À LA RENCONTRE DES RUELLOIS.ES / MEETING WITH THE ALLEYANS

Contes et légendes de la Petite-Patrie is a process that marries the art of spoken word with socioecological transition. In 2023, I will accompany three citizen groups that are already involved with their alley (the “La Girafe” Collective), their park (“Le Nord des Possibles”) and their commercial artery (“Petite Plaza”). This project aims to deepen and reaffirm the collective identity of residents in their environments, and to help us discover the history, nature and relationships that exist there. By its end, these communities will be positioned to anchor these discoveries in the collective writing of their own theatrical tales.

This project is primarily designed to allow youth in all disciplines, of all sexual orientations and interests, to have a safe place to express themselves and be part of a Yukon-wide community. All workshops and skills learned are transferable to any future job that youth may apply for. This proposal will also share how community engagement can promote healthy living and lifestyles. The project is entertainment, education, Yukon-wide engagement community support and above all, a unique voice for youth. Youth guests who take part in the project will learn how to broadcast, live-cast, podcast, and gain confidence of who they are at any stage of their life.

Katherine Kellner is a Montreal-based lighting designer and director. Through contrast, colour and texture, her goal in design is to always tell the most authentic story possible. She is inspired by the work of Michel Tremblay, Susan Benson, Norval Morrisseau and Marc Chagall.

Behind the scenes, she is passionate about Canadian class structure, human behaviour, the evolving use of language, and the impacts of technological innovation. Prior to NTS, she studied linguistics and English theatre at McGill University. She has eight years of experience in the performance industry (dance, theatre and film) and has worked as a designer, technician and manager. She brings energy, enthusiasm and efficiency to all projects.

L’ÎLE EN PÉRIL

La terre est gronde

A creation by Michel Ouellette, directed by Dillon Orr.
In front of a cottage, on an island, in the middle of a river, Hubert and Henriette, bellies hollow with hunger, are waiting for the end. Two rich people arrive: Trudy and Crayon, the island’s owners, along with Hugo, a professional golfer. The trio has just left the city to escape the economic, environmental and health crises. Later, Mimi, Dodo, Nini, Titi, aka, Nono and Tata will emerge from the earth. They were digging the mystery, the mystery of the hole. Why were they in the hole? Maybe Earth is not an entity that’s separate from humans, is not simply an object or a background. Maybe today, a certain kind of ecological thought can only be reached through the arts.

Dillon Orr Biography (Ontario)

Originally from the Detroit area, Dillon Orr is a franco-Ontarian director. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa’s Department of Theatre and of the National Theatre School of Canada. Dillion is strongly interested in the development and production of new dramaturgies, and has received the Prix Paulette Gagnon (2016) and the Prix national d’excellence RBC (2019), awarded by the Fondation pour l’avancement du théâtre francophone au Canada, as well as the Pauline McGibbon Award (2021) from the Ontario Arts Council. His theatre and speaking work, full of passion and sometimes grating, is accessible and shot through with humour in the spirit of popular entertainment, demonstrating his uniqueness and thirst for representation within an intrinsically franco-Ontarian theatre. His numerous creations include Le club des éphémères (Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, Théâtre français de Toronto), Ceci n’est pas une lettre d’adieu… (Théâtre Catapulte), Toutou (Vox Théâtre), Jeff Koons (Théâtre du Trillium, Centre Phi) and Vaches, The Musical (Créations In Vivo).

S’ENJAILLER

Sel is an epic for teens that stars a fat princess whose story does not revolve around her weight, but around her quest for a reconciled realm. The story takes place in a decadent and bulimic realm where it’s the custom for people to forget about all their negative emotions by eating until they vomit. Inspired by the Hungarian tale The Princess and the Salt, Sel is a fable that breaks out of storytelling codes and addresses contemporary issues such as body inclusivity, trauma healing, our relationship with food, and the emancipation of a toxic political system, all done with a feminist sensibility, openness, humour and a pop aesthetic that’s inspired by teenage social media networks.

