Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Théâtre Expérimental des Femmes
Company in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1979 by Pol Pelletier, Nicole Lecavalier and Louise Laprade as a women's experimental collective.
The company's activities included productions, workshops, mounting festivals of women's works as well as seminars on women's history. At the centre of all the work were social causes, the domination of the patriarchy (in society and culture) and liberationist philosophy.
A hotbed of activity, almost the entire history of the company came with controversy and debt. A performance, Beau Show in 1986 went a long way to saving the group, as did subsequent aid from sponsors. In 1987 Ginette Noiseux assumed the artistic directorship.
The company began performing at Espace Go (a barely converted garage) in 1985 and the original name soon vanished as did the company's mandate when Espace Go broadened into other kinds of theatre and away from strictly defined feminism and women's theatre.
Among the works performed by the group are: Jovette Marchessault's La terre est trop courte, Violette Leduc and Pelletier's La lumière blanche.
Pol Pelletier's participation and difficulties with the collective are partly described in her one-woman show Joie.
Profile by Gaetan Charlebois.
Last updated 2010-12-03
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The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia web site was originally conceived and developed in 1996 by Gaetan Charlebois—theatre critic, playwright, and actor.
