October 19, 2004 -

OTTAWA -- Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) today officially launched the French Theatre section of ArtsAlive.ca, its performing arts education website. The launch, held at Montreal’s École Saint-Louis, was hosted by actress Sophie Cadieux, whose effervescent personality, love of theatre and popularity with young audiences were a big part of the event’s success. In attendance were members of the print and electronic media, drama teachers and students, members of the local arts community, and NAC staff.

The NAC thanks the students, teachers and staff of École Saint-Louis for their generous support. Located in Montreal’s multiethnic Mile End district, École Saint-Louis is the only secondary school in Quebec to offer a specialized theatre training program.

The “Théâtre français” section of ArtsAlive.ca was produced by Paul Lefebvre and NAC New Media in collaboration with Françoise Boudreault, and includes content by numerous contributors.  Mr. Lefebvre is the Associate Artistic Director (since 2001) of the NAC French Theatre under Artistic Director Denis Marleau. He is well known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of theatre and his skill at imparting it in an appealing and accessible way, as illustrated by the Cahiers du Théâtre Denise‑Pelletier, a publication he edited from 1990 to 2001.

ArtsAlive.ca: the NAC’s performing arts education website

ArtsAlive.ca – French Theatre is the third module of ArtsAlive.ca, the NAC’s performing arts education website. The first module, ArtsAlive.ca – Music, was launched in February 2002 and recently received a perfect mark of A+ in all four judging categories (content, aesthetics, organization and overall appeal) from Educationworld.com, recognized as one of the Internet’s leading online resources for educators.

The second module, ArtsAlive.ca – English Theatre, went live in March 2003. The fourth and final module, ArtsAlive.ca – Dance, will be launched in 2005. ArtsAlive.ca, a major component of the NAC’s education and outreach programming, is produced with the generous support of the Department of Canadian Heritage and TELUS.

The Department of Canadian Heritage is pleased to support this project through the Canadian Memory Fund, part of its strategy for Canadian Culture Online. This Fund supports federal institutions in putting Canada's key cultural collections online. The goal of the Canadian Culture Online strategy is to ensure a dynamic and diverse Canadian cultural presence on the Internet.

“At TELUS we believe that one of the greatest gifts we can give to young people is the opportunity to develop a life-long relationship with, and passion for, the arts,” said Janet Yale, Executive Vice President, Legal, Government & Regulatory Affairs, TELUS. “The new French Theatre section of Artsvivants.ca demonstrates the innovative use of the Internet to bring the performing arts alive for youth across the country. TELUS is proud to support the National Arts Centre and, in particular, its National Youth and Education Trust that helps to make artsvivants.ca a reality.”

ArtsAlive.ca – French Theatre: 40,000 words and nearly 300 images

ArtsAlive.ca – French Theatre is aimed at young people between 13 and 18. As such, it uses clear, non-technical language that is accessible but never “dumbed down”, making it equally useful as a resource for college and university students and the general public.

The French Theatre module explores three general themes: making theatre, experiencing theatre, and learning about theatre. With 40,000 words and close to 300 images, it’s a comprehensive site with an encyclopaedic scope. It is divided into six sections:

• Making Theatre includes information about the various stages of mounting a theatre production, specialized vocabulary, a description of the tasks and trades involved, links to additional resources, and information on professional training programs for those interested in theatre as a career.
• Experiencing Theatre lists Canada’s major French-language theatre companies and features profiles of leading Francophone theatre artists (playwrights, directors, designers and actors) as well as video clips of interviews with artists talking about their work.
• Theatre Today takes a look at artists and companies who are exploring new forms of theatre.
• As its title suggests, History of Theatre provides an overview of theatre through the ages.
• Reading includes suggested reading lists and links to additional online resources.
• The sixth and final section, Théâtre en jeux, is more playful in tone. Here, users can test their knowledge of theatre and watch video clips of amateur and professional theatre artists talking about their fondest theatre memory.

Each section is lavishly illustrated, and many of the articles contain links to more specialized sites: for example, the article on Molière in Section 4 (History of Theatre) includes a link to the French site Tout Molière.

The National Arts Centre gratefully acknowledges the support of École Saint-Louis, Isabelle Bleau Communications, the Department of Canadian Heritage, TELUS, and, last but not least, the many talented theatre artists whose work is featured on our site.

Information:
Guy Warin, Communications Officer
NAC French Theatre  
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850‑2787, ext. 2-759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca