Wajdi Mouawad | |
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Born | Deir al-Qamar, Lebanon | 16 October 1968
Occupation | Actor, playwright, writer, director, screenwriter, guitarist, drummer, director |
Nationality | Lebanese |
Notable awards | Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Officer of the Order of Canada Governor General's Literary Award (2000) Grand Prize for Theater (French Academy) (2009) Knight of the National Order of Quebec (2010)Contents |
Website | |
www |
Wajdi Mouawad, OC, (born 1968) is a Lebanese-Canadian writer, actor, and director. He is known in Canadian and French theatre for politically engaged works such as the acclaimed [1] play Incendies (2003). His works often revolve around family trauma, war, and the betrayal of youth.[ citation needed ] Since April 2016, Mouawad has been the director of the Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris. [2]
Born in Lebanon, Mouawad's family left the country when he was eight due to the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War.[ citation needed ] He moved to Montreal in 1983 after living in France for five years.[ citation needed ] He obtained his diploma in interprétation (acting) from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1991. [3]
In 1998, his creation Willy Protagoras enfermé dans les toilettes (Willy Protagoras locked up in the toilets) was voted best Montreal-based production by l'Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre.[ citation needed ]
From 2000 to 2004, he led the Théâtre de Quat'sous in Montreal. [4]
In 2004 he directed and produced his first film, Littoral, based on the play of the same name. [5]
In September 2007, he became the artistic director of the National Arts Centre's French Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. [6] [7]
In early 2011, Mouawad cast French rock musician Bertrand Cantat in Chœurs, his production of a trilogy of Greek plays by Sophocles. This sparked widespread public criticism in Canada, as Cantat had recently been released after serving four years for the murder of his girlfriend, French actress Marie Trintignant. Canadian politicians suggested barring Cantat's entry into the country, as he failed to meet legal requirements for the entry of ex convicts. In April 2011 the artistic director of Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Lorraine Pintal, announced that Cantat would not be performing in Chœurs in Canada, though he did tour with the production in France, Belgium and Switzerland. [8] Mouawad responded to the controversy by publishing an open letter to his three-year-old daughter Aimee in the newspaper Le Devoir , arguing for Cantat's right to complete reintegration into society. [9]
Since April 2016, Mouawad has been the director of the Théâtre national de la Colline in Paris. [2]
His play Incendies (Scorched) has been produced all over the world, including the United States, Brazil, Austria, Germany, Mexico, Spain and Australia, and the 2007 production at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto won several awards. The Vienna Burgtheater assigned Stefan Bachmann with the stage production. It subsequently received much praise from critics, winning the "Nestroy Award" in 2007. In 2011 Incendies , the film version of the play directed by Denis Villeneuve was Canada's official selection for the Academy Awards.
(authors in parentheses, unless authored by Wajdi Moawad)
He has adapted different works for the theatre, from Don Quixote to Trainspotting .
Bertrand Lucien Bruno Cantat is a French songwriter, singer, and convicted murderer known for being the former frontman of the rock band Noir Désir. In 2003, he was proven guilty without a doubt and convicted of the murder of French actress Marie Trintignant, which occurred in a hotel room in Vilnius. To some controversy, Cantat returned to Noir Désir after his release from prison in 2007, playing with the group until it disbanded in 2010. He subsequently formed a musical duo with Pascal Humbert, calling themselves Détroit.
Détroit is a French musical duo formed in 2012 by French rock musician Bertrand Cantat and French bass player Pascal Humbert. Pascal Humbert was part of the rock formation Passion Fodder from 1985 to 1991 before they split up and Cantat established his own famous band Noir Désir, whereas Humbert went on to join the American band 16 Horsepower, and later to Lilium and Wovenhand, amongst others.
Linda Gaboriau is a Canadian dramaturg and literary translator who has translated some 125 plays and novels by Quebec writers, including many of the Quebec plays best known to English-speaking audiences.
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Incendies is a 2003 play by Wajdi Mouawad. The play was translated into English as Scorched by Linda Gaboriau and was published in 2005 by Playwrights Canada Press.
Stanislas Nordey is a French actor and theatre director. He is the son of actress Véronique Nordey and film director Jean-Pierre Mocky.
Incendies is a 2010 Canadian drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve, who co-wrote the screenplay with Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name, Incendies stars Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, and Rémy Girard.
The Prix Méditerranée is a French literary award. It was created in 1984 in Perpignan by the Mediterranean Centre of Literature (CML) to promote cultural interaction among the numerous countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Two awards are handed out every year, the Prix Méditerranée itself and the Prix Méditerranée Étranger. The latter is given to a writer from the Mediterranean basin whose original work has been translated into French.
The Théâtre national de la Colline is a theatre at 15, rue Malte-Brun in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The closest métro station is Gambetta. It is one of the five national theatres dedicated to drama which are entirely supported by the French Ministry of Culture. The other four are the Odéon-Théâtre, the Comédie-Française, the Théâtre National de Chaillot, and the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. Its status as a national theatre mandates that its mission is to promote contemporary works, hence the Colline mainly stages works of the twentieth century.
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Chœurs is a joint musical album by Bertrand Cantat, Pascal Humbert, Bernard Falaise and Alexander MacSween released on Actes Sud label on 16 December 2011, although it was made available for downloads on 21 November 2011.
Pascal Humbert is a French bass player who is currently in Lilium and Détroit. He was previously in Tanit (1981–1985), Passion Fodder (1985–1991), 16 Horsepower and Wovenhand (2008–2010).
"Droit dans le soleil" is the debut single of the French musical duo Détroit. It was released on Barclay Records and distributed by Universal Music. The single is a prelude to the debut album of the duo Horizons due on 18 November 2013. The song is written by the duo members Bertrand Cantat and Pascal Humbert and by Lebanese-Quebec artist Wajdi Mouawad after Mouawad cooperated with them in the album release Chœurs relating to his theatrical work Le Cycle des Femmes: Trois histoires de Sophocle. The single was recorded in Vega Studio in France and was produced by Cantat, Humbert and Bruno Green.
Pascal Rambert is a French writer, choreographer, and director for the stage and screen. He was born in 1962.
Philippe Adrien was a French stage director, actor and playwright. He was associated with the La Tempete company in Paris.
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Tideline is a Canadian-French drama film, directed by Wajdi Mouawad and released in 2004. The film stars Steve Laplante as Wahab, a Lebanese Canadian man whose estranged father dies, leading Wahab to undertake a trip to Lebanon to bury his father's body in his home country, only to run into complications that send him wandering around the country and reveal aspects of his father's life that he never knew.