NEW TRANSLATION CANADA: THE SIMINOVITCH PLAYWRIGHT PROJECT
Every three years, 5 Canadian playwrights in both official languages (French & English) are nominated for The Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s leading national theatre award. Each of these playwrights represents a leading voice in Canadian playwriting as nominated by their peers.
Bbouche’s Jack Paterson (BC), creature/creature’s Johanna Nutter (Quebec) and independant Yolanda Ferrato (Nova Scotia) formed the New Translation Canada Collective. We contacted each of the playwrights who shared our excitement for this vision. They each selected 1 piece from their body of work for translation. Working with a creative translation team drawn from leading theatre makers across Canada, we commissioned creative translation of the selected works.
New Translation Canada & Centre des auteurs dramatique
LA SALLE DES MACHINES: FROM THE SOURCE TO THE TARGET
Shinning a light on new translation
A dialogue between artists, translation is also a path between cultures. Through New Translation Canada / Nouvelle Traduction Canada, Yolanda Ferrato, Johanna Nutter and Jack Paterson are working to promote circulation of Canadian playwrights from one official language to another. Using excerpts in French and English from works by Carmen Aguirre, Tara Beagan, Martin Bellemare, Karen Hines and Annick Lefebvre – all hailed with a nomination for the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in 2020 – the team hopes to shed light on the infinite variety of exchanges and questions that punctuate the translation process. This will be a great opportunity to discuss current trends aimed at making the process of translation public in order to increase accessibility to the exhilarating puzzle that is the passage of a dramatic text from one language to the other.
With translators Charles Bender, Emmanuelle Jimenez, Mishka Lavigne, Johanna Nutter and Jack Paterson, accompanied by fellow playwrights and performers.
Featuring performers Charles Bender, Nahka Bertrand, Soleil Launiere, Karine Ricard & Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon.
CELEBRATING GREAT CANADIAN THEATRE IN BOTH OFFICIAL LANGUAGES NTC gratefully acknowledge the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, Centre des auteurs dramatique, Prix Siminovitch Prize, Théâtre français de Toronto and Théâtre Action.
UNITED PLAYERS OF VANCOUVER In association with BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective
HAVEN
By Mishka Lavigne | Translated by Neil Blackadder Directed by Jack Paterson | Featuring Tina Georgieva and Alexander Lowe
“…a moving and sensitive production of this GG-award-winning play…the perfect play for the pandemic: two lonely figures, reaching out, and discovering they have many points of connection..” – Toph Marshall, Artistic Director, United Players
“…convincing, nuanced performances… a fine example of the resilience of the human spirit.” – reviewvancouver.com
Elsie and Matt meet when a hole opens up in her road. She’s just lost her mother; he is tracing his ancestry in Sarajevo. Both are adults feeling voids concerning their parents, and they find what they need in their memories and each other. ‘Haven’ (Havre) won the 2019 Governor-General’s award for French drama, and is here produced for the first time in English.
Creative Team
Directed by Jack Paterson | Assistant Directed by Hannah Siden | Stage Managed by Maria Denhole | Technical Direction by Karen Chiang | Set & Projections Design by Joel Grinke | Lighting Design by Vanka Chaitra Salim | Set Decoration & Props by Alis B | Sound Desiign & Comosition by Georgia Couver | Costume Design by Shasta Lily Barkman | Head Carpentery by Bruce Suttie | Produced by Fran Burnside
Gallery
HAVEN By Mishka Lavigne & Translated by Neil Blackadder, United Players of Vancouver (2022) Directed by Jack Paterson | Featuring Tina Georgieva and Alexander Lowe Photos by Nancy Cadwell
Rencontre / Encounter
Mishka Lavigne
Join us for a Digital / Live post show chat with multiple GG Award winning francophone playwright Mishka Lavigne and translator Neil Blackadder
Mishka Lavigne (she, her) is a playwright and literary translator. Her play, Havre, won a Governor General’s Literary Award (Drama – French, 2019). Her newest work, Copeaux, a poetic movement theatre creation developed with director Éric Perron, was produced in Ottawa in March 2020. It won the Prix littéraire Jacques-Poirier in February 2021 and a Governor General’s Literary Award in November 2021, and it was a finalist for the Prix Marcel-Dubé. Albumen, Lavigne’s first English-language work, won the Prix Rideau Award for best new creation in 2019 and the Quebec Writers’ Federation Playwriting Prize in 2020. Her works have been produced and developed in Canada, Europe, Australia, Haiti and the United States. She is currently working on a bilingual chamber opera libretto with Montréal composer Tim Brady, and her work, Shorelines, will soon be published by Playwrights Canada Press. Mishka Lavigne lives in the Ottawa/Gatineau area.
