Léa Clermont-Dion and Annabel Soutar | The inevitable dialogue

A generation separates them, but they belong to the same community of spirit and values. Annabel Soutar and Léa Clermont-Dion both decided to speak out and create works that denounce the unacceptable, to make things and people move. We met them separately, but their words intersect and respond to each other, naturally.

“We all judge. We all have our scales, our visions of the world. But when you arrive and you want to speak to the other, if you are judgmental, there is no dialogue possible,” explains Léa Clermont-Dion with her own passion.

This passion which is convincing, but which means that she can deliver her point in a crowded café without attracting attention. The discussion revolves around the importance of getting out of this echo chamber and speaking to an audience that is not at all for him, which can even be hostile.

This is one of the concerns of the director of You just have to file a complaintwho has just written a powerful essay on the same subject.

Otherwise, how can you have influence if you talk to the same people all the time?

The playwright Annabel Soutar is also one of those who believe that we must go further than our initial circles, to pierce the bubble.

“We have to get out of our echo chambers, social networks and have conversations in person,” says the one who came to meet us, despite a very busy schedule in this autumn of creation. “We must prioritize human contact at the moment, because it gives optimism,” explains Annabel Soutar, who also believes that dialogue is impossible without real openness to others.

Reach people

“That’s what we tried to do with The Assembly », continues the artistic director of the documentary theater company Porte Parole.

The Assembly brings together on the same stage, around a social issue, people of different allegiances and philosophies of life, from the right and the left, in order to provoke an open dialogue in a safe zone. The project traveled outside Quebec, but will return soon to Quebec.

“We said to ourselves that people on the right were going to attract their audience,” relates Annabel Soutar. It worked a few times, but not very often. »

These links and these dialogues are essential, but not easy, therefore.

The two creators know each other and have great mutual respect. They even collaborated on Polytechnic Project, a production which looks back on the feminicide of December 6, 1989 currently showing at the TNM in Montreal. Tenacious, they both undertook to decompartmentalize their work, precisely to speak to a greater number of people.

“Léa puts herself in a situation of danger by approaching masculinists in good faith to listen to them,” relates Annabel Soutar. It’s very courageous of him. Because she believes that we will not stop this cycle of violence if we do not get to the root of this violence. »

In a desire to take her work further, Léa Clermont-Dion provides training on sexual violence in traditionally male environments, particularly with players in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The documentary series You just have to file a complaint is also now presented to the jurists of the Court specializing in matters of sexual violence and domestic violence.

Léa Clermont-Dion is also at the head of a sexual violence prevention campaign which will be launched in Quebec universities and colleges next March.

Go into action

Annabel Soutar and Léa Clermont-Dion both want their work to be a driving force, to awaken in those who receive it a need to take action.

Is that the case ?

“I always wonder what the impact of theater is,” asks Annabel Soutar, since it’s difficult to know what happens next, for each of the spectators who leave after a documentary theater piece.

“We have to trust that there is an impact on the individual that is transformative and that this person will come out of the theater and change their posture towards others in their life, and that it will make a difference” , she continues.

There are sometimes pieces that encourage people to come back to their creators. Rose and the machine by Maude Laurendeau, for example, which recounts the difficult path of a mother seeking support and services for her autistic daughter, caused a lot of reaction, confides Annabel Soutar. “I know it made a difference,” she continues, “but I am always impatient to accelerate this impact. »

The impact has several levels. It could be wanting to change the world or talking about the play or documentary that we just saw, and which shocked us, at dinner, with friends or family.

“The family space is interesting for discussion. These are the most beautiful discussions we can have, confirms Léa. But this culture of debate, even within the family, is difficult. It’s difficult to communicate. »

Particularly in the current tense climate, they say.

So in this context, are you optimistic or pessimistic about our future?

“I feel that I have a duty to say that I am optimistic,” says Annabel Soutar. My parents always told me that positive people influence the world in a positive way. But I can’t be naive about what’s happening in the world right now. The polarization of our discourse concerns me, particularly in times of war. »

“I am optimistic,” Léa Clermont-Dion also responds, “but I find the comments I hear in schools worrying. I find that sad. There is really something that has changed and that is polarization. »