EXTRA / BEAUTIFUL / U
Written by Michaela Di Cesare
Direction and Dramaturgy by Caitlin Murphy
Cast & Crew
Toni Ellwand: Angie
Cara Rebecca: Sam Gagliardi
Sean Ryan: Beauté
Madeleine Scovil: Lara
Stephanie Torriani: Louise
Direction & Dramaturgy: Caitlin Murphy
Playwright: Michaela Di Cesare
Bruno-Pierre Houle: Set Designer
Charlotte Baker: Video Designer
Elyse Quesnel: Stage Manager
Julian Smith: Sound Designer
Sabrina Miller: Costume Designer
Georges Michael Fanfan: Assistant Costume Designer
Amber Hood: Lighting Designer
Corey Weiser: Apprentice Stage Manager
Nov 28 - 29 (previews)
Nov 30th - Dec 9th
Winner of Infinithéâtre’s 2017 Write-on-Q playwriting competition
90 minutes
Presented at Centaur Theatre
Extra/Beautiful/U
Photo by Maxime Côté
Left to Right: Cara Rebecca, Stephanie Torriani, Sean Ryan, Madeleine Scovil
Design: Lighting by Amber Hood, Set by Bruno-Pierre Houle, Costume by Sabrina Miller, Asst. Costume Georges Michael Fanfan
Extra/Beautiful/U opened Thursday, November 30th to a full house at Centaur Theatre! We would like to thank the incredible team for their creativity, hard work, and dedication to this project. We're proud to finally share it with audiences and we hope you'll join us during our run until December 9th!
Photo by Maxime Côté
Left to Right: Toni Ellwand, Cara Rebecca, [Madeleine Scovil], Sean Ryan
Design: Video by Charlotte Baker, Lighting by Amber Hood, Set by Bruno-Pierre Houle, Costume by Sabrina Miller, Asst. Costume Georges Michael Fanfan
“Extra/Beautiful/U covered a lot of compelling topics with thoughtfulness, care, and humour. It was a great night of theatre. I look forward to seeing more work from Infinithéâtre and playwright Michaela Di Cesare.”
“A poignant examination of femininity, family, and beauty; the company of Extra / Beautiful / U brought a thought provoking story to the Centaur stage and left its audiences with a myriad of conversations to unpack. Supported by strong design work and committed performances, this production did an incredible job of uplifting emerging artists and showcasing the work of well established names in the Montreal theatre community.” -Audience Member
Join us for these special opportunities and hear directly from the team of Extra/Beautiful/U! PWYC tickets do not require advance reservation, but please note that they will be available on a first-come-first-served basis. We will also have regular tickets available for reservation if you would like to ensure your spot for that date!
Special Dates!
Talk-Backs
Sunday, December 3, 2:00PM
Thursday, December 7, 8:00PM
Pay-What-You-Can
Saturday December 2, 2:00PM
Photo by Maxime Côté
Left to Right: Madeleine Scovil, Cara Rebecca
Design: Lighting by Amber Hood, Set by Bruno-Pierre Houle, Costume by Sabrina Miller, Asst. Costume Georges Michael Fanfan
Infinithéâtre presents Extra / Beautiful / U by Michaela Di Cesare as part of Centaur Theatre’s Brave New Looks Selection for 2023/24.
Lara’s beauty was her one-way ticket out of St Leonard, even bringing her fame on reality TV. That is until a violent car crash interrupts Lara's stardom and leaves her disfigured. Desperate to help, her overwrought mom reaches out to a prodigal craniofacial surgeon, who promises to restore Lara’s face in a groundbreaking clinical trial. A nurse at the hospital offers to work on the case even though it means delaying her own gender-affirming surgery. Meanwhile, Lara’s supportive younger sister with Down Syndrome pursues her own dreams of independence. As Lara’s face is rebuilt, all the outward appearances these characters have been clinging to are demolished.
