La Seizième

Cory is a director, performer, maker, and actor trainer. Former artistic director of no comment. th(é)âtre, a company which investigates the questions ‘what is going on in the world right now?‘. Through international projects, no comment. aims to reveal the complexities and highlight the contradictions of our society through an eclectic mix of international forms and content. He is currently developing multiple projects, including new work in Denmark, a documentary theatre piece, and has other ideas in their research and development phases.

Cory holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Actor Training and Coaching from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Capilano University. In 2020, he was the recipient of the Prix de l’École Nationale for artistic development.

Trhough this residence, Cory is working on the development of Dilemme, a project inspired by a Danish film that seeks to adapt a genre still rarely represented on stage: the psychological thriller. Exploring a hybrid form between theatre and cinema, Dilemme takes place in a suicide prevention call center. At the end of a story full of humanity and suspense, one question keeps us on edge: how far are we willing to go to save someone?

Caroline Bélisle is an actor, playwright, and truly angry feminist primarily working in the Moncton region of New Brunswick. She graduated from the Playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada in 2020 and had previously completed her acting training at the University of Moncton a few years earlier. She received the prestigious Gratien-Gélinas Award for Les remugles ou La danse nuptiale est une langue morte, which was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards in 2022. Her works have been produced by Théâtre l’Escaouette, Satellite Théâtre, Théâtre Populaire d’Acadie, and Théâtre des Béloufilles. As an actor, she has recently appeared in Un. Deux. Trois. by Mani Soleymanlou and in the television series Garde partagée. Her plays Dîner pour deux and Les remugles are published by Éditions Perce-Neige. Most recently, she won the 2024 Gala des Éloizes prize as Artist of the year in theatre, for her text Les remugles ou La danse nuptiale est une langue morte.

Caroline is currently developing her text Liste des enfants dévorés par les loups for la Seizième. She explores the entanglements between femininity and guilt. Through her characters, she navigates the winding path that separates the figure of the woman from that of the mother. With a cruelty as barren as it is commonplace, the author questions the cost of devotion… and how to avoid paying it.

Julie Lebel was born on the Côte-Nord in Quebec, on the ancestral lands of the Innu Nation, and comes from a family with roots in France and Ireland. Since 2005, she has lived and danced with gratitude on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəjˀəm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil Waututh) First Nations. She is a Francophone choreographer dedicated to cultural mediation and the interactions between public space and community, involving musicians, visual artists, filmmakers, and writers with nearly 30 years of work. She is the artistic director of Foolish Operations, connecting people of all generations through new dance experiences, especially with and for very young children. She is a member of the Lower Left Collective (United States, Germany, Norway, and Canada) and teaches ensemble improvisation [Ensemble Thinking]. She is the proud mother of active twins who are the primary consultants for all her creative projects.

Her company Foolish Operations is launching the creation of Baby Space Opera, an interactive dance performance for children aged 0 to 2 and their caregivers, inspired by stars, constellations, and galaxies. In contrast, when a child is born, they become the center of our universe. Baby Space Opera hopes to spark the wonder of children as they explore the world, rekindling our curiosity and commitment to caring for it.

This fall 2024 and in January 2025, through her residency, Julie will hold studio research periods with several collaborators in dance, music, projections, costumes, and materials. Families will be invited at key moments to test some ideas, including in January 2025, through a technical residency at the Roundhouse Community Centre, supported by New Performance Works.

Anaïs (he/they) is a queer actor, playwright, and producer with a fluid gender identity. They are also a Polish settler living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples (Vancouver). Anaïs’s work is multidisciplinary, blending theater, film, music, and poetry. Through hybrid art forms, they explore the multiplicities that exist within gender, sexuality, and culture.

Their writing work includes the short film Underground Absolute Fiction, the hybrid film-theatre piece Kill Your Lovers, and the musical Poly Queer Love Ballad which has won several awards, including the Georgia Straight Critics’ Choice Award at the Fringe Festival and two Jessie nominations for Best Original Script and Outstanding Production of a Musical. Anaïs has performed in Un.Deux.Trois. by Mani Soleymanlou at the National Arts Centre, and The NoShow, both presented at Théâtre la Seizième.

Anaïs was the first author to take part in the Nuits claires project, initiated by Cory Haas and Mani Soleymanlou, and took on a month-long writing challenge in the heart of Vancouver’s nights for Théâtre la Seizième. During their residency, Anaïs had the opportunity to stage their text alongside six artistic collaborators. The presentation of their work on September 21, 2024, marks the end of her phase for Nuits claires, with the text having been handed over to the Open Pit Theatre in Whitehorse. With Nuits claires, twelve Canadian theaters across the country are coming together in a French-language relay writing project to explore the night and its mysteries. The final text, combining all the writing segments produced over a year of relays, will be presented at the Zone Théâtrales in Ottawa in September 2025.