If the content you are seeing is presented as unstyled HTML your browser is an older version that cannot support cascading style sheets. If you wish to upgrade your browser you may download Mozilla or Internet Explorer for Windows.

Théâtre la Seizième

French professional theatre company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia since 1974. It offers plays for adults, adolescents, and children. Its name originates in the title of its first production -- Les Belles-soeurs by Michel Tremblay, in which there are fifteen characters and a director. It also alludes to its present location in Studio 16, a 100-plus seat black box theatre in La Maison de la Francophonie.

It began a regular season of plays for adults in 1998 with Et si Dieu jouait aux dés, and has produced original plays by local playwrights such as Stephan Cloutier (Les Contes de Vancouvérois; Quebec playwrights, including Daniel Danis (Cendres de cailloux); and translations of plays by other Canadian authors, including John Mighton (Des mondes possible), and Joan MacLeod (Mon Joyau). In March 2008, in collaboration with Ruby Slippers Theatre it premiered La Vue d'en Haut, written in English by James Long, and translated into French by Philippe Decros. Set in North Vancouver in 2012, the play takes place following the cancellation of the Olympics because of a three-year-long deluge. It depicts the social consequences for the homeless and the well-healed.

Théâtre la Seizième also hosts productions by other Canadian companies: La face cachée de la lune (Ex Machina); Antarktikos and Trick or Treat (Théâtre de la Manufacture); Le Porteur (Théâtre de l’Oeil); and The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi (Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui).

Recent collaborations with L’UniThéâtre include the production of Lentement la beauté (2009); La Peau d'Elisa by Carole Fréchette (2011); Porc-épic by David Pacquet (2012); and Le Soulier by Paquet (2019).

The Company tours its plays for young people in schools throughout British Columbia and in other provinces, and presents theatre workshops.

Since 2016, Esther Duquette was Artistic Director. In 2023, Cory Haas became the Artistic and Managing Director.

Website: www.seizieme.ca

Last updated 2023-01-10