PROLOGUE(S) #6: SORCIÈRE, JE TE SALUE!

Blaise Ndala was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country he left in 2003 for Belgium, where he studied law. He moved to Ottawa in 2007 and worked first as a teacher of French as a second language, then as a federal public servant. In 2014, he published his first novel, J’irai danser sur la tombe de Senghor, published by Éditions l’Interligne, for which he won the 2015 Ottawa Book Award. His second novel, Sans capote ni kalachnikov, was published in January 2017 by Mémoire d’encrier and was proclaimed the grand winner at the 2019 Combat national des livres on ICI Radio-Canada Première; it was defended by journalist Marie-Maude Denis, representing Ontario.

A 2008 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Mani Soleymanlou has lived in Tehran, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and has worked with such acclaimed directors as Alice Ronfard (Les pieds des anges), Brigitte Haentjens (L’opéra de quat’sous), Claude Poissant (Rouge gueule, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi), Serge Denoncourt (Projet Andromaque, Les trois mousquetaires), Olivier Kemeid (Furieux et désespérés), Denis Bernard (Ce moment-là) and Eric Jean (Variations sur un temps).

He is best known as the founding artistic director (2011) of the Montreal-based theatre company Orange Noyée. His distinctive artistic practice investigates notions of community identity (Un/One, Deux/Two, Trois/Three) and social relationships (Ils étaient quatre, Cinq à sept, 8). He pursued this approach more recently in Neuf [working title] and Zéro presented in fall 2019 in Montreal and Ottawa, and also in various artistic collaborations over the years: Lapin blanc, Lapin rouge, Les Lettres arabes II, and À te regarder, ils s’habitueront. Mani Soleymanlou was part of the impressive team behind Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show (premiered at the NAC in October 2017), as director and co-artistic director.

Mani Soleymanlou assumed the position of Artistic Director of NAC French Theatre on September 1, 2021.