La Seizième

Creation project: Dilemme

The Artistic and Managing Director of Théâtre la Seizième, Cory is an actor, director, creator, acting coach, and translator. He is developing the project Dilemme and has directed the production Ce que je sais de vrai for la Seizième, as well Liste des enfants dévorés par les loups. Cory holds a Master of Fine Arts in Actor Training and Coaching from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, as well as a Bachelor of Performing Arts from Capilano University. He is the recipient of the Prix de l’École Nationale for Artistic Training (2020) and the Prix Roland-Mahé (2022).

Together with his friend François Bernier (Théâtre DuBunker), Cory is working on the development of Dilemme, a project inspired by a Danish film that seeks to adapt a genre still rarely represented on stage: the psychological thriller. Exploring a hybrid form between theatre and cinema, Dilemme takes place in a suicide prevention call center. At the end of a story filled with humanity and suspense, a question arises that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats: how far are we willing to go to save someone?

Creation project: Dilemme

François Bernier is an actor, writer, and director. Since graduating from the Conservatory, he has taken part in over 40 theatre productions. He is the General and Artistic Director of Théâtre DuBunker, with whom he co-wrote Le NoShow (150 performances, including 100 in Europe) and Ensemble. He directed the stage production J’t’aime encore by Roxanne Bouchard, with whom he also co-wrote and directed 5 balles dans la tête, a documentary play presented at La Licorne in 2024, reprised in the En rappel series at Duceppe, and currently on tour across Quebec. He also directed the comedy show by Silvi Tourigny and will be directing Club sandwich mayonnaise, the next creation by Porte Parole, written by Manuelle Légaré and scheduled for April 2026. With Théâtre DuBunker, he has led several creative labs as a director, writer, and dramaturg, including for Dilemme (a co-production with Théâtre La Seizième), Béluga, and Suzanne va sortir.

On television, he has appeared in Alertes, Indéfendable, Les Bombes, and Les bogues de la vie. He also wrote for and performed in several shows on Vrak, including Frank vs Girard. In parallel, he lends his voice and writing to the youth podcast project Allo la puce!. He has just completed writing his first feature film, for which he received a grant from Netflix.

Project in writing: Triptyque gothique boréal

Mishka Lavigne (she/her) is a playwright, screenwriter, and literary translator. Her works have been produced and developed in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, Haiti, and Mexico. She was a finalist for the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in 2023. Her play Havre, premiered by La Troupe du Jour (Saskatoon), won the Governor General’s Literary Award in 2019. Copeaux, produced by Théâtre de Dehors (Ottawa), received the same award in 2021, along with the Jacques-Poirier Prize. Murs, initially produced as a podcast by Transistor Média, Créations In Vivo, and Théâtre populaire d’Acadie, received recognition in France, was staged in 2023, and was a finalist for the Michel-Tremblay Prize in 2024. Mishka also writes in English. Her play Albumen, produced by TACTICS in 2019 (Ottawa), received the QWF Playwriting Prize. Her play Shorelines, presented in Ottawa by TACTICS in 2023, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award in 2024, the QWF Playwriting Award, and the Carol Bolt Award. As a translator, working both from English to French and French to English, Mishka has translated nearly twenty works of theatre, prose, and poetry. She is currently working on a gothic boreal three-piece project, gathering the texts Granite, Lichen and Loup-Cervier.

Creation project: DRAGONS

Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim are conceptual artists exploring urgent questions around the social value of art, digital labour, and the political potential of games. Mixing their backgrounds in performance, philosophy, psychology, and digital media, their collaborations have manifested in video games, participatory installations, digital archives, and card games. In addition to asses.masses, Patrick and Milton are also the co-founders of the Canadian national video archive of performance (videocan) and the co-creators behind a performing arts economy trading card game (culturecapital). Their projects have been presented across Canada and the world in more than 10 languages. They are the co-founders of STUDIO FUNFUG.

Writing project: Micah et la maison sous les arbres

Laurie Léveillé is an author, screenwriter, and translator who graduated from the Playwriting program at the National Theatre School of Canada and the Screenwriting Development program at the École Nationale de l’Humour. In September 2024, she published Coup bas, a short novel for young readers and one of the first three titles in La courte échelle’s new Micro collection. The book garnered multiple honours, including the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Award in the Young People’s Literature – Text category and the Alvine-Bélisle Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Prix des Libraires in the Young Adult Literature category. She is currently adapting Coup bas into a television series. In recent years, she has also established herself as a fiction translator through numerous theatre and literary projects. Most recently, she translated and adapted the musical parody Titanique (Just For Laughs), which was widely acclaimed by critics. Her next book, a graphic novel for teens, is slated for publication in fall 2027.

Beginning in the 2026–2027 season, Laurie Léveillé will receive support from Théâtre la Seizième to develop her young audiences play Micah et la maison sous les arbres, with a view to a production in 2027-2028 in collaboration with the Centre de la Francophonie at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Micah et la maison sous les arbres is a playful ode to children who hear adults shouting far too often. Freely inspired by Gilbert Bécaud’s song La maison sous les arbres (The House Beneath the Trees), this theatrical work for elementary school children is a modern fable about how children experience their parents’ anger.

Micah is terrified of his father, who shouts too often. His hearing is gradually fading, as though his ears are becoming selective about the sounds that pass through them. At the back of the yard stands a fragile little shack where Micah takes refuge whenever his father gets angry: the house beneath the trees. Accompanied by the imaginary adults he encounters – the helmetless bicycle courier, the old woman walking her dog in a stroller, and the jogger with extraordinarily long hair – Micah hides in his secret house and writes a letter to his father asking him to shout less. He fears that he will lose his hearing forever if his father’s voice continues to echo so loudly through the house.

Independent project: Age is a Feeling

Siona Gareau-Brennan is an actress and creator. Her artistic approach combines social, ecological, and feminist themes. A graduate of Studio 58, she has over 15 years of experience in theatre, dance, and physical theatre. She is a two-time Jessie Richardson Award winner and has received a national award from the ATFC Foundation. For la Seizième, she performed in Selfie, À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou, Bonjour là, bonjour, Le NoShow, Ce que je sais de vrai, and soon Liste des enfants dévorés par les loups. She also explores directing and translation. She was part of the Pépinière internationale at the International Francophone Theatre Commission in Marseille (2025). She is performing in Dilemme (in development/la Seizième and DuBunker) and working on translating Age is a Feeling by Haley McGee, as well as in the research and development phase of a new theatre creation, Le sublime est ici.