Welcome to 37!
This season is already Geordie’s biggest yet. Here’s why…
Last season was Artistic Director Mike Payette’s first with the company and Geordie currently leads the upcoming META (Montreal English Theatre Awards) nominations for the 2016-17 season with 13 nominations! Ever-vital and increasingly relevant, here are some of the things that make the 2017/18 Season so exciting:
Geordie’s 2Play School Tour
Canada’s longest running and furthest reaching annual theatre tour
Every year, Geordie commissions two new works from emerging and established playwrights and produces two plays, one for elementary schools and one for high schools and CEGEPS. Three exceptional emerging professional actors get cast to take part in this landmark theatre road-trip across 27 000km to perform over 200 shows to 40 000 kids and teens! This year’s plays are The Mountain by National Theatre School-graduate Chelsea Woolley and Pinky Swear by Kalale Dalton-Lutale. Each explores such important subjects as the Canadian-refugee experience and race/gender dynamics respectively, exploring for children across Eastern-Canada the importance of friendships, courage and learning the stories of people different from ourselves. The cast is made up of recent Dawson College Dome Theatre graduates Briauna James, Anton May and Daniela Sandiford.
Montreal English Theatre Awards
October 23, 2017
Presented at Montreal’s historic Rialto Theatre, the 5th annual METAs continues to celebrate the city’s outstanding accomplishments in the English-language theatre. Already acknowledged for its contribution during the 2016-17 season, Geordie leads this year’s proceedings with a total of 13 nominations, which include:
Outstanding PACT Production
Water Weight – Geordie Productions
Outstanding Ensemble
The Halloween Tree – Eloi ArchamBaudoin, Trevor Barrette, Jimmy Blais, Davide Chiazzese, Lucinda Davis, Charlotte Rogers, Jaa Smith-Johnson
Water Weight – Leah Fong, Michelle Rambharose, Dakota Jamal Wellman
Outstanding Set Design
Cathia Pagotto – Water Weight
Outstanding Costume Design
Sabrina Miller – The Halloween Tree
Cathia Pagotto – Water Weight
Outstanding Sound Design / Composition
Devon Bate – Instant
Rob Denton – The Halloween Tree
Outstanding New Text (Original or Adaptation)
Amanda Kellock – The Halloween Tree
Erin Shields – Instant
Jesse Stong – Water Weight
Outstanding Emerging Artist(s) – Performance
Michelle Rambharose – Instant & Water Weight
Dakota Jamal Wellman – Instant & Water Weight
Join us on October 23 to discover the winners and to celebrate another vibrant year in Montreal English Theatre.
Fall Mainstage – Boys With Cars
November 24 to December 2, 2017
Without question, Geordie’s first public offering of the season is the company’s boldest to date. A play for teens, the piece examines the very important and current-day topics of female empowerment, male entitlement and the critical discussions of rape culture and consent. Written, choreographed and performed by Anita Majumdar, the play tells the story of teens in a small town high school told through the persona of two diametrically opposed female characters, both performed by Majumdar who recently won two Toronto’s Dora Theatre Awards – one of Canada’s most highly regarded peer-assessed awards – for her original text and performance. Commissioned by Nightswimming Theatre, in conjunction with Young People’s Theatre, Toronto, the production raises the stakes, weaved together with traditional Indian, Bollywood and hip-hop dancing. Directed by Brian Quirt. “…an important play to check out.” – Tina Hassannia (Now Toronto)
Gala Fundraiser – A Christmas Carol
December 8 and 9, 2017
Scrooge returns to the D.B. Clarke Theatre like you’ve never seen before. A yearly yuletide tradition and an essential yearly company fundraising initiative, Geordie’s gala gathers judges, lawyers, business leaders and local media personalities who generously give their time to bring to life this holiday tale of personal transformation that has become as essential as trimming the tree. Patrons not only get to contribute to the development of future English-language theatre audiences but their attendance also rewards them with an après-show cocktail reception, silent auction and timely year-end charitable tax receipt. Stay tuned for the casting announcement as well as a twist that has never-to-date been done in the story’s 174-year history!