PRE & POST SHOW SHORT FILM SERIES
CONNECTORS
Conceived of by Jack Paterson | Curated by Hannah Siden
A series of local, national and international short films and media created over the pandemic.
Sunset in Spring, Wuhan | A film by: Haylin Cai. Shot when lockdown was lifted after the first wave in Wuhan, China.
Vancouver April 2020 18:59:30 PT | A film by: Ann Marie Fleming. Commissioned by “Greetings From Isolation”.
Óljós | Director/ Cinematographer: Ash Tailor-Jones. Shot in self-isolation in Toronto, Canada.
Plastic Wings | Music: David Beckingham. Choreographer: Emily Chessa. Director: Hannah Siden. In collaboration with Ballet BC.
Isolations | Director: Talia Shea Levin. Choreographer: MUDA/Maritza Navarro. Music: Amanda Leigh Jerry. In loving memory of Kat Devoe-Peterson.
East Vancouver April 7 2021 | A film by: Ann Marie Fleming. Commissioned by “Greetings From Isolation”.
We Rise Again – Cross Canada Virtual Choir Tour | Featuring: The Elmer Iseler Singers joined by Agincourt Madrigal Singers, Cape Breton Chorale, Thunder Bay Symphony Chorus, Whitehorse Community Choir, Wiarton Concert Choir.
A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE IS A DIFFERENT VISION OF LIFE
A glimpse into new translation
Join us online for our English language new translation development workshop series.
Discover the leading new works of francophone Canadian theatre, meet the playwrights and their translators, and play a part in the new translation process.
FREE EVENT
DATE
Sunday, Jan. 30th 2022
TIME
PT (Vancouver): 4PM MT (Calgary): 5PM ET (Montreal): 7PM AT (Halifax): 8PM
RUNNING TIME
2 hrs including Intermission and conversation with the playwright
HOW TO ATTEND
FREE event. No registration required. Capacity 100.
Latecomers welcome – audience does not appear on screen.
In Association with The Canadian Play Thing, PHT Creative Hub Co-operative & United Players of Vancouver
THE HARDINGS
By Alexia Bürger | Translated by Alexis Diamond Translated from LES HARDINGS (Quebec, Canada)
Featuring Rick Dobran, Paul David Power, & Anthony Santiago
“…an enormously powerful and touching piece… an important theatrical experience…”– Mazrou
A Quebecois railway worker, an American insurance salesman and a New Zealander researcher have the same name: Thomas Harding. On the surface, they have nothing in common. Until one night, a train derails blowing up a city. The invisible tracks that connect these three existences begin to reveal themselves. Inspired by the documentary material, Alexia Boerger questions conformism and the individuals’ responsibility when tragedy strikes.
Les Hardings premieredCentre du Théâtre d’hui(2018). It received the Prix auteur(e) dramatique du CTD’A and was selected by Jury of Grand Prix du livre de Montréal 2019.
This translation and workshop is made possible by grants from The Canada Council for the Arts. This project is produced with the co-operation of the UBCP/ACTRA.
LES HARDINGS Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, 2018
Meet our Playwright & Translator
About the playwright
ALEXIA BÜRGER
ALEXIA BÜRGER (elle) is a Montreal actor, playwright and director. A long-time accomplice of Olivier Choinière, Alexia co directed Chante avec moi (Espace Libre / Festival TransAmériques / Centre National des Arts / Le Trident) and Polyglotte (Théâtre Aux Écuries / Festival TransAmériques). She co-created Alfred (Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui) with Emmanuel Schwartz. She co created the theatrical ambulatory Je ne m’appartiens plus (Espace Go) with Sophie Cadieux. She has worked on numerous installations combining fictitious and documentary material, visual art and sound research, such as Pensées courantes (Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui lobby over the 2016/2017 season). In 2017, she directed Les barbelés in France (Théâtre La Colline) which was revived in Quebec (Théâtre de Quat’Sous). In 2018, Alexia and collaborator Fanny Britt, won the Jean-Louis Roux Creative Fellowship of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde for writing Lysis.
