Montreal, February 2012 - Infinithéâtre is proud to present the Québec English language premiere of the award-winning hit play, The Leisure Society (La Societé de loisirs), by François Archambault, translated by Bobby Theodore, from March 6-25 at Bain St-Michel. Along with director Ellen David, the cast and design team features Montréal’s finest theatre artists from both the English and French communities including actors Daniel Brochu (presently in Scientific Americans at the Segal Centre), Catherine De Sève (previously seen in Dangerous Liaisons at the Segal Centre and long-time member of L’auberge du chien noir on Radio-Canada), Sheena Gazé-Deslandes (The Daily Miracle, Infinithéâtre) and Howard Rosenstein (hot off his praised portrayal of lawyer Hugh Rose in Ars Poetica, Infinithéâtre).

Peter and Mary have it all: money, a gorgeous home, a pool in the backyard, a home-theatre, a baby. They invite their recently divorced best friend Mark to dinner for what they intend to be a final get together as he no longer ‘fits’ into their lifestyle. But when Mark shows up with ‘special friend’ Paula, a new adventure begins. The Leisure Society is a humorous, often shocking and brutally honest dissection of how we find and define meaning and purpose in our lives. How can you admit that something might be missing if you have almost everything you want?

For director Ellen David, the play is more timely and poignant than when it was first produced in 2003, “With advances in technology, rampant consumerism and overspending as a factor in the recent economic crisis, and the nuclear family growing farther apart than ever, the time is not only right, but demands that this provocative story be told now.” She continues, “One of the added joys of producing this play in Montréal is that we have the benefit of two cultures living and sleeping side by side, enhancing the script. As a partner in a bi-culture relationship myself, I have the ideal perspective to make the most of our unique situation in Montréal.” The Infinithéâtre production will also be using some of the original French text.

Guy Sprung, Artistic Director of Infinithéâtre, is delighted to have Ellen David on board, “She is an amazing artist who works with precision and detail. She has a sense of the whole, including rhythm and pace, and knows how to work with actors.”

Playwright François Archambault is delighted that his play is finally being produced in English in Montréal. He hastens to add that there is another English production ready to go up. “In a bizarre coincidence, the play will be produced at the same time and also for the first time, in London, England (Trafalgar Studios 2, Feb. 28-Mar. 31). A good thing about this is that Anglos from Montréal won't have to fly to London to see the play performed in English!”

Archambault hopes his black comedy will make audiences laugh, make them sad and make them think about the world we live in.

In The Leisure Society, people are together but not connecting. Skype, texting, massive television screens and ‘going digital’ has become an integral part of our world and will be incorporated into the character’s daily lives and ‘smart house’ set. Devices that were designed to enhance and ease our experience, granting us the time and means to access our own ‘leisure society’, have created a detached, empty ‘me generation’ always on the lookout for more and better and faster. Watching these characters and their essential human need to connect is both achingly funny and painfully raw.

The play is a scathing and hysterical exposé of a marriage on the verge of a nervous breakdown. For Howard Rosenstein, who portrays newly-divorced Mark, “The play explores the truths behind the fantasies, the underbelly of consumerism, newborns as a threat to romantic love, lust as a short term fix and the dreadthat lurks just below the surface of reality.”

The modern set is designed by Vincent Lefèvre with Ginette Grenier mirroring the tone in costume design. Original music, a classical approach to the contemporary, is composed by Christian Thomas. The lighting is designed by Julien St-Pierre with complimentary video design by George Allister and Patrick Andrew Boivin. The stage manager is Michael Panich.

