Centaur Theatre Company
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Centaur Theatre Company
Launches 2005/2006 Season
Montreal Stories
Monday, March 7, 2005 - Centaur Theatre Company is pleased to announce its 37th season, 2005/2006 line-up of plays, projects and programs. Montreal stories take the spotlight this season with six outstanding plays by Montreal playwrights. These plays offer a unique and delicious variety of life experiences in our beloved city, as well as embrace local talent.
CONDOVILLE By David Fennario October 4 – October 30, 2005
Held Over 2 weeks to November 13, 2005
World Premiere
Twenty-five years ago audiences fell in love with the story and characters of Balconville, David Fennario’s blockbuster play about life in the gritty Pointe St-Charles section of Montreal during the late 70’s. The play became one of the most successful in Centaur and Canadian theatre history.
What ever happened to those memorable characters? Who moved into the Pointe? Who moved out? How’s life at the corner of Charlevoix and Grand Trunk these days? Find out in David’s brilliant new play about life in the Pointe – CONDOVILLE!
Andrew: A motion was passed by the City Council that all Co-op members must recycle. Johnny: (Grabs his crotch) They can recycle this. Irene: Well, it’s good for the environment. Paquette: Good for the guys who sell bottles they get for nothing. Johnny: Right, cause if we were really serious about recycling then we’d have to recycle ourselves right out of the Point, because this fucking place was built on the city dump – that’s why your pansies won’t grow Andrew. Andrew: Are you talking about me or my flowers?
REAL ESTATE by Allana Harkin November 1- December 4, 2005
Real Estate is an engaging and comical look at the process of picking up the pieces and moving on. This comic four-hander about a small town real estate agent was inspired by playwright, Allana Harkin’s, time in Hudson, Quebec.
Emma, a first-time real estate saleswoman, Joel, a writer who can't seem to write anymore, Estelle, his long-suffering, soon-to-be ex, and Ted, a beauty product entrepreneur explore love and laughs in this offbeat and hilarious romantic comedy.
Emma: Often the greatest achievements in life are born out of a state of ultimate lows and sheer panic. Joel: I feel like I’m getting a heart palpitation. Emma: That’s why I see every house as a treasure trove. “A buried treasure hidden under hideous furniture and bad lighting.”
HELLFIRE PASS By Vittorio Rossi
Part One of “A Carpenter’s Trilogy” January 31 – February 26, 2006
World Premiere
Hellfire Pass is the long-anticipated first chapter of a new trilogy of plays by one of Montreal’s most popular playwrights. Inspired by true events, Hellfire Pass is one family’s journey through a hell of their own making. ‘Ancient grudge breaks to new mutiny’ in this explosive new drama by master storyteller, Vittorio Rossi. The time, Autumn, 1956. The city, Chicago. Silvio, a decorated World War II veteran has journeyed from his native Italy to Chicago via Montreal in order to meet the family he never knew. He brings with him a simple request. What he gets in return is much more than he bargained for.
Silvio: … Live or die? You seeing a light now, Bobby? A light inside my eyes? That’s the light that goes out depending on how you answer the question. You want to live, just blink your eyes.
CHEECH
or The Guys From Chrysler Are In Town By François Létourneau
English Translation by Rick DesRochers February 28 – April 2, 2006
Montreal English-Language Premiere
CHEECH brought the house down when it premiered at Théâtre de la Manufacture last year. Edgy, funny, daring and very much in the know, this is truly a play inspired by Montreal after dark. From the world of today’s generation, a play that will recharge your batteries.
The Chrysler convention is in town and Ron runs an escort service, so could there be a better day for making an easy buck? All he's got to do is show the Chrysler guys a portfolio of his girls and just wait for the calls. But everything goes wrong, everything gets way out of order, and there's only one guy to blame: CHEECH!
Olivier: …..It’s like the time with the little lacy thing. At the store, in the shop window, it was the most erotic thing. The saleswoman putting the little fabric in the box, wow … How something so exciting could become so ordinary – once I saw it on her, I mean, I can’t understand that. It’s a mystery. The same exciting fabric. It seems to me an exciting fabric on a girl should add excitement, right? Right? Stephanie: I’m not an expert on excitement.
HAVE A HEART By David Sherman March 28 – April 23, 2006
World Premiere
From the pen of Centaur’s Playwright-In-Residence comes a comedy that will have you rolling in the aisles or falling off your stretchers depending on your point of view. At last, a homegrown look and laugh at our grief-stricken health system and the people waiting in line.
Gerry is a middle-aged Montreal button manufacturer faced with the decision of a lifetime. To be or not to be! To die, to sleep no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache … yes, folks, like thousands of others he’s just found out that he’s a candidate for heart by-pass surgery. As it turns out, if his heart doesn’t kill him his family and the Quebec medical system just might. Surrounded by his vegetarian, half Jewish, half Bhuddist daughter, his overwrought, café-owner wife, and his cranky, over-sexed,
octogenarian father, Gerry fights for his life while Quebec’s health system waits and waits and waits! In his comic assessment of today’s medical emergency, playwright David Sherman is “On The Money”, as they say.
Solly: …You want to let yourself fall apart, go ahead. You want to destroy everything because of one thieving doctor, who, if he was a real Quebec doctor, would have opened a nice office in Coral Gables or West Palm a long time ago, made some real money, then go ahead.
BYE BYE BABY By Elyse Gasco
In Association with Montreal’s Imago Theatre
Directed by Clare Schapiro April 25 – May 28, 2006
Montréal Collaboration
Elle is a young woman in search of an answer to a burning question, “Who is my mother?” Pregnant and unprepared to deal with the disturbing questions of identity that her new baby will present she is determined to solve the riddle of her life, once and for all.
