News | BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective

Translation Commission & Workshop: Robin & Marion

by admin | | 3.Development, Bobby Theodore, New Translations, News, Robin et Marion, Ta Gueule, Workshops

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.

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 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

by admin | | Encounters, News, Ta Gueule, Workshops

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

by admin | | Encounters, News, Ta Gueule, Workshops

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

by admin | | 3.Development, Alexis Diamond, Marie-Claude Verdier, New Translations, News, Ta Gueule, Workshops

BoucheWHAKED! 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 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 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’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

by admin | | Encounters, News, Ta Gueule, Workshops

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.

再见 GOODBYE: A CROSS CULTURAL MUSICAL

by admin | | International Projects, News

Goldsmiths’ University of London & The Confusius Institute (London, UK)

再见 GOODBYE
A Cross Cultural Musical

Book and Lyrics by T. Michael Vest | Music by Jordan Clarke
Directed by Jack Paterson
Tristan Bates Theatre | 1A Tower Street Covent Garden, London WC2H 9NP

As a couple, she from China and he from England, say goodbye at the airport, they relive their relationship, their joys, their mistakes, their challenges and their love. Told through song, dance and in two languages – English with Mandarin – 再见 Goodbye is a story for all who have faced the trials of international relationships exploring commonalities and differences between cultures, between nations and between lovers.

A biligual new musical in Mandarin and English, this new work fused cross-cultural and cultural exchange practices into bot the creation process and narrative.

Featuring:
Natalie Yeap, Samuel Haughton and Jiajing Zhang

Choreography by Roman Berry | Set, Costume & Media Design by Sachiko Yabe | Lighting Design by Hooman Shabahang | Co-Directed by Alanna Stone

Mandarin Text Creation by Quinn Lawrence, Audrey Guo, Chun-ju Lin and Jiajing Zhang

The Press

“Congratulations on a truly lovely show this evening! Excellent performances and wonderful music.”
Jo Ashe, Audience Memeber

“I had the privilege of watching 再见 Goodbye － stunning. I hope it does get revived at some point and if it does, I implore everyone to see it.”
Thom Sellwood, Audience Memeber

“The simple, elegant staging maximized the use of space and allowed the ensemble’s individual talents shine….some beautifully specific lighting, choreography, music direction and digital projection…Goodbye was a charming surprise.”
Dean Paul Gibson, Audience Member