About the translator
Alexis Diamond
Alexis Diamond (she, her) is a Montreal-based playwright, opera librettist, translator and theatre curator. Her award-winning plays, operas and translations for audiences of all ages have been presented across Canada, in the U.S. and in Europe. She also collaborates with several international artists on performance-installations involving text, movement and sound. In 2019, Alexis Diamond served as co-artistic director of the Jamais Lu festival, where she also presented a bilingual play, Faux-amis, with co-author Hubert Lemire, with support from the CALQ. In 2018, Alexis joined a multiyear project led by professor Erin Hurley (McGill University) on the history of Quebec’s English-language theatre.
Meet the workshop team
RICK DOBRAN (HE, HIM, HIS)
Rick Dobran is an actor and writer living in Vancouver, BC. Rick is very excited to be able to contribute to this creative effort even through the pandemic.
PAUL DAVID POWER (HE, HIM, HIS)
Paul David Power has spent 25 years working as a writer, playwright, actor and director. His leadership positions include President of the Liffey Players Drama Society (Calgary), Artistic Director for Hubcity Theatre (Moncton) and Artistic Associate for the Shakespeare by the Sea Festival (St. John’s). Paul is an award winning playwright with Roomies, Last Chance, The View From Down Here, In Your Eyes and his current critically acclaimed touring production, Crippled. Paul is currently the Artistic Director of Power Productions (NL) – a professional theatre company dedicated to the development of works and artists with a focus on the disabled Deaf and MAD Arts domain. www.powerproductionsnl.com
ANTHONY SANTIAGO (HE, HIM, HIS)
Anthony’s selected theatre credits include: Best of Enemies (Pacific Theatre), Coriolanus (Bard on the Beach), Company (Raincity Theatre), Sweat (The Arts Club/The Citadel Theatre), Dear Elizabeth (Wunderdog Theatre) Superior Donuts (Ensemble Theatre Company), True West (Sonderhouse Productions). Special love and thanks to his family, friends, Nya-Manet, James and AKC.
ASSISTANT PRODUCER: HANNAH SIDEN (SHE, HER, HERS)
Hannah is a writer, director, producer and actor currently based in Vancouver, BC. She holds a BA in International Development Studies from McGill University, an MA in Acting from East 15 Acting School and a postgraduate filmmaking diploma from the London Film Academy. Hannah wrote and directed the short film Breathing Easy featuring Agnes Tong and Anita Wittenberg. She directed, produced and edited a music video for singer-songwriter David Beckingham in collaboration with Ballet BC, Plastic Wings. www.hannahsiden.com
Creative Producer: Jack Paterson (He, Him, his)
Jack is an award winning theatre maker whose work and practice has taken him across Canada, UK, EU and around the world. Work has ranged from devising creation, multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural and multi-ligual projects to new works & texts, contemporary approaches to classical theatre. www.jackpatersontheatre.com
The Canadian Play Thing is a playwright-centred virtual theatre that shares live readings of new and under-produced Canadian plays online. The goal is to support and celebrate the work of playwrights, and to connect our theatre family across the country. Artists and audiences around the world are welcome. www.plaything.ca
About The PHT Creative Hub Co-operative
The PHT Creative Hub Co-operative has transformed how we collaborate and share performing arts with our communities. Co-op artist members from across performance disciplines fill our spaces, work on their own creative projects, and share their skills and expertise with each other. The PHT Creative Hub Co-operative
About United Players
The uniqueness of United Players has been this diverse blend of artists of all ages, experiences and from all walks of life. The result is an exciting, energetic, creative, and fulfilling environment in which dreams can be realized, careers advanced, achievements accomplished, and magic created.
