Saskatchewan Arts Board

In February 2009, Saskatchewan theatre company La Troupe du Jour staged the first play by the young Fransaskois writer Gilles Poulin-Denis. For 15 years, the company has played an important role in the development of our artists by offering them numerous opportunities to showcase their talents. Rearview was developed through the company’s Playwright Development program.

Rearview swept the Saskatoon and Area Theatre Awards, winning Achievement in New Playwriting, Achievement in Sound Design and Achievement in Production. Rearview is published by Dramaturges éditeurs.

With the support of a Culture on the Go grant from the Arts Board, Rearview will tour to:

• Harbourfront Centre in Toronto: July 23, 24, 2010
• To be confirmed in Regina: April 2011
• La Cité francophone in Edmonton: April 14-17, 2011
• L’Agora des arts in Rouyn Noranda: April 26, 2011
• La Nouvelle scène in Ottawa: May 4-7, 2011

A second tour is expected for Fall 2011, to start in Montreal and travel elsewhere.

Synopsis: Guy has been driving for several hours on a road he does not know. He drives with no destination. He is now lost on a road in Northern Ontario. Guy cannot stop, carried along by his car, which pushes him ever forward. With each passing kilometre, he revisits the events that led him to his sudden departure. The voyage rapidly transforms into an existential quest that plunges Guy into the depths of Ontario, of the night and of himself.

Gilles Poulin-Denis, Writer and Actor

Gilles Poulin-Denis is back at The Refinery for the third time in four years. He played Aïvar/Arvö dans la pièce Deux Frères de David Beaudemont in 2006 and Jacob Mercier in Une lune d’eau salée/Salt Water Moon en 2005. For l’Unithéâtre, in Edmonton, he was cast as Otto in the production Le Cadeau d’Einstein by Vern Thiessen. Since he graduated from l’École supérieure de théâtre de l’UQAM, in acting, Gilles worked with several directors such as Alain Fournier, Alexandre Marine, Arianna Bardesono, Daniel Cournoyer, Jacques Baril and Mathieu Leroux.

In 2004, Gilles wrote his first short play, 15 km/h sur la yellow brick road, which was produced for the first Rallye théâtrale Midi-Minuit (Noon-Midnight Theatrical Rallye) in Montréal. The following year, he collabored in the writing of a collage of texts called Pas perdus. In 2007 another collaboration produced Justify my rhyme which he also directed. In the same year he played the main role in Et la petite araignée rouge (And the little red spider) an adaptation of Les Démons by Dostoïevsky. Gilles wrote La nuit du réveil for the Stand-up Tragique presented by Les Foutoukours at La Petite Licorne in Montréal in May 2007. Since the fall of 2008, Gilles is working on a new text as an associate writer with the National Arts Centre.