Jack Paterson Theatre

“This is the magic of theatre” – Jerry Wasserman, The Province

International Exchange & Translation

La Coalition de la robe

Teatro Trieste Trentaquattro in collaborazione con Global Hive Labs, BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective, il ChezActors presenta

LA COALITION DE LA ROBE

By Marie-Claude Garneau, Marie-Ève Milot & Marie-Claude St-Laurent
Translated to Italian by Carolina Migli

Featuring Elisa Ferrari, Sara Gurnari & Melania Mililli | Production dramaturgy by  River Coello

When: Sunday, May 8, 2022
Time: 9 PM
Where: Teatro Trieste 34
(Via Trieste 34 – 29122 Piacenza, Italy)

“This work is necessary so Italian artists understand that the same problems are faced all over the world, even in a country as focused on human rights as Canada.” – Mirella Girometti, public

“I had no idea there were so many barriers to women in our theatre” – Elisabetta Molinari, public

“…the revival of Quebec’s feminist theatre, a vibrant homage to art, the place of women to challenge everything…” – Le Devoir

They appeared from the shadows, like from a horror movie, the invisible armed with all their crumpled and scraped ideas. In their hands were their stillborn dreams & characters.

Marie-Claude Garneau, Marie-Eve Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent investigate a story of invisibility and anonymity. This interdisciplinary document records the writers’ political awakening, and their discovery of a heritage not taught in school – the works of Quebecois women. They share their personal journeys, their theatre knowledge, their liberating anger in a collection of scenes, essays and manifestos. 

Cross Sensory translation and live description: In front of a table, dancer Andrea Cownden inprovises movement. On the tablein the forground is a laptop.   On the laptop screen is an open zoom meeting with a view of the Post750 studio and Andrea Cownden, conceptual artist Collin Van Uchelen, and choreographer  Susan Gingrasso providing Collin a live audio description.

Melania Milill in La Coalition de la robe (Teatro Trieste 34, Italy)

Sara Gurnari in La Coalition de la robe (Teatro Trieste 34, Italy)

To promote Canadian work over the pandemic, I reached out our international peers. With supported from CEAD, PTC and PWM, I supplied contemporary Canadian works in both official languages fitting each international company’s mandate to chose from; introduced like-minded artists and organisations; and supported funding applications and English language documents.

Translation for theatre falls in the professional category “Creative Translation”. By it’s nature Theatre is a collaborative effort, and translation for theatre is no different. A close cross cultural exchange between playwright and translator is crucial – providing understanding of the playwright’s motivations, choices, and the cultural understandings unique to the playwright’s culture, identity, etc.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, The City of Piacenza, Teatro Trieste 34, ChezActors & Piacenza Kultur Dom.

Meet the Playwright & Translator

Marie-Claude Garneau (Canada)

MARIE-CLAUDE GARNEAU trained at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe Theatre School. As an end-of-study internship, she participated in the UNESCO-IIT International Chair Workshops in Sinaia, Romania. She is a graduate of the University of Ottawa with her research focused on feminist dramaturgy, critical and feminist theories, women’s theatre, Quebec theatre, research-creation and socio-criticism. An actor and director, she is known for the role of Leena Babin in the popular youth series RamDam.

Marie-Ève Milot (Canada)

Since graduating l’École de théâtre du Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, Marie-Eve Milot has been deeply involved in the theatre world. As an actress, she has collaborated with Hugo Bélanger (Princess Turandot, Pinocchio, Peter et Alice), Marc Beaupré (Ce samedi il pleuvait), Serge Denoncourt (Thérèse et Pierrette à l’École des Saints-Anges), Geneviève L. Blais (Si les oiseaux, Local B-1717) and Sébastien David Scratch. She was seen le Petit Théâtre de La Colline in Paris, in Les barbelés by Annick Lefebvre, staged by Alexia Boerger, and then remounted the show at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous. She can be seen on large and small screen (Les pays d’en haut, 5e rang).

Marie-Claude St-Laurent (Canada)

Marie-Claude St-Laurent is an actor, author, feminist activist, co-editor of La Nef aux Éditions du remue-ménage. On the small screen, she was seen in the popular youth show Vrak La vie and is more recently as a cast member in L’écrivain public III and des Sioui-Bacon V. On stage, she produced Guérilla de l’ordinaire, Chienne(s), Toc Toc, Grease and Aller chercher demain. A member of the steering committee of Espace Go, and collaborated in the research study conducted by the RéQEF.

