WINNIPEG, MB – The University of Winnipeg’s Department of Theatre and Film closes its theatre season with Sainte-Carmen of the Main, written by iconic Montréal playwright, Michel Tremblay, and directed by Andrey Tarasiuk. The show runs from April 2 – 6, 2013.
Set in mid-’70s Montreal, in the shady district known as “The Main,” the play features Carmen, a country-western singer who returns to the Rodéo Club after six-months working in Nashville. Along with an improved vocal technique, she feels empowered by fresh songs with her own lyrics that speak directly to – and about – her outcast friends on The Main. As her adoring community of hustlers, prostitutes, and transvestites eagerly await her triumphant opening at the Club, she encounters hatred, jealousy, vengeance, and finally, tragedy.
Tremblay – arguably the most important playwright in the history of Québec theatre, and definitely the most produced – wrote this particular script in a heightened poetic style reflecting the structure and form of a Greek tragedy including a Greek chorus.
Sainte-Carmen of the Main is directed by renowned Canadian theatrical director, producer, and dramaturge, Andrey Tarasiuk, who joins the faculty of UWinnipeg’s Department of Theatre and Film to guide senior acting students in this production.
“This play speaks passionately to the challenges of finding one’s own voice and the quest for personal liberation and self-realization, regardless of gender, sexuality, who one is, or what circumstances one comes from,” says Tarasiuk. “Like the characters of The Main, the audience gains a real sense of hope which leads to an appreciation of the worth and importance of other people’s desires, no matter how different these are from our own.”
Joseph Abetria’s set design was created to suggest the open vistas of the Prairies framed by a dream-catcher sun. Period costumes are designed by Ksenia Broda-Milian and Casey Downes, and the evocative lighting design is by Katherine Johnston. The production team has researched the mid-1970s, and has created an authentic sense of this era.
Winnipeg has its own unique Main Street, like Montréal, which has seen the hopes and aspirations of countless generations and cultures over many decades. Sainte-Carmen of the Main may have been written almost forty years ago, but life on “The Main” still goes on. . .
Performances
Tuesday, April 2 – Friday, April 6, 2013 at 8:00 pm nightly,
Saturday, April 6t at 7:00 pm
Gas Station Arts Centr, (445 River Avenue).
Admission is free but reservations are recommended.
Please call our 24-hour Reservation Line at 204.786.9152, or visit UWinnipeg’s Department of Theatre and Film.
Based in the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film at The University of Winnipeg, the Department of Theatre and Film offers areas of study in Acting, Design, Drama in Education, Filmmaking, Playwriting, and Production/Stage Management. Our classes are small and our approach is practical. Our faculty is comprised of highly respected and award-winning professionals who are experienced teachers and remain active in their disciplines, bringing relevant and up-to-date instruction to our students.
MEDIA CONTACT
Patty Hawkins, Dept. of Theatre and Film
204.786.9955
p.hawkins@uwinnipeg.ca
Andrey Tarasiuk, Dept. of Theatre and Film
204.786-9486
a.t.t@sympatico.ca
