KIWI
By Daniel Danis (Quebec, Canada)Francophone Canadian Theatre
Theatre for Young Audiences
KIWI
By Daniel Danis
Translated from KIWI (Quebec, Canada)
Synopsis
Kiwi is 12 years old. Abandoned on the city streets she meets a gang of homeless youth. She’ll do anything to keep this new family – she’ll change her name, forget her past and be loyal. As the authorities clear out the streets. With her friend Lychee, she learns how to survive: to run, to fly and to dream of a better life.
About
Ages: 12 and Up
Length: 45 Minutes
Characters: 2 Actors (1 M / 1 F)
Translation commissioned BoucheWHACKED! Theatre Collective; Workshoped and presented by Playwrights Workshop Montreal (Montreal, 2018) made possible by The Cole Foundation and a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
Production History
This translation was workshoped at Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal (Montreal, Canada) with Dramaturgy by Maureen Labonte and culminated in a sold out public reading.
Awards & Notables
Recipient of:
- PRIX LOUISE-LAHAYE (2008)
- The Cole Foundation Award for Emerging Translators (2017)
Staged Reading of KIWI at PWM (Montreal, Canada) directed by Cristina Cugliandro. Featuring Michelle Rambharose and Justin Malcolm Johnson.
KIWI Workshop Team: Barry Cole (The Cole Foundation), Cristina Cugliandro, Justin Malcolm, Michelle Rambharose, Jack Paterson, Maureen Labonte and Daniel Danis
TRANSLATION EXCERPT
KIWI
I enter the jail. There are kids everywhere, on the floors, sleeping, crushed to the edges of beds or standing hanging off the prison bars.
A big girl says to me: come rest, you must be tired, come, take my turn in bed. My name’s Tangerine. My family will come rescue me. Tomorrow, stay close to me.
Look, Tangerine, my key chain. One day, I’ll have a warm house and inside, there’ll be an apartment building, a cabin, a palace and even I think, a little castle…Anyways, we’ll see.
About the Playwright
DANIEL DANIS
Daniel Danis (born 1962 in Hawkesbury, Ontario) is a Canadian playwright. He is a three-time winner of the Governor General’s Award for French-language drama, receiving the award at the 1993 Governor General’s Awards for Celle-là, at the 2002 Governor General’s Awards for Le Langue-à-Langue des chiens de roche and at the 2007 Governor General’s Awards for Le chant du Dire-Dire. His other plays include Cendres de cailloux, Les nuages de terre, Le pont de pierres et la peau d’images, Terre océane, Mille anonymes, Sous un ciel de chamaille, Kiwi and Bled. Although born in Ontario, he grew up primarily in Quebec. He studied theatre at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique in Quebec City.
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