The curtain rose Wednesday evening on a new era for the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), in Montreal, which inaugurated its new spaces after more than three years of work.
The ambitious project, begun in June 2021, is the culmination of a vision carried with passion by Lorraine Pintal, who is leaving the head of the institution after 32 years of service and who passed the torch of general and artistic co-direction to Geoffrey Gaquère (who shares these tasks with Étienne Langlois), this fall.
After more than three years of work, and two years after a fire damaged the building, - was able to tour the new spaces with Mr. Gaquère.
Open in full screen mode
The co-general and artistic director of the TNM Geoffrey Gaquère showed us around the new premises.
Photo: Élise Jetté
A new landing stage is used to bring sets in and out, while two floors are intended for costume storage. The entrance hall has been enlarged and the restaurant, now equipped with a mezzanine, has been restructured.
The Réjean-Ducharme room will be intended for creation and succession, while a foyer with a view of the city will be able to host cultural mediation meetings or other gatherings. A reception room will host events.
Open in full screen mode
The new Réjean-Ducharme room intended for creation and emerging artists has glass walls which allow artists to play with light, but can also be used as a black box thanks to the curtains. The scaffolding on the ceiling will also allow you to build unusual decorations without having to exert too much effort.
Photo: Élise Jetté
All staff will benefit from new offices. A huge rehearsal room, glazed on all sides, opens onto a terrace which will be fitted out in the coming months and which will allow gatherings on the fourth floor.
Open in full screen mode
Next to the rehearsal room on the fourth floor, a terrace overlooking the city will be set up to host meetings and even performances.
Photo: Élise Jetté
With all these changes, Mr. Gaquère hopes that the TNM will achieve nothing less than excellence. That means more space to work and explore, he explains. There are a lot of possibilities with light which can enter from everywhere, but which can also be hidden with curtains to work in a black box.
For him, it is the work that is done upstream that benefits the most from the new rooms, since the Gascon-Roux room (the main room of the TNM) must normally make quick room entrances
. Artists will now have much more time to research and try different avenues before having to face the public.
Architectural metamorphosis
The Saucier + Perrotte firm led this expansion project by focusing on contemporary and welcoming architecture. Among the most notable additions, a bright hall, enlarged and topped by a starry square, offers a new facade on Sainte-Catherine Street.
The vocation of the Réjean-Ducharme room will be to extend a helping hand to the next generation. We need to develop new audiences, says the director. We want to make room for new things and young people who are diverse, like the society in which we live today.
He hopes to appeal to people who have never set foot in TNM previously. These young people will arrive with an audience that we do not necessarily know, who will be able to enter through Réjean-Ducharme and who, we hope, in the future, will also want to sit in the Gascon-Roux room.
Mobilisation tripartite
This major project would not have been possible without the involvement of the three levels of government. Federal Minister Steven Guilbeault, Quebec Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante were notably expected at the inauguration of the renovated space on Wednesday.
Open in full screen mode
On the fourth floor of the new TNM premises is a huge, completely glazed rehearsal room.
Photo: Élise Jetté
Beyond public financing, the new TNM will be able to afford a certain financial autonomy with places of exchange that can generate income. We have spaces to meet, specifies Geoffrey Gaquère. We have spaces to create events, whether master classes, conferences, meetings, performances and also spaces that we will be able to rent for corporate or private events, which will help support the mission. and the operation of the TNM.
A sculpture that calls out
On the fourth floor, the new rehearsal room is bordered on one side by the terrace, which can even host performances in summer, and on the other by a breathtaking view of the Quartier des spectacles. Watching over the city, alongside the artists at work, is the sculpture Who speaks for the worlda monumental creation by Trevor Gould.
Open in full screen mode
The sculpture “Who Speaks for the World”, a creation by Trevor Gould, is on the roof of the TNM.
Photo: Élise Jetté
Three meters high, this polychrome aluminum work, installed on the roof of the theater, embodies the duality of the masks of comedy and tragedy. With her Janus face, she invites the audience to think about the multiple facets of theater and human expression. It is a metaphor for dialogue and freedom of expression, two fundamental values for the TNM.
The future on stage
Geoffrey Gaquère and Étienne Langlois, the new co-directors, intend to continue the work started by Lorraine Pintal by breathing a wind of renewal. They see these modernized infrastructures as an opportunity to strengthen collaboration with the local theater scene.
We want to become complementary to what is currently on the theater scene in Montreal and not necessarily competitive with the industry. We want to develop projects that are totally in the DNA of the TNM, giving young people the ability to tackle repertoire works that they could not present anywhere else. We will bring something that we do not currently have in our ecosystem.
With this new momentum, the TNM reaffirms its mission: to thrill spectators to the rhythm of great classical and contemporary works. In this transformed house, dramatic art has a setting worthy of its ambitions. And for the Montreal public, the meeting is set to continue writing the living history of theater.
