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Directed by: Micheline Chevrier
By Caryl Churchill
A Segal Centre production
TRAILER
SYNOPSIS
Love, family, your life... What would you sacrifice to get to the top?
Marlene has been promoted to the top of a London employment agency, and she’s celebrating. On the guest list of her fantastic dinner party: an intrepid Victorian adventuress, a Japanese Emperor’s mistress, Pope Joan and a Flemish avenger. As the champagne flows, the laughter grows and the historical and mythical women toast to Marlene’s newfound success, it becomes clear that being on top comes with a price. Giant shoulder pads and Thatcher’s Britain may have come and gone, but this powerful play has never been more relevant.
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PRODUCTION SPONSOR
MONDAY NIGHT TALKBACKS
Monday, May 5th and May 12th, after the 8:00 p.m. performance of Top Girls
A post-show opportunity to interact with the artists bringing our plays to life. Book your tickets to a Monday evening performance and share your thoughts with the cast and crew afterwards!
Call the Box Office for more information.
LEARN MORE!
PROGRAM BOOK
Take a look at the program book.
Top Girls is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
Photo: David Cooper -
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" - Joyce (Act I, scene III)
TOP GIRLS
By Caryl Churchill
Micheline Chevrier
DirectorFor over thirty years, Micheline has worked across Canada as a director, dramaturg and artistic director. As a director she has worked in a variety of theatres ranging from major festivals to creation-based companies, from major regional theatres to theatre for young audiences. Her directorial credits include works by Molière, Sophocles, Chekhov, Virginia Woolf, Dario Fo and Edward Albee; several Canadian playwrights such as John Murrell, David French, Colleen Murphy, Ann-Marie Macdonald and Judith Thompson; as well as numerous Quebecois writers such as Michel Tremblay, Michel Marc Bouchard, Carole Fréchette, Jean Marc Dalpé and François Archambault. Most recently, she directed The Iliad for Geordie Productions and If We Were Birds for Imago Theatre. From 1995 to 2000, Micheline was the Artistic Director of the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa, and is presently the Artistic Director of Montreal’s Imago Theatre. She has directed and taught at the National Theatre School, Concordia University, Dalhousie University and University of Alberta to name a few. She is the recipient of several awards including Calgary’s Betty Mitchell Award, Ottawa’s Capital Critic’s Award and Toronto’s Dora Mavor Moore Award. Micheline is thrilled to be working for the first time with the incredible team at the Segal.
CAST
Laura Condlln
Originally from Toronto, but with current roots in Montreal, Top Girls is Laura's Segal Centre debut. Select theatre credits include: The Norman Conquest trilogy (Soulpepper); THIS (Canadian Stage - Dora nomination); 4:48 Psychosis (Necessary Angel); Beckett: Feck It! (Canadian Stage/ Queen of Puddings); eleven seasons with the Stratford Festival where highlights include Irene Molloy (The Matchmaker), Mistress Page (Merry Wives of Windsor), Helena (Midsummer Night's Dream), Chrysothemis (Elektra), Mrs. Darling (Peter Pan), Audrey (As You Like It), Lady Mortimer (Henry IV Part I), The Moll (Shakespeare's Universe: Her Infinite Variety), Amira (Pentecost) and Clarice/Lucrece/Sabine (The Liar). She has also worked at Theatre Aquarius, The Grand Theatre, Drayton Entertainment and the Globe Theatre. Film and television: Murdoch Mysteries. Laura trained at the University of Windsor and was a member of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre (Stratford Festival, David Latham, principal).
Leni Parker
Leni Parker has been an actor for over 27 years. Based in Montreal, she has performed with such companies as Pigeons International, Momentum Theatre, Imago Theatre, Sibyllines Theatre, Centaur Theatre, Segal Centre, Geordie Productions, The National Arts Centre, Theatre New Brunswick, Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre, Tableau D’hôte Theatre, Two Wheeler Productions, Infinitheatre, and Diving Horse Creations. Winner of a 2006-2007 MECCA for Best Actress for her role in Centaur’s Assorted Candies, she was also nominated for a Masque for Best Supporting Actress in that role. Leni was awarded a 1992 French Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Pigeons International’s Perdu dans les coquelicots. She has participated in such international theatre festivals as Carrefour International de Théâtre, Summerworks Toronto, Six Stages Festival Toronto, and Intercity Festival in Florence, Italy. Her film and TV work include four years on Earth: Final Conflict, as well as roles in such films as Deux Nuits, Helix, Misogyny and Misandry, Orphan, White House Down, Out of Control, and Eisenstein. Leni is also a committee member for the METAs, The Montreal English Theatre Awards, now in their second year.
Lauryn Allman
Past theatre credits include: If We Were Birds (Imago), iShow (Les Petites Cellules Chaudes, recipient of the Buddies in Bad Times Vanguard Award for Risk and Innovation at the 2013 Summerworks Festival), TourBust (Studio 303), Pre/Intervention (Rouge Prod), As You Like It (Repercussion Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest, All My Sons, Richard III (NTS). A native of Calgary, Alberta, and a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Lauryn is about to embark on her own adventure in London.
Lucinda Davis
Lucinda Davis found her way into the profession through a weird twist of fate: timid and with virtually no acting background, she was called by mistake to audition for a leading role in a television series, and got the part. Since then she has amassed an impressive list of credits for stage, television and film and has lent her voice to cartoons and video games. Her past theatre credits include: Beethoven Lives Upstairs (Geordie Productions), Richard III (Metachroma Theatre), Doubt: A Parable, The Madonna Painter, Intimate Apparel, and The Book of Bob (Centaur Theatre) and The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble. In October 2013, she won the Montreal English Theatre Award (META) for Outstanding Female Actor in the Professional Category, for her work in Black Theatre Workshop's production of Harlem Duet.
