Centaur Theatre Presents WILDSIDE FESTIVAL

Centaur Theatre will present the 24th edition of the Wildside Festival, taking place online from January 11th to 23rd, 2021.

For the second consecutive year Centaur is partnering with La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines and Centaur's current Associate Artist, Rose Plotek, once again curates the festival, which promises to be its most inventive yet.

For this year's iteration, all of the creators are local and the newly conceived Catalyst @ Centaur will make its debut. By taking the festival online-making it more widely accessible-Centaur expects to attract new, larger, and more diverse audiences. All performances, except SKIN, are at 7pm and once each play opens, it will be available on the website until January 23rd, 2021.

"As we enter the tenth month of the pandemic I feel like Wildside, a vehicle for theatre that pushes boundaries and exposes a broad array of voices, is more essential than ever. Rose [Plotek] has assembled a roster of eclectic artists with "wildly" differing lenses on the world. They are smart, risk-taking experimentalists with diverse interests and artistic influences who love a good dare ... the very essence of the festival. It is the perfect way to put 2020 behind us and celebrate the beginning of a brand new year."
- Eda Holmes, Centaur Theatre Artistic & Executive Director

The scope of themes could not be more topical and the range of genres more disparate. Greg MacArthur's 453 St-François-Xavier: a building. a future. an audio tour takes audiences on a sci-fi dive into Centaur's potential futures. Following its metamorphosis from stock exchange to theatre, what other incarnations lay in store for the space? Sophie El Assaad's richly evocative Black Balloon: Leila, presents a girl struggling with her identity within an environment unsuited to her.

In a digital-friendly reimagining, MoonCow Theatre Co. presents an abridged version of its haunting adaptation of Night Cows, the 1979 seminal theatrical text by Québécois & Indigenous creator, Jovette Marchessault. Using shadow puppetry, it brings together Indigenous, Anglophone, and Francophone approaches to reclaim Queer and feminist histories, asking audiences to imagine: what do liberation and connection feel like today? Montreal newcomer, Todd Houseman, and artistic partner, Lady Vanessa Cardona, subvert the idea of 'red face' with a freshly condensed cabaret of their 2018 play, Whiteface, a satire integrating movement and mask to un-mask the complexities of Indigenous appropriation.

The always surprising Leslie Baker returns to Wildside, teaming up with trailblazers PWM's Emma Tibaldo and Scapegoat Carnivale's Joseph Shragge, to create The Bakery's SKIN, an imaginative examination of the satisfaction of living, inspired by a two thousand year old text and a photo of a doorway. SKIN is co-presented with La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines and is the only Wildside production that will broadcast a different episode every night and incorporate live performance.

"Our priority this year was to support local artists whose livelihoods have come to an abrupt halt. Rather than sending out a national call for submissions, I approached theatre makers whose work resonates with Wildside, asking them to create whatever they wanted in relation to what's happening in the world right now. Some pieces are very short and others are still in development, but all of them are exceedingly relevant and definitely outside the box! It's really exciting for the artists and the audiences, all the more because of the present dearth of live theatre." - Rose Plotek, Centaur Theatre Associate Artist & Wildside Festival Curator BONUS Events An online festival provides a window for Centaur to enhance the Wildside audience experience. Before the premiere presentation of each of the five plays, Ms. Plotek will chat with the play's creator(s) in a live pre-show interview, available for viewing that night only.

This Year Montreal's creative community is expanding rapidly; more opportunities for diverse creators to try new things, receive professional artistic support, and a platform to showcase their work are greatly needed. Catalyst @ Centaur is Centaur's step toward addressing those needs. Catalyst @ Centaur will dominate both Wildside Saturdays (January 16th & 23rd) at 2PM to present four artists from various cultural and artistic disciplines each afternoon, reading excerpts from their plays-in-progress. Ms. Plotek will also animate a Q&A after each reading.

The eight artists are: former Urban Tales playwright, Marie Barlizo (Unang Pasko Sa Montreal, [translation: First Christmas in Montreal]); Swedish ex-pat, actor, writer and Dawson College Professional Theatre graduate, Nils Svensson-Carell; b-boy, performance creator and now playwright, Charles Gao; actor, playwright, book writer, composer/lyricist, dramaturg, and director, Germaine Konji; actor and theatre creator, Alexandra Laferrière; trans disabled writer, performer and organizer, seeley quest; contributor to the feminist festival, Revolution They Wrote, as well as a PWM and Imago Artista mentee, No one; and actor Amelia Sargisson, seen on Centaur's stage last season in the META-nominated performance of Eve in Paradise Lost.

The entire online festival is free. Once a show opens, audiences can view it anytime between January 11th and 23rd by going to our website.

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