Press

• Listen to La Zone Radio on Radio-Canada.ca
• To download le communiqué « Le Trunk Collective gagnant du prix Cirque du Soleil »
• Listen to the interview on RCI Tam-tam Canada (18/06/2008)
• 12e festival Vue sur la relève - Quand la relève mélange les genres - LeDevoir
• Read the interview given to the HOUR
• Listen to the interview by RCI - FRÉQUENCE CULTURE
• Listen to the interview by CKUT - Upstage
• Download the Locus Suspectus magazine

Synopsis

Sunk in the Trunk is a about a clown called Wendy who lives in a trunk that stumbles across a toilet-paper border guarded by Ernesto; it’s an absurd encounter between two characters, Wendy, who is a global nomad living in a trunk and Ernesto who does not really conceive life without lines and borders.

This story is about frontiers, it’s about solitude. It’s about the fear of losing what we know and the fear of what we don’t know. It’s about the struggle for territory: an inquiry into what might lie between the lines that define borders and what happens when those conventions are challenged. The piece’s dynamics take us on a clownesque voyage where the story line ends with the realization that nobody holds on to power or control forever. Nature overrides all human whims.

Sunk in the Trunk is innovative and unique. Innovative because it mixes the clown universe with certain spicy ingredients like moving imagery, puppetry, dance and music along with an onomatopoeic language with certain words in English and/or French; and unique because of its poetic minimalism and the strength of the symbolism of the objects used on stage. The play takes the audience on a 55-minute journey into a universe that is simply funny but that holds a strong message.

Creative team

Bios

Artistic director of Le Trunk Collectif, Lynne Cooper stands out for her very singular story : that of a multilingual immigrant performing artist and theatrical guerrilla. Her everyday life is made up of a mix of different languages, cultures and experiences. She wishes to use theatre as a mirror of society so she can share her visions on social justice and her aim is to transform professional art into a tool for community development.

Francis Néron, plays the role of Ernesto. Armed with his Dramatic Arts Diploma from UQAM, he has created the role of Anatole in Dynamo Théâtre's Moi Moi Moi. For four years Francis worked with le Groupe de Poésie Moderne in Le Boson de Higgs and joined up with Patrick Fleurant to create Locomotion Théâtre.

Partrick Fleurant, actor and puppeteer is currently appearing in Larry Tremblay's clownesque production of Panda, Panda. A graduate of UQAM's actors' degree program, Patrick made his professional debut with Dynamo Theatre. Since then, he has trundled his suitcase around the planet with Le Théâtre sans fil, le Théâtre de la Dame de Coeur, Cirque du Soleil, and the Dulcinée Langfelder Company. Airports, Customs, Borders, are just another day at the office.

Denys Dufresne has composed and played music since the age of 16. Since 2001 he has worked for Technicolor Creative Services as a sound technician for TV and cinema. He has worked on film productions such as 10.5: Apocalypse (for NBC), Nez Rouge, Le Dernier Tunnel and Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

Dedicated

Dedicated to all those who have to flee, who have to plea,
who have bloody tears and knees.
Dédié à tous ceux qui ont dû s'exiler parce qu'une bombe peut-être
A transformé leurs magnifiques taudis de ciment en un jardin de boue

Dedicated to all those who can barely speak the language yet proceed in filling out, form A, form B, forms A,B,C.
Box 1, box 2, box 1,2,3.

Dédié à tous ceux qui n'ont pas l'air de venir d'où ils sont
Et n'appartiennent pas au lieu où ils se trouvent, parce qu'ils sont ailleurs
Nomades globales cherchant une demeure
Dédié à tous ceux qui discriminent parce qu'ils ont peur
De pouvoir perdre tout ce qu'ils connaissent et tout ce qu'ils ont

Dedicated to all those intense lovers, lovers sans frontiers that no matter what barrier, try and try and try...
Making love through telephone lines, embracing email messages, sleeping with over caressed photographs, not forgetting what the painful paper fight is for.

Dédié à toutes ces familles qui récitent une prière
Alors qu'ils débarquent sur une terre inconnue. Familles qui arrivent
Avec rien d'autre que Dieu dans leurs coeurs avec leurs vêtements
Fraîchement lavés en vain, essayant très fort de faire une impression
Pour essayer d'oublier, juste une seconde, que le prochain voyage pourrait être leur
Déportation.

Dedicated to those who courageously swim towards the glowing American Dream and drown in the violent blazing fire of bullets. Dedicated to those who dance their way out of misery and into corporate slavery.

Dedicated to all those that don't fit the profile, and to those who do and walk straight in because their bank account is smashingly delicious with zeros.

Dédié à tous ceux qui ont à prendre la décision de déporter
Cette mère-célibataire, à refuser l'amour de la vie de quelqu'un,
Ou à négliger les questions d'une personne malade
Parce qu'après tout, c'est leur travail

Dedicated to all those who don't really understand or accept a piece of paper that permits you to cross a line. Because the more papers we believe we need, the more lives that rot in recycling bins waiting for an answer.

Dédié aux populations du monde entier qui méritent
De s'assembler, voyager, immigrer, errer et simplement être LIBRE

Credits

• Photo : Claudia Valdivia
  Pour pouvoir utiliser la photo, vous devez mentionner son auteure
• Design : baazooka

Sponsors

Le Trunk Collectif has benefitted from a creative residency and Artistic Director, Lynne Cooper was selected for  MAI's 2005-2006 Guidance and Mentoring programme.

The MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) is a pluridisciplinary presenter of professional contemporary artists, with an intercultural mandate. MAI presents works reflecting current cultural practices, which draw from cultural diversity and are inviting to the audience. MAI has the mandate of supporting creation, presentation and outreach of intercultural arts for a diversified audience.

The Friends of Sunk in the Trunk

Many thanks

Olivier Chartrand, Vivianne deKinder, Kara Bedell, Guilaine Royer, Jacinthe Plamondon, Emmanuelle Néron, Peggy Allen, Carl Coutlé, Claudia Valdivia, Nathalie Bergeron, Melina Saunier, Marc Brunelle, Minnie Richardson, Joni Ward, Susie Hall, Phillipe Bleau, Richard Bleau, Elizabeth Dery, Creations ETC..., Patrick Palmer, Yan Abud, Jennifer Boire, Maria Masino, Martin Choquette, Yves Agouri, Marites Carino and Meena Murugesan.