Wajdi Mouawad Director

Biography

Born in Lebanon in 1968, Wajdi Mouawad grew up in his native country before flying for France and then Quebec, where he spent his teenage years. An author, stage director and comedian, he co-founded with Isabelle Leblanc, his first partner, the Théâtre Ô Parleur in 1991. His career as an author and stage director started with the Théâtre Ô Parleur, where he produced his own texts (published in Leméac / Actes Sud-Papiers). Director of the Théâtre de Quat’Sous in Montreal from 2000 to 2004, then of the National Arts Center’s French Theatre in Ottawa, he was in 2009 associated artist at the Avignon Festival where he created the quartet Le Sang des promesses (Littoral, Incendies, Forêts, Ciels). He then started a partnership with his creation companies Abé Carré Cé Carré-Québec and Au Carré de l’Hypoténuse-France at the Grand T in Nantes in 2011. As a professional comedian, he played in his own creations, but also in other artists’ works. In 2010 he interpreted Stepan Fedorov in Camus’s play Les Justes, directed by Stanislas Nordey at La Colline – théâtre national. He also wrote books for children and the novels Visage retrouvé in 2002 and Anima, 10 years later. Translated in 20 different languages, his books are published or presented all other the world. He staged Sophocles’ seven tragedies (in three opuses: Des Femmes (Women), comprising Women of Trachis, Antigone, Electra – created in 2011, Des Héros (Heroes), with Ajax a cabaret and Oedipus Rex – created in 2014, and the entire cycle under the title Le Dernier jour de sa vie (The Last Day of his Life) presented at the occasion of Mons European Capital of Culture 2015. Invited by the Lyon Opera and the Toronto Canadian Opera Company, he staged Il Seraglio by Mozart in 2016 at the Lyon Opera. He was appointed director of the La Colline Theatre on April 6, 2016. His first creation there as director, Tous des Oiseaux (Birds of a kind) presented in 2017, was awarded the “Grand Prize” and the “Best creation for stage set elements” by the Professional Association of Theatre, Music and Dance Review.