Centaur Theatre - The Watershed

Centaur Theatre /48th Season

November 8 - December 4, 2016

Play written by Annabel Soutar

Directed by Chris Abraham

The main theme of the play is, "There’s a lot of things we can do without, BUT water’s not one of them."

If you have been following the news and are especially concerned with the environmental issues, than this play will remind you of issues surrounding the Ontario Experimental Lake Area where the government conducted an in-depth research into water tables, watersheds, pollution, aqua organisms, etc. The play chronicles the reaction by the government's representatives, researchers and activists to the announcement by the Steven Harper's government in 2012 that the project will be discontinued.

The play brings forth the complexity of the environmental and economic concerns and problems. And although at first it might appear this would be a rather dry play about the government's policies, the playwright Annabel Soutar, (a documentary playwright), manages to make it entertaining by seeing the issues from a perspective of a single family. The play is autobiographical, based on real events and exact conversation recordings made by her and also by her daughters.

There are only 8 actors in The Watershead and they play a myriad of characters in a kaleidoscopic succession. The members of the cast have a great skill not only to change their appearances extremely quickly, but also to become instantly different personages, which is a great skill in itself. Yet it was hard at first to accept that the two little girls 8 and 10 years old are played by grown up women in the range of mid 20 - 30 years old. And I did not get it until some time later into the play that a much older woman, whom I at first mistook to be the girls' eccentric grandmother, was actually also just a small kid, only 7 year old. Also, the children were a bit overplayed: too much shrieking and shouting from them to the point it was hurting my ears and detracting from issues discussed in the play. But I guess this technique was used to make it appear more credible for adults to represent small prepubescent girls. Nevertheless, it added an element of a caricature to the way the children were portrayed.

Official Synopsis:

"Join Seeds playwright, Annabel Soutar, and her family (including the dog) on a comical, cross-country trek to Fort McMurray to get the inside scoop on another probing Canadian story ripped from the headlines. See the complex environmental and economic issues surrounding Alberta’s oil sands and Ontario’s Experimental Lakes Area, first through the playwright’s investigative journalism, then through the optimistic eyes of the next generation. What kid wouldn’t jump at the chance to turn their summer holiday into an educational expedition? Last one in the RV has to name all 58 lakes!"

CAST: DANIEL BROCHU, LAURA CONDLLN, BRUCE DINSMORE, TANJA JACOBS, NGOZI PAUL, ERIC PETERSON, LIISA REPO-MARTELL, AMELIA SARGISSON

PRODUCTION TEAM:

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR: ANDREW KUSHNIR

SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER: JULIE FOX

LIGHTING DESIGNER: KIMBERLY PURTELL

SOUND DESIGNER: THOMAS RYDER PAYNE

PROJECTIONS DESIGNER: DENYSE KARN

ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: OZ WEAVER

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: NORMAND VINCENT

STAGE MANAGER: MERISSA TORDJMAN

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: SARAH-MARIE LANGLOIS

APPRENTICE STAGE MANAGER AND VIDEO ASSISTANT: ANGELINE ST. AMOUR

For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.

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For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.

Chat Up

Sunday, November 13, 2016,  12:30 PM 

FREE ADMISSION

Join Montreal Gazette’s Editor in Chief, Lucinda Chodan, in conversation with Playwright Annabel Soutar and Beatrix Beisner, PhD and Director Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en limnologie et en environnement aquatique, and Professor at the Département des sciences biologiques at UQAM. Audience will be able to learn more about fresh water science and the ELA (Experimental Lake Area).

Free coffee and biscotti, generously provided by Season Sponsor Bonaparte Restaurant.