The 2023–2024 season is filled with offerings that highlight our capacity to tackle life’s most difficult challenges and welcome its most wonderful gifts. Come and face and, above all, dream the world with us. A new season that seeks to remind us of our titanic power: confirming our ability to overcome the insurmountable and affirming our insatiable need and unquenchable thirst for beauty.
A 2008 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Mani Soleymanlou has lived in Tehran, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and has worked with such acclaimed directors as Alice Ronfard (Les pieds des anges), Brigitte Haentjens (L’opéra de quat’sous), Claude Poissant (Rouge gueule, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi), Serge Denoncourt (Projet Andromaque, Les trois mousquetaires), Olivier Kemeid (Furieux et désespérés), Denis Bernard (Ce moment-là) and Eric Jean (Variations sur un temps).
He is best known as the founding artistic director (2011) of the Montreal-based theatre company Orange Noyée. His distinctive artistic practice investigates notions of community identity (Un/One, Deux/Two, Trois/Three) and social relationships (Ils étaient quatre, Cinq à sept, 8). He pursued this approach more recently in Neuf [working title] and Zéro presented in fall 2019 in Montreal and Ottawa, and also in various artistic collaborations over the years: Lapin blanc, Lapin rouge, Les Lettres arabes II, and À te regarder, ils s’habitueront. Mani Soleymanlou was part of the impressive team behind Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show (premiered at the NAC in October 2017), as director and co-artistic director.
For Mélanie Dumont, the theatre is a fabulous playground! Since 2011 as associate artistic director of NAC French Theatre, Mélanie has focused on providing fantastic interdisciplinary spaces for audiences age 0 to 20 to flex their imaginations! A close associate of Brigitte Haentjens, she has acted as dramaturg for several of her productions, including Rome, Richard III and Dans la solitude des champs de coton, and also wrote Ce qui se trame, an overview of this important artist’s practice. Having developed close artistic links with Flemish creators over the years, Mélanie has collaborated on a number of Belgian projects, including Hush with the Zonzo company and the BIG BANG Festival.
Theatre unfolds before you like a bold and unpredictable dream. Make yourself comfortable. A crowd of imaginations in full flight appears every time you come here.
Three projects that reach out to artists, audiences and a new generation. Featuring: Le collectif, La résidence, along with the return of Les laboratoires.
Creative projects, videos, multiple resources and learning tools—that’s just a taste of what’s on offer for you to explore anytime, in the classroom or even in your living room
Dive into our revamped version of NAC French Theatre’s Cahiers! Discover texts that delve into our season’s theatrical productions and explore what makes each of them distinct and extraordinary. All whims are allowed, if not encouraged – bifurcate, jump ahead a section, or flip back to a part you skipped! You can also get a printed copy of Cahiers in the lobby at every NAC French Theatre performance.
Special projects
An off-the-road experience
