THEATRE WORKSHOPS

Introduction

Co-artistic director Monique Rioux has developed extensive expertise in theatre-related activities. Many of the initial Deux Mondes shows were created under her direction through theatre workshops that included adults and children from all walks of life. While over time these community workshops were no longer used in the writing of the plays, the company continues to offer workshops (acting, music, writing, visual arts, etc.) in Quebec and abroad in order to stimulate a discussion with audiences and to sensitize new audiences to theatre. The workshops introduce theatre to people who normally do not go to the theatre for socio-economic or cultural reasons.

Workshop participants are ordinary citizens, students, senior citizens and people enrolled in a leisure activity. The host theatre recruits participants, who are invited before the show to investigate issues addressed by the Deux Mondes production. They get involved in a process of artistic creation supervised by professionals, and thus come to view in a different light the unconventional play presented after the workshop. These activities involve a give-and-take, with each person influenced by the work of others, and are attended by up to one hundred participants. They are held a few days or a few weeks before the performance.

On the night of the show, the work done by the participants is put on display in the theatre lobby. Those who took the acting workshop present living sculptures in front of paintings made by the group. The actions performed in slow motion in these living sculptures are presented in a continuous loop, often with a choir also taking part. The music is also presented in a loop and without words. The audience makes its way through this dramatic environment before the show begins.

The Tale of Teeka

For this workshop, paintings and living sculptures illustrate the situation of child slavery in various countries, as documented by humanitarian organizations. Also displayed are historical events where animals saved people's lives. Masks made by a professional artist are used in this workshop to facilitate the personification of animals by people with no theatre background.

Leitmotiv

The impetus for this theatre workshop was the testimony provided in Kosovo in the spring of 1999 by Doctors Without Borders, as well as letters written between 1991 and 1993 by men, women and children living in Sarajevo during the war. The letters and firsthand accounts are displayed on lecterns, with living sculptures illustrating certain passages in slow motion.

Living Memory

Excerpts from the script by Normand Canac-Marquis are the inspiration for creating paintings. The life stories of old people collected by Monique Rioux in places where the play was performed (or, in Montreal, from members of ethnic communities) are used to create living.