MONTREAL’S 5th annual

INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST THEATRE FESTIVAL MAY 18 + 19, 2010

with 20 performers from France, the USA and Canada

 

The fifth annual Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival (MIATF) –

the world’s only anarchist theatre festival - proudly presents two nights of provocative, socially engaged theatre in French and English, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 18 & 19, 2010 at the Sala Rossa, 4848 boul St-Laurent, 7:30pm. Tickets are $10 at the door or in advance from the Montreal anarchist bookstore L’Insoumise, 2033 boul St-Laurent (tel: 514- 313-3489). No reserved seating. (MIATF program details and photos on-line and below.)

 

French-language theatre Tuesday May 18th:

- La diseuse quelqu’un by the Compagne Monsieur Madame, with Maylis Isabelle Bouffartigue (France);

- Inspirée et Ascenseur pour le paradis by the ParkerBoro Lab of Rita Parker and Fabio Fabbri (France);

-  Et On Dancera sur les Cendres by Le Théâtre du fil jaune (Montréal);

- In-TERREUR-gation by and with Bruno Massé (Mtl);

- Voyage au Club Med by Geneviève Fortin with Émilie Monnet (Mtl);

- Oraison by and with Marie France Bancel  (Mtl).

 

English language theatre Wednesday May 19th :

- The Bomb, A monologue of the Haymarket Riot (based on the Frank Harris novel), by Kevin Mullins and Kevin Kordis from Flat Earth Theatre (USA);

- Words of a Revolutionary, based on the writings of Kaneko Fumiko, by Cecilia Copeland, with Jessica Rose (Montreal);

- Red Riding Hood & the Freudian Experiment, by Teatro Experimental del Zurdo  (Mtl);

- The Recession of Evelyn Grey, by La Bouche (Mtl);

 

Last year, the MIATF hosted two nights at the D.B. Clarke Theatre with

The Living Theatre from New York. The MIATF is part of Montreal’s annual Festival of Anarchy leading up to the eleventh annual Montreal Anarchist Bookfair, May 29 & 30, 2010.

                                                           

INFO: 514-981-5483  or,  anarchistefestival-AT-yahoo.ca

www.myspace.com/anarchisttheatre_montreal

 

PROGRAM DETAILS:

 

French-language theatre Tuesday May 18th:

 

La diseuse quelqu’un by the Compagne Monsieur Madame, with Maylis Isabelle Bouffartigue, conception, text and acting (France)

Brief extracts from Rainer Maria Rilke  “Le livre de la pauvreté et de la mort”(The Book of Poverty and Death);

Music : Fréhel « Sous la flotte »

 

Maylis Bouffartique, Artistic Director of the MonsieurMadame Company (Montesquieu/Volvestre, France) is a real subversive bomb in the French theatre milieu.

“La diseuse quelqu'un has a strange way of communicating: she addresses, she asks questions, without expecting anything. It’s more a state of being, which she applies to the same word or the same sentence.  Repetition inspired by childhood, the sacred and ritual, inspired also by History, which is repeated over and over again and reveals our helplessness. It's the question of a character who is even more alone, helpless when faced with the monstrosity of politics and the economy. Maylis raises the themes of exile, papers and identity. These are her obsessions as she undoes her bundle, which only contains another bundle, which only contains another bundle.''

Maylis Bouffartigue is an internationally renowned actor who has performed across Europe and in Africa, and stars in a Peter Watkins film, La Commune, in the role of Madame Théron.

 

Inspirée

the ParkerBoro Lab

Rita Parker (Marseille, France)

 

“To speak, communicate, inhale, exhale, choke. I open the dictionary and read the definitions at random while inhaling helium (a gas that modifies the voice). Toxic communication. Video and live act. Dada Exquisite Corpse meets clubber.

Constructed image for a deconstructed text.”

