The Duceppe Theater and the Just for Laughs Group will offer comedy writing residencies with the aim of creating plays that they will co-produce and that Just for Laughs will broadcast here and abroad, learned The Press.
Co-artistic directors at Duceppe, David Laurin and Jean-Simon Traversy, have been offering writing residencies since taking over the helm of the Place des Arts theater in 2017. But they’ve come to realize that good Quebec comedies don’t are not easy to find.
show time, currently showing, was written following a request by Duceppe to the Bocal Project. “We want more, our audience wants more, says David Laurin, but we feel that the authors are slowed down, either because comedies have bad press, or because funders are more reluctant to finance them. »
mom, by Nathalie Doummar, presented last September, also stems from a writing residency. It will also be the first play to benefit from the partnership with Just for Laughs, which will broadcast it next summer, at Duceppe, and which will try to present it on the festival circuit.
Just for Laughs, which produces comedies or musicals, most of the time buys licenses from existing productions – which have proven themselves. The group now wants to take the risk of producing Quebec creations, which it can then export.
PHOTO DANNY TAILLON, PROVIDED BY DUCEPPE
The room mom will be presented at Duceppe next summer.
“ mom is a universal piece, it’s pure genius, says Patrick Rozon, vice-president of French-language content at Just for Laughs. We want to offer creations like this on the international market. Quebec talent is incredible and we have a good network of promoters, producers and artists’ agents. So the timing is good. »
Just for Laughs has already taken steps to present the play in Europe and the United States, as a first step.
Clearly, each year, Just for Laughs and Duceppe will call for applications and choose an author to do a comedy writing residency. All the writing and artistic direction will be handled by Duceppe, while Juste pour rire will take care of the promotion and distribution of the piece that will be created.
The partnership between Just for Laughs and Duceppe will also make it possible to share certain “ways of doing things”. “For example, in comedy, there are break-in periods during which artists refine their work, explains David Laurin. Nothing prevents us, at the theater, from calling on a hundred of our subscribers and presenting our play to them “in the run-in”, then making adjustments before the broadcast. We did it with Gas Bar Blues, which will open the winter season, and it was very useful, because we want it to work! »
Star for Just for Laughs
In addition, Just for Laughs will have its star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto, the alley that honors Canadians in various fields – not just in the arts such as Hollywood – for their positive impact on culture and society. Canadian.
The Just for Laughs Group is the first festival to be admitted and only the second Quebec company to be inducted by the Canadian organization after Cirque du Soleil (in 2002).
PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Bruce Hills, president of Just For Laughs, and Charles Décarie, president and CEO of the Just for Laughs Group
Just over 25 Quebec personalities have their stars in Toronto – from Céline Dion to Robert Lepage, including Maurice Richard, Denys Arcand, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Villeneuve, Pierre Cossette, Jean Paul Riopelle, Ginette Reno and Louise Arbour, among others .
The star – which will be cast in concrete in the spring – will be unveiled at a gala on Saturday, along with those of the three other candidates honored this year: businesswoman and philanthropist Heather Reisman, R&B singer Deborah Cox and the late hockey and football player Lionel Conacher.
“It confirms the role of influence that the Just for Laughs Festival plays in the entertainment sector, but also the role of epicenter of the Montreal festival, which has allowed us to shine in Canada, in Toronto and Vancouver in particular, but also elsewhere in the world, reacted Charles Décarie, CEO of Just for Laughs, who will be present with the president of Just for Laughs, Bruce Hills. More and more organizations want to partner with us. »
mom will be presented at Duceppe from July 14, 2023. Tickets available on hahaha.com