Welcome to the official website of Théâtre Q Art Theatre!

We are a Montreal-based alternative, intercultural and experimental theatre company and not-for-profit charitable organization. Since 1995, we have operated in NDG without a space, performing in English. We are now returning after a six-year long hiatus and have many plans starting in the summer of 2012. Please check back regularly for bulletins and updates on our upcoming projects!

Q Art Theatre’s mission is directed toward the education and enlightenment of the public, to promote an interest and awareness of theatre as a medium for social and ethical issues. To further this mission, the mandate is as follows:

Q Art Theatre is to present contemporary Canadian drama and to reinterpret the best of the classical and modern international drama in a variety of theatrical styles and in multi-media, inter-disciplinary presentations and dramatic installations;

Q Art Theatre provides opportunities to artists with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds to exercise their talent in the media of theatre to reflect our cultural diversity that is Canada’s demographic reality;

Q Art Theatre brings together artists from a variety of artistic disciplines to create inter-disciplinary theatre and / or dramatic installation; Q Art Theatre also instigates educational and cultural mediation activities to communicate / exchange ideas directly with, and educate all ages of professional artists and the public at large; Q Art Theatre ardently promotes cultural exchange through its inclusive and intercultural artistic practices in order to sensitize the diverse segments of the public at large to each other’s humanity, the human experience.

ARTISTIC PRACTICE

Q Art Theatre’s artistic practice has focused on diversity and inclusiveness from its inception. Believing that only diverse programming brings in diverse audience, its leaders have striven continuously to achieve a healthy balance artistically, thematically and otherwise. Mr. Zsigovics and Ms. Vian have been consciously integrating their Hungarian roots, theatrical heritage and artistic practice into Canadian theatre practice. This small, alternative company has presented contemporary Canadian drama, as well as classical, modern, and contemporary international works both in Toronto and Montreal. Similarly, the company has explored and performed a variety of theatrical styles, including Post-Realism, Surrealism, Absurdist Theatre, Grotesque Theatre, Poor Theatre, Brechtien Theatre, poetry performance and story-telling.

Additionally, as part of its educational mandate, the members of Q Art Theatre have given lectures in classroom settings, as well as workshops to both amateurs and professional artists. Its leaders have also participated as jury and panel members at artistic symposiums and theatre festivals.

It is this diversity that Q Art Theatre’s artistic collaborators and audiences find stimulating and challenging. The company prides itself in having introduced new Canadian playwrights various origins to the public (Vidal Alcolea, Bobo Vian, Luciano Iacobelli, etc,). Its administrative and artistic leadership has a very firm grip on Montreal’s, Quebec’s and Canada’s demographic realities. They invite Canadian artists of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds to explore modern and classical works from other cultures, and introduce international authors that are little known to Canadian audiences.

From the year 2000, Q Art Theatre and a young Montreal-based company called Gravy Bath Productions have built a strong relationship. Gravy Bath’s youthful enthusiasm, inventiveness and readiness coupled with Q Art’s solid experience and artistic integrity seem to have formed to catalyst toward their numerous collaborations (Cristopher’s Story, Unfounded Fear Of, The Party, Cabalogy of Anthony Kokx, Coriolanus, The Portrait of Dorian Gray). The latter has been adapted and directed by Mr. Gabor Zsigovics (Q Art’s Artistic Director) and has received critical acclaim in the English press (also in the French Le Devoir). For its two-week run, the performance saw a tremendous turnout, where theatre-goers were literally fighting for tickets. The Portrait of Dorian Gray received a number of nominations from Montreal’s English Critics’ Circle Awards, including Best Director, and Best Text and Adaptation for Kokx and Zsigovics etc.

Q Art Theatre’s journey has been rich and varied. As a bridge between the two theatrical traditions of Central Europe and North America, the company has served as a conduit of information and expertise to both Canada and Hungary. The continuous exchange of ideas and cultivation of connections resulted in Q Art Theatre’s 2002 Hungarian co-production Lear en fin as well as an invitation given to three Québec theatrical artists (of which Ms. Vian was one) to go to Budapest to partake in the International Week of Theatre Professionals. Ms. Vian also played an instrumental role in bringing Krétakör Theatre’s performance of W – Worker’s Circus to the Festival du Théâtre des Amériques in 2004.

As a member of the Montreal theatre community, Q Art Theatre is both an artistic contributor and a cultural advocate, its leaders having served on the boards of the Quebec Drama Federation, MAI: Montréal Arts Interculturelles, and Regrouppement pour le développement des pratiques artistiques interculturelles. They have also participated in committees such as the Délégation pour la diversité culturelle dans les arts (Conseil des arts de Montréal).

As globalization makes cultural exchange an inevitability of the twenty-first century, Q Art Theatre can now be described as quintessentially Canadian. Q Art Theatre’s Hungarian roots have dug deep into the adopted soil of its founders, which has resulted in an entirely new crossbreed of Canadian theatre; one that is rich, diverse and truly inclusive.

Q Art Theatre has developed a proven community, followed by a growing percentage of Allophone and young audience members – a rare achievement for a small, independent theatre.

Q Art Theatre does not follow trends. It simply fulfils its purpose by providing food for the mind and soul of its artists and audiences. Never will they cease to:
EDUCATE, ENLIGHTEN, ENTERTAIN!