Left to Right: Michaela Di Cesare, Eda Holmes, Caitlin Murphy, Zach Fraser
Extra / Beautiful / U was written by Michaela Di Cesare, longtime friend of Infinithéâtre and our Write-On-Q 2017 Winner! The play was part of our 2017 Pipeline playreading series and had a reading directed by Eda Holmes. Infinithéâtre’s production of Extra / Beautiful / U will be presented as Centaur Theatre’s Brave New Looks selection for their 2023/24 season and will run from November 30th to December 9th. We are so excited to be able to present this work in partnership with our friends at Centaur Theatre, with much gratitude to the Canada Council for the Arts and their Digital Now program.
Playwright
Michaela Di Cesare
Michaela is a playwright and performer with a Master’s Degree in Drama from the University of Toronto. Among her recent plays, Extra / Beautiful / U won first place at Infinithéâtre's 2017 Write-on-Q competition, Successions premiered at Centaur Theatre (Outstanding New Text, METAs 2018), and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) premiered with Geordie Productions (Outstanding New Text Nomination, METAs 2020). Michaela was playwright-in-residence at Centaur Theatre for the 2019/2020 season, writing a spaghetti western now titled Mickey & Joe (Good. Bad. Ugly. Dirty). Michaela wrote and performed In Search of Mrs. Pirandello (2016 WildSide Festival Centaur Theatre). In 2021, she wrote Hot Blooded Foreigner, a commission with Tableau D’Hôte Theatre. Michaela’s solo show 8 Ways my Mother was Conceived was presented in Toronto, Montreal, New York City, Ottawa, Hudson, Winnipeg and Stratford.
Director & Dramaturg
Caitlin Murphy
Caitlin Murphy is a writer, director and dramaturg. She has previously directed A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Small Mouth Sounds, both at the Segal Centre, the latter for which she won the Montreal English Theatre Award for Outstanding Direction. She also previously served as Dramaturg-in-Residence and Artistic Associate at the Segal Centre. In addition to her work in theatre, Caitlin has written and directed short films, including Flushing Lacan and TOAST, which both won the Jury Award at the Montreal ACTRA Short Film Festival. She has also performed in one-woman shows, stand-up, sketch comedy, and a web-series she created called Mothers Try. Most recently, Caitlin finished writing a book of essays about mothering called Rational Tantrums, and was named a finalist for the QWF Spoken Word Prize for the second year in a row.
Actor
Toni Ellwand
Toni Ellwand became a professional actress in 1984, at the Stratford Festival in John Hirsch’s production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Since then, Toni has performed in western Canada, as well as in Ontario where Toni has also worked on plays such as BEAVER, THE TRIAL OF JUDITH K., THE OPEN COUPLE, ESCAPE FROM HAPPINESS, 9 PARTS OF DESIRE, BETWEEN PANCHO VILLA AND A NAKED WOMAN , IN GABRIEL’S KITCHEN, PIAZZA SAN DOMENICO. Toni is no stranger to Montreal audiences. She recently did a workshop of B.A. Markus: WMN3X3. And since 2019 she has been involved with A.D. Vittorio Rossi’s company Magjusjen Ent. She has acted in several of their plays and films including: THE CHAIN and LEGACY. Toni has been in numerous T.V/FILM credits including: MAFIA INC., BOMB GIRLS, FORGET & FORGIVE, CHRISTMAS TIME CAPSULE, WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE, BLINDNESS(netflix), TINY PRETTY THINGS(netflix), MURDOCH MYSTERIES to name a few. Upcoming: KAIROS, feature film by Jennifer Alleyn.
Actor
Cara Rebecca
Bio: Cara Rebecca is an actor, fight director, and budding director based in Montreal. An award-winning, and META nominated actor, she has performed for theatres across the country. Select credits include: The Importance of Being Ernest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (St Lawrence), Fall On Your Knees (Canadian Stage/Neptune/NAC/Grand), Cowgirl Up (ATP), Indecent (Segal), The Ward Cabaret (Harbourfront), Romeo & Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing (Repercussion). She is a graduate of the National Theatre School, McGill, and is accredited with the Academy of Dramatic Combat. Cara is a co-founder of the Ragtag Collective, and is a participant of the Canadian Guild of Stage Directors and Choreographers’ director’s mentorship program. Outside of work, Cara can be found reading, cycling, and adoring every dog she meets. @caractor_rebecca
Headshot by Emelia Hellman
Actor
Sean Ryan
Sean Ryan (they/he/she) is a queer actor/performer/creator who finds joy in the exploration. They started their journey near the water, on Treaty 13A territory- a territory which was and remains under the care of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation. They currently practice in Tiohtià:ke, the unceded territory of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people, where they find themselves beginning a career that centers around love, death, decolonization, queerness, clown, and the chaos that comprises a life. A recent graduate of Concordia University’s acting program, they are both humbled and electrified to be playing Beauté in Infinithéâtre’s Extra/Beautiful/U! Through their practice they hope to cultivate and create the spark that makes a room collectively and impulsively hold its breath...
