New Translation Canada
Celebrating great Canadian theatre in both official languages.
New Translation Development
Discover the leading new works of anglophone and francophone Canada, meet the playwrights and their translators, and play a part in the new translation process.
Towards a truly national theatre in both official languages.
Every three years, four or five Canadian playwrights in both official languages (French & English) are nominated for the Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s top theatre award. Each of these playwrights represents a leading voice in Canadian playwriting as nominated by their peers.
This independent project was born from a discovery that the works of the playwrights nominated for the 2020 Siminovitch Prize and their contributions to Canadian culture were not available in both official languages. We imagine a truly national theatre community where the works of anglophone and francophone artists are available and promoted to audiences in both official languages.
free as injuns by Tara Beagun, Native Earth (2012) | Photo: Juan Camilo Palacio
THE PRIX SIMINOVITCH PRIZE PLAYWRIGHT
NEW TRANSLATION PROJECT
ColoniséEs by Annick Lefebvre, Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (2019) | Photo: Valérie Remise
Meet the Playwrights
Each work is a unique voice, approach to form, and view on the Canadian experience.
The playwrights nominated for the 2020 Siminovitch Prize are Carmen Aguirre (Vancouver), Tara Beagan (Calgary), Martin Bellemare (Montreal), Karen Hines (Calgary), and Annick Lefebvre (Montreal).
We contacted each of the playwrights who shared our excitement for this vision. They each selected 1 piece from their body of work for translation. These works represent a diversity of leading Canadian playwrights from different regions, lived experiences, cultural and linguistic heritages and draw from across their careers–from early noted works to recent creations.
All Canadians deserve access to these works.
Each work represents a unique voice, unique approach to form, and a unique view on the Canadian experience. We believe all Canadians deserve access to these works.
These award nominated and winning plays selected by their playwrights for translation are: Anywhere But Here by Carmen Aguirre with Raps Created With Shad Kabango; ColoniséEs by Annick Lefebvre; Crawlspace by Karen Hines, free as injuns by Tara Beagan and Moule Robert by Martin Bellemare.
Moule Robert by Martin Bellemare, Théâtre de Belleville (2019) | Photo: Samuel Rubio
About
the plays
Anywhere But Here by Carmen Aguirre, The Electric Company (2020) | Photo: Emily Cooper.
Crawlspace created and performed by Karen Hines (2017)
TRANSLATION FOR THEATRE
“A different language is a different vision of life.” – Federico Fellini
The theatre translation process is sometimes misunderstood. Professionally, it’s classed as “Creative Translation.” Rather than a word-for-word substitution, the source text is a point of reference to create an equally compelling work in the new language.
With many choices beyond words, the creative translator draws on a wide knowledge of the performing arts and a deep understanding of the target culture. In addition to new rhythms, poetic structures, and metaphors, it’s not uncommon for new scenes, scenarios, and text to be created. It is a uniquely collaborative art; one where the collaborators are the cultures and languages of the original and target population as embodied by the artists involved.
Our Creative Translation team is gathered from leading theatre makers in both official languages from across the nation.
Projects:
QColoniséEs
By Annick Lefebvre
Translated to English
by Johanna Nutter
July 29, 2024
N’importe où sauf ici
By Carmen Aguirre | Raps created with Shad Kabango
Translated to French by Emmanuelle Jimenez
February 9, 2024
libre comme des sauvages
By Tara Beagan
Translated to French
by Charles Bender
April 16, 2023
Robert Moule
By Martin Bellemare
Translated to English
by Jack Paterson
October 8, 2022
Crawlspace
By Karen Hines
Translated to French
by Mishka Lavigne
June 19, 2022
Le Centre des auteurs dramatique & New Translation Canada
La Salle des machines:
Shinning a light on new translation
Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (Montreal)
November 17, 2022
News:
N’importe où sauf ici Workshop & Reading
By Carmen Aguirre | Raps created with Shad Kabango
Translated to French by Emmanuelle Jimenez
Dramaturgy by Maryse Warda
In association with CEAD
International New Translation Workshop: Robert Moule
International New Translation Workshop
Dec. 15, 2023
With British Equity (London, UK)
Our success is measured by the success of the artists we work with
CRAWLSPACE
By Karen Hines | Translated to French by Mishka Lavigne
Sept. 11 to 16 2023
ZONES THÉÂTRALES
NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE (Ottawa)
A THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS DE TORONTO CREATION
LIBRE COMME DES SAUVAGES Digital Workshop
By Tara Beagan
Translated to French by Charles Bender
Translated from free as injuns
Join a team from across Canada in the process of translating this award-winning Canadian play.