Marie-Ève Milot & Marie-Claude St-Laurent are the Artistic Directors of Théâtre de l’Affamée. Mandated to invest in a (re) new Feminist/feminine theatre, they create complex characters that can be identified outside the binary mode of gender, question normativity and provoke new possibilities. Active members of Femmes pour l’Équité en Théâtre (F.E.T.), they co-wrote the Jeu magazine cry t action, addressing the under-representation of women in theatre, and created reference documents for students and faculty about the under-representation of women and the systems that marginalize them. They have written 8 works together including Cour à scrap – Portrait d’une famille reconstituée, Débranchée (Unplugged) (shortlisted for the prix Louise-LaHaye 2017) and Guérilla de l’ordinaire, (shortlisted for the prix Michel-Tremblay 2020). Their essay La coalition de la robe, co-written with Marie-Claude Garneau, was published in Editions du remue-ménage in 2017.

Carolina Migli (Translator to Italien,  Italy)

Carolina Migli is a Writer, Director, Actor and Translator. She studied ballet at the Accademia Domenichino da Piacenza (Italy), acting at the Gaiety school of acting (Ireland) & the TEATRODUE National Theatre in Parma (Itlay). She has worked with the Europa Theatre Festival, The Verona Shakespearean Festival, Viterbo’s Festival and the Summer Solstice festival. worked in London, France, Spain, Hungary, Denmark and was assistant director to Tim Stark (Royal National Theatre) for four years.

She is also the artistic director of ChezActors with a company of 25 professional theatre artists, and the Associate responsible for International Outreach at Teatro Trieste 34. Currently, she collaborates with Noveteatro theatre company in Northern Italy, ChezArt circle of artists, ICON women artist group and Coming Out Association. Translations include: Victor Lodato’s The bread of winter & Motherhouse, Peter Gill’s Small change, and Philip St.John’s The Sylvias.

Rhiannon Collett (Translator to English – Canada)

Rhiannon Collett (they, them) is an award-winning non-binary playwright, performer, director and translator based in Montreal and Toronto. Their work explores the ritualization of grief, gender performativity, queer/trans identity and the psychological effects of sexual objectification. Selected playwriting credits include Miranda & Dave Begin Again (2016 Playwrights Guild of Canada RBC Emerging Playwright Award); Wasp; The Kissing Game); Tragic Queens; La Somnambule (an immersive, site-specific adaptation of Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood); The Revolutions (commissioned and produced by Spiderwebshow, a cross-country collaboration featuring artists broadcast live from Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and Vancouver); There are No Rats in Alberta. Their theatre criticism has been featured in The Globe and Mail, Now Magazine, Intermission Magazine and HowlRound. www.rhiannoncollett.com

River Coello  (Dramaturg, USA)

River is qariwarmi (two-spirit) and uses they/them, she/her, and he/him pronouns interchangeably. A native Ecuadorian and new American currently based in Athens, Ohio on Shawnee and Wahzhazhe (Osage) land. River bows to their Q’ero (Inca) teachers as well as their Manteño and Huancavilca (Inca) ancestors. A devisor, director, actor and writer, their art practice challenges normative narratives of self and community. It celebrates the liminality of identity and reimagines the spaces between groups.  River Coello

About our Partners

Bouche Theatre Collective (Canada)

Founded in 2012, Bouche has been bringing artists and audiences together separated by language, distance, and culture locally, nationally, and internationally.  With a specific focus on the cross pollination between Canadian francophone and anglophone artists and the international community, Bouche reaches out through translation, multi-lingual work, and devised creation. www.bouchewhacked.com

CHEZACTORS (Italy)

CHEZACTORS is a collective of professional artists working in a fusion of theatre, photography, activism, live music and electronic sessions, fashion, film, figurative, graphic and graffiti arts led by director, divisor, dancer Carolina Migli. With a focus on the now, the company revolutionizes the relationship between community and professional artists through new participation/ creation models.

GLOBAL HIVE LABS. (International)

nternational network of independent artists and organisations working together in shared devised practice. GHL holds inclusivity and accessibilty as core to our creation. Projects include: Towards an International Practice Workshop – Digital technologies in theatre (UK), CCTA Chicago (USA), The Medusa Project with workshops (Italy, France, UK, USA), Medusa USA (Steppenwolf Theatre, USA), Medusa UK (The Pleasance Theatre & The Cockpit Theatre, UK).

PIACENZA KULTUR DOM & TEATRO TRIESTE 34 (Italy)

Founded in 1997, Piacenza Kultur Dom is a cultural association, cultural center and theatre that creates, produces, and presents live theater and the live performance arts in all its forms in Piacenza. Under the leadership of Filippo Arcelloni, we are the only independent producing theatre in the Piacenza region. For the last 20 years we have provided a home for independent music, contemporary dance, new works and creation, clown, and visual arts. Our productions are performed throughout Italy.

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