Marie-Ève Fontaine

Artist and Creator of the play Cet été qui chantait

TCM plays an important role in my life as a professional artist. It's an extraordinary space for collaboration, where I've had the chance to create on numerous occasions in recent years. I'm thinking in particular of the creation of the show Cet été qui chantait. This is my most memorable collaboration with TCM, which has been there from the beginning of the project. Inspired by Gabrielle Roy's book, I wrote the play over the course of many work phases that took place mainly in Saint-Boniface, bringing together artists from across the country. Thanks to the unfailing support of Geneviève Pelletier and TCM, the show took shape and was presented as a TCM/Marie-Ève Fontaine co-production in 2023 to packed houses in Winnipeg, Petite-Rivière-Saint-François and Ottawa. In 2025, the show will continue its tour of Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick to showcase Franco-Manitoban creativity.

- Marie-Ève Fontaine

Wilgis Agossa

Artist and Creator of the Black and Proud project

In September 2010, having just arrived in Manitoba, I discovered the Théâtre Cercle Molière (TCM). I was welcomed there. I saw a theatre scene that was dynamic, educational and increasingly diverse over the years and made a place for myself there, a place that I still share with joy and enthusiasm. TCM's openness has also been instrumental for me in implementing the Black and Proud initiative that I'm so happy to have dreamed up. Thanks to its team, the project continues to grow, becoming ever more rallying.

Since it was founded, TCM has been the vibrant heart of the French-language theatre scene. With rich and varied programming, TCM promotes culture, encourages reflection, and creates unforgettable meeting spaces. Today, on the eve of its 100^th anniversary, Théâtre Cercle Molière needs us more than ever to continue to let us dream. This is why I invite you to give generously to TCM, for our theatre.

- Wilgis Agossa

Bertrand Nayet

Playwright and Director of Under the Linden Trees

“Would we know ourselves at all without the arts?”

Gabrielle Roy addresses these words to each and every one of us, and to humanity as a whole. The arts enable us to enter directly into contact with the spirit and experience of a person, a community, a people or a civilisation. They allow us to continue the long conversation begun by our ancestors in the mists of time. Aren't we amazed, even overwhelmed, by the prehistoric cave paintings, the ruins of ancient cities, the sculptures, paintings and stories of centuries past and those of contemporary artists here and on the other side of the world?

Without art, there can be no humanity.

I was only five or six when my love affair with the theatre began. I was seized by the intuition/emotion that the gestures, words and symbols presented on stage spoke a truer, more intimate and more universal truth than any other.

In 2025, Théâtre Cercle Molière will be one hundred years old. It's a longevity that's both improbable and admirable, and a testament to the commitment, determination and creativity of everyone who has worked with the troupe. Over the years, TCM has become one of Manitoba's flagship Francophone institutions, enabling the community to come together, share great emotions and reflect on the human condition.

I am deeply grateful to TCM for the emotions I felt during the performances, for the great exhilaration I experienced on stage and for the artistic and financial support I received during the creation of Under the Linden Trees. This play would certainly not have seen the light of day without the presence and help of our beloved theatre troupe.

- Bertrand Nayet