Théâtre français de Toronto’s Les Zinspirés: 6 degrés de séparation connects us all

Meilie Ng, photo by Manuel Verreydt[/caption] C’est le moment le plus merveilleux de l’année! Les Zinspirés, Théâtre français de Toronto’s (TfT) popular, Dora-Award winning youth playwriting series, is back for its 6th edition. And Meilie Ng couldn’t be happier. “I simply love this project!” she enthuses. “It’s the one show that I see every year, and I’m still left floored by the different stories.” Her enthusiasm is high praise, considering that her own performances range from stage to screen, in English and French, from Shakespeare to voiceover acting (and some musicals in the mix). And her actions speak even larger than these words: having performed in Les Zinspirés, take: 1 in 2013, she is entering her 2nd year in Les Zinspirés 6. She knows whereof she speaks. In her estimation, the allure of the project is an hour-long opportunity to enter “5 very different brains, full of  worries and wonders. It’s just like going to Cirque du Soleil and wondering which world they will bring you [to] this time, except that with Les Zinspirés, you get 5 different worlds! It’s incredible to see what comes out of these teens’ imagination.” Audiences new and familiar with Les Zinspirés will appreciate what makes it so remarkable: all of the short plays presented were written by teens in Ontario with various levels of facility in the French language. “And that didn’t stop them from writing their wildest and deepest stories,” Ms Ng smiles. This creative daring should inspire (or “Zinspire”) audiences with varying degrees of  fluency in French to come see the plays. No “brushing up” is required: “It has English subtitles on both sides of the stage, so there really is no excuse.” Now in its 6th year, the series is a prime example of giving youth an avenue for creative expression . . . and the youth running away with it! Les Zinspirés has not only given GTA youth a vehicle to communicate their unique perspectives — it has also yielded great theatre. Since 2013, it has garnered multiple Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Play, Outstanding Performance – Ensemble and Outstanding Direction, which Sébastien Bertrand earned in 2016. What also distinguishes Les Zinspirés is the diversity of its playwrights and acting ensemble, which reflects the prevalence of French within various cultures – something of which Ms Ng makes special note: “I am just so grateful to theatre for hiring the best person for the best role despite race (something TV has to catch up with). It’s so refreshing to play a role not just because it’s an Asian role.” As such, the diverse audiences will find connections to the plays’ themes in multiple ways. [caption id="attachment_4136" align="alignleft" width="500"] Les Zinspirés 6 Ensemble: Constant Bernard, Mélanie Paiement, Mathieu Bourassa, Meilie Ng and Nabil Traboulsi; photo by Manuel Verreydt[/caption] The plays themselves range widely. Some are so mature that they make the cast and creative team “pause and wonder.” Others soar . . . “carefree and limitless.” As an actor, Ms Ng enjoys the fun of a play that doesn’t stop itself on technicalities: “If [the playwrights] want a helicopter, a zombie, a god or to be half way across the world in a split second, they just write it in. Then we, the production, have to figure out how to recreate all of this,” she smiles, before summing up the enterprise as a “beautiful challenge that leaves place for so much imagination and creativity.” This year’s edition, called Les Zinspirés: 6 degrés de séparation and directed by Chanda Gibson, will recall the movie of the same name. The premise is similar. Everyone in the world is connected to one another through 6 degrees of separation: “meaning that I know you through my friend (1), who knows a friend (2), who knows another friend (3), who knows yet another friend (4), who knows yet again another friend (5), who knows your friend (6) who knows you.” Of course, the worldwide reach of the Internet and social media might make the typical degree of separation even closer: “That is why we believe that every story will touch everyone because we all know someone living such stories.” She explains that even the costumes and props used in multiple stories for various characters are connected, and will prompt such wonderings as, “Who are the people who wore these before, or made these? What were their stories, toils and joys? Who lived in this house before, and what memories live inside these silent walls? Perhaps every story is ultimately connected, and if so, what then…?” [caption id="attachment_4139" align="alignright" width="400"] Chanda Gibson, Director of Les Zinspirés: 6 degrés de séparation; photo by Manuel Verreydt[/caption] The diversity of this year’s plays is as far-reaching as in the previous 5 editions. When I ask Ms Ng which play moves her the most, she likens the question to forcing a parent to choose their favourite child. “Since it’s such a team effort, and . . . we have invested in shaping all of the stories and characters, I can’t pick a favourite. They all move me in different ways for different reasons:

• Monet, Monet (by Catalina Lu) for the painting of family dynamics (especially the love/hate relationship between siblings);
• Ma Maison (by Maxime Cardinal) for its poetic fatality that just enrages me;
• Une Soirée Avec Jésus (by Anca Maglaviceanu) for a teen’s out-of-this-world interpretation of Jesus (who, come to think of  it, is technically really out of this world);  
• Hugues à la Recherche de la Liberté (by Armando Muheto) for the reflection it brings on freedom and the question of who really has it; and
• Trouvons L’amour (by Adèle Lukusa) for entertainment taken to the next level.

1. What do you like most about performing for young audiences?

2. When was the last time you were starstruck?

3. What play do you recommend seeing, outside of Les Zinspirés?

4. What have you learned through performing in Les Zinspirés that you didn’t learn at theatre school?

5. What would you like us to know about you that we wouldn’t know from reading your resume?

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