Centaur Theatre Company presents
BY MICHEL TREMBLAY /
TRANSLATED BY JOHN VAN BUREK & BILL GLASSCO
DIRECTED BY SARAH GARTON STANLEY
STARRING:
Catherine Fitch, Alain Goulem, Anthousa Harris, Holly O'Brien
April 22 - May 25, 2008
One of the great Michel Tremblay classics, Forever Yours, Marie-Lou is the English translation of A Toi, Pour Toujours, Ta Marie-Lou, first staged in French at Montreal’s Théâtre Quat’Sous in 1971. It has never been performed in English in Montreal until now.
Set in the early 1970’s when The Main (St. Laurent Blvd.) was electric with an exotic nightlife frequented by a Quebec population at an historical crossroads, this potent play strikes at the heart of an unforgettable, dysfunctional Québecois family. Carmen, a country singer returns home to convince Manon, her sister, to end years of mourning the death of their parents. Past and present intermingle as the two daughters struggle to reconcile their visions of the past, while the parents, Marie-Louise and Léopold, enact the events leading up to their meeting with powers beyond their control.
Dramatist, novelist, translator, adaptor and screenwriter, Michel Tremblay has loomed large in Quebec's cultural life since the late 1960s. Both the quantity and quality of his creative output have been outstanding: 26 plays, 3 musicals, 12 novels, a collection of tales, 4 collections of short stories, 7 screenplays, 23 translations/adaptations of foreign plays, 1 libretto and lyrics for about a dozen songs - all of which have been published. Many of Michel’s plays have earned high praise in Canada, the United States and virtually everywhere in Europe. His name appears in the Larousse and Robert dictionaries, in Who's Who, and in the Dictionary of International Biography. In addition to six grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Michel has received more than 50 awards throughout his career.
First produced in English at Tarragon Theatre in 1972, Forever Yours, Marie-Lou was translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco. John Van Burek has been a practicing theatre artist for over twenty years, in both French and English, throughout Canada. In 1971, he founded the Théâtre Français de Toronto. He has taught at Ryerson Theatre School, York University and at the National Theatre School of Canada. He is one of Canada’s leading translators for theatre and has received several awards for his work, including the Toronto Drama Bench Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Canadian Theatre. Bill Glassco was a graduate of Princeton and Oxford Universities and founder of Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre. In 1985, he became Director of Theatre for Centre Stage at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Centre, and helped to merge this organization with the Toronto Free Theatre to create the Canadian Stage Company, of which he was the Co-artistic Director until 1991. He created theatre all over Canada and taught at the National Theatre School of Canada. He also set up and oversaw the selection committees for the first two years of the Siminovitch Awards program. A recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore and Sterling Awards for directing, he was also an Officer of the Order of Canada and held an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto.
Director, Sarah Garton Stanley, whom Centaur audiences will remember from Glorious!- the outrageous true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, co-founded Die In Debt Theatre (DID)and the Baby Grand Theatre, and is the former Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. She was an Associate Director of Factory Theatre, on the Artistic Advisory of Nightwood Theatre, and the inaugural Artistic Associate of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, where she developed the ongoing Magnetic Encounters Series. Recent credits include The Retreat from Moscow (Neptune Theatre), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Teesri Duniya/Neworld Theatre/PuSH Festival), Stones in his Pockets (Thousand Islands Playhouse), and Isadora: Fabulist (Imago Theatre). Sarah has strong working ties to both Concordia University and the National Theatre School of Canada.
The cast is comprised of Catherine Fitch (Away From Her, Slings and Arrows, This Is Wonderland) as Marie-Louisein her Centaur debut; veteran actor Alain Goulem (The Boys of St. Vincent, The Tournament, This Is Wonderland, Brian DiPalma’s Snake Eyes) whose Centaur credits include The Caretaker, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Moon For The Misbegotten as Léopold; in the role of Manon, Anthousa Harris whom Centaur audiences will remember as Juliet in last season’s Romeo & Juliet; and Holly O’Brien, winner of the 2006 MECCA Award for Best Actress for her performance in Last Call, also in her Centaur debut as Carmen. The Creative team consists of set and costume design by Brian Smith and lighting design by Luc Prairie. Forever Yours, Marie-Lou is stage managed by Merissa Tordjman and apprentice stage manager Katharine Childs.
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MEDIA CALL for Forever Yours, Marie-Lou will take place on
Tuesday April 22 at 12:30 PM at Centaur Theatre.
