Their lives are full of hurdles to overcome, but nothing can stop these five adolescents from participating in the 14th edition of Les Zurbains. Let them invite you into their eccentric and dramatic worlds where tears and laughter share the stage!

This edition will feature four stories by young playwrights: Safa Abdel Rahman (Étienne Brûlé secondary school, Toronto), Emma Champagne (Polyvalente de Saint-Georges, Quebec City), Sabrine Maaz (Collège de Montréal) and Gabriela Peguero-Rodriguez (Collège Nouvelles-Frontières, Gatineau). After an initial writing phase supervised by seasoned playwrights and actors, the teenage authors rewrote their work and polished their texts. At the end of the writing process, their stories were given a professional presentation, along with a tale by the actor and writer Dany Boudreault. Overall direction is by Monique Gosselin.

Nanique by Sabrine Maaz, performed by Jean-Philippe Lehoux
In a strange town, a man – a short man no higher than a small trash can – embarks on a ruthless election campaign to liberate the townsfolk from the yoke of the municipal dictatorship. This unique and colourful character takes the audience along with him on a wild race. Will he manage to reach the finish line in first place, and thus put an end to the oppression of Führer Canneberger?

La Familia by Gabriela Peguero-Rodriguez, performed by Aurélie Morgane
In a family where everyone minds everyone else’s business, it’s not easy to pursue your own path. Keeping her mother and the intrusive women of her Portuguese family in the dark, Patricia decides to leave home to meet a man she doesn’t know – her father. Punctuated by the rhythms of fado, her quest entails an epic, life-changing journey.

Trembler comme les vieilles personnes by Dany Boudreault, performed by Véronic Rodrigue
Carolane wants to be like Bella, the star of Twilight. She wants to live forever, but reality catches her every time she comes home to her mother, who is dying of a disease. From one season to another and to the music of Vivaldi, Carolane comes to terms with bereavement and discovers that after a harsh winter, spring is a reawakening.

Fakebook by Safa Abdel Rahman, performed by Dominic L. St-Louis
After many observations, analyses and calculations, the budding scientist Bruno embarks on an experiment that could change his life. He wants to create the perfect virtual girlfriend and thus put an end to his bachelor status. Will the man of science be able to cope with the unknown variables of his experiment?

La dissection by Emma Champagne, performed by Sophie Thibeault
Sarah is absolutely fed up with her mother and her love potions and other eccentricities. One morning though, she has her doubts. If her mother’s elixirs really work, then Sarah will be able to make handsome Dylan fall in love with her! But how effective are these potions, and how will they affect a young woman looking for her Prince Charming?

Performances during the week are reserved for school groups, with the weekend performance open to the public. Note that on November 26 spectators are welcome to arrive at as soon as 6:45 p.m. to hear some of the tales which haven’t been selected for this edition but which are excellent nonetheless! Also, it will be possible to buy the anthology Les Zurbains en série, Tome 2 which includes the stories of all winners since 2005.

Les Zurbains has been giving adolescents a voice since 1997 with professional performances of urban tales. Before becoming a show, Les Zurbains starts with a competition followed by a workshop with professional writers who, over the years, have shared the stage with 60 adolescents-turned-playwrights, seconded by actors who incarnate the characters created by the novice writers.

Théâtre Le Clou has been overseeing the project since 1997, establishing a close relationship with its audience. Two partners have been playing a leading role in bringing this work to the stage – Théâtre Denise-Pelletier in Montréal and Les Gros Becs theatre for young audiences in Quebec City. In 2004, the Théâtre français in Toronto became a third partner in this adventure, followed in 2009 by a fourth, the National Arts Centre, thus expanding audiences for the project to include the Ottawa region. Les Zurbains is in Montreal in the spring, and in Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto in the fall.

MONIQUE GOSSELIN
Co-founder and co-artistic director of Théâtre Le Clou, Monique Gosselin has acted in and directed many of the company’s productions. She played the role of the eccentric mother in Romances et Karaoké, which received three Masque awards in 2005. She directed the 2000, 2003 and 2006 to 2010 editions of Les Zurbains, and also wrote Moummouth!, an urban tale presented at Les Zurbains 2001. She has acted for Benoît Vermeulen, René Richard Cyr, Claude Poissant, Brigitte Haentjens, Martin Faucher, Robert Gravel, Jean-Pierre Ronfard and Jean-Stéphane Roy, and performed in Tout comme elle, presented by Sibyllines. She appeared in En pièces détachées at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 50+1 at Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental and Appelez-moi Stéphane at Théâtre de la Marjolaine. She has performed on television as Lorraine in Les Invincibles, Shirley in Le Négociateur, Gertrude in Fortier, Jacinthe in Rumeurs, Mme Sénécal din Les Bougon… C’est aussi ça la vie, and Chantal in Le Cœur découvert. In cinema, she has worked with Podz, Bernard Émond, Sébastien Rose, Olivier Asselin, Patrick Parenteau, Othman Essakali and Gilles Carle.

DANY BOUDREAULT
A 2008 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Dany Boudreault has worked in many different theatre productions in Montreal, the most recent being The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi, presented at the NAC Studio last October. He has appeared on television in Destinées and in the upcoming Projet Épopée. As a writer, Dany Boudreault has had two works published by Herbes Rouges – Et j’ai entendu les vieux dragons battre sous la peau and Voilà. In 2009 he wrote and performed Je suis Cobain (peu importe), produced by Sans Domicile Fixe and presented at La Petite Licorne.

Written by
SAFA ABDEL RAHMAN
DANY BOUDREAULT
EMMA CHAMPAGNE
SABRINE MAAZ
GABRIELA PEGUERO-RODRIGUEZ

Directed by
MONIQUE GOSSELIN

Assistance à la mise en scène et régie
MARTINE RICHARD

With
JEAN-PHILIPPE LEHOUX
AURÉLIE MORGANE
VÉRONIC RODRIGUE
DOMINIC L. ST-LOUIS
SOPHIE THIBEAULT

Set Design
JOSÉE BERGERON-PROULX

Costumes
SANDRINE BISSON

Lighting
MATHIEU MARCIL

Soundscape
ANTOINE BÉDARD

Production and Technical Director
JÉRÉMI GUILBAULT ASSELIN

Photographs
JÉRÉMIE BATTAGLIA

Supporting Writers
JEAN-PHILIPPE LEHOUX
MICHEL OUELLETTE
PATRIC SAUCIER

Produced by
THÉÂTRE LE CLOU

School Matinées (12:30 p.m.)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25

Public Performance
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26 at 8 p.m.

*Post-performance talkback session hosted by Marie Claude Dicaire

Presented in collaboration with Radio-Canada

Timing
80 minutes with no intermission

NAC STUDIO
53 Elgin, Ottawa

Tickets
$13.96

NAC Box Office
(Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
www.nac-cna.ca
Ticketmaster
1-888-991-2787
Subscriptions
613-947-7000, ext. 620

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French Theatre
National Arts Centre
tel.: 613-947-7000 ext 396
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