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Catalan Connection 2010

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During the late fall of 2010 Tant per Tant completed the first stage of its exchange project between Catalan and Canadian playwrights. The Project involved bringing three of Catalonia’s most innovative new playwrights and introducing their work to audiences and theatre professionals in three major centers across Canada. Playwrights Pau Miró, Marta Buchaca and Pere Riera are all vital artistic voices who have been produced at the National Theatre in Barcelona as well as internationally. Their plays were translated by Elisabet Ràfols and Tom Bentley-Fisher and received staged readings by professional actors and directors in Saskatoon, Vancouver, and Montreal.

 

Canadian partners in the project included La Troupe du Jour in Saskatoon, Playwrights Theatre Centre and Pi Theatre in Vancouver, and Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal. The playwrights were able to gain the experience of working with different actors and directors in each city, and the Tant per Tant artistic team had the ideal opportunity to develop the translations to a higher level. The public events included discussions about international exchange, artistic sensibilities in each country, and a symposium about the Future of international Theatre involving Francophone, Anglophone and Catalan playwrights.

 

The aims of the Catalan Connection was intentionally planned to create an intense quick experience - an introduction to an international dialogue that might knock us off our pins. It was about discovery – opening doors – exchanging ideas – and challenging our respective sensibilities. We were not particularly interested in being careful. Part of the process was examining the process itself.

 

The impact of the project on a national level has been very positive. Tant per Tant has gained endorsements and interest from across Canada. As well as introducing the plays and finding new audiences, Tant per Tant employed 49 professional actors from coast to coast. The company has partnered with some of the most renowned theatre organizations in the country, had work developed by some of the most experienced directors in the industry, and has established the organization as Saskatoon’s international Theatre. We feel inspired to go the next step as we now bring Saskatoon and Canada to Catalonia. the second stage of the project, Connexió Canadenca, where we take Canadian playwrights and their work to Catalonia takes place in the fall of 2011.