Our success is measured by the success of the artists we work with
French Language Premiere of
CRAWLSPACE
By Karen Hines | Translated to French by Mishka Lavigne
April 19 to 23, 2023
Théâtre français de Toronto Studio
21 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2B3
A Théâtre Français de Toronto production
Shinning a light on new translation
LA SALLE DES MACHINES:
From the Source to the Target
Thursday, November 17, 5 p.m.
Salle Jean-Claude-Germain du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui
3900 Saint-Denis, Montreal, H2W 2M2 Canada
free as injuns by Tara Beagun, Native Earth (2012) | Photo: Juan Camilo Palacio
free as injuns
By Tara Beagan
Translated to French by Charles Bender
“…invaluable to our Canadian repertoire at this moment in time…flipping between extreme sensuality and unrelated humour were particularly ingenious…Tara Beagan’s interpretation of a pessimistic New England play breathes Aboriginal-Canadian life into a classic script.”
– NOW
Tara Beagan’s powerful and poetic look at blood ties, entitlement, inheritance and legacy and the ‘Canadian experience.’
Inspired by O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms, which in turn is the American retelling of ancient Greek tragedy, free as injuns arrives with the intention to symbolize and speak of the current state of Canada’s relationship with this continent’s original peoples and multi-cultural society using its characters: the white autocrat father, the three sons, a new wife and a newborn baby.
Three sons despise their father and desire the land they believe they deserve. They all become deeply embittered when they find out he has a new wife – a woman Indigenous to the land they weongfully occupy.
free as injuns premiered in the 2011/2012 Native Earth Performing Arts season at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto, Canada).
ColoniséEs by Annick Lefebvre , Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (2019) | Photo: Valérie Remise
QColoniséEs
BY ANNICK LEFEBVRE
Translated to English by Johanna Nutter
“Sparing neither her words, her sharp intelligence, nor her heightened sensitivity, Annick Lefebvre offers us a work that inhabits the intellect, body, and heart long after… inviting us to stand up and commit to art, justice, love, community.”
– GG Award Selection Jury
“One of Quebec’s most fierce pens, we feel the full force of Annick Lefebvre’s writting in ColoniséEs”
– Gravel le matin, ICI Radio-Canada
A revolution (quiet), a month (historic) and promises (betrayed). ColoniséEs reflects the embodiment of our concerns of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Present-day Quebec; troubled, anxious, resilient.
Four years after the success of J’accuse, author Annick Lefebvre is back with her inimitable and uncompromising style. Her theatre takes up the challenge of being as intimate as it is collective, as denouncing as it is redeeming.
Recipient of the Michel-Tremblay Prize, 2019 and the BMO Dramatic Writer’s Prize. Shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award 2019.
Carmen Aguirre
Anywhere but here
Carmen Aguirre (she, her) is an award-winning theatre artist and author who has written and co-written more than 25 plays, including Chile Con Carne, The Refugee Hotel, The Trigger, Blue Box, Broken Tailbone, and Anywhere But Here, as well as the international bestseller and #1 in Canada, Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter (winner of CBC Canada Reads 2012), and its bestselling sequel, Mexican Hooker #1 and My Other Roles Since the Revolution. Carmen is currently writing an adaptation of Euripides’ Medea for Vancouver’s Rumble Theatre, and Moliere’s The Learned Ladies for Toronto’s Factory Theatre. She is a Core Artist at Electric Company Theatre and a co-founding member of the Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (CALTAC). She has more than 80 film, TV, and stage acting credits, including her award-winning lead role in the Canadian premiere of Stephen Adley Guirgis’ The Motherfucker with the Hat, and her Leo-nominated lead performance in the independent feature film Bella Ciao!. She is a graduate of Studio 58.
