Redbone Coonhound (EN)

AT SALLE FRED-BARRY MARCH 21 - APRIL 1 2023

BY AMY LEE LAVOIE AND OMARI NEWTON

PRESENTED IN ENGLISH WITH FRENCH SURTITLES

UNE COPRODUCTION
AN IMAGO THEATRE AND TARRAGON THEATRE COPRODUCTION

« The most fun you’ll have this year confronting terrible and terribly pervasive truths. » – Stir

« Quick-paced, brilliantly funny and lacerating. » – Vancouver Sun

From March 21st to April 1st, the Montreal theater company Imago Theatre presents Redbone Coonhound an Arts Club (Vancouver) Silver Commission as part of a rolling world premiere, co-produced with Tarragon Theatre (Toronto) at Salle Fred-Barry of Théâtre Denise-Pelletier.

OUT FOR A WALK IN THEIR WEST END NEIGHBOURHOOD, MIKE AND MARISSA—AN INTERRACIAL COUPLE—MEET A DOG WITH AN UNFORTUNATE BREED NAME: REDBONE COONHOUND. THIS SMALL DETAIL UNLEASHES A CASCADING DEBATE BETWEEN THEM ABOUT RACE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP THAT MANIFESTS AS A SERIES OF MICRO-PLAYS, EACH SATIRIZING CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON MODERN CULTURE.

A wild and subversive journey through history and into the future. Through its hard-hitting comedic elements, Redbone Coonhound deals with the intricacies of both the subtle and overt polemics of race, systemic power and privilege, and reveals deep fears, rage, insecurities and, ultimately, hope.

AMY LEE LAVOIE ET OMARI NEWTON, PLAYWRIGHTS

AMY LEE LAVOIE is an award-winning playwright and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s Playwriting Program.

Her first play, Rabbit Rabbit, received its premiere production with Infinitheatre, earning Amy Lee two MECCA’s for Best Text and the Revelation Award. Rabbit Rabbit has since been produced across Canada and in the US.

Other plays include Me Happy (co-written with Matthew Mackenzie/Summerworks Festival), Stopheart (Factory Theatre) Genetic Drift (Pi Theatre/Boca del Lupo) My Tom (Railtown Lab Series) and C’mon, Angie! (Touchstone Theatre/Leroy Street Theatre) which was hailed as “visceral, important, life-changing theatre.”

Amy Lee was also the Head Digital Writer for the CBC drama Strange Empire, which won a Gracie Award (Women’s Alliance Media) for Best Website in recognition of its interactive storytelling.

Amy Lee is currently co-writing multiple projects with her husband/fellow writer Omari Newton. They include an adaptation of Titus Andronicus, entitled Blackfly, commissioned by Repercussion Theatre, as well as an original screenplay, Kevin vs. Nicole, with Our Lady Productions in LA.

OMARI NEWTON is an award-winning professional actor, writer, director, and a senior instructor at The Vancouver Film School.

As a writer, his original Hip Hop theatre piece Sal Capone has received critical acclaim and multiple productions, including a recent presentation at Canada’s National Arts Centre. He has been commissioned by Black Theatre Workshop (BTW) in Montreal to write a companion piece to Sal Capone entitled Black & Blue Matters. He often co-writes with his wife, playwright Amy Lee Lavoie, and the duo are currently working on an adaptation of Titus Andronicus, entitled Blackfly, commissioned by Repercussion Theatre,

Newton’s work in Speakeasy Theatre’s production of Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment earned him a 2017-2018 Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor, as well as a nomination for Best Direction.

Notable film & TV credits include: Lucas Ingram on Showcase’s Continuum, Larry Summers on Blue Mountain State and lending his voice to the Black Panther in multiple animated projects (Marvel). Most recently, Omari has a recurring role as Nate on Corner Gas (the animated series) and a recurring role as Corvus in Netflix’s hit new animated series The Dragon Prince.

MICHELINE CHEVRIER ET KWAKU OKYERE , ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

For over thirty years, MICHELINE CHEVRIER has worked across Canada and abroad as a director, artistic director and dramaturge. As a director, she has worked at such theatres as The Shaw Festival, the National Arts Centre, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, the Citadel, the Globe Theatre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Canadian Stage, Young People’s Theatre, Théâtre français de Toronto, the Centaur Theatre, Segal Centre, Geordie Productions, Imago Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick and BeMe Productions (Barcelona and Munich).

At the Shaw Festival, Micheline has directed six productions including Carole Fréchette’s Helen’s Necklace and Michel Tremblay’s Albertine in Five Times, as well as A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf and The Tinker’s Wedding by J.M. Synge. Micheline also has worked at the National Arts Centre, having directed an evening of Chekhov one-acts under the title of The Vaudevilles of Chekhov, as well as David French’s Salt-Water Moon, Michel Marc Bouchard’s Written on Water and Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist. Her directorial credits also include works by Molière, Shakespeare, Coward, as well as several Canadian playwrights such as John Murrell, Wendy Lill, David Young, Ann-Marie Macdonald, Erin Shields, Debbie Tucker Green, Hannah Moscovitch, just to name a few. She has also directed several English versions plays by several Quebec playwrights, including Michel Tremblay, Michel Marc Bouchard, Jean–Marc Dalpé, François Archambault and Carole Fréchette.

Micheline has received a Betty Mitchell Award (Calgary) for Best Direction, two Capital Critics Awards (Ottawa) for Best Direction and Best Production, a Dora Mavor Moore Award (Toronto) for Best Production, and a META (Montreal) for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Production.

ABOUT IMAGO THEATRE

Imago Theatre is a professional feminist theatre company, a catalyst for conversation, and an advocate for gender-inclusive storytelling. Our work is committed to pushing boundaries, expanding form, and engaging in essential dialogue about urgent social issues. We centre feminist values, perspectives, and artistic practices within diverse stories, voices, and experiences.

ABOUT TARRAGON THEATRE
Tarragon Theatre’s mission is to create, develop and produce new plays and to provide the conditions for new work to thrive. To that end, the theatre engages the best theatre artists and craftspeople to interpret new work; presents each new work with high quality production values; provides an administrative structure to support new work; develops marketing strategies to promote new work; and continually generates an audience for new work.

REDBONE COONHOUND at Salle Fred-Barry of Théâtre Denise-Pelletier
March 21 – April 1st, 2023
All performances are presented in English with French surtitles

By Amy Lee Lavoie and Omari Newton
Directed by Micheline Chevrier and Kwaku Okyere

With Christopher Allen, Kwesi Ameyaw, Lucinda Davis, Brian Dooley, Deborah Drakeford, Jesse Dwyer et Chala Hunter.

An Imago Theatre (Montréal) and Tarragon Theatre (Toronto) Coproduction

BY AMY LEE LAVOIE AND OMARI NEWTON

AMY LEE LAVOIE ET OMARI NEWTON, PLAYWRIGHTS

MICHELINE CHEVRIER ET KWAKU OKYERE , ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

REDBONE COONHOUND at Salle Fred-Barry of Théâtre Denise-Pelletier March 21 – April 1st, 2023 All performances are presented in English with French surtitles

REDBONE COONHOUND at Salle Fred-Barry of Théâtre Denise-Pelletier
March 21 – April 1st, 2023
All performances are presented in English with French surtitles