Dans le nuage (First Draft)
Just like astrophysicist Carl Sagan in 1977, you are faced with the task of summarizing, on a record, the essential components of the human experience. What will you choose? How will you make your selection?
In August 1977, NASA launched the two Voyager spacecraft to explore Jupiter, Saturn, and the confines of the solar system. They would later go on to float throughout space, even after the Earth’s vanishing… Astrophysicist Carl Sagan insisted on placing a Golden Record on the sides of both aircraft, with a digest of essential information on humanity, in the event that Voyager might meet any forms of intelligent life. How was this portrait of the human adventure—this idealistic account of an idealized humanity—created? And according which criteria?
Laurence Dauphinais and Maxime Carbonneau, who delighted us with Siri (FTA, 2016), place the audience in a similar position as Carl Sagan, but with modern-day technologies, with the aims of democratizing the creation of a new Golden Record. Given the dire future outlook that prevails in these times, their wish is to rekindle our desire to toss a bottle out into the sea, hoping for new encounters with the unknown, the infinite, the absolute. A staggering yet playful endeavour!
Produced by La Messe Basse
Conceived, written and directed by Maxime Carbonneau + Laurence Dauphinais
Performed by Robin-Joël Cool + Karine Gonthier-Hyndman + Leila Donabelle Kaze + Olivier Morin + Gabriel Szabo
Assistant Director and Sound Jean Gaudreau
Dramaturgical Advisor Julie-Michèle Morin
Lighting Design Julie Basse
Set Design Max-Otto Fauteux
Video Amelia Scott
Music Navet Confit
Costume Design Marie-Chantale Vaillancourt
Props Julie Measroch
Artistic Advisor Dany Boudreault
Movement Advisor Mélanie Demers
Make-up and Hair Justine Denoncourt-Bélanger
Production Managers Emanuelle Kirouac-Sanche + Maude Saint-Pierre
Technical Director Maude Saint-Pierre
Production Assistant Delphine Rochefort
Video Technician Dominique Hawry
Online Experience
Script Maxime Carbonneau + Laurence Dauphinais
Online Experience Director, Technical Director and Programmer Osman Zeki
Game Designer Ruben Farrus
Artistic Director and 3D modeling Romain Tavenard
Sound Design and integration Joël-Aimé Beauchamp
Co-produced by Festival TransAmériques
Developed with the support of National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund (Ottawa)
Presented in association with Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui
Premiered at Festival TransAmériques, Montreal, on June 7, 2021
Written by Paul Lefebvre
Translated by Luba Markovskaia
Maxime Carbonneau (Montreal)
La Messe Basse
Maxime Carbonneau graduated from the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal in 2009 and has since staged nearly a dozen performances, mainly with La Messe Basse. In 2018, he was awarded the John-Hirsch Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts for his promising work as theatre director.
Laurence Dauphinais (Montreal)
La Messe Basse
After completing a Minor in Theatre at Concordia University, actor, stage director, and writer Laurence Dauphinais graduated in Acting from the National Theatre School of Canada in 2009, setting herself apart by actively participating in unconventional performances, such as La Fureur de ce que je pense by Marie Brassard, based on the writings of Nelly Arcan, and Mythe by Mykalle Bielinski.