False Starts: A Subterfuge of Excellent Wit

(Paperback)

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False Starts presents a series of determining moments between two people stuck reliving the same scene over and over, but in unexpected ways and in different genres (from diary to dramatic dialogue, film script to sound installation). Their interdependence and fundamental inability to say how they feel about one another over twenty years -- in spite of their eloquence, in spite of their creativity -- constitutes the background of the ongoing spectacle of their relationship. Made up of a series of short pieces originally published in French as Dialogues fantasques pour causeurs eperdus, this translation by the author and Alexandre St-Laurent with Katia Grubisic also includes other previously unpublished texts. Originally staged for the stage, screen, and elevator at Montreal's matralab. Like the dual perspectives in the play, two commentators -- Jenn Stephenson and Nicole Nolette -- each contribute an introduction exploring the piece from quite different points of view. Cast of 1 man and 1 woman.

Author Bio

Louis Patrick Leroux is an associate professor in both the English and French departments at Concordia University. A playwright and theatre director, he is also a scholar whose academic research focuses on cultural discourse, research-creation, Qubec theatre and contemporary circus. He was playwright in residence at Sudburys Thtre du Nouvel-Ontario (199394, 200506, and 200607), the Leighton Artists Studios at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1994, and the CEAD International playwrights residency in 1999. He founded and managed Ottawas Thtre la Catapulte over the 1990s and has since focused on impossible, improbable, necessary drama.

Alexander Rock was born and raised suburban Qubec. He lives in Montral, where he studies at the Universit de Montral. His work has appeared in The Puritan and Matrix and his translation of Hugo Beauchemin-Lechapelles "untitled/sans titre" can be found in Tightrope Books' The Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2016. He has also modestly worked as a playwright and dramaturge.

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor, and translator. Her work has appeared in various Canadian and international publications, and her collection of poems What if red ran out won the Gerald Lampert award for best first book.