François Archambault

François Archambault was fresh out of the National Theatre School of Canada in 1993 when his graduating play TheFast Lane (Cul sec) premiered at ESPACE GO in 1995. This inaugural work, a snapshot of disillusioned youth, was soon followed by Si la tendance se maintient, a fiery polemic written, directed and performed during the 1995 referendum campaign. Archambault kept the ball rolling with The Winners (Les gagnants) in 1996. In 1998, he received a Governor General’s Literary Award for his play 15 Seconds (15 secondes). The creative team behind the project—which was built around actor Dave Richer, who has cerebral palsy—picked up a Masque award for emerging talent. 

Archambault’s The Leisure Society (La société des loisirs), which premiered at the Théâtre La Licorne in 2003, earned him a Masque award for best original script and, later, a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play. In 2015, the show travelled to Paris, where it enjoyed a successful run of around a hundred performances before embarking on a tour. His 2014 play You Will Remember Me (Tu te souviendras de moi), was an immediate runaway hit, wrapping up with 157 sold-out performances at La Licorne, its premiere theatre, and in theatres around the country. Archambault received a Michel-Tremblay award for his hit play, which was eventually produced in English Canada, the United States, Belgium, France and Switzerland. In the summer of 2018, he debuted Quelque chose comme une grande famille, specially written to celebrate the Petit Théâtre du Nord’s twentieth anniversary. Archambault has been a writer-in-residence at Duceppe from 2018 to 2020. His play Pétrole was the first work created under the company's writing residencies.