This dramatic comedy about truth, redemption and forgiveness by Montrealer, Elyse Gasco, is inspired by her award-winning book of short
stories, Can You Wave Bye Bye Baby?, which premiered to great acclaim in 1999. Filled with zany humour and theatrical imagination, Bye Bye Baby, is a funny, witty and poignant theatrical journey. Presented in a juxtaposition of concrete and metaphoric realities, the production’s theatricality adds an additional pleasure to the unfolding drama. At its heart, Bye Bye Baby stakes a claim for who we are and our right to information.
Babs: Well, (Sings from Sound of Music) Let’s start at the very beginning … I just saw The Sound Of Music again last night and I can’t get these songs out of my head. I love that movie. Elle: Actually, I was listening to the radio last night and they had this whole thing on the movie and Julie Andrews and apparently she was a real tyrant. She made those little kids cry … Babs: (Puts her hand up as if to stop Elle) Hey. Let me have my fantasy. Some things are better left unsaid. (She is searching around her desk – looking for something to put in her mouth) Lifesavers? Werthers? Nicorettes? Welcome to the future, where all the buildings are non-smoking. Another genius idea. Elle: No thanks. I have crackers. Babs: (Popping a few of everything into her mouth) So. As I mentioned to you on the telephone – this process – of adoption disclosure takes time…
Additional programming:
CELEBRATE MONTREAL! Artist Development Initiative
Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut Adapted by Stacey Christodoulou and The Other Theatre
October 7 – 16, 2005 A CENTAUR BRAVE NEW WORKS ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE
Welcome to Phase One of our Brave New Works Artistic Development Initiative. This exciting new undertaking was initiated by Artistic Director, Gordon McCall, last year in order to provide audiences an opportunity to celebrate the diversity, imagination, and highly original work of cutting edge companies and individual “auteurs”. This season will showcase a new creation by Stacey Christodoulou and The Other Theatre , entitled Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut, the acclaimed novelist of Mother Night, Welcome to the Monkey House, Breakfast of Champions , and the masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five. Hilariously funny and achingly poignant, Galápagos recounts the ironic decline of the human species, as seen through the eyes and minds of the survivors of a doomed cruise to the Galápagos Islands . A tale of evolution with more twists than Darwin could have ever imagined, Galápagos’ post-apocalyptic universe abounds in wonder, coincidence, randomness and irrationality. Under the direction of Stacey Christodoulou, The Other Theatre adapts this celebrated novel as part of its Paradise Lost series, which began in 2004 with the installation, Expulsion and ends in 2006 with the French-language premieres of The Fever and The Designated Mourner by Wallace Shawn.
Douglas Campbell in Shakespeare by Request
AN EXTRA-SPECIAL CENTAUR FUNDRAISING EVENT
A brilliant one-man show by world-renowned actor and raconteur, Douglas Campbell. A master actor in a brilliant duet with the inimitable words of William Shakespeare! During the course of this delightful two-part evening, Douglas will take specific requests from audience members and dazzle you with his knowledge and presentation of your favourite selections from The Bard. FOR THREE NIGHTS ONLY – WATCH FOR DATES ON OUR WEBSITE - www.centaurtheatre.com
SUNDAYS AT THE CENTAUR A BRAND NEW ADDITION TO OUR LINEUP, WHICH IS SURE TO BECOME A FAN FAVOURITE.
Each Sunday of the opening week of each show in our season is reserved for you to join us and receive a special discussion of the play that you will see next in our lineup. Each week a different artist or other specialist will host the evening. Please join us from 7 – 8:30 p.m. on these special Sundays to explore the world of the play.
The Wildside Festival January 10 - 21, 2005
This past season, Centaur celebrated its most successful WILDSIDE in the Festival’s 8-year history. Join us for a 9th season of amazing, cutting-edge works by Montreal , Canadian, and International artists. As always, look for another exciting line-up of shows to be announced in early fall, including the OFF THE MAIN selection. A jury of Montreal theatre professionals will select the best production from the annual Montreal Fringe Festival and it will be included in the exciting Wildside line-up.
Get your Wildside SUPERPASS now!
Saturday Morning Children’s Series
Centaur renews its commitment to making family entertainment available and affordable while supporting local talent. Centaur is dedicated to continuing its community-minded children’s programming.
Theatre of Tomorrow
The Theatre of Tomorrow (TOT) program is Centaur’s way of introducing theatre to tomorrow’s audiences. The educational mandate is to make live theatre accessible to students by providing interactive educational materials and talk-back sessions, where students have a chance to meet the cast, voice their opinions and ask questions about the play.
Artistic Director Gordon McCall had this to say about the season:
This year we are extremely proud to celebrate Montreal with each and every one of our presentations. Six original Montreal plays, six dynamic Montreal playwrights, six fascinating windows into the world of our city - from the 1950's to today, a kaleidoscope of memorable theatrical enjoyment.
We live in one of the greatest cities in the world. Its vibrant combination of old world and new world values, its proud sense of community, its renowned sense of sophistication and style, and its dynamic cultural scene are just some of the things that make Montreal so unique.
At Centaur Theatre Company, we dedicate ourselves to giving voice to all that is Montreal. Our presentations and projects reflect the energy, imagination, and transformative power that inhabit all of our Montreal stories.
At Centaur, you'll find it all.
At Centaur, we're proudly Montreal.
