Terrebonne, November 15, 1999. Julie Surprenant, 16 years old, suddenly disappears. Even today, doubt hovers over his fate. Consumed by worry and struggling with a thousand questions, his friends had to weather this storm together. Playwright Sarianne Cormier was among them.
The two young women were part of the same group of friends who strolled in the evening at the Île-des-Moulins park, in this ordinary suburb of the northern suburbs. Together, they practiced improvisation at Armand-Corbeil high school. “We knew each other since secondary school,” says Sarianne Cormier. Julie was a sunny person. She was very funny. She had a lot of freedom that I didn’t have. »
During a vigil organized to mark the 20th anniversary of the disappearance of the young student, Sarianne Cormier found her old friends. “I realized to what extent the adults we had become still carried around this adolescent trauma. I discovered points of view that I had never heard. My friend Marco also told me that he had seen Julie walking the evening she disappeared… It was he who lit a flame in me for this story. »
So she dipped her pen in her memories to write Juliepresented from October 8 in the main room of the Théâtre La Licorne. His piece is not intended to be a eulogy to the one who disappeared, but rather “a love letter to friends”, to these adolescents who had to continue to move forward despite the tragedy.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Playwright Sarianne Cormier
I wanted to tell my friends that I love them. We were a group of unlikely friends, young people who were a bit marginal and who hadn’t yet managed to find their place.
Sarianne Cormier, playwright
Julie features seven fifth-grade secondary school students on the eve of the year 2000. They have the future at their feet and are preparing to spread their wings at CEGEP. Their life, made of parties of basements, music rehearsals in garages and strolling in the park, takes an abrupt turn with the disappearance (still unsolved today) of their comrade. Of their lover. And their sister, since Julie Surprenant’s older sister was also in the group.
“We didn’t have the tools to manage what was happening,” says Sarianne Cormier. Our adolescent reactions were not always appropriate. Some guys in the group were named as potential suspects. How to live with such weight when you are 16? »
Characters inspired by real friends
In this pivotal period of life when friendship is of major importance, the friends of the deceased felt the need to come together. To live “stick together” this terrible ordeal.
Julie gives a voice to these adolescents in the hours, days and months following their disappearance. All of them have become fictional characters, but are directly inspired by Julie Surprenant’s real friends. The adults? They are not part of the equation, nor is the police investigation, for that matter.
The clues, the leads, the confessions of a man on his deathbed… All this is put aside to make room for the roller coaster emotions of those who must deal – as best they can – with the void and the points interrogation.
One plays the drums until his hands bleed. The other can’t help but cry. The other keeps his eyes dry so as not to collapse. But everyone remains united.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Wanted notice for Julie Surprenant, in 1999. Instead of the investigation, the play focuses instead on the emotions of the loved ones of the missing person.
“I realized how important it is for teenagers to be together to experience drama and great joy. They need to create a solar system of cuddles where adults have no relationship! During the pandemic, many young people were not able to experience this. It’s weird, but I sometimes have the impression that post-pandemic teenagers are experiencing a certain social gap. As if they no longer know how to party…”
Transpose your story and your language onto stage
Sarianne Cormier chose to direct the production of her text herself. She thus brought together a cast of young actors fresh out of drama schools.
Was the subject too personal to entrust the staging to an outside perspective? “When writing the text, I had very clear images of what was happening on stage,” she explains. For me, it was obvious that this material had to end up in the theater, so that people could come together to live this story…”
“Also, I am neuroatypical, because I am dyslexic. I have a language that is mine, which I have learned to cherish. I want to embrace more and more the freedom I have to give my words. »
Above all, she knows deep down how such an incomprehensible tragedy leaves an indelible mark on those who remain. “The day before Julie died, we did some improv together. I emphasized the importance of discipline a little too much. I was rigid and wanted to tell him the next day. But I couldn’t. Today, I say everything, right away. I don’t let any conflict linger, because I know anything can happen. »
Julie is presented at La Licorne from October 8 to November 16.
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