In this drag cabaret, Jizz-Elle, a Métis Two-Spirit drag performer, performs songs by Métis artists from around Turtle Island—including Twin Flames, Ceileigh Cardinal, Iskwe and others—and shares cultural intricacies through storytelling. Beyond educating and sharing stories about Indigenous ancestry, the Cabaret will be an opportunity to promote the rich musical culture of Indigenous people of our land, which is too often undermined. And let’s be real, who doesn’t like a drag performance?

PAPEÇA

Papeça is a solo created and performed by Cha Raoutenfeld and designed with Mathilde Boudreau, Ophélie Lacasse, Margot Lacoste, Annie Préfontaine, Morena Prats, Flavie Lemée and other collaborators to be confirmed.

Papeça follows the hurried evolution of the Créature character in the discovery of their femininity, their sexuality and their double identity. Over a period of about ten years, between Russia and Quebec, in front of the mirror in their classical ballet class, always between dream and reality, Créature delivers a fight that’s already lost. Créature is at the mercy of the outside world and is quickly overcome by other bodies and voices. To survive, Créature transforms and, through performative and physical moments of trance, tries to expulse what overwhelms and constrains them.

Cha Raoutenfeld biography (Ontario)

Cha Raoutenfeld (they) is a queer transdisciplinary artist. As a performer, creator and interpreter, they flourish in the margins, while deconstructing and reconsidering dominant frameworks.
Cha is of Slavic and Quebecois origin. Their process and trajectory are anchored in their double identity and in their avid interest in a diverse range of influences and practices. In 2016, they undertook a nine-month multidisciplinary internship in Minsk, Belarus. Then, in 2019, they took part as a performer in the dance-theatre show Sept (directed by Sergei Zemlyansky) presented in Moscow. In summer 2022, they undertook a performance internship organized by the Italian company OHT in the Alps.
As a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada in 2021 and passionate about interdisciplinary creation, Cha joined Brigitte Poupart’s company Transthéâtre as an intern. In 2023, they made their entrance with the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui as an artist in residence in order to present a performative trilogy.

Black box: new craft in set design

This project reconsiders the traditional form of the maquette in response to the iterative nature of design and prototyping. The black box will be explored as a modular kit – incorporating the traditional needs of this set design tool while also extending to different spaces, projects, materials, and configurations. In doing so, the black box is no longer secured to one play space or story inviting designers to revisit the same tool in different contexts. Through workshops and open-source design, this project acts as a prompt to collectively rethink the process of design exploration for performance space.

Biography

Augusta has an ongoing practice in textiles and apprenticed as a shoemaker in 2016. She holds a degree in Industrial Design from Emily Carr University of Art and Design graduating in 2020 with a focus on design research and social practice. Her work in design aims to engage herself and others in a process of making that is situated and responsive.

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).