Infinitheatre
Encyclopedia
Infinite vision. Infinite possibilities
Infinithéâtre is an anglophone theatre in Montreal. Located in the Mile EndMile End
Mile End is an area within the East End of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross...
area of Montreal, and most of their productions play at Le Bain St-Michel, a converted bath house. Founded in 1988 by Marianne Ackerman and Clare Schapiro
Imago Théâtre
Imago Théâtre is a Montreal-based independent, professional theatre company. Founded in 1987 by Andres Hausmann, the company is now under the artistic direction of Clare Schapiro...
as Théâtre 1774, the name changed to Infinithéâtre in 1997, when Artistic Director Guy Sprung
Guy Sprung
Guy Sprung is a director of film and theatre born in Ottawa in 1947. Having worked all over the world, he now lives in the Mile End area of Montreal and is the Artistic Director of Infinitheatre....
took over. Known as an alternative English language theatre in Montreal, one-time referred to as the "risk theatre", they focus on developing and presenting new plays by Quebec writers. Under the belief that "Theatre is a collective experience that must be both an entertainment and a reflection of and on significant social and political issues". In this regard, they organize an annual playwriting contest entitled Qrite-On-Q. The prize is $1000 and an opportunity to have the play publicly read at Pipeline, Infinitheatre's reading series destined to allow the audience to contribute to the theatre's future programming.
Timeline
1995 Sliding In All Directions, a mosaic written by four separate playwrights and directed by Guy SprungGuy Sprung
Guy Sprung is a director of film and theatre born in Ottawa in 1947. Having worked all over the world, he now lives in the Mile End area of Montreal and is the Artistic Director of Infinitheatre....
wins the Masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
(the all-Québec Theatre Awards) for best English production of the year.
1997/98 To showcase the depth and quality of Montréal's small English theatre companies Infinithéâtre stages three festivals of new plays: November to Remember (1997), May To Play (1998), and the Infinite Festival (1998).
October 1999 Infinithéâtre transforms the immense, abandoned Darling Foundry in Old Montréal into a performance venue and presents a unique bilingual version of Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Endgame/Fin de partie. Despite little heating and below zero temperatures, the production was a major critical and audience success and the run had to be extended.
2000 In co-production with the Francophone theatre company OMNIBUS, Michael Mackenzie's bilingual play Farce is mounted as an official Heritage Canada Millennium event at Espace Libre.
January 2001 Byron Ayanoglu's play Food/Bouffe, staged at the Lion d'Or, is a sold out featured event of the 2001 Montréal Highlights Festival.
September 2001Infinithéâtre is Québec and Canada's first representation at the Cairo International Festival of Experimental Theatre with its bilingual production of Beckett's Endgame/Fin de partie.
June/July 2002 Jacob Richmond's Small Returns and Trevor Ferguson
Trevor Ferguson
Trevor Ferguson , a.k.a John Farrow, is a Canadian novelist who lives in Hudson, Quebec. He is the author of nine novels and four plays. He has been called Canada's best novelist both in Books in Canada and the Toronto Star....
's Long, Long, Short, Long are mounted at the Monument National. Mr. Ferguson's play is subsequently nominated as Best New Québec Text at the 2002 Soirée des Masques.
March 2003 With the American forces invading Iraq, a contemporary anti-war version of Richard III is produced by Manitoba Theatre Centre. The artistic concept for the production had its genesis in a series of workshops staged at Infinithéâtre. Nine of Infinithéâtre's actors and the American movie star William Hurt travel to Winnipeg for the show. The production is a mega commercial and artistic success.
October 2003 Guy Sprung's adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara is co-produced with the Saidye Bronfman Centre as part of the subscription season.
October 2004 After extraordinary critical acclaim and strong popular demand, Infinithéâtre is able to extend the run of Booker prize-winning novelist Yann Martel's The Facts Behind The Helsinki Roccamatios starring the award winning actor Joe Cobden. The production subsequently wins a triple crown of awards as best English theatre in Québec for the 2004-05 season.
March 2005 Infinithéâtre produces Guy Sprung
Guy Sprung
Guy Sprung is a director of film and theatre born in Ottawa in 1947. Having worked all over the world, he now lives in the Mile End area of Montreal and is the Artistic Director of Infinitheatre....
's controversial play Death and Taxes at the Saidye Bronfman Centre and sells a (for Infinithéâtre) record-breaking number of single tickets. The production is nominated by the French Critics Association as best English production of the season.
September 2005 Carolyn Guillet's Seventeen [Anonymous] Women is premiered in the Bain St-Michel with gratifyingly wide attendance from a variety of women's groups.
September 2005 Le Pont, a translation of Trevor Ferguson
Trevor Ferguson
Trevor Ferguson , a.k.a John Farrow, is a Canadian novelist who lives in Hudson, Quebec. He is the author of nine novels and four plays. He has been called Canada's best novelist both in Books in Canada and the Toronto Star....
's play Long, Long, Short, Long is produced successfully at the Place des Arts as part of the Compagnie Jean Duceppe season. Directed by Guy Sprung, it is essentially the Infinithéâtre production of 2002 in French.
November 2006 The Pipeline
The Pipeline
The Pipeline was one of the earliest American Internet service providers. It was founded in December 1993 in New York City by the science and technology writer James Gleick and computer programmer Uday Ivatury, who had met at the Manhattan Bridge Club and shared an interest in online bridge...
, a developmental workshop and public reading series of the plays Infinithéâtre is looking at for future seasons, is inaugurated. Repeated again in the fall of 2007 The Pipeline is now slated to be an annual event.
April 2007 Infinithéâtre's production of Yann Martel
Yann Martel
Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi.-Early life:Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain where his father was posted as a diplomat for the Canadian government. He was raised in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada...
's The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios is the only English theatre production from Québec featured at the National Arts Centre
National Arts Centre
The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...
's prestigious Québec Scene.
2007/08 Infinithéâtre's most ambitious season to date. Daniel Danis' That Woman, Jason Maghanoy's GAS and Trevor Ferguson
Trevor Ferguson
Trevor Ferguson , a.k.a John Farrow, is a Canadian novelist who lives in Hudson, Quebec. He is the author of nine novels and four plays. He has been called Canada's best novelist both in Books in Canada and the Toronto Star....
's Zarathustra Said Some Things, No? are offered as a miniseries of plays. The theatre inaugurates a flexible Six-Pack ticket-purchasing concept. It also successfully begins Action Infini an educational initiative targeting groups of CEGEP
Cégep
CEGEP is an acronym for , which is literally translated as "College of General and Vocational Education" but commonly called "General and Vocational College" in circles not influenced by Quebec English. It refers to the public post-secondary education collegiate institutions exclusive to the...
and University
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
students. Over 1,000 students see our production of GAS.
May 2008 Infinithéâtre's production of Helsinki Roccamatios... plays at the Factory Theatre in Toronto.