Previews: April 22 & 23
Opening: April 24
Closing: May 25
Evenings: Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm
Sunday 7pm; May 11
Matinees: Saturdays - 2pm; April 27, May 3, 10, 17, 24
Sundays - 2pm; April 27, May 4, 18, 25
Wednesday - 1pm; May 7, 14, 21
Media Contact: Kika Armata, Director of Communications at kika@centaurtheatre.com
or call (514) 288-1229 ext. 277
For Immediate Release - Montreal, March 14, 2008
Centaur Theatre Company presents
BY DANIEL LILLFORD /
DIRECTED BY ROY SURETTE
STARRING:
Kent Allen, Michael Chiasson, Patrick Costello, Pyllis Gooden,
Gregory Prest, Patricia Summersett
MARCH 27 – APRIL 20, 2008
"Nothing is as it seems. Nothing ever should be"
- Daniel Lillford
The Mystery of Maddy Heisler, a hauntingly beautiful WWII Mystery set on the shores of Nova Scotia is directed by newly appointed Artistic & Executive Director, Roy Surette, in his Centaur debut. This evocative
play tells the story of a young man who falls in love with an older woman during WWII. He’s 17 and she’s 30. In the midst of their rapturous love affair, the woman, Maddy Heisler, disappears never to see the youthful Jacob again. Years later, as the now aging mystery-writer Jacob, is struggling with his own creative block, a mysterious young woman arrives to the area. She carries with her a small notebook, the contents of which open an unexpected door to the past. Secrets and lies, lovers and spies, Jacob will never be the same again. The Mystery of Maddy Heisler was recently nominated for five East Coast Robert Merrit Awards including Best Play.
Playwright, director and actor of 26 years, Daniel Lillford is a resident of Nova Scotia, but has recently been seen on Montreal stages in such productions as Enemy of The People at the Segal Centre, in Centaur’s productions of Romeo & Juliet and The Weir. He has had over 21 productions of his plays produced in Australia, Canada, the United States and Scotland as well as his short film Sheep. He has won awards for his plays When The Day Is Done, for the screenplay of Sheep, and has received several prestigious nominations for his plays The Dunny, The Kingdom Come, Slow Trains an’ Dirty Towns and Right of Birth. His newest
play, Snow Dance will receive a world premiere later this year at Ship's Company Theatre in Nova Scotia.
Director, Roy Surette was appointed as Centaur Theatre Company’s new Artistic and Executive Director in June 2007 succeeding Gordon McCall. Roy comes to Montreal following a ten year tenure at the beloved Belfry Theatre in Victoria BC. A West Coast native Roy graduated from the renowned Studio 58 in 1979 and has held Artistic Director and Associate Director positions with Touchstone Theatre in Vancouver, Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops, Carousel Theatre in Vancouver and Burnaby Summer Theatre. Roy has won several awards for directing and has worked with many of Canada’s major theatre companies including The Vancouver Playhouse, The Arts Club Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Theatre Calgary, Manitoba Theatre Company, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Manitoba Theatre Centre for Young People, The National Arts Centre, The Shaw Festival and Canadian Stage Company. He has also worked internationally directing the acclaimed Axis Theatre production, The Number 14 across Canada and in Hong Kong, Belfast and New York City. His staging of Moms The Word Two: Unhinged recently took Roy to Glasgow and Melbourne. The Mystery of Maddy Heisler is the first production Roy directs for Centaur.
The cast is comprised of Kent Allen, whose Centaur credits include Condoville, Romeo & Juliet, The Caretaker and Life After George, in the role of Jacob Meisner. Veteran stage, film and radio actor, director, Michael Chiasson reprises the role of Earle Murphy, which he played in the original Ship’s Company Theatre production in 2006. A founding member of SideMart Theatrical Grocery, Patrick Costello plays Young Earle Murphy; Phyllis Gooden in her Centaur debut as Myrtle Kelly, Gregory Prest, last seen on the Centaur stage in Glorious! as Young Jacob Meisner and Patricia Summersett who was recently seen in Hedda Gabler, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and As You Like It, playing the title role and the role of Ingrid Traeger. The Creative team consists of set and costume design by Anne-Séguin Poirier, lighting design by Spike Lyne and sound design by Mike Doherty. The Mystery of Maddy Heisler is stage managed by Luciana Burcheri and assistant stage manager Vincent Absi.
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MEDIA CALL for Maddy Heisler will take place on
Tuesday March 25 at 12:30 PM at Centaur Theatre.
Previews: March 25 and 26
Opening: March 27
Closing: April 20
Evenings: Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm
Sunday 7pm; April 6
Matinees: Saturdays - 2pm; March 29 & April 5, 12, 19
Sundays - 2pm; March 30 & April 13, 20
Wednesday - 1pm; April 2
Media Contact: Kika Armata, Director of Communications at kika@centaurtheatre.com
or call (514) 288-1229 ext. 277
