August 16, 2005 -

As previously announced, from September 8 to 17, 2005, the Festival Zones Théâtrales will take over various venues in the Ottawa?Gatineau region. This dynamic new theatre festival —the focal point for French-language theatre produced in our vast Canadian landscape—will mark the spectacular launch of the National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre’s 2005–06 season.

This inaugural edition of the Festival Zones Théâtrales, under the artistic coordination of Paul Lefebvre, will feature nine plays, two special evenings to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Théâtre de l’Île (Hull/Gatineau), two lectures, five public readings (presented in association with Montreal’s Centre des auteurs dramatiques), a round table, three exhibitions, daily backgrounder sessions on the featured productions, and numerous receptions and late-night social events with music.

Warning: You may be forbidden from entering certain zones unless you buy your tickets today! Get into the comfort zone by purchasing a Festival pass (3, 5 or 8 shows). Here’s how: Check out our online Festival brochure at zones.nac-cna.ca; fill out the order form and bring it down to the NAC Box Office at 53 Elgin Street (open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.).

Featured plays

• Festival opener :Requiem pour un trompettiste, produced by Théâtre La Tangente(Toronto, Ontario). Written and directed by Claude Guilmain, with a jazz score by Claude Naubert, this play—with something of the film noir about it—takes an acerbic look at corruption and disinformation, juxtaposing two complementary fragments of the same event. Any similarity to the Walkerton tragedy is purely deliberate on the author’s part.
  World premiere performances Thursday, September 8 and Friday, September 9 at 20:00 in the NAC Studio.
  
• Cow-boy Poétré, produced by L’UniThéâtre (Edmonton, Alberta), written by Kenneth Brown, translated by Laurier Gareau and directed by Daniel Cournoyer. This “all?Western” play reveals the brutal realities of the rodeo circuit and the mythology that surrounds it, particularly the seductive appeal of fleeting glory. A story of a three-way vendetta that exposes the romantic clichés of ten?gallon hats and cowboy boots . . . The cast includes Crystal Plamondon, “the queen of Cajun country.”
  Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10 at 20:00 at La Nouvelle Scène.

• Free outdoor performance:Bizzarium: un cryptozoo, produced by Sages Fous (Trois?Rivières, Quebec), written by South Miller, Jacob Brindamour and Sylvain Longpré. Captured in the depths of the jungle, fished out of the bottomless abyss of the ocean, or discovered in a dusty Oriental bazaar, some truly peculiar life forms have invaded the neighbourhood. What do they want? Well, follow them and find out!
  Saturday, September 10 at 14:30&18:30 and Sunday, September 11 at 14:30& 16:30 in Confederation Park.
  
• L’Homme invisible/The Invisible Man, produced by Théâtre de la Vieille 17 (Ottawa, Ontario), written by Patrice Desbiens and directed by Roch Castonguay, Robert Marinier, Esther Beauchemin and Robert Bellefeuille. Conceived and written (though not translated) in his two “mother tongues” by acclaimed Franco-Ontarian poet Patrice Desbiens, this is the story of a man who, though he has never complained nor lost his sense of self, seems somehow to be crying out for help. This solitary, bilingual, bisected being contemplating the void is portrayed by two actors, Roch Castonguay and Robert Marinier.
  Sunday, September 11 and Monday, September 12at20:00 at Arts Court.
  
• Laxton, produced by Le Cercle Molière(Winnipeg, Manitoba), written by Rhéal Ceneri and directed with daring and panache by Geneviève Pelletier. This stunning play about ethnic cleansing invites the audience to imagine themselves as the victims—one family among so many others—but also as their executioners, and to experience the unthinkable: betrayal by one’s neighbours, senseless violence, dispossession, the death of hopes and dreams.
  Monday, September 12 and Tuesday, September 13at 20:00 in the NAC Studio.
  
