Interview: Trevor Barrette of ONE DAY at Segal Centre For Performing Arts - Studio Theatre

Trevor Barrette was born and raised on the West Island of Montreal. Passionate about the arts, he is a queer theatre-maker, performer, stage manager and teacher. I had the opportunity to chat with Trevor as the new musical he has written, ONE DAY, has its workshop presentation this Saturday, January 21, 2023 at The Segal Centre for Performing Arts - Studio.

HANNIBAL: I recall first meeting you after seeing you perform as Steve in INNOCENCE LOST: THE STEVEN TRUSCOTT STORY about a decade ago at the Centaur Theatre. As a multi-hyphenate, what draws you to the theatre?

BARRETTE: My goal is to work in Montreal - to work in theatre. For me to do that, I need to diversify what I do. I have a very holistic approach to my work and I love learning, so whatever I need to do to be in the room is the work. It's finding those jobs where I can be involved as a writer or as a performer. It kind of varies. This year, I'm moving into writing a bit more, but I have a lot of stage management opportunities. I have all these things on rotation. It keeps things very exciting for me. I think I would get bored very easily if I was just doing one thing or the other. I love Montreal. I love being here. I worked really hard at coming up with a career for myself that allows me to stay here and work. It's a very exciting time.

HANNIBAL: Tell me a little bit about this piece, ONE DAY. I know Stephen Ingram, who is based in London, Ontario and I'm thrilled he's coming in to perform in the workshop. Did you already know all the actors and wanted to bring them on board or did you put out a casting call. How did it work in putting this workshop cast together?

BARRETTE: This is a thing we've been developing for a few years, so there are some actors who have been involved for a while. As the show evolved, some actors didn't fit the roles anymore, so we put out a casting call. Stephen was involved in previous workshops. These actors that are coming in found a great way of connecting with the characters. We are lucky that 3 out of the 4 cast members are also musical theatre writers, so in the room, the people that are writing a musical in the show are actually going out and writing musicals. We have these really excellent voices who have great conversations and thoughts about the state of musical theatre, how it is to workshop musical theatre together and to create together, which is what brought me into theatre 20-something years ago.

HANNIBAL: If you absolutely had to choose one discipline between writing, directing, acting, composing, which would it be?

BARRETTE: Right now, I've fallen back in love with directing, which is really wonderful. I directed the THE SAGES OF CHELM at The Segal Centre last summer for the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre. Something about that show...it was the first time I got to work at The Segal Centre main stage doing this book musical. It was a great experience and I thought, "oh, wow! I do love this!" That's the thing with having all these different roles...when you come back to something you haven't done in a while, it's like, "aw, man! This is so much fun! I wish I could do this all the time!" Then I stage managed a show and thought, "oh, man! I wish I could do this all the time!" I am very grateful. I am very lucky with the connections I have made and the work that I have done that I am still able to do a little bit of everything. I have to go moment by moment, really, which is really fun.

HANNIBAL: Looking ahead with this workshop: where do you see it in five year's time?

BARRETTE: This show is a love letter to Montreal. It's a love letter to musical theatre. It exists here and makes reference to different neighbourhoods...our village...I think it's important that it gets done here in Montreal. Of course, bringing it to The Segal in the Studio is awesome for us. We were slated to do it at Queer Reading Series at Centaur a few years ago, but the pandemic kind of changed all that. The fact that we are putting this out for Montreal audiences is really exciting. This show is really for everybody. It is eclectic in its musical stylings. It's dynamic in character relationships. It's a love story. It's a bit of a 'will they, won't they?' I wrote it for the community that lives here...the theatre making community, the gay community, the queer community and I hope those people show up to see it...because if they show up to see it, I want to see if it works. I want to see if it still stands up. I started working on it six years ago, so this is a great opportunity for us to share it again and see where it lands. Hopefully it does and hopefully we look at a main stage production somewhere in the next few years.

ONE DAY will be presented on Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 7PM in the Segal Centre Studio. Tickets are pay what you can and can be purchased HERE.

Dramaturg Fatma Sarah Elkashef
Musical Director, Revised Arrangements & Orchestrations Eric Elliot Lee
Original arrangements & orchestrations Luce Belanger
Stage Manager HeatherEllen Strain
Outside Eye Gabe Maharjan
Cast Landon Doak, Kaden Forsberg, Stephen Ingram & Aaron Ryder

Set in present-day Montreal, two childhood friends and creative collaborators race against the clock to finish their latest project: a coming-of-age musical loosely based on their lives. But as they deep dive into the work, long-repressed truths rise to the surface and threaten their partnership. A sexy cautionary tale about writing what you know.

Trevor Barrette (book, music & lyrics, he/him) is a queer theatre-maker, performer, stage manager and teacher based in Tio'tia:ke/Montreal. Upon graduating from theatre school, he founded the award-winning KaleidoscopeMTL for which he has directed their 10 productions, including 5 of his own creations and the Fringe hits: Captain Aurora I, Captain Aurora II and Memento Mori. As a performer, he has had the pleasure of working with the National Arts Centre, the Segal Centre, Centaur Theatre, Repercussion Theatre, Geordie Productions and Scapegoat Carnivale, among others. As a stage manager, he has worked with several companies both in-person and virtually and will be returning to the Segal in the spring as assistant stage manager for Prayer for the French Republic. He has recently directed The Sages of Chelm for the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre and will be assistant directing Les Belles Soeurs at the Stratford Festival this summer. He is currently developing several new projects, including a musical about Dr. Brenda Milner, the founder of neuropsychology, and a one-person show about the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics. Trevor has proudly served his community as President of the Montreal English Theatre Awards and Vice-President of the Quebec Drama Federation. Visit www.trevorbarrette.com and follow @trevorkbarrette on Instagram.

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