Black Theatre Workshop and Imago Theatre are two of Montreal's most renowned anglophone theatre companies. They are also part of a Montreal cultural scene that addresses political issues through art, using their artistic mandates to put race and gender politics on the stage. This spring, the two companies are collaborating for random, a play by U.K. playwright debbie tucker green. random is a one-woman play starring Lucinda Davis that tells the story of a Black family dealing with the aftermath of the murder of their son. The Daily sat down with Micheline Chevrier, the play's director and Imago Theatre's artistic director, to discuss the importance of creating a platform for these political and personal stories.

The McGill Daily (MD): Could you explain the history of Imago Theatre?

Micheline Chevrier (MC): Imago Theatre produces plays that highlight the feminine perspective. We put stories on stage that are either by women or about women. We also look at contemporary, current issues that concern mostly an urban environment because we're a Montreal-based theatre company. Finally, we also make a point [of] put[ting] diversity on stage - so the stories involve more than the white perspective. We're always looking at how cultures intersect, how they connect, how they clash sometimes.

MD: Why is it important for artists to have these spaces, in terms of being a Black artist or a [female] artist?

MC: I think that in a large part of the Western world, the perspective has been for a long time - not unlike history and not unlike the press - very male and very white. I think certain theatres now, especially the more independent theatres, have a role to play in bringing to light certain playwrights that would not normally be given the platform, or the stories that wouldn't normally be given the platform. That in turn gives an opportunity for artists of all kinds of cultures to get to work and to better their practice, and I think that's an important thing for us to have on our stage, especially in a city like Montreal.

MD: random only has one performer, but she plays multiple characters. Is there a significance in that?

MC: It's interesting, solo performance - you'll often have straight storytelling, one person telling you a story, one character's perspective. [But] you will have solo performances sometimes where the actor incarnates several characters, and I find those particularly charming and challenging and engaging. After a while you don't realize that you're only looking at one performer - the story and the characters come to life in such a real way that you feel you're seeing them in their bedroom when there's no bedroom to look at. I think there is something about that kind of storytelling that can be quite magical.

MD: The play itself also deals with youth violence and systemic racism. How can theatre be used as a tool for starting these kinds of conversations?

MC: I think that, again, there is something very immediate about theatre. Film certainly can trigger an enormous amount of conversation, so can television - any kind of good storytelling will trigger good conversation. What I find particularly moving about theatre is that it happens in the immediacy of that contact between performer and audience, and then you have a chance to be physically in the room with the story. So that you're having the experience, [and] it happens only once - that performance will never happen again.

I've seen very strong visceral responses from audiences who are eager to talk about what they've experienced, which is why we always have a talk back after every performance, where people can engage either in the story, or their own experiences that relate to the story. Or [maybe] they want to talk about the process of producing such a play. A variety of questions can arise - the power is in that connection.

MD: Speaking of connections, Imago Theatre and Black Theatre Workshop are teaming up with Leave Out Violence for this play. Could you explain more about that?

MC: At Imago, we always try to find a community organization with whom to partner or to have a conversation, depending on the play we're putting on and the issues that are being put forward. In this case, Leave Out Violence felt like a perfect match because it's [for] violence that affects youth. They are coming to the performance with some of the kids who've gone through the program with love and have come out the other side, and are now fighting against violence. Also, the art that [those participants] produced is going to be presented [at the show].

MD: One final question, out of curiosity - how come the play is called random?

MC: Basically, the playwright wrote the play in response to a series of stabbings and killings in London in 2007 [and] 2008. And literally in the Guardian they called them random stabbings. These were not planned attacks, these were events that occurred in the moment. So she borrowed that term. There were lots of innocent kids who died there - they were not targeted, they were randomly killed. [The sister] does say in the play, "random don't happen to everybody, so why did random have to happen to him?" [It's about] the injustice of it.

- This interview has been edited for length and clarity.