Elana Dunkelman
Top Girls is Elana’s first Segal Centre production. She holds a BFA in Theatre from Concordia University and is a graduate of Dawson College’s DOME Theatre program. Recent credits include Ars Poetica (Infinitheatre), award-winning Montreal Fringe play Rains Down in Africa (Front Porch Productions), Metamorphoses (Concordia University) and The Importance of Being Earnest (McGill University).
France Rolland
France is happy to make her Segal Centre debut with Top Girls. Theatre credits include: Sexy Béton (Projet Porte Parole), Bliss (Candles are for Burning), Les Contes Urbains (Théâtre Urbi et Orbi), Snowman and Bye Bye Baby (Imago Theatre), Medea and The Bacchae (Scapegoat Carnivale). She has taken part in the Festival Transamériques, the Just For Laughs Festival and the Toronto Summerworks Festival. France is a recipient of a Montreal English Critics Circle Award (MECCA) for Best Actress for her lead role in Medea (Scapegoat Carnivale) and the Montreal English Theatre Award for Outstanding Supporting Female Actor for The Bacchae (Scapegoat Carnivale).
Julie Tamiko Manning
For the Segal Centre: Emilia in Othello. In the Segal Studio: Martha in Faust (Scapegoat Carnivale) and Clarence in Richard III (META nomination- Metachroma Theatre). This past year she appeared in Urban Tales (Centaur/Théâtre Urbi & Orbi), as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (META nomination- Repercussion Theatre) and Doris Truscott in Innocence Lost (Centaur Theatre/NAC). Other theatre credits include: Nancy in Oliver!, Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (NAC), Jam in Greg MacArthur’s girls! girls! girls! (Teatro Comaneci/FTA), For Art’s Sake (Geordie Productions) and Life Is a Dream (Scapegoat Carnivale). Her first play, Mixie and the Halfbreeds (co-written with Adrienne Wong) was produced in 2009 in Vancouver (Neworld Theatre). Her second play, The TASHME Project: The Living Archives (a verbatim piece about the WW2 Japanese- Canadian internment experience, created with Matt Miwa) will be produced next year. She is Associate Artistic Producer of Metachroma Theatre Company.
CREATIVE TEAM
Max-otto Fauteux
Set DesignMax-otto graduated from the Set and Costume Design Program at the National Theatre School of Canada in 2010. Since then, he has collaborated with directors who celebrate the work of contemporary playwrights. Max-otto's set designs reflect his interest in merging a variety of contemporary art forms with theatre, while always considering the location and architecture of the space in which the art is presented. Most of Max-otto's visual designs have been presented in theatres such as Espace Go, La Licorne, Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui, Espace libre, National Arts Centre and the Segal Centre, however we can find his interpretation of space vis à vis musical and performative objects in various co-creations with other Canadian artists such as Forêt, Random Recipe and Radio Radio.
Mylène Chabrol
Costume DesignMylène Chabrol is a set and costume designer hailing from Lille, France. She moved to Montreal in 2007 to attend the National Theatre School, where she had the opportunity to work with such directors as Patrice Sauvé (Les sorcières de Salem, costumes), Christian Lapointe (Douleurs fantômes, set, costumes, props), Gill Champagne (Kliniken, costumes). Upon graduating in 2010, she collaborated with l’Opéra de Montréal's Atelier Lyrique on their production of The Consul (director Oriol Tomas, costumes). She designed the set and props for Adésam's multidisciplinary project En quête d'une ville (director Alain Francoeur), on Espace Go's production of Attends-moi (director Marie Charlebois, costumes) and at Théâtre de Quat’sous with Faire des enfants (director, set and costumes) and Les Morb(y)des by Sébastien David (director Gaetan Paré, set design). You may have also seen her work at La Licorne (costumes for Après moi by Christian Bégin), at la Maison de la culture Frontenac (set and props for La Famille by Éric Noel), and for the FTA with l’Homme Atlantique, directed by Christian Lapointe. Upcoming: costume design for Wajdi Mouawad’s Des Héros (France). Mylène also exercises her craft and all around passion for the visual arts as a stylist and props master in photography and advertising.
Martin Sirois
Lighting DesignMartin Sirois is a light artist who works primarily in theatre. His geometric lighting designs, filled with symbolism, were recently seen in productions created by Christian Lapointe, Eric Jean, Wajdi Mouawad, Hanna Abd El Nour and Alexandre Marine. His lighting serves to create volume and give life to an empty space before it is inhabited by the performers. Using the architectural functions of light without simply producing light, his design shapes the structure of the black space and then the setting through angles and colours. The darkness is divided to create a space that exists beyond the actors, the set and the stage itself. Martin’s aim is to give scenic value, psychological and emotional power value to the light before even attempting to illuminate an object or a character. In this way, the audience member is open and ready to listen, feel, and observe. Martin is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (Production, 2005).
Jesse Ash
Sound DesignJesse has been working with sound for over ten years. He has created Sound Designs for the Stratford Festival, The Grand Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Centaur Theatre, many memorable productions with SideMart Theatrical Grocery and more. Standouts include music and sound for the Segal's own productions of Scientific Americans and Sherlock Holmes (2013 META Award for Best Sound Design), design for The God that Comes, starring Hawksley Workman (2b Theatre), Daniel MacIvor's The Best Brothers (world premiere, Stratford Festival), Robert Wilson's Mind Gap (Norsk Teknisk Museum), and the public audio installation piece Aural Histories; Monument. Jesse is an instructor and Coach at the National Theatre School of Canada and enjoys making noise with Reversing Falls and on his own in his living room.
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