Tara Beagan
free as injuns
2020 Laureate – Siminovitach Prize
Tara Beagan (she, her) is proud to be Ntlaka’pamux and, through her late father’s side, of Irish ancestry. She is cofounder/director of ARTICLE 11 with Andy Moro. Beagan served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts from February 2011 to December 2013. During her time, NEPA continued with traditional values for guidance, had an Elder in Residence, and named and moved into the Aki Studio. Beagan has been in residence at Cahoots Theatre (Toronto), NEPA (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa) and Berton House (Dawson City, Yukon). She is now Playwright In Residence at Prairie Theatre Exchange (Winnipeg). Seven of her 28 plays are published. Two plays have received Dora Award nominations (one win). In 2018, Beagan was a finalist in the Alberta Playwrights’ Network competition. In 2020, Honour Beat won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama. Recent premieres include Deer Woman in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Honour Beat opening the 2018/19 season at Theatre Calgary, The Ministry of Grace at Belfry Theatre in Victoria, and Super in Plays2Perform@Home with Boca Del Lupo (Vancouver).
Martin Bellemare
Moule Robert
A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s writing program, Martin Bellemare (il) was awarded the 2009 Gratien Gélinas Prize for Le Chant de Georges Boivin. La Liberté was presented at La Rubrique (Jonquière) in 2013 and in Montreal in 2015, and was scheduled to be staged in Ottawa in 2020. Maître Karim la perdrix (2018 Prix SACD de la dramaturgie francophone, awarded by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) will premiere at the Théâtre des Capucins in Luxembourg in 2021. Moule Robert (CNL Scholarship, shortlisted for the 2017 Prix SACD de la dramaturgie francophone and the 2018 Michel Tremblay Prize) was produced simultaneously at La Rubrique and at the POCHE/ GVE in Geneva, then at the Théâtre de Belleville in Paris. Martin is a four-time recipient of the Aide à la création grant from the Centre national du Théâtre/ARTCENA in Paris, and two of his plays are included in the repertoire of the Comédie-Française. Two of his plays for young audiences, Un château sur le dosand Des pieds et des mains, which was first produced at the NAC, have toured in Canada and internationally. In 2019, Extraordinaire et mystérieux and Charlie et le djingpouite were produced, and Cœur minéral (Governor General’s Literary Awards, Winner 2020) premiered at the Francophonies in Limoges.
Karen Hines
Crawlspace
Karen Hines’ (she, her) multi-prize-winning plays offer keen musings on modern life, combining such disparate elements as magical realism, pink-brand feminism and environmental disarray. Her solo performances and ‘little’ films featuring her darkly comic character ‘Pochsy’ have traveled the globe. Hines has collaborated as a director and dramaturg with many fellow artists, and her productions, plays and performances have seen venues like One Yellow Rabbit, Joe’s Pub (Public Theatre), Astor Place Off-Broadway, Tarragon, Videofag, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, NAC. For Festival du Jamais Lu 2022, Hines’ ‘Tous les petits animaux que j’ai dévouré’ was translated and staged (Mishka Lavigne; Lisa L’Heureux) and Hines’ real estate horror Crawlspace continues to micro-theatres across Canada in French and English. Crawlspace is being adapted as screenplay, and is now a CBC podcast (PlayMe; Radio One). Upcoming, Pochsy IV premieres January 2023.
Annick Lefebvre
ColoniséEs
Annick Lefebvre (elle) holds a degree in playwriting and theatre critique from UQAM (2004). She is the founder of Le Crachoir, a company dedicated to placing the author, female or not, at the centre of the creation-production-performance process. She has written several plays, including Ce samedi il pleuvait (shortlisted for the 2013 Michel-Tremblay Award); La machine à révolte (shortlisted for the 2015 Louise-LaHaie Award); J’accuse (shortlisted for the 2015 Michel-Tremblay Award, the 2015 Critics’ Choice Award from the Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre [AQCT] and the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award); Les barbelés (shortlisted for the 2019 Critics’ Choice Award from the AQCT); ColoniséEs (winner of the 2019 Michel-Tremblay Award and shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award); and several short scripts for collective events. She adapted J’accuse twice, once for a production in Belgium, and once for a French production. Annick Lefebvre was chosen as protégée by playwright Olivier Choinière, laureate of the 2014 Siminovitch Prize. Her plays are published by Dramaturges Éditeurs.
Anywhere But Here by Carmen Aguirre, The Electric Company (2020) | Photo: Emily Cooper.
ANYWHERE BUT HERE
BY CARMEN AGUIRRE | RAPS CREATED WITH SHAD KABANGO
Translated to French by Emmanuelle Jimenez
“A marvelous machine of creativity”
– The Globe and Mail
“Aguirre’s think piece is a time-defying meditation on essential journeys of the heart.”