Actor
Madeleine Scovil
Madeleine is thrilled to be making her Infinithéâtre debut in Extra/Beautiful/U! She is a recent graduate from the acting program at the National Theatre School of Canada where favourite roles included Myrrha/Psyche/Hunger in Metamorphoses, Cop in Middletown and Sleep Paralysis Demon in Flight of Fancy, Hold Me Close. Madeleine also works as a theatre educator with the Segal Centre Academy and she recently directed her first Fringe show, Perky, at the Ottawa Fringe Festival. Madeleine is eager to help bring another new play to life with this talented team!
Actor
Stephanie Torriani
Stephanie loves music and dance. When she was little, she went to ballet class, then as she got older, she took Hip Hop dance classes at 8 Count and H4L studios. She performed in talent shows in elementary school. At Summit School, Stephanie was in a play called You’ll Never Walk Alone at the Rialto Theatre. Her second play was called Outta Here, produced by Jesse Heffring from Summit School and she was one of five lead actors. A representative of the Centaur Theatre watched that play and asked if they could perform at the Centaur Theatre for a real audience. They did four shows over two days. Stephanie loves being on stage and seeing the audience smile and hearing them clap. That truly makes her excited.
Video Designer
Charlotte Baker
Charlotte is a passionate theatre designer specializing in projection design, whose heart beats for people and art. With a keen eye for aesthetics and a love for storytelling, she weaves digital imagery into the fabric of live performances, adding a magical dimension to the stage. Fuelled by creativity and a love for collaboration, she embraces each project as an opportunity to merge technology with space and architecture, leaving a lasting impression on both the stage and the hearts of spectators. In addition to her projection design, she is also a sound designer, composer, lighting designer and technical director. Other works include: Sound Design/Composer for Middletown (NTS), Projection Designer for Metamorphoses (NTS), Lighting Designer for Maybe Not Tomorrow (NTS), Assistant Projection Designer for Hamlet 911 (Stratford Festival). She completed the Production Design and Technical Arts program at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Headshot by Maxime Côté
Lighting Designer
Amber Hood
Amber has been sculpting light for the last 15 years across a wide array of theatrical experiences and events. From black boxes to fly houses, corporate halls to the seven seas, no project is too large or small. She is thrilled to be a part of this bold new work andwishes to congratulate the entire team on bringing it to life for its world premiere! Recent Credits Include: Sortilegio L’Opera (Leoria Productions), The Clearing (AssistantLD-The Shaw Festival), Gloria: A Life (Harold Green Jewish Theatre), Hand to God (Magnus Theatre), Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (The Segal Centre). To learn more about Amber, her past works and future projects, please visit:
www.AmberHoodLD.com
Set Designer
Bruno-Pierre Houle
Bruno-Pierre Houle (he-him) designs for theatre, film, and immersive experiences. Theatre: Small Mouth Sounds; Superdogs the Musical; Josephine A Musical Cabaret (Segal Centre), Selfie (Geordie), Le Loup (Duceppe), Proje(c)t; Les Bonnes (Third Space Theatre), Chattermarks (Cabal), You/Emma (Wandering Bark Theatre Co.), Title Loading (Fusebox Festival), Die Zauberflöte (Butler Opera Center), Fit (Notch Theatre Co.) Film: Pas d’chicane dans ma cabane (Forum Films), Sarah préfère la course (La boîte à Fanny inc.), My Name is Sandy (Iammatteo Pictures) Other: Petite Plage Concert (Ingrid St-Pierre at Théâtre Outremont), Unravelling (Never Apart) and multiple escape games. Awards: META’s Outstanding Set Design for Small Mouth Sounds Web:
www.bphoule.com
Costume Designer
Sabrina Miller
Sabrina is a set, costume and puppet designer originally from the west coast. Production designs include From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days (Geordie Theatre) Birthmark (Teesri Duniya), Bluenose (Black Theatre Workshop) and Animal Farm (Kaleidoscope Theatre). Costume designs include Frankenstein: A Living Comic Book (Kidoons), The Sages of Chelm (Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Dawson College) and Elle's Black Space Voyage: An Afrodiasporic Odyssey (MAI). Sabrina has won awards for Best Costume Design at YES! Let's Make a Movie Film Festival Canada for the short film Wraith (2023), and the META for Outstanding Costume Design (From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, 2022).