Francophone Canadian Theatre Resources
About Centre des auteurs dramatique
An association of authors serving authors, CEAD is a centre for the support, promotion and dissemination of French-language dramaturgy here. It occupies a unique place both in terms of the number of authors it brings together and the objectives of quality and innovation it pursues. www.cead.qc.ca
About Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal
Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal is a new creation development centre. PWM gives artists the opportunity to create and experiment, dream and take risks, fail and try again. Our dynamic collaborative process draws on our team’s unique expertise and is tailored to the artist’s individual needs. At PWM, playwrights, dramaturgs, translators, directors, performance artists, and theatre companies across the country find a creative accomplice willing to invest deeply in the development of meaningful work. www.playwrights.ca
About Théâtre la Seizième
Founded in 1974, Théâtre la Seizième is the main French language, professional theatre company in British Columbia. Since its creation, la Seizième contributes to the richness and diversity of the performing arts through its activities in new play development, production, presentation, and touring in French. Through powerful experiences that reflect the very best of francophone performing arts, from here and elsewhere, our company aims to inspire, enrich, and bring together diverse audiences. www.seizieme.ca
Bridging Borders, Cultures & languages Pandemic Project
International Digital Connector Series
Global Hive Labs, BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective, ChezActors & Fusion Theatre
INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL CONNECTOR SERIES
Conceived of by Jack Paterson and Denise Yvette Serna
This process based project brought artists together across the globe interested in collaborating remotely with artists of other disciplines. These digital hives share their individual practices and experiences and create something meaningful together. Global Hive Labs. facilitated process based remote creation bringing artists together from The Americas, Europe and the UK.
Artists responded to stimuli packs either as solo participants or in groups facilitated by GHL. Responses ranged from digital creations , images inspired by online questionaires, new media, to an immagined international cooking show.
Video “Dexy’s Midnight” by Flick Harrison (Vancouver, Canada)
Dancer Haley Allen responding to a verbatim reading of a poem by Nial Mcneil
INTERNATIONAL CALL & RESPONSE: THE PRESENCE OF INNOCENCE OF HOPE
As Covid 19 began spreading globally and we went in lock downs, we reached out to my friend and wonderful poet and theatre maker with down syndrome Niall McNeil.
Biuche asked him to write a poem we could share with other artists that could help inspire folks in their own art and bring us together in our various isolations. Niall wrote the beautiful PRESENCE OF HOPE.
Taking inspiration from Niall’s poem, a word, a sound, etc. artists from arrounf the world created their own woks including dance, music, new media, new writing, etc. The poem was translated into translated to French (Canada), Spanish (Ecuador), Portuguese (Brazil) and Traditional Chinese (Mandarin from Taiwan).
TheatreArtLife.com Podcast Interview with Bouche’s Jack Paterson
Bouche’s Jack Paterson joined Ana Aguilera for aTheatreArtLife.compodcast. An online series putting the spotlight on those who create live entertainment around the globe, the culture creators and the backstage masters.
We discussed international, multicultural, multilingual and devised practices and work including Theatre Hora (Zurich), Balinese Performing Arts, Global Hive Labs., Access, Translation and contemporary western practices.
This season Bouche had the pleasure of facilitating workshops of Jack Paterson’s translation of of Martin Bellemare’s Western Gold: The Ballad of Georges Boivin and Johanna Nutter’s translation of Annick Lefebvre’s Barbed Wire with British Equity. Both these amazing francophone Canadian playwrights have been shortlisted for the Siminovitch Prize. Congratulations to all the nominees!
Martin Bellmare’s work was described as “dazzling formal mastery” and “virtuoso inventiveness” by the Prix Michel-Tremblay jury, A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada French Language Playwrighting program. He received NTC’s Creation Award for La Liberté (2012) and Moule Robert (2017). In 2018, he received the Prix SACD de la dramaturgie francophone for Maître Karim la perdrix and the Prix Michel-Tremblay for Moule Robert.
Annick Lefebvre founded Le Crachoir, a company that examines the role of the author in the process of creating, producing and presenting theatre. She is the author of Ce samedi il pleuvait (Marc Beaupré, Le Crachoir, Aux Écuries, 2013), La machine à révolte (Jean Boillot, Le Préau / NEST-Théâtre, 2015), Barbelés (Alexia Bürger, Théâtre de Quat’sous et Théâtre La Colline, 2017) and ColoniséEs (René Richard Cyr, CTD’A, 2019). Her play J’accuse (Sylvain Bélanger, CTD’A, 2015) received the BMO Dramatic Writing Award, was a finalist for the AQCT Critics’ Award, the Prix Michel Tremblay and the Governor General of Canada Literary Award in 2015. Annick is currently adapting J’accuse for France (Sébastien Bournac, compagnie Tabula Rasa). Her work is published by Dramaturges Éditeurs.
This year’s winner of the Siminovitch Prize will be announced in a national, virtual ceremony on November 26 at 7 p.m. ET
