What a wonderful way to wrap up our season! The closing weekend of Bashir Lazhar brought sold-out houses to a poignant piece put on by fantastic artists.
Bravo to our team, and thankyou to our patrons and sponsors.
We would like to extend a special thanks to our season sponsors: The Winnipeg Foundation, Assiniboine Credit Union, Taylor McCaffrey LLP, Peerless Garments, The Winnipeg Free Press, Relish Branding, Amphora Imports, New Bothwell Cheese, and Half Pints Brewing.
Theatre Projects Manitoba (TPM) is pleased to host a forum to discuss the refugee experience in Manitoba as part of its current production, Bashir Lazhar by Evelyne de la Chenelière.
Bashir Lazhar: David Adams
Photo: Leif Norman
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Winnipeg Free Press News Café – 237 McDermot Avenue
Moderated by Sean Kavanagh, CBC Manitoba
Panelists:
Abdikheir Ahmed- Interim Executive Director at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) Inc.
Damarys Ramirez- Manager of Inland Protection at Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council
Bashir Khan, an Immigration and Refugee lawyer in Winnipeg and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Admission is Free
Light Refreshments will be provided
Bashir Lazhar is an extraordinary play which gives us the story of a political refugee seeking asylum in Canada. The subject matter is both topical and compelling. So we decided to take the pulse of this community – to hear about the concerns, triumphs and unique challenges that refugees face in Manitoba and Winnipeg.
Why? Because good theatre builds strong communities – a play can provide a unique, humanistic perspective on a topic and a fantastic springboard for discussion.
Because in recent years, the federal government has made changes to immigration policies that are impacting many immigrants, refugees and their families. MORE >>
David Adams as Bashir Lazhar
Photo: Leif Norman
There’s something sadly, terrifyingly beautiful in the set the greets the audience entering Theatre Projects Manitoba’s production of Bashir Lazhar.
A twisted wreck of school desks, bright orange plastic chairs, and the remnants of window frames, it’s a scene that implies something unthinkable has happened – and yet also suggests the innocence and possibility of childhood.
And this is an apt metaphor for Quebecoise playwright Evelyne de la Chenelière’s one-man play (which inspired the Oscar-nominated film Monsieur Lazhar). It is full of sadness, humour, and hope, in a mixture that flows from horrifying to hopeful. And here, it makes for a rich, emotionally rewarding theatrical experience. MORE >>
The Winnipeg Free Press review is in:
Four & a half stars!
“Deceptively simple but deeply affecting”
“David Adam’s delivers an exceptional understated performance!”
At first glance at the spectacular set of the stage drama Bashir Lazhar, it looks like a bomb has gone off in the classroom of a French-langauge school in Montreal.
For its Grade 6 students, their safe haven of learning has been blown sky-high by the suicide of their beloved female teacher, found hanging in their classroom. The deceased is not the title character but it’s her substitute, a man who reads about the school tragedy and appears unannounced in the principal’s office offering to take over the traumatized class.
That sets the scene for Evelyne de la Chenelière’s deceptively simple but deeply affecting Bashir Lazhar…Read the whole review!
Do you wonder what the experience of Refugees in our province is like? We do! Bashir Lazhar gives us the story of a political refugee seeking asylum in Canada – in his case, Montreal, Quebec. We see it isn’t easy going, but it’s somewhat familiar to the audience – we are, after all, a nation of newcomers. But there are differences to the experience of immigrants over generations, and chasms between one experience and another – choosing to immigrate is a far cry from arriving as a political refugee. And doing outreach for Bashir Lazhar has given us an opportunity to connect with many of the individuals and organizations who serve our newcomers. So, we decided to take the pulse of this community – to hear about the concerns, triumphs and unique challenges that refugees face in Manitoba and Winnipeg.
We will convene a panel discussion at the Free Press Café at 6:30 PM on Wednesday March 20th. The discussion will be moderated by CBC’s Sean Kavanagh and the panel will consist of Abdikheir Ahmed- Interim Executive Director at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM) Inc.; Damarys Ramirez- Manager of Inland Protection at Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council and Bashir Khan, an Immigration and Refugee lawyer in Winnipeg and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Bios soon to come.
We are so pleased with our preview video for Bashir Lazhar, you’d think it was everyone’s birthday around here! Leif Norman put together the following cinescape of scenes from Bashir Lazhar along with a short interview with director, Ann Hodges. Check it out!
We are delighted to have imported David Adams all the way from Vancouver, BC to take the starring role of Bashir Lazhar. David is a jolly, gregarious, kind and talented fellow, and we are so lucky to be working with him! We managed to grab David for quick e-chat earlier this winter, while he was busy out west playing Tevye in a production of Fiddler on the Roof.
TPM: What drew you to work on Bashir Lazhar?