– The Georgia Straight
It’s 2020 at the US/Mexico border in Trump’s America.
In 1979, a family drives back towards Chile from Canada. With past, present, and future encircling their journey, this profoundly poetic story is about the universal quest for home – in whatever form that takes.
A spellbinding blend of dark comedy and magical realism, Anywhere But Here is a vibrant celebration of Latinx theatre, with music and raps by Shad, that chronicles the many paths, real and imagined, we take to discover the truth — the truth about who we are, and where we may be headed.
Telling an engrossing story that intersects multiple timelines and spaces, Anywhere But Here introduces us to a host of fantastical characters who have experienced the pull of home, the ache of displacement, and the harsh realities of the border as they attempt to cross, guard, or survive it.
Moule Robert by Martin Bellemare, Théâtre de Belleville (2019) | Photo: Samuel Rubio
Moule Robert
BY MARTIN BELLEMARE
Translated to English by Jack Paterson
“With Moule Robert, Martin Bellemare offers us a text of dazzling formal mastery (…). This virtuosic inventiveness is at the service of the ethical questions dividing our society. In his own way, Martin Bellemare wrestles with the question that haunted Brecht: how to be good in a world that is not?”
– Prix Michel-Tremblay Jury
Robert Moule is a very ordinary man who works in a daycare. One day, he grabs a girl from the daycare by the arm and finds himself accused of sexual assault. He descends into a Kafka-like journey of inner decay and comic absurdity.
Moule Robert premiered in 2017, produced by Théâtre La Rubrique at the Mont-Jacob Cultural Centre (Jonquière). It has since been produced in Switzerland by POCHE/GVE, and in Belleville and Paris, France by Théâtre de Belleville.
-Recipient of the Prix Michel-Tremblay, 2018
-Shortlisted for the Prix SACD de la dramaturgie francophone, 2017
Crawlspace created and performed by Karen Hines (2017)
Crawlspace
BY KAREN HINES
Translated to French by Mishka Lavigne
“A blistering commentary on our consumer culture. Pitch-black funny.”
– Jo Ledingham, The Courier
“Hines at her most horrifyingly hilarious.”
– J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe & Mail
Award-winning writer and performer Karen Hines explores the darker side of real estate in CRAWLSPACE, a comic, Kafka-esque monologue that snakes through the brutal battleground of real estate, decorative twig orbs and the state of the human soul.
CRAWLSPACE is inspired by Hines’ true story of buying a fully detached ‘condo alternative’ in a hip downtown neighbourhood in a heated market… and how it all went horribly, nightmarishly wrong. The story became a National Magazine Award-nominated feature called My Little House of Horrors (Swerve Magazine). It was then adapted as a stage play and readings were performed for ‘boutique’ audiences in an Edmonton basement, a Northern Ontario dining room, and a tiny Toronto kitchen. CRAWLSPACE premiered publicly at Videofag, a cultural hub in a storefront space in Toronto’s Kensington Market.
Charles Bender
French Language Translator – free as injuns
Since his Gémeaux nomination for hosting the young adult show, C’est parti mon tipi, Charles (he, him) has become a regular presence on Aboriginal People’s Television Network. He is the lead of Sioui-Bacon and the host of Sans reserve a new talk show on APTN french. On screen, he has appeared in a variety of productions, both in English and in French, such as Eaux Turbulentes (Blik TV and KO TV) and Being Human (Muse Productions). On stage, he has worked with many companies with social justice as part of their mandate such as Teesri Duniya, Ondinnok and Tableau d’Hôte. He was also the host of the four-part documentary series, Le 8e feu (8th Fire), a series tackling a variety of contemporary First-Nation issues, produced and aired by Radio-Canada. He is co artistic director of Productions Menuentakuan and signed both the translation and direction of the 2018 production of Where The Blood Mixes, one of the most celebrated play in contemporary indigenous dramaturgy. He sits on the board of directors of a variety of organisations that promote and defend first nation issues in Canada.
