Ten. This is the number of requests that Cédrik Lapratte-Roy has made over the last two years for his play Slippery terrain, presented next January at the Fred-Barry room of the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier. Both the Canada Arts Council (CAC), the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) and the Conseil des arts de Montréal (CAM) were contacted.
In the batch, two applications were accepted in 2022, both for the research and creation of the piece. In total, the theater company The Least of Things, co-founded by Cédrik Lapratte-Roy, received $26,000 from the CAC and the CALQ to rent rehearsal premises, do stage exploration, and write the text. The problem: none of the three arts councils wanted to support it so that Slippery terrain goes from paper to stage.
If it weren’t for the tenacity of the artist, this “Nordic thriller” would probably have simply been shelved.
But Cédrik Lapratte-Roy decided that he would move forward with his project. To bring it to fruition, he left his food job in the cultural sector at the beginning of October to devote all his time to the show. Volunteering.
“I hold several positions for this show: I am production director, director, performer and costume and props designer. My only income will be that generated at the ticket office. The performers will also be paid from box office revenues, i.e. 5%. Even the minimum salaries demanded by the unions are too high for me and they are derisory: $56.91 per performance and $15.25 per hour of rehearsal. »
“With a room occupancy rate of 80% and a sum of $8,000 that I am trying to raise in donations and sponsorships, I will be able to balance my budget. Without giving me a salary,” adds the 29-year-old designer.
What if spectators are rarer than expected? If he fails to raise the necessary $8,000 in sponsorships? “It will be up to me to pay for taking risks with the show. The problem is that Desjardins refused me a line of credit because I didn’t have financial support…”