Martin Bellemare

A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting programme, Martin Bellemare was awarded the 2009 Gratien-Gélinas Prize for Le Chant de Georges Boivin (which was subsequently translated into English and staged in Vancouver and Calgary). La Liberté was staged at La Rubrique (Jonquière) in 2013 and in Montreal in 2015; the production was due to be staged in Ottawa in 2020. Maître Karim la perdrix (2018 Francophone Playwriting Prize from the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques, finalist for the 2022 Michel-Tremblay Prize, finalist for the 2024 Sony Labou Tansi Prize) premiered in Luxembourg in 2021, then had a revival in France in 2024. Moule Robert (CNL grant, finalist for the SACD’s Francophone Playwriting Prize in 2017, winner of the 2018 Michel-Tremblay Prize) was staged simultaneously at La Rubrique (Jonquière) and at the POCHE/GVE (Geneva), followed by a run at the Théâtre de Belleville (Paris). Bellemare has been awarded the Centre national du Théâtre/ARTCENA (Paris) Creation Grant five times, and three of his plays have been included in the Comédie-Française’s repertoire. For young audiences, Un château sur le dos, Des pieds et des mains and Une petite fête — cabaret de la dissidence (finalist for the 2024 ACT Award for Best Young Audience Production), the latter two premiered at the NAC, are touring in Canada and internationally. In 2019, Extraordinaire et mystérieux and Charlie et le djingpouite (a finalist for the 2020 Louise-Lahaye Prize) were produced, whilst Cœur minéral (winner of the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award) premiered at the Francophonies de Limoges festival, before touring Switzerland and West Africa. This production was scheduled to run in Montreal in 2020. Her five-part series for young audiences, Charlie — du vent derrière le nombril (finalist for the 2023 Governor General’s Literary Awards), was adapted for the stage by La Petite Fabrique, which took the production on tour in France. Le Futur premiered in 2023 at Usine C (Montréal). Surréaliste was produced in 2024 by the Théâtre de la Rubrique (Jonquière) and staged as a reading at the Théâtre de la Huchette in Paris. Retour en Palestine was a finalist for the 2024 SACD Francophone Playwriting Prize, and was publicly read at Espace Go  (Montréal) in June 2025, at the Cercle Molière (Winnipeg) in December 2025, and then at the Maison Jean Vilar during the Avignon Festival in July 2026.

Last Updated August 2026