Emmanuelle Jimenez
Fench Language Translator – Anywhere but here
Emmanuelle Jimenez (she, her, hers) trained in performance at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal. While continuing working as an actor, she devoted herself to writing. Her plays include Du vent entre les dents (Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui), Rêvez, montagnes! (Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental), Le dénominateur commun co-written with François Archambault (Théâtre Debout), Cendres (Des pieds des mains), and Bébés co-written with Alexis Martin (Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental). She’s led numerous cultural projects, including with La Maison Bleue in Côte-des-Neiges and the Montreal North Cultural and Community House. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Festival du jamais Lu from 2003 to 2010 and has been a member of the AQAD Board of Directors since 2014.
Mishka Lavigne
French Language Translator – Crawlspace
Mishka Lavigne (she, her) is a playwright and literary translator based in Ottawa/Gatineau. Her plays have been produced, read and developed in Canada, Switzerland, France, Germany and the United States. Her plays Havre and Copeau were awarded the Governor General’s Literary Prize for Drama (French). Her recent play Copeaux, a movement-based poetic creation piece with director É Perron premiered in Ottawa in March 2020. She is currently working on her new play Shorelines and her first opera libretto with composer Tim Brady. Mishka is a National New Play Network (USA) alumni playwright as well as a member of the PGC and CEAD.
Johanna Nutter
English Language Translator – ColoniséEs
Johanna Nutter (she, euro-settler, multidisciplinary artist) developed her passion for translation through acting: being one of few bilingual theatre artists, she played leading roles at Centaur and La Licorne. Johanna is known for her solo play my pregnant brother/mon frère est enceinte, which she translated during a residency in Tadoussac, accompanied by Linda Gaboriau. The show toured across Canada and Quebec in both languages, and to the UK and Belgium. Subsequently, she translated the works of Annick Lefebvre (Barbed Wire), Guillaume Corbeil (You’ll Go Looking for Her), and Florence Longpré & Nicolas Michon’s ballet-theatre hybrid CHLORINE, which she also produced and directed at Centaur, with her company creature/creature.
Jack Paterson
English Language Translator – Moule Robert
Jack Paterson (he, him) is a Vancouver launched translator, devisor, director, dramaturg and creative producer whose practice has taken him across Canada, UK, EU and around the world. His work ranges from contemporary devised creation, multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural and multi-lingual projects to new works, new texts, and contemporary approaches to classical theatre. He is a recipient of The Ray Michal Body of Work Award, The Cole Foundation Award for Emerging Translators, and The John Moffat & Larry Lillo West Coast Artist Award.
His translations include The Ballad of Georges Boivin by Martin Bellemare, The Naughty Children’s Bedtime Stories by Etienne Lepage, Kiwi by Daniel Danis, and Horses from Horses from Heaven Fall in a Reign of Ash by Naghmeh Samini (Iran).
Who we are
A team of independent theatre makers and administrators from coast to coast.
Yolanda Ferrato
Co-Founder
(Nova Scotia)
Johanna Nutter
C0-Founder & Creative Producer
(Quebec)
Jack Paterson
Co-Founder & Creative Producer
(British Columbia)
Yolanda Ferrato
Yolanda Ferrato (she, her) is a Nova Scotia based translator, theatre artist, and arts manager . She served as Artistic Associate with the London Quebec Culture Festival with whom she directed the UK premiere of Larry Tremblay’s The Ventriloquist and translated Porcupine by David Paquet. As an Arts Manager, she has worked with Tarragon Theatre and Driftwood Theatre and produced Gargantua’s work at Theatre Passe Muraille, Factory Theatre, and SummerWorks. She is also a contributing author to New Dramaturgies: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice, published in 2014 by Methuen Drama.
Arts Across Canada
celebrating great canadian theatre in both official languages
We gratefully acknowledge the support of
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Activities related to this project take place on the traditional unceded territories of several First Nations and Indigenous groups in the territory now known as Canada. These include: the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver, British Columbia), Kanien’kehá:ka Nation (Montreal, Quebec), Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), Tsuut’ina Nation, Nakoda Island First Nations and Métis Nation (Region 3) (Treaty 7 Territory, Calgary, Alberta), Anishinaabe-Algonquin Nation (Ottawa, Ontario) and Mi’kmaq Nation (Nova Scotia). We recognize and honour the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation commission and acknowledge the importance of Indigenous sovereignty on this unceded territory.
*A territorial or land acknowledgement is an act of reconciliation that involves making a statement recognizing the traditional territory of the Indigenous people who called the land home before the arrival of settlers, and in many cases still do call it home.
For more information on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada click here.