Eric Peterson as Percy Schmeiser. Photo: Maxime Côté

Annabel Soutar’s acclaimed documentary play Seeds has been updated by Chris Abraham, artistic director of Crow’s Theatre. Canadian icon Eric Peterson plays the role of Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser. Seeds‘ new version was presented in Toronto at theYoung Center for the Performing Arts from February 18th to March 10th. It will be part of the next Festival TransAmériques, and in the Fall of 2012, a French version will be coproduced by Porte Parole in Montreal.

Named the Best English Production of 2005 by the Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre (AQCT) and nominated for Best Original Script in 2005 by the Académie québécoise de théâtre, Seeds is a dramatic re-enactment of the 4-year legal battle between Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser and one of the biggest biotech corporations, Monsanto Inc.

This is how Chris Abraham sees it: “I’m thrilled to be introducing Toronto audiences to playwright Annabel Soutar and her remarkable piece Seeds. When I read it for the first time, I couldn’t put it down. Her dogged pursuit of the truth (…) is entirely gripping, as are her observation of the social and political implications of the paradigm shift in genetics happening under our feet. I can’t wait for the conversation and debate that will be sparked by this show.”

Based on court trial transcripts, interviews with Schmeiser, Monsanto representatives, and with farmers, academics, lawyers and scientists from all across Canada, Seeds leads us through a suspenseful labyrinth of legal conflicts around patent rights, scientific showdowns about GM food, and property clashes between farmers and the biotechnology industry.

The French version of Seeds will be created by Montreal playwright Fanny Britt, whose most recent play Enquête sur le pire played to rave reviews at Théâtre Aujourd’hui in April 2010.

Thanks to our partners Playwrights’ Workshop and Hexagram-Concordia for hosting workshops of the play.

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Here’s a view of Porte Parole’s 2nd Annual SPEAKeasy, as an impressionist painter of the Roaring 20s might have seen it… Held at the lovely Le Lion d’Or, our poker night gathered a bunch of fun-loving players who challenged one another and Lady Luck herself in order to claim great prizes while supporting a good cause: Porte Parole and its groundbreaking doc theatre. A winning combination. Those of you who missed it should bet on being there next year!

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Leave your troubles at the door, and join us for a poppin’ night of poker, hooch and swinging tunes.

Here’s the lowdown:

What: A ritzy evening of poker and booze to support Porte Parole

When: Tuesday, January 17th, 2012, from 6:00 pm

Where: Le Lion D’or, 1676 Ontario East

How: $100 gets you a couple of booze tickets, some nibbles and a little poker dough ($1 500) to start you off (along with a $75 tax receipt).

6:00 pm: Welcome

7:00 pm: Poker

9:30 pm: End of silent auction

10:30 pm: End of poker tournament and winners’ announcements.

Check the dialog about it on this Facebook page.

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A scene from Sexy béton. Photo: Robert Etcheverry

Porte Parole’s tour of Sexy béton finished with a flourish on December 4^th in St-Jean-sur-le-Richelieu with an enthusiastic audience of over 400 people.  Generally, the play inspired a keen interest everywhere it went – reaching over 2,000 spectators in 10 performances. Many audience members expressed gratitude for a play that portrays ordinary Quebec citizens attempting to navigate through today’s overly bureaucratic and prohibitively expensive justice system.

A few comments from the audience:

“Cette compagnie théâtrale n’a pas fini de faire des vagues.” Serge Côté

“J’y étais et c’était formidable! bravo!“ Josée Gosselin

“Bravo pour l’audace.“ Micheline Benoit.

A warm “thank you” to our audience. And thanks once again to the tour’s team and actors for the top-notch quality of their work.

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Video: Andrew Krajewski

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Viaduc de la Concorde, 09-2006

The following text by Annabel Soutar was published in The Gazette as a letter to the Editor:

4 years ago I decided to write a play called Sexy béton about the collapse of the de la Concorde overpass in Laval. Though I was moved by the tragic consequences of the incident, my decision to write a play was inspired by the poetic quality of this real story. A bridge is a symbol of connectedness. When a bridge falls down, it indicates a failure in the structures that support a middle ground between two disconnected entities. When a bridge called ‘Concorde’ – a Latin word meaning harmony – collapses, the universe is screaming out for someone to appreciate the resonance of the event. I remember asking myself the question back in 2006: “Is it possible that something broader than an overpass in Laval is crumbling in Quebec? What is our failing infrastructure trying to tell me about myself and about my relationship to society?”

Interestingly, I discovered, the de la Concorde overpass collapse was not the first instance of serious road system failure in Quebec, but it was the first event to really grab our attention. In 2000, the de Souvenir overpass above highway 15 fell down and killed one man, Gilbert Vinson. A Coroner’s Inquest into the incident did not provoke enough media attention to nourish our own interest in the tragedy beyond the initial gory, sensationalist details. The collapse of a structure called ‘Memory’ was, ironically, largely forgotten 6 years later when de la Concorde woke us up again.

When I started to research my play about de la Concorde by interviewing Transport Ministry engineers, officials involved in the Johnson Public Inquiry Commission, construction business executives, and specialists in bridge architecture, I always started with the question “Why do you think this structure fell down?” The responses I received all varied in terms of their content, but the subtext of each testimony was surprisingly consistent: de la Concorde’s collapse was ‘nobody’s fault, and was certainly not symptomatic of any deeper problems in our society. It was a “freak accident” that perhaps pointed to a need for more investment in infrastructure maintenance in the province, but it certainly did not reflect any broader political, cultural or ethical issues. Read More »

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The Champlain Bridge, which connects Montreal and the suburban south shore, has emerged as one of the hottest  issues in the current federal election. Practically everyone agrees (including the Liberals) that the federal government must hand over the approximately billion dollars it would take to replace what is the busiest bridge in Canada. “This bridge can be expected to collapse, partially or altogether, in a significant seismic event,” noted an engineering firm in a recent report.

Voilà un autre exemple qui démontre que le fédéral refuse d’accorder au Québec et à sa métropole un traitement équitable comparable à ce qu’il accorde aux métropoles des provinces. Here is yet another example that shows that the federal government refuses to give Quebec and its cities the same treatment as that of the cities in the other provinces. Gilles Duceppe. Read More »

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