François Papineau and Sylvie Moreau
photo : Martin Savoie

SYLVIE MOREAU AND FRANÇOIS PAPINEAU

" We are both people persons: we like meeting them, interacting with them. To us, the theatre is a ritual, one that affords us the opportunity to experience improbable encounters with perfect strangers. It is a ritual that changes us a little each time we partake of it.

ÉTAT D’URGENCE is just such an improbable encounter, the meeting of social solidarity with the creative arts. It is an opportunity to share our thoughts and to understand a bit more about the world in which we live, the world that exists beyond the walls of our house, in our city, among our fellow citizens. It is an opportunity to meet, to recognize, to understand, to take action, to get angry, to be afraid, to fall in love... A chance to change. An opportunity that comes once a year. It should be compulsory. We need to be together.

As theatre actors, we’ve played characters who are wounded, sensitive, arrogant, abused, dangerous, addicts, rebels, martyrs, losers and freaks. If we are able to play them, and if you are able to applaud us when we do so, it stands to reason we should be able to cross paths with such people, to meet them, does it not??

And there you go: ÉTAT D’URGENCE. "

Who are they?

Sylvie Moreau and François Papineau are pretty ordinary people. Growing up, they had no idea they would become artists. Their creativity and need to interact with people led them to the theatre. They did a lot of theatre work, particularly in troupes: with Omnibus, Momentum and Pigeons International, they took part in many collective flights of fancy, travelling throughout Europe as well. They have endeavoured to bring this approach—exploring human nature and human interaction—to their work in television and in cinema.

Among the many works they have participated in, often together and sometimes separately: États humains, Catherine, Post Mortem, Familia, Papa à la chasse aux Lagopèdes, Camping sauvage, Cabaret, L’Odyssée, L’Iliade, Dans une galaxie près de chez vous, and La Charge de l’orignal épormyable.

The pair have been love birds for a long time and share a kindred creative vision. They were invited as a couple to be ATSA’s “associate artists” and said yes.