 

Ascenseur pour le Paradis

le ParkerBoro Lab

Fabbio Fabri (Marseille, France)

 

“700 years have passed and Charon continues to float dammed souls down the Acheron River, the river where Dante started his descent to Hell.  Today, centuries of progress and evolution have succeeded in creating an elevator directly connecting this Hell to Paradise. Throughout history, beginning with the Renaissance, touching the French Revolution, until this new millennium, his ascent has accelerated, rearing up, so that humanity can enjoy and experience the ecstasy it so desires, in the name of a conception of humanity and its right to govern the world ''pretentiously.''

     The host of this voyage could be your best friend:  elegant, convincing, intelligent and a manipulator of language. A humble servant, an instigator, a trickster…a demon? Call him Buffoon, considering that his voyage began underground where fire-fed magna boils in its destructive power.  A Buffoon-friend, a nice demon, who will treat you with the reserve and attention worthy of a Prince.”

           

ParkerBoroLab is the production label of APA (Association created in 1993). Born in 2000 from the meeting of a video/visual artist Rita Parker and an author/actor Jack Boro, its goals are the creation of artistic, multidisciplinary and pedagogical projects involving visual arts, writing, theater, performance, dance and sports, video and travel. It is also a space for research and experimentation.

http://ritaparker.free.fr/inspiree.html

 

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Et on Dancera sur les Cendres

par Le Théâtre du fil jaune (Montréal)

 

Personnages (par ordre d'apparition) :

Le poète: Quentin Conesa

La clown: Laurie-Ève Laroche Dubé

Le cinéphile: Gabriel Lesage

L'étudiante: Caroline Hamel

Le flic: Salim Martin

Technique sonore et visuelle: Hugo Lebleu et Romain Borboen-Léonard

Mise en scène: Jean-Gabriel Bergeron

 

“The action takes place in the Metro Frontenac, where buskers play,

between the escalator and the metro platform. A Yiddish poet chants his litanies.

Some passers-by smile, one or two give a bit of change, then a girl dressed as a clown passes and seems absorbed by his presentation. She stops to listen, and starts to cry.  The poet seems disturbed by her tears, but keeps chanting.”

 

Quentin Conesa started theatre school in the south of France at age 12. Thanks to his classes, he takes on small roles in short films and does monologues in cafés. Studied theatre at CEGEP Lionel-Groulx in 2006.

 

Laurie-Ève Laroche-Dubé  has a background in theatrical creations and improv and has performed in various amateur pieces, including a few roles in small indie films. I have done sets and costumes, and shot a few short expérimental films. »

 

Gabriel Lesage starred in his first theatre project with the Krashart collective in 2008. “Then I acted in the production of ‘7 Jewish children,’ a piece for Gaza. I am now preparing to enter the National Theatre School. I am currently a member of the multi-disciplinary Krashart collective.”

 

Caroline Hamel took theatre courses with Alain Sabater in Paris, 1998-2002; The Eponyme Theatre School in Paris in 2004; mime courses at the Omnibus Mime School in Montreal 2008-2009. Performed roles in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, 2005, 2006, a Wagner operatic adaptation in 2006, The Tattooed Rose, 2008, etc.

 

Salim Martins-Anwer has played many rôles such as the inspector Javert pursuing Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. He has also played Prince Sigismond in La vie set un songe by Pedro Calderon. He won a place in the finals of the inter-cultural division of the  National Improvisation League in 2008.

 

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In-TERREUR-gation

une comédie satirique solo

Texte, interprétation et musique de Bruno Massé (Mtl)

 

In the midst of a large-scale insurrectional uprising, one alleged anarchist has been captured by secret services and is being held in some nondescript room for questioning. Enters one Special Agent, expert profiler. But he’s a disgruntled man. His career as law officer, the stress of modern life and recurrent family issues have left him deeply dissatisfied with his existence. Searching through the motivations and the architecture behind the ongoing libertarian struggle has led him to seriously reconsider his position. He addresses the gagged prisoner and the “fourth wall” in a satirical monologue, reflecting on the increasingly apparent futility of what he’s supposed to defend.