The Leisure Society
Bain St-Michel, March 6 - 25
5300, rue St-Dominique (corner Maguire)
Tuesday to Saturday at 8:00 pm
Sunday matinee at 2:00 pm

Tickets:
$10 - $20
6 Packs still available (6 tickets for $60 plus tax)

Box Office:
514 987-1774 ext. 104
www.infinitheatre.com with PayPal
Ticket sales at the door are CASH ONLY

Half-Price Preview:Tuesday, March 6 at 8 pm
Pay-What-You-Can Sunday:March 11 at 2 pm
Talkback Tuesdays: post-performance discussion with the artists

The Leisure Societyis generously supported by:Season sponsors Forest Gate Energy and CN; Production sponsor Muse Entertainment; Media sponsors CTV and CJLO; and Hydro-Québec, Gryphon Investment Counsel Inc., Gildan ActiveWear, Barefoot Wines, Quebec Drama Federation, CALQ, CAM, and the Ville de Montreal.
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Montreal, January 2012 - Infinithéâtre is excited to offer yet another original work from Arthur Holden- the world premiere of the comedy, Ars Poetica, playing at Bain St-Michel from January 17-February 12. Directed by Guy Sprung, the talented cast includes favourite Montréal actors Noel Burton (Equus, Village Scene Productions), Danielle Desormeaux (Umloüt and MöcShplat, Clowns Gone Bad), Paula Jean Hixson (Four Minutes if you Bleed, Power Play Productions/Centaur Theatre Brave New Looks) and Infinithéâtre ‘regular’, Howard Rosenstein (Cornered, Rabbit in a Hat Productions), along with up and comer Elana Dunkelman (Hamlet, Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company). 

The air conditioning has failed. The creditors are circling like sharks. And the publisher wants to sleep with anything that moves. Welcome to the offices of “Ars Poetica”, a Montréal literary magazine where chaos reigns and disaster is never more than an errant BlackBerry click away. Into this swirl of high culture and low morals steps lawyer Hugh Rose, whose idealistic daughter Naomi works as a summer intern for the magazine. When Hugh discovers the desperate state in which the periodical finds itself, he joins the struggle to keep the enterprise afloat – willingly at first, then with increasing reluctance as he becomes caught up in the intrigues of George the publisher, Julia the editor, and a singular Canada Council officer named Diane. During the course of the play, the temperatures are extreme and so are the stakes; everyone has their secrets. Ars Poetica is a comedy about poetry, wireless communications and the wayward impulses of love.

This from playwright Arthur Holden: “In Ars Poetica, choice excerpts from the works of distinguished Canadian poets alternate with moments of pure farce, generously garnished with allusions to the pure, and less pure, pleasures of Montréal life. It is a story of artists, their hopes, their conflicts and peccadilloes. With winter upon us and the usual dismal headlines in our newspapers, theatergoers will appreciate a story set in the steamy dog days of summer, featuring a periodical in which there is no bad news at all – only poetry.”

Ars Poetica is the result of vital gestation and incubation, including a reading at Infinithéâtre’s Pipeline and workshops with Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal. Director Guy Sprung is enthusiastic about the rehearsal process, “I think we will find a performance style that Arthur never imagined.” Even before the lights go up, the audience is exposed to a cacophony of the sound of poems and projected words. For Sprung, the story strongly resonates, “We live our life in poetry, not in science. When we try and put into words the true essence of our lives as we humans live them, science is useless. We must look to poetry to adumbrate our experience.”

Ars Poetica is about poetry; but it’s also about smartphone communications. For Holden, in this 4G world, where anyone’s phone can be used to receive, store and send all kinds of information – including the sexually explicit kind – catastrophe is never more than a keystroke away. Ars Poetica mines that comic potential with energy and literary flair.

Howard Rosenstein plays Hugh, father to Naomi, the young intern. “The play’s most compelling theme is that of a parent wanting to protect his child from the unending rejection and financial insecurities of an artistic career. That and denigrating what he secretly loves.”

Veronica Classen’s set and costume design creates the tone with translucent ‘paper’ walls and sculptures that allow for lightplay and a fitting backdrop for local poets’ and various smartphones’ text. Adding to the vision is lighting designer, David-Alexandre Chabot, sound designer, Dmitri Marine and video by Brian Morel. The stage manager is Michael Panich.
 