The creation team will collaborate with a drama therapist who specializes in eating disorders among youth. A tour of high schools, along with cultural mediation workshops, is planned for the coming months.

Éléonore Brieuc Biography (Ontario)

Éléonore Brieuc is an author who wears many hats. After earning a DEC in literary creation, she obtained a massage therapy diploma in 2015 and a visual arts certificate in 2018. She then started a law degree in 2020, and the following year began her training in playwriting at the National Theatre School, which she will finish in May 2024. She worked for six years with the Qui Dit Vain theatre collective as a performer, author and co-director. As interested in collective creation as she is in solo writing, Éléonore shines in projects that allow her to express her taste for rebellion, poetry, the visceral, and incongruous worlds.

Anne-Marie St-Louis Biography (Ontario)

Anne-Marie St-Louis is a director who defines herself by her unstoppable passion for the performance arts and community. She is the recipient of the Fonds de recherche du Québec scholarship for her investigation of food and theatricality for her master’s degree at UQAM’s École supérieure de théâtre. She seeks to create more inclusive, friendly and creative directing methodologies. Since 2017, she has co-directed the youth theatre company Créactifs, with which she has produced projects noted for their exploration of unusual theatre spaces, their sparkling and philosophical dramaturgy and their participative elements. She also works in cultural mediation with various partners, including Théâtre Espace Libre, Fusion Jeunesse, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

Greenhouse Effected is an experimental theatre piece to be created based on Exxon Mobil’s greenhouse gas study, which was internally disseminated in 1981 and released to the public in 2015. A mix of contemporary classical music, choral speaking, absurd and poetic text, and a fusion of technical designs will submerge participants in the conscience of a climate researcher who, despite their responsibility for the greater good, chooses to keep quiet about their discoveries regarding climate change.

The performance will explore the relationship between corporate greed and the push for individual responsibility for climate change rather than a collective fight. Greenhouse Effected will be a chance to collectively mourn the health of our planet and dream of ways we can come together to fight our climate impact as a society.

Ryan Wilcox is a queer, multidisciplinary artist with a love of collective creation. Their goal in theatre is to create a catalytic environment for new Canadian work that focuses on the voices that have yet to be heard and the questions that have yet to be answered. Through their training in production design and technical arts (NTS, 2020), they hope to enhance the creative companies they work with by using collaborative approaches that see beyond the traditional structures of theatre. Before attending NTS, Ryan completed Dalhousie University’s Technical Scenography program.

While at the National Theatre School, Ryan trained under the guidance of inspirational artists such as David-Alexandre Chabot, Brian Kenny, Maria Popoff, Craig Putt, Andrea Lundy, Rick Rinder and Debashis Sinha, among many others. On productions, Ryan has worked as a stage manager, lighting designer, and sound designer while collaborating with such acclaimed directors as Eda Holmes, Danielle Irvine and Krista Jackson.

Ryan worked on sound design for Little Thing Big Thing (Neptune Theatre), Penny’s Home Projects (Alinea Theatre), and The PEACE Project (Transitus Theatre). Ryan was also an apprentice stage manager for the Festival Antigonish and a stage manager for The Colour of Courage (Anthony Sherwood Productions).

She/They was produced at Nextfest in June and in the Edmonton Fringe in August. It is a two-hander, and Madi performed in it alongside a local artist from Edmonton. The play was part of Nextfest’s MainStage lineup, which guarantees three performances at that Festival, and will receive 7-8 performances at the Fringe.

Synopsis

Famed feminist author Agnes Arnold has been cancelled and doxed. Gender studies major Pearl Arnold has been dumped and shattered. Pearl has no time to process their breakup because Agnes, their grandmother, is moving in. Full of hope that her grand-“daughter” will validate her outdated and bigoted opinions, Agnes is shocked when Pearl pushes back. Soon, they launch into a debate about feminism and gender, but as the political becomes personal, both Agnes and Pearl confront the truth that they are far from ready to admit.