• Le Testament du couturier, produced by Théâtre La Catapulte(Ottawa, Ontario), written by Michel Ouellette and directed by Joël Beddows, starring Annick Léger. In this futuristic fable, playwright Michel Ouellette has crafted an incisive metaphor for our narcissistic society and its ethical decay, an ultra-dystopic world where the invisible and the unspeakable coexist, where the few elusive words that haven’t yet been suppressed have the explosive power of time bombs. Winner of the Trillium Award and the Masque for Best Franco-Ontarian Production.
  Tuesday, September 13 and Wednesday, September 14at 20:00 at the Salle Jean?Despréz.
  
• Portrait chinois d’une imposteure, produced by Théâtre français de Toronto (Toronto, Ontario), written by Dominick Parenteau?Lebeuf and directed by Paule Baillargeon. A black comedy full of fantasy and virtuosity, a mischievous meditation on the hopes, fears and risks that all creators face and the love-hate relationship between artists and their art—and the wide world of culture, particularly the media gurus who define “art” and establish its value.
  Wednesday, September 14 and Thursday, September 15at 20:00 at La Nouvelle Scène.
  Note: Additional off-Festival performances Friday, September 16 and Saturday, September 17 at 20:00 at La Nouvelle Scène. Reservations: 613-241-2727.

• Le Christ est apparu au Gun Club, produced by Théâtre L’Escaouette(Moncton, New Brunswick), written by Herménégilde Chiasson and directed by Andreï Zaharias. In this comedy, multidisciplinary artist Chiasson, a major figure in contemporary Acadian culture, takes a look at “the immense emptiness created by our modern tendency to replace spirituality with cynicism and perpetual doubt.” The result: inspiration, euphoria, laughter . . .
  Thursday, September 15 and Friday, September 16 at 20:00 at Arts Court.
  
• Closing performance:Murmures, produced by Théâtre populaire d’Acadie(Caraquet, New Brunswick), written by emerging Acadian playwright Emma Haché(winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for her recent play L’Intimité) and directed by Jean?Stéphane Roy. Using the powerful metaphor of a wall, Haché explores the “hows” and “whys” of exclusion, enlisting the concepts of “theatre of fragmentation” to piece together a terrible mosaic.
  Friday, September 16 and Saturday, September 17 at 20:00 in the NAC Studio.

Special celebration: 30th anniversary of the Théâtre de l’Île

Saturday, September 10 and Sunday, September 11 at 20:00 at theThéâtre de l’Île
The Festival Zones Théâtrales invites you to two special evenings to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Théâtre de l’Île. Founding Artistic Director Gilles Provost offers a staged reading of a text whose numerous productions have marked the stages of his professional career and the evolution of the Théâtre de l’Île: L’Imbécile, by Lomer Gouin, with a cast including Louison Danis, Claire Faubert, and Jeanne Sabourin. The second part of the evening will feature the first scene of the Théâtre de l’Île’s upcoming production of Encore, by the young Franco-Manitoban playwright Marc Prescott. Featured in the cast are Geneviève Couture and Richard Bénard.
Note: These evenings are not included in Festival passes. Tickets ($25 each) are available in person at the NAC Box Office or through Ticketmaster, 613?755?1111 / www.ticketmaster.ca.

Thursday, September 8 through Saturday, September 17, 2005

4at the National Arts Centre (Studio and Fourth Stage),
La Nouvelle Scène, Arts Court,
the Salle Jean-Despréz and the Théâtre de l’Île

Festival passes (3, 5 or 8 shows) on sale at the NAC Box Office
Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
(53 Elgin Street, Ottawa)

Single tickets on sale in person at the NAC Box Office
or through Ticketmaster, (613) 755-1111 / www.ticketmaster.ca

Festival website: zones.nac-cna.ca

The NAC French Theatre gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its Festival Zones Théâtrales partners: Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, LeDroit, Voir, Transcontinental, la Première Chaîne de Radio-Canada, la Télévision de Radio-Canada, le Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD), l’Association des théâtres francophones du Canada (ATFC), l’Ambassade de France au Canada, Second Cup, Kolegram and Livres, Disques, Etc.

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Information:
Guy Warin
Communications and Media Relations Officer
French Theatre, Canada’s National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850?2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca