Centaur Theatre Company
Presents
Alice and the World We Live In
Written byAlexandria Haber
Directed byEda Holmes
Dramaturgy byMicheline Chevrier
October 15 to November 3, 2019

With
Daniel Brochu andJane Wheeler

Set & Costume DesignerAmy Keith | Lighting DesignerJulie Basse
ComposersAnna Atkinson & Alexander MacSween | Assistant Set & Costume Designer Bruno-Pierre Houle | Assistant Director Gregory-Yves Fénélon | Stage ManagerMerissa Tordjman
Apprentice Stage Manager Eden Patterson

Can You Live Every Moment Like You Are About
to Die?
To open the 51st season of its subscription series, Centaur Theatre presents the world premiere of Alice and the World We Live In, written by local playwright, Alexandria Haber, and directed by Centaur’s Artistic and Executive Director, Eda Holmes. Looking at the reality of living in today’s uncertain world the two-hander, starring Daniel Brochu (Last Night at the Gayety and Triplex Nervosa) and Jane Wheeler (Social Studies, Innocence Lost, Twelfth Night and Dancing at Lughnasa), runs from October 15th to November 3rd.
 
“I feel like the world we live in is very different from the world I knew as a child. I think we are mourning the loss of a world we once knew as a society, due in part to the rising number of violent attacks which, by their nature, are random. Random makes us feel unsafe and death is very random. Even when it is expected, it is sudden: one minute the person is there and the next they are gone. When someone you love dies, the world you once knew is not the same anymore. Everything changes.”
– Alexandria Haber, Playwright
 
Alice stands frozen on a dangerous mountain pass. Paralyzed, unable to move forward or turn back, she is suspended between multiple possibilities of what could have been and what is. Inspired by the topsy-turvy world Alice encounters in Wonderland when she falls down the rabbit hole, this moving allegory explores a woman’s struggle to push through the grief of losing the love of her life to a random act of terror. Echoing our collective fear of what lies ahead in these tumultuous and uncertain times, the play exalts our indefatigable resilience and endless capacity to love, once we find the courage to let go.  

“When I first read the script, it grabbed me by the heart. It gave voice to my own paralyzing fear of losing the one person I cannot imagine living without: the love of my life. But the play didn’t leave me there; it carried me through the fear to a place where I was no longer paralyzed—I was able to see the world from a new vantage point. It reminded me that our ability to love someone is the key to our survival. Alice and the World We Live In is a soaring testament of love’s capacity to give us the strength to face the unimaginable.
– Eda Holmes, Director
 
The first draft of Alice and the World We Live In called for seven actors and was the second place winner of Infinithéâtre’s 2017 Write-on-Q competition, affording the script the prize of a public reading in The Pipeline series. Haber submitted that script to Holmes, who liked it but was most intrigued with the characters of Alice and Ever, and asked Haber if she would consider re-writing the play as a two-hander. Imago Theatre’s Artistic Director, Micheline Chevrier, was then hired as a dramaturg, and Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal was also instrumental in furthering the play’s development by financing three workshops over the course of two years.
 
Amy Keith, whose designs traversed the city in this summer’s Shakespeare-in-the-Park production, Measure for Measure, created the set and costumes. She is assisted by Bruno-Pierre Houle who has designed scenery and projections for theatre, opera, dance, live events and film in Canada and the US. The Sound Designers are singer/songwriter and classically-trained violinist, Anna Atkinson, with multi-instrumentalist, Siminovitch Prize finalist, Alexander MacSween. The real life couple first teamed up as sound designers for Centaur’s The Last Wife, and both routinely contribute their talents to dance and film as well as various musical projects or groups. Lighting Designer, Julie Basse, has collaborated with many pioneer directors in theatre, dance, and opera and with bands such as Plants and Animals and Dead Obies. Haitian-Canadian Concordia student, Gregory-Yves Fénélon, assists Ms. Holmes with the direction and stage management is overseen by Merissa Tordjman, supported by Apprentice Stage Manager, Eden Patterson.

#AliceMTL
 

Preview Pre-show Convo: Thursday October 17 at 7pm. In the intimate Centaur Theatre gallery, Eda Holmes will discuss the design elements with the entire Alice and the World We Live In creative team. Free and open to the public.
 
Sunday Chat-Up: Sunday October 20 at 12:30pm also in Centaur’s main floor gallery. Join Lucinda Chodan, the Montreal Gazette’s Editor-in-Chief, in conversation with Alexandria Haber, author of Alice and the World We Live In. This is a free public event with refreshments provided by Bonaparte Restaurant.
 
Post-Show TalkbacksThursday October 24 and Sunday October 27. Audience members are invited to stay after the evening and matinée performances respectively for insightful Q&A’s with the cast, playwright and director.
 
Saturday Salon: Saturday October 26 following the matinée in Centaur’s main floor gallery, Eda Holmes will be speaking about the role of the dramaturg within the process of play development.

Performance schedule:

Previews
Oct. 15, 16, & 17  –  8:00 PM
Opening
October 18 –  8:00 PM
Evenings
Tuesday through Saturday – 8:00 PM
Matinées
Saturday and Sunday – 2:00 PM
Wed. Oct. 23 & 30 – 1:00 PM
Dark
Monday
Closing
November 3 –  2:00 PM