Charlottetown – We are Canadian! the Charlottetown Festival’s Young Company proudly declared in 2007, launching the name of a new series showcasing a different province, territory or culture each summer. In 2008, the Young Company will celebrate Quebec’s heritage, the Centre announced today.
“The Confederation Centre Young Company will celebrate Quebec in a new 45 minute production. Eight young performing artists from Quebec and four from Prince Edward Island will highlight the history and culture of the province through music, dance and words,” says Wade Lynch, associate artistic director for the Charlottetown Festival and one of the creators of this summer’s Young Company production.
“The Young Company will entertain and educate audience members about Quebec’s origins and the important role it plays as part of our vast country.”
Quebec à la Carte will feature music from such artists as Kashtin, le Vent du nord, Leonard Cohen, Oscar Peterson, Robert Charlebois, Cirque du Soleil, Céline Dion, Beau Dommage, and Dubmatique.
The production will include a historical component depicting the arrival of Champlain, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and a special Acadian section, including a song by Angèle Arsenault. Audiences will be treated to a well-rounded overview of Quebec’s history and culture past and present.
The Young Company is a training program that nurtures and encourages young, aspiring artists of musical theatre. The twelve participants receive intensive training in acting, dancing and singing with the Festival’s professional artistic team and cast. Members range between the ages of 16 and 22 years.
To emulate the rigors of professional theatre, the members of the Young Company start a very intensive schedule of rehearsals immediately upon their arrival in Charlottetown in late June. Their production opens on July 1st as part of Canada Day festivities at the Centre and runs until August 23. The free performances take place in the outdoor amphitheatre of the Centre.
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Media contact: Dan Wall, publicist, Confederation Centre of the Arts, phone (902) 628-6135
Email: confederationcentre.com, web www.confederationcentre.com