Suzanne Lebeau
2016 Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award (Stages (formerly Theatre))
Children’s playwright and artistic director
In more than 40 years of unwavering commitment to children, playwright and artistic director Suzanne Lebeau has achieved international recognition as a leader in contemporary theatre for young people. Her plays have been translated into two dozen languages, and she is among the most-produced Quebec writers in the world. Her important contributions to changing conventional attitudes and promoting innovative writing for young audiences have earned her many awards and honours.
Ms. Lebeau was born in Montréal in 1948. At first she was headed for a career as an actress, but after founding Le Carrousel with Gervais Gaudreault in 1975, she gradually gave up acting to devote herself exclusively to writing. Thanks to her profound understanding of a child’s perspective, her plays are forged with a shattering humanity. Pushing limits and boundaries, she does not hesitate to tackle challenging sociocultural issues that broaden the scope of dramatic writing for young audiences. Though her work often deals with difficult subjects, her aim is always to open young imaginations to a world of hope.
She has written more than 30 plays, including
Une lune entre deux maisons (
A Moon Between Two Houses, 1979), the first Canadian play written specifically for young children;
L’Ogrelet (
The Ogreling, 1997), which was translated into 13 languages;
Le bruit des os qui craquent (
The Sound of Cracking Bones, 2009), a play about child soldiers; and
Gretel et Hansel (2013), a retelling of the classic fairy tale that examines the emotional intensity of sibling relationships.
“Children always understand a lot more than we think,” she says. “They have great moral strength, and they’re amazingly receptive to innovative forms and bold ideas.”
Suzanne Lebeau’s awards and distinctions include the Prix Athanase-David (Prix du Québec), Gascon-Thomas Award (National Theatre School of Canada), Prix RIDEAU Hommage, and a career grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. In 1998, the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie made her a Knight of the Ordre de la Pléiade for her lifetime body of work.