festival Presents
The Creatus Project & Bouche Theatre Collective
with Western Gold Theatre & Presentation House Theatre
THE BALLAD OF GEORGES BOIVIN
By Martin Bellemare
Translated by Jack Paterson with Johanna Nutter
Directed by Jack Paterson*
Featuring Allan Toots as Georges
Ryga Arts Festival (www.rygafest.ca)
Performance:
Thursday Sept. 22 @ 7 PM
Summerland Alliance Church
14820 Victoria Rd N, Summerland, BC V0H 1Z5
Community Forum – Ageing & the Arts:
Friday Sept. 23 @ 10 AM
St. Stephen Anglican Church
9311 Prairie Valley Rd, Summerland BC V0H
At 77, Georges Boivin “gives the dice a roll”. Georges just lost his wife, you see, the “centre of his universe”. But there is life after 70 and it must continue even after great loss. With his three friends, all older than he, he sets out on road trip from Québec to Vancouver, in search of a first love whom he hasn’t seen in 50 years. A play about love in all it’s various forms.
Followed by Community Chat About Aging in The Performing Arts
Allan Toots in The Ballad of Georges Boivin
(Ryga Arts Festival, Summerland 2024)
CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM
Featuring Allan Toots | Director: Jack Paterson* | Stage Manager: Andy Sandberg | Associate Director: Hannah Siden | Set Designer: Glenn Macdonald | Sound Designer: Stephen Bulat | Video & Video Systems Design: Joel Grinke & Vanka Salim | Lighting Designer: John Webber | Assistant Lighting Designer: Chengyan Boon | Company Technician: Kaeden Atkinson-Hill | Senior’s Access Consultant: Dr. Julia Henderson
Gallery
Allan Toots in The Ballad of Georges Boivin (Summerland’s Ryga Arts Festival 2024)
Photo: Ricardo Fernandez
Director/ Translator Notes
It is no secret that older artists might face age-related physical and cognitive changes. However, far greater impediments to their successful participation in the arts are the social stigmas of ageism and ableism.
On this project, we explored forms and aesthetics specifically from tools to support Senior artists in performance in rural touring. By “bringing the production to the performer”, we asked “what new is created when we make access integral to creation, design, rehearsal, and presentation processes?” And by doing so – draw attention to the needs of our ageing population in an intergenerational conversation and illuminate the experience of seniors’ day to day living.
The Creatus Project “Bakes Access & Accommodation into Creation”. This is done by identifying the barriers and needs of the senior performer creatively and structurally, addressing these barriers, and then integrating the solutions into all aspects of production.
Reimaging the production to elder actor Allan Toots, we decentralised memory from product, added memory prompts developed with Al (ex. set, props, sound cues, media, etc.), and created new text and staging to meet his accommodation. This “Artist First Approach” means each show is unique the unique performer.
2021 | English Language Premiere
Produced by Western Gold Theatre
In association with Bouche Theatre Collective
Featuring Jay Brazeau and John Innes alternating as Georges Boivin in repertory
November 10 – 28, 2021
PAL STUDIO THEATRE – 581 CARDERO STREET, VANCOUVER
www.westerngoldtheatre.org
Cast & Crew
Assistant Stage Manager: Jessica Adamson | Assistant Lighting Designer: Chengyan Boon | Sound Designer: Stephen Bulat | Video & Video Systems Design: Joel Grinke | Costume Designer: Alaia Hamer | Senior’s Access Consultant: Dr. Julia Henderson | Artistic Director: Tanja Dixon-Warren | Set Designer: Glenn Macdonald | Assistant Director: Hannah Siden | Video & Video Systems Assistant: Vanka Chaitra Salim | Stage Manager: Ingrid Turk | Access And Surtitle Coordinator: Anika Vervecken | Lighting Designer: John Webber
This translation was commissioned by Western Gold Theatre (Vancouver) and developed by Bouche Theatre Collective (Vancouver). The English Language premiere of The Ballad of Georges Boivin was produced by Western Gold Theatre (PAL Vancouver Theatre, 2021) featuring Jay Brazeau and John Innes as Georges, directed by Jack Paterson We gratefully acknowledge the support of Canada Council for the Arts.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of:
Ingrid Turk, Kaeden Atkinson-Hill, Upintheair Theatre, Western Gold Theatre, Presentation House Theatre, & Supertitles.gr