DAVID: The play has many wonderful elements – its humanity, the themes of loss and rebirth, its inherent theatricality and its exploration of the wonderful relationship between teacher and student. Also, as an immigrant myself (from South Africa), I was fascinated by Bashir’s struggle to fit into his new surroundings and understand his new country. The transition was a fairly easy one for me, but the struggle to find one’s place in an adopted country has always interested me.
TPM: You act for film, television, theatre and as a voice over artist. What do you enjoy particularly about working in theatre?
DAVID: Film, TV and voice over work, while interesting, lucrative and sometimes exciting and seen and heard by sometimes millions of people, has its own reward. But the special relationship theatre actors have with their audience is a very profound one. Theatre doesn’t exist without an audience-they are a key component of the whole experience. The live reaction, the power to affect and move the audience is what makes a live performance so unique.
TPM: How will you prepare to work on this play?
DAVID: As a one-person show, there are a lot of words! So to make the whole process easier, I will try to be as familiar with all those words as I can before we start rehearsal. For me this usually means reading the play every day for weeks ahead, so that the ideas, the words, the flow of the piece, are firmly in my brain. I will also do a bit of research on Algeria, to find out as much as I can about the country that Bashir comes from. This is an important part of crawling into the skin of the character, so that by the time I hit the stage, I will know a lot about his background, his culture and I can portray him truthfully.
This week we kicked off rehearsal’s for Bashir Lazhar at the Crescent Fort Rouge United Church! On Monday, February 18th, the full Artistic Team gathered in the warm & sunny 2nd floor space that will be witness to the delicate process of building this new production of Evelyne de la Chenelière’s acclaimed play. Our intrepid team includes director Ann Hodges, actor David Adams and stage manager Ivory Seol. Our Design team brings together Joan Murphy Kakoske (sets & costumes), Hugh Conacher (lights) and Chris Coyne (sound).
We huddle around the table with our coffees and notebooks and feel the crackle of excitement through introductions. The design models and drawings are passed around the table so that we can all peer excitedly into the mini stage spaces. When the first read finally begins, David’s resonant voice and physical bearing makes our hearts skip. The conversation is focussed, and Ann speaks about the power of the poetic aspects in de la Chenaliere’s beautiful play. We see that this crack team of artists will create stage magic!
We’ll bring you a few photos from the rehearsal hall in the coming days. We also want to remind you that March 14th is coming very soon! Do not delay purchasing your tickets – we want to accomodate your first choice of dates. Besides, it’s easy – you can purchase right here on the website, or by calling us: 204-989-2400. Talk soon! Love, TPM
Award-winning Actor, Director, Playwright, Magician, Author and Illustrator, Greg’s credits cover more than 30 years and well over 140 productions across the country, from a warehouse in Vancouver to the Festival Stage at Stratford. He is currently adapting the sixty Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the Segal Theatre in Montreal. Previous works include Lies of the Vampyre, Isadora Fabulist and Skateboard Tango. There are three novels and a collection of short stories to his credit, all published by Riverbank, an imprint of Cormorant Books. He also plays a mean jazz piano and can knit. He lives in Montreal. www.houseofkramer.com
We will be presenting staged readings of scenes from Greg’s Isadora Fabulist at our February Salon on Monday, February 4 at 7pm at the Folk Exchange.
THEATRE PROJECTS MANITOBA ANNOUNCES 2013/14 SEASON
PLAYING AT THE CROSSROADS: BOLD AND ORIGINAL STORIES FROM HOME
Winnipeg June 11th, 2013 – Artistic Director Ardith Boxall and General Manager Rea Kavanagh are thrilled to announce Theatre Projects Manitoba’s 2013-14 season. Two premieres of two new plays written by two local playwrights. Our 24th season features new work from Carolyn Gray (The Elmwood Visitation, North Main Gothic) and Debbie Patterson (Head, 40 Below Munsch).
Our 2013-14 programming highlights our commitment to make theatre that is unabashedly original and profoundly relevant to our community. These are fresh contemporary stories deeply rooted in history yet uncompromisingly modern; one with roots in 17th century satire, the other charting the last century of a Winnipeg neighborhood. Both look backward for inspiration yet propel us to imagine a future; right here, right now, at the crossroads.
The season opens with The Miser of Middlegate, a zone41 theatre/Theatre Projects Manitoba production! Directed by Krista Jackson (winner of the 2013 Gina Wilkinson Emerging Director Prize) the production features an amazing ensemble of local performers led by Nicholas Rice (Angels in America Part 1&2), and Marina Stephenson Kerr (Angels in America, The December Man). The Miser of Middlegate is a signature production that illuminates TPM’s strength in the community as a development company and one that mentors and collaborates on projects. zone41 theatre and TPM have an excellent record of working together to bring audiences a unique, fresh and high quality production; one you simply can’t find anywhere else in the region. (2011/12 season’s Three Sisters by Bruce McManus) MORE >>