Geordie Abroad!
Instant and Jabber
Nominated for 4 METAs, Instant was first part of Geordie’s 2016-17 2Play School Tour during which it was performed a total of 86 times to high school and CEGEP students across Eastern Canada! Written by Governor-General Award-laureate Erin shields and directed by past Geordie Artistic Director, Dean Patrick Fleming, it was then presented to the general public in Montreal as part of the Geordie Theatre Fest last March. This fall, the team will be featured as part of Young People’s Theatre’s 2017/18 season, playing in Toronto from November 28 to December 15!
Geordie’s production of Marcus Youssef’s META award-wining text has been touring ever since 2012/13, premiering as part of the 2Play tour, making it the company’s longest-running high school production in the company’s history. Jabber’s journey continues in the new year as it embarks on an extensive U.S. tour, traveling from coast to coast from Rochester, New York to Northridge, California!
Spring Mainstage – Around the World in 80 Days
April 20 to 29, 2018
Geordie Productions’ new take on Jules Verne’s iconic tale, adapted by Toby Hulse, traveled from the Eastern Townships (Theatre Lac Brome) to West of the island (Hudson Village Theatre) over the summer, gaining delirious momentum along the way with the help of its director Mike Payette and brilliant comedic cast of three.
Montreal veterans Danielle Desormeaux, Mike Hughes and Chimwemwe Miller breathe life into some 20 characters and across 12 countries in 4 continents with the help of a travelling show set where everything imagined is possible and loads of theatre magic is revealed…even an elephant! With two runs-worth of stamps in its passport, the production returns next spring with an upgraded design to fill the stage of downtown’s D.B. Clarke Theatre.
Artistic Company in Residence
Concordia University’s D.B. Clarke
Geordie is particularly excited to announce a new partnership with Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. As of the 2017/18 Season, Geordie will be the Artistic Company in Residence at the university’s downtown beautiful D.B. Clarke Theatre, located in the Henry F. Hall building on De Maisonneuve West. Geordie has made the D.B. Clarke its home for close to two decades with both Mainstage and Gala productions, and is elated by the new joint venture. The partnership will enable the company to work on new creations more extensively and continue to offer local families award-winning theatre in state-of-the art facilities. Geordie’s Artistic Director says, “Many of our artists and collaborators hail from Concordia University and for years, the D.B. Clarke Theatre has been an integral part of our programming and a home that inspires creativity and artistic innovation. We are thrilled to begin this new journey with one of the country’s highly regarded institutions and look forward to exchanging ways to promote our collective missions of ensuring visibility and employment opportunities in the arts in Montreal and across Canada.”
Artistic Ambassador
Invited last season to represent the “Arts” component of the English Montreal School Board’s newly launched STEAM pilot project, Geordie returns this season to steward the important role of the arts in children’s education as the initiative expands. As described by the project’s website, “STEAM” stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. It represents a multi-disciplinary initiative that promotes creativity and high levels of student engagement, as they perform a series of group projects that not only involve five school subject domains, but also makes them more relevant, creative, discovery-based and interesting for students.” Nick Doyon, the EMSB’s Arts Education Advocate and Consultant has this to say about the partnership:
“It is well known that in education, the arts develop critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaboration and curiosity. It is also well known that the same can be said about Geordie Productions. Without reservation, we selected Geordie Productions as an official ambassador because they are successful and inventive risk takers with 37 years of innovative artistic expression intended to entertain while making measurable contributions toward solving important social issues.
Geordie is honoured to be contributing to this endeavor and is excited to continue to foster the importance of creative thinking in the minds of Montreal’s children.
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CONTACT: Patrick Charron at (514) 845-9810 or communications@geordie.ca
Geordie Productions Inc. 550 Delinelle. Montreal, QC. H4C 3B1 Tel: 514.845.9810 Fax: 514.845.3634 geordie.ca
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