Inspired by the wish to create impressionistic theatrical experiences, Geneviève L. Blais founded the Théâtre à corps perdus in 2003, with a group of like-minded artists whom she met while at the National Theatre School of Canada. Through this company, she explores contemporary writing that evokes things for which we cannot find the words, things for which we have no words. Her approach leaves a central place for the writing of the body, in dialogue with the architecture of the space.

Drawn to work in significant urban sites, she is now engaged in a work-in-progress of short, site-specificplays, the first of which will be created in collaboration with the writer Naïma Phillips, and titled Rendezvous No. 1: daycare class. She has orchestrated happenings in unusual places, including an urban ambulatory piece inspired by first-hand accounts, entitled Perdu/Trouvé (Festival l’Écho d’un fleuve, 2009) and two short sight-specific pieces: Chevreuil by Catherine Léger(Festival L’Écho d’un fleuve, 2010) and Portrait of a Dreamed Life by Dominick Parenteau-Lebeuf (Festival d’Innovationthéâtrale de l’Assomption, 2005).She is currently preparing the French-language premiere of Erin Shields’ disturbing contemporary tragedy, If We Were Birds, for the fall of 2015 at Théâtre Prospéro.

Last April, she was invited to Morocco to represent Québec in a kind of hothouse for artists, organised by la Commission internationale de théâtre de la francophone, which focused on writing for public spaces. There, she presented the sketch for a performance in the form of a walkabout through the streets of Marrakech, developed in collaboration with a trio of artists from Belgium, Cameroon and Canada. 

Ann-Marie Kerr is an award-winning theatre artist. Her work has been presented at prestigious theatres and festivals in New York, London, Mumbai, Edinburgh, Sydney, Melbourne, Memphis, Nashville, Cork, and across Canada. Select directing: One Discordant Violin (2b Theatre Co., Théâtre La Licorne (french version), 59E59 St. Theatre, Chester Playhouse, Bus Stop Theatre), #IAmTheCheese (Halifax Theatre for Young People, Eastern Front Theatre), Frequencies (Heist), Concord Floral (Dalhousie University), Secret Life of A Mother (Theatre Centre, Crow’s Theatre), One Discordant Violin (2b Theatre Co., 59E59 St. Theatre), Bed & Breakfast (Soulpepper Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Theatre New Brunswick), Daughter (Theatre Centre, SummerWorks Festival, PuSh Festival, Battersea Arts Festival, Edinburgh Festival), Snake in the Grass (Neptune Theatre), I, Claudia (Globe Theatre, Neptune Theatre), Stranger to Hard Work (Eastern Front Theatre), The Circle (Alberta Theatre Projects), The Debacle (Zuppa Theatre), Invisible Atom (2b Theatre). A graduate of École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq and York University, Ann-Marie is also the former Artistic Associate of Magnetic North Theatre Festival. 

Yvette Nolan is a playwright, dramaturg, director and educator. As a dramaturg, she works across Canada, most recently at Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre Spring Festival of New Plays. She has received the Maggie Bassett Award for service to the theatre community and was the Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts from 2003-2011. She was recently awarded the City of Toronto’s Aboriginal Affairs Award. 

After graduating from the Université de Moncton’s School of Dramatic Art, Marcia Babineau went on to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. A multifaceted artist, actress, director and educator, she is the Artistic Director and one of the founding members of Théâtre l’Escaouette.

As an actress, Marcia has more than 40 stage acting credits, including her more recent roles in Pour une fois and Laurie ou la vie de galerie. Her memorable film performances include Les Années Noires and Madame Latour. A passionate creator, Marcia Babineau has also directed some thirty productions including Les Remugles, Winslow, Oleanna, Ne jamais nager seul, Les débuts de Loretta, Le jeu de la Mélancolie, Mistero Buffo, Cul de Sac, La vieille femme près de la voie ferrée, Vie d ‘Cheval and Des Nouvelles de Copenhague. She taught acting at the Université de Moncton’s School of Dramatic Art from 2007 to 2021, during which time she took the helm of the department as its director from 2016 to 2021.

Geneviève Pelletier is a Métis actor and theater director from Treaty 1 Territory. Since 2012, she is the artistic and general director of le Théâtre Cercle Molière in Saint-Boniface. She is interested in nurturing a fertile creative space that includes as many cultures as there are voices, one that reflects the various communities she is engaged with.

Montreal playwright Carole Fréchette had authored more than eight plays when she won the Siminovitch Prize, most of which had been published within the preceding five years. In announcing their choice, the jury described Ms. Fréchette as an artist “at the height of her powers, with the wind full in her sails” and expressed the desire that Canadians come “to know and to cherish” this writer. “In an especially fresh and startling way she uses the mysteries of theatre to explore the mysteries of our daily lives,” said the jury citation. “Her plays negotiate that delicate balance of the known and the unknown, the forever accessible and the forever exotic, which is the property of all great art.” 

Ms. Fréchette’s plays are among those that have enjoyed success around the world. Her plays have been translated and staged in Belgium, France, Germany, Lebanon, Luxemburg, Mexico, Romania, Switzerland and Syria, in addition to their successful performances in Canadian theatres.

Jillian Keiley is the founding Artistic Director of Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, where she has directed 14 new productions, almost all of which were original scripts and scores created for the company by playwright Robert Chafe and composer Petrina Bromley. For the past 10 years, Ms. Keiley has been working with Artistic Fraud to develop a unique, mathematic and music-based choreography and directing system called Kaleidography. Ms. Keiley has been teaching this new system at universities and professional training institutes across the country for the past six years. Jillian recently joined the Siminovitch Board of Directors. 

Leanna Brodie is a playwright and performer whose plays include The Vic, For Home and Country, Schoolhouse, and The Book of Esther. Ulla’s Odyssey, her Flourish Prize-winning opera with New Zealand composer Anthony Young, toured the UK for two years with OperaUpClose. Brodie is also a leading translator of contemporary Québécois and Franco-Canadian playwrights. Recent premieres have included David Paquet’s Wildfire (Factory Theatre, Toronto: three 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Awards including Best New Play and Production); Joe Jack et John’s Violette (Espace Libre/PuSh Festival); Mohsen El Gharbi’s Omi Mouna (Impact Festival/Infinithéâtre); Anaïs Pellin’s Clementine (Carousel Theatre/PHT, Vancouver); Fanny Britt’s Benevolence (Ruby Slippers Theatre/Pacific Theatre); and Rébecca Déraspe’s I Am William (Stratford Festival and Théâtre le Clou). Brodie recently served as Assistant Professor (Playwriting) at UBC’s School of Creative Writing. Salesman in China, which she is co-writing with Jovanni Sy, will premiere at the Stratford Festival in 2024.