Jack Paterson Theatre

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

Towards a truly national theatre in both official languages.

In 2020, five Canadian playwrights in both official languages (French & English) were nominated for the Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s top theatre award. Each of these playwrights represents a leading voice in Canadian playwriting as nominated by their peers.

This independent project was born from a discovery that the works of the playwrights nominated for the 2020 Siminovitch Prize and their contributions to Canadian culture were not available in both official languages. We imagine a truly national theatre community where the works of anglophone and francophone artists are available and promoted to audiences in both official languages.

 

free as injuns by Tara Beagun, Native Earth (2012) | Photo: Juan Camilo Palacio

Celebrating great Canadian theatre

ColoniséEs by Annick Lefebvre , Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (2019) | Photo: Valérie Remise

The

Translations

Each work represents a unique voice, unique approach to form, and a unique view on the Canadian experience.

We contacted each of the playwrights who shared our excitement for this vision. They each selected 1 piece from their body of work for translation. These works represent a diversity of leading Canadian playwrights from different regions, lived experiences, cultural and linguistic heritages and draw from across their careers–from early noted works to recent creations.

Our Creative Translation team is gathered from leading theatre makers in both official langauges from across the nation.

The award nominated and winning plays selected by there playwrights for translation are:

Anywhere But Here by Carmen Aguirre &
Raps created with Shad Kabango |
Translated to French by Emmanuelle Jimenez

Crawlspace by Karen Hines
Translated to French by Mishka Lavigne

ColoniséEs by Annick Lefebvre
Translated to English by Johanna Nutter

free as injuns by Tara Beagan
Translated to French by Charles Bender

Moule Robert by Martin Bellemare
Translated to English by Jack Paterson

ARTS ACROSS CANADA

We gratefully acknowledge the support of