 

Bruno Massé (Raven) has been involved in the Montreal anarchist movement since 2002. Better known for his research on radical environmentalism in Quebec, he is also the author of several novels, poetry collections and theatre plays. Adept of dark comedy and anti-civilisation critique, Masse has been involved in such collectives as La Mauvaise Herbe, Subversify Magazine, the End of the World Committee, La Forêt Noire and Liberterre.

www.daemonflower.com

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Voyage au Club Med

par Geneviève Fortin

avec Emilie Monnet (Montreal)

 

Voyage to the Club Med shows the path taken by a young ‘junky,’ towards the only destination that she believes will make her happy. This raw monologue with a sad truth takes you to the heart of a taboo reality unfamiliar to most people.

 

Geneviève Fortin grew up in Assomption, surrounded by her family. Despite better than average academic results, and her devotion to a lot of athletic and artistic pursuits, Geneviève left her family home at 14 years old. She lived on the street for many years and knew the hell of doing drugs. At 15 years old, she wrote this piece which she wanted to be a short story inspired by her life.

Today, 27 years old, she pursues her artistic activities, free of drugs and alcohol.

 

Émilie Monnet  is a multidisciplinary métis artist who has worked in Canada, Europe, and Latin America. For several years, she has been involved in projects that aim to build bridges between the indigenous peoples of the Americas. She also runs theatre workshops for incarcerated women as a part of the Agir par l’imaginaire project, which uses artistic creation to resist the criminalisation of poverty. Émilie is a graduate of the indigenous theatre program offered by Ondinnok in collaboration with the National Theatre School of Canada and has a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies.

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Oraison

Texte et interprétation par Marie France Bancel  (Montreal)

 

''I wrote this prayer for the 14 year old nymphet selling anti-wrinkle cream –she already fears menopause although she's just started menstruating.  I recite this prayer in the cathedral of the new religion: that of beauty.  Fashion models are the new missionaries; they spread the Evangelical of physical perfection available to those who devote…their body and cash. The new purity proposed to women isn't one of the soul, but on the skin. Youth is the new saintliness.  The new asceticism? A masochistic and impractical diet that will have you recover the body you had when you were 16! The girl in the ad is 16 years old!''

 

Marie France Bancel stands at the crossroads of story-telling, song and spoken word. She is passionate about oral literature, Brazilian music and her work as a translator. She has performed in numerous venues, including Solovox and during the Noches de poesia, presenting Spanish versions of her poetry. In 2009 and 2010, she participated in the cabaret of the ''Narrateurs atypiques pour un siècle hystérique'' on Radio Canada. Since 2001, she has been a member of the Circle des poètes immanents, a collective of authors who participate in literary salons and publications.

 

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English language theatre Wednesday May 19th :

 

The Bomb

A monologue of the Haymarket Riot based on the Frank Harris novel

by Kevin Mullins and Kevin Kordis from Flat Earth Theatre (USA)

 

The Bomb is a play of history, telling the story of the Haymarket Riot from the prospective of the uncaught bomb-thrower. As he lies in a Latin American city, dying of consumption, Rudolph Schnabelt confesses his involvement in the most notorious act in labour history. We hear about his coming to America, immigrant life in the slums of New York and Chicago, his involvement in the struggle for the eight-hour day, his conversion to anarchism, and the road that would lead him to throw the bomb that killed eight policemen, and lead to the death of five of his comrades. As anarchists struggling to change the world of today, it’s important to remember those who have come before us, fought and given their lives in the struggle against capitalism.

Founded in 2006, Flat Earth Theatre is a not-for-profit theatre company serving the Greater-Boston area. We share a passion for creating theatre and strive to immerse ourselves and others in our storytelling to make the boundaries between actor and audience disappear. We are entertainers who believe in theatre as a vehicle for ideas and new forms of expression, seeking to produce thought-provoking art that both challenges and entertains.

www.flatearththeatre.com