Assistant Costume Deigner
Georges Michael Fanfan
Georges Michael Fanfan is a costume designer and stylist born in Haiti and raised in the United States. Having always been devoted to fashion and clothing he has always seen clothing as the perfect tool for communication and storytelling. Michael aspires to make beautiful costumes that help immerse the public in a giving place; by recreating looks from different time periods, creating new designs from scratch or styling existing fashions. Michael hopes to create clothing that is grounded in realism with subtle references that allow the costume to stand out or blend in. His credits include Dixon Road directed by Ray Hogg and written by Fatuma Adara (THE MUSICAL STAGE COMAPNY & OBSIDIAN THEATRE COMPANY), Cette Maison & Au Crépuscule films directed by Miryam Charles and Holiday Inn for the Shaw Festival as a junior sewer. The services of Georges Michael Fanfan were made possible through the Associated Designers of Canada Mentorship Program funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Sound Designer
Julian Smith
Julian Smith is a Designer / Manager, Originally from a small town in Newfoundland now living in Montreal! Recent Select Credits include - Rehearsal Tour Manager, Composer, Sound Designer (Geordie Two Play Tour), Composer, Lighting and Sound Design (Tamasha O' Tamasha- This Might be Satire Prod), and Sound and Projection Designer (The Flick- Pereshone Productions). This is Julian's first time working with Infinitheatre and I couldn't be more excited.
For Christopher.
Stage Manager
Elyse Quesnel
Elyse is a Montreal based stage manager. Selected stage management credits include: The Sound Inside, Between Riverside and Crazy, Category E and Orphans (Coal Mine Theatre), Cymbeline (Repercussion Theatre), Meet Me (LATP/Teesri Duniya Theatre), Omi Mouna (Infinitheatre), The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (Hudson Village/Lac Brome), Twelfth Night, As You LIke It, Taming of the Shew, The Three Musketeers and Anthony and Cleopatra (St-Lawrence Shakespeare Festival). Selected assistant stage management credits include: At the Beginning of Time and Playing with Fire (Centaur Theatre), April Fools, Indecent and Top Girls (Segal Centre for Performing Arts) and The Snow Queen (Theatre New Brunswick). She has also worked as a technical co-ordinate for Just For Laughs. She is thrilled to be working with Infinitheatre again on Extra/Beautiful/U.
Apprentice Stage Manager
Corey Weiser
Corey is a graduate of John Abbott College's Professional Theatre - Technical program. During his time at school, he developed interest in several theatre disciplines, however, Stage Management remained his true passion. At school, he was fortunate to experience working as ASM on Peter and the Starcatcher and as SM on Decomposed Theater; Or, The Human Trashcan. Since graduation, he has had the opportunity to Stage Manage Saltzman’s Antiques at the Montreal Fringe Festival and a workshop of Remarkable Voices by Gabrielle Soskin. Most recently, he took on the role of Production Manager at the Just For Laughs Montreal Festival. Corey is excited to be returning to Infinithéâtre as their Apprentice SM for the 2023/24 season. He is also looking forward to working with an incredible team to bring Extra/Beautiful/U to the stage!
Show Dates and Times
Nov 28 - 29 (previews)
Nov 30th - Dec 9th
Centaur Theatre
453 rue Saint-François-Xavier
Montreal, QC H2Y 2T2
Extra / Beautiful / U is proudly supported by CCA, CALQ and CAM.
