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Drama Canadian

Blackout

The Concordia Computer Riots

by (author) Tamara Brown, Kym Dominique-Ferguson, Lydie Dubuisson & Mathieu Murphy-Perron

Publisher
Playwrights Canada Press
Initial publish date
May 2023
Category
Canadian
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780369104168
    Publish Date
    May 2023
    List Price
    $18.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780369104182
    Publish Date
    May 2023
    List Price
    $13.99

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Description

In February 1969, hundreds of students occupied a computer centre at what is now Montréal’s Concordia University to protest the mismanagement of a racism complaint lodged by Caribbean students against their biology professor. When an agreement to end the occupation fell through, riot police were called in, resulting in widespread damage, a mysterious fire, and nearly a hundred arrests. Created and devised by some of Montréal’s most prolific artists, Blackout re-examines the events that led to the occupation and protests, asking how race relations have changed in Québec and Canada.

About the authors

Tamara Brown is an award-winning multidisciplinary performing artist and creator based in Montreal who acts, sings, directs, and writes poetry for both the stage and screen. An occasional educator and perpetual student with a love for storytelling, natural sciences and the environment, alchemy, geekery, harmony, and social justice, Tamara is one of the founding members of Metachroma Theatre, created to address the under-representation of IBPOC artists in Quebec and Canadian theatre since 2010. In 2019, Tamara wrote Blackout for Tableau D’Hote Theatre with Lydie Dubuisson and Kym Dominique-Ferguson. Her work as a director has been seen on stages in Montreal, Toronto, Sherbrooke, Winnipeg, New York, and Stratford.

Tamara Brown's profile page

Kym Dominique-Ferguson is a poet by birth, a theatre performer and filmmaker by training, and a producer by nurture. For over a decade he has serenaded Montreal and international audiences with his blend of spoken-word poetry and theatre. He successfully produced and performed his first one-man show to a sold-out audience back in August of 2015: The Born Jamhaitianadian. Ferguson has also been a radio host on Soul Perspectives, CKUT 90.3FM, since 2012, a show that talks about the issues affecting the Black community in Montreal, across Canada, and internationally. He is honoured to be working on the development for his first play, The #DearBlackMan Project, officially commissioned by Black Theatre Workshop.

Kym Dominique-Ferguson's profile page

Lydie Dubuisson is a playwright, director, and curator from Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal. She studied theatre and graduated with distinction from Concordia University. Her work examines intersectionality, dystopian reality, collective memory, and multilingual creative processes. Dubuisson wrote Quiet/Silence (2018 Discovery Series, Black Theatre Workshop and Maison de la culture NDG), Sanctuary/Sanctuaire (Black Theatre Workshop and Théâtre aux Écuries), and Sharing Our Stories, Telling Our Lives (Teesri Duniya Theatre). She is currently writing a play about the Shelburne riots.

Lydie Dubuisson's profile page

Mathieu Murphy-Perron is an award-winning producer, playwright, and director. He is the co-founding artistic director of Tableau D’Hôte Theatre. He served as co-idéateur of all the company’s projects, alongside co-founder and former artistic director Mike Payette, from 2005–2016, before moving forward with his singular vision for the company after Payette’s departure. Playwrighting credits include Journey to Exodus, Return to Sender, PrAgression, Blackout, and En Pointe, an episodic bilingual series of 20+ short street plays staged since the pandemic. His directorial aesthetic is heavily focused on heightened movement, physical humour, ensemble work, and imagery of collectiveness, resistance, and defiance.

Mathieu Murphy-Perron's profile page

Excerpt: Blackout: The Concordia Computer Riots (by (author) Tamara Brown, Kym Dominique-Ferguson, Lydie Dubuisson & Mathieu Murphy-Perron)

STUDENT 2

At the beginning the plan was we would... you see, usually we would never enter the rooms at all, we were not allowed in. But if the police moved in we were... we were to go into the computer room and we thought the police wouldn’t come in after us because they wouldn’t-- the Administration wouldn’t want the computers damaged... by the police coming in. The plan was that we would stick close to the computers... we believed that the computers would not be touched, so... it would be the safest place for us because the machines would protect us... the machines... and if the police came in and they started... slamming us around, it would be clear that it was them who bashed the computers, not us. We felt... safer with the computers.

ENSEMBLE quietly repeats “We felt safe with the computers” until end of scene.

STUDENT 4

We felt we’d be more safe with the computers. As long as they remained unharmed by us, we would be unharmed by the police.

Lawyer turns into JUDGE

Guilty. Guilty of conspiracy to commit mischief by destroying and damaging computers. Guilty of conspiracy to commit mischief by occupying the computer centre of the University. Guilty of conspiracy to commit mischief by causing danger to life through fire. Guilty of conspiracy to commit arson by setting fire to the computer centre.

Editorial Reviews

Blackout is a work that isn’t afraid to be political, or to take sides, or to make difficult calls.”

Tara McGowan-Ross, BroadwayWorld

“It is an education, an ambitious portrait of fury and a really fun, triumphant work of art.”

Sarah Deshaies, Cult MTL