Bain St-Michel
5300, rue St-Dominique (corner Maguire)

Tuesday to Saturday at 8:00 pm
Sunday matinée at 2:00 pm

Tickets: $10-$20, 514 987-1774 ext. 104 
or online at www.infinitheatre.com, 
Infinithéâtre 6pack available

January 17 & 18 previews are 50% off, 
Sunday, January 22 is pay-what-you-can.

Ticket sales at the door are cash only.

Ars Poetica is generously supported by:
Season sponsors Forest Gate Energy and CN; 
Media sponsors CTV and CJLO; as well as 
Hydro-Québec, Gildan, CALQ, CAM, Ville de Montreal and the Quebec Drama Federation 
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Montréal, November 2011 – Every year Infinithéâtre proudly parades Québec’s newest discoveries in The Pipeline, an annual series of free public play readings where the audience takes centre stage. Guy Sprung, Infinithéâtre’s Artistic Director, invites the public to feel the buzz and share their views from Thurs. December 8 - Sun. December 11 at the Bain St-Michel when the theatre company features four new plays, including the winner of theWRITE-ON-Q! play writing competition.

In its ongoing mandate to discover new Québec works to bring to the stage, four years ago Infinithéâtre initiated an annual writing contest, Write-On-Q!, which garners scripts from all corners of the province. The winning script is selected by an independent jury, chaired this year by the esteemed Maureen Labonté (Co-Director of the Banff Playwrights Colony and a highly respected dramaturge, teacher and translator who has chaired the Siminovitch Prize jury three years running). The other two jury members this year were Gerry Lipnowski (CN, Public Affairs) and Laurence Sellyn(Gildan ActiveWear, CFO). In a written citation the jury said: “The 2011Write-On-Q! jury was very impressed and moved by the plays they were asked to read. There was a broad range of voices, stories, and points of view as well as varying levels of experience. The writing was strong, imaginative and wildly and wonderfully varied.” 

The now popular writing competition draws submissions from first-time playwrights, students and established writers- this year including web publishers and Governor General Award winners. Artistic Director Guy Sprung is delighted with the over thirty-five entries this year and invites all to hear some of Montreal’s finest actors read scripts that could become future Infinithéâtre productions. “Because new Québec work is our focus, The Pipeline reading series has become a vital step in the process of developing new plays and making programming choices for upcoming seasons. Audience reaction is absolutely key in this event.  Where else can Montrealers participate in the creative process as we continue to produce relevant, Québecois theatre?”

The Write-On-Q! winner of the $1000 Pamela Dunn Prize is first-time playwright Alyson Grant, Chair of the English department at Dawson College, for her entry Trench Patterns. Another of this year’s Write-On-Q!submissions included Mike Czuba’s The Reprise, which was so noteworthy that the jury felt it merited a runner-up prize of $500, a first for this competition. The other three scripts in this year’s four-day reading marathon are: Triplex Nervosaby novelist, journalist and playwrightMarianne Ackerman, The Book of Bob by actor/playwright Arthur Holden, a regular at these readings having earned a place for four consecutive years, and A Song for Québec by Gazette journalist and Infinithéâtre's playwright-in-residence, David Sherman. Infinithéâtre received a grant from the Cole Foundation to develop Sherman’s play, which will receive its first public reading through The Pipeline with Alexis Martin, renowned throughout the French theatre community, directing. Please see below for details about each play and its author.

The Pipeline gives the public a unique opportunity to voice their opinions and directly influence Montréal’s cultural landscape through lively talkback discussions, an important part of any play development, following each reading.  Providing invaluable input for the playwrights, talkbacks also allow the audience to address questions or issues that the texts generated in a relaxed, open forum with the authors, directors and actors. 

The Write-On-Q! competition is a huge opportunity for aspiring and established Québec playwrights to receive a kick-start for a new work. Scripts for Write-On-Q! 2012 can be submitted to the Infinithéâtre offices from now until September 4th, 2012 at 5413, boul. St-Laurent, Suite 302, Montreal QC H2T 1S5. 

CLICK HERE for details about the playwrights and scripts
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