
NEW CREATION:
aSH, a piece by Aurélien Bory for Shantala Shivalingappa
PRODUCTIONS
ONISHKA

"Relearning Anishnabemowin becomes a way for me to regain a power, to nurture my connection to my family and my culture. It awakens something important deep inside of me. Like the feeling of activating a memory. Or rekindling a fire. It's an act of love and resistance at the same time." - Emilie Monnet
© Christian Blais
At the intersection of theater, performance and media arts, the practice of Émilie Monnet is most often presented in the form of interdisciplinary theater or performative installations. Her artistic approach favors collaborative and multilingual creative processes, and explores themes of memory, history and transmission.
As a committed author, actress and director, she founded Onishka Productions in 2011 in order to forge ties between artists from different Indigenous peoples, regardless of their disciplines. A graduate of the indigenous artist residency at the National Theater School of Canada, she has also been the resident artist at Espace GO for three years. Of Anishinaabe and French descent, Émilie resides between the Outaouais and Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyaang / Montreal.
TEXT, CO-DIRECTION, PERFORMANCE Émilie Monnet
CO-DIRECTION Emma Tibaldo and Sarah Williams
SOUND DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE Jackie Gallant
PRE-RECORDED VOICES Véronique Thusky, Thérèse Thelesh Bégin
SET DESIGN Simon Guilbault
LIGHTING Lucie Bazzo
COSTUMES Caroline Monnet
VIDEO Clark Ferguson
CULTURAL AND ANISHINAABEMOWIN LANGUAGE CONSULTANT Véronique Thusky
TRANSLATION DRAMATURGY Maureen Labonté
TECHNICAL DIRECTION AND SOUND MANAGEMENT
Guillaume Roberts-Cambron
STAGE MANAGER Suzanne Crocker or Gaspard Philippe
DURATION 70 minutes (no intermission)
CREW 2 performers + 3 technicians
SET-UP 16 hours (excluding pre-hanging)
WIDTH/DEPTH/HEIGHT
10m (33’) / 10m (33’) / 5m (17’)
(360° pentagone shaped stage)
AUDIENCE 75 to 150
OUTREACH
- Talkbacks
- Tea sharing after the show
- Podcast
In Anishinaabemowin, “okinum” means dam. In deciphering a recurring dream about a giant beaver, writer, co-director and performer, Émilie Monnet, discovers how to break down interior barriers and trust in the power of dreams and intuition. Okinum is an ode to reclaiming language and reconnecting to one’s ancestors.
A captivating combination of performance, live sound, and visual storytelling, the play is a circular and immersive experience that interweaves three languages: English, French and Anishinaabemowin. Featuring a score performed live by musician Jackie Gallant, this captivating monologue deftly combines elements of autobiographical fiction and documentary theater. Throughout the performance, dreams and memory flow into one another across time and space.
Co-production of the English version: IMAGO theatre, Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre, Playwrights Workshop Montreal.
“It’s hard not to be moved by this piece as an act of cultural reclamation and as a harmonization of body and spirit”- Christian St-Pierre, Le Devoir, October 10th 2018

Photographer : Pascal Gely

Photographer : Pascal Gely

Photographer : Pascal Gely

Photographer : Pascal Gely
MARGUERITE - 2022
INTERDISCIPLINARY THEATER
PERFORMERS Anna Beaupré Moulounda, Catherine Dagenais-Savard, Émilie Monnet, Tatiana Zinga Botao
TEXT Émilie Monnet
DRAMATURGY Marilou Craft
STAGE DIRECTION Émilie Monnet, Angélique Willkie
STAGING COLLABORATION Mélanie Demers
MUSIC Laura Ortman, Frédéric Auger
SET DESIGN Max-Otto Fauteux
LIGHTING Julie Basse
VIDEO Caroline Monnet
SOUND Frédéric Auger
ÉMILIE’S SONG ARRANGEMENTS Dominique Fils-Aimé
POW WOW SONG Black Bear Singers
COSTUMES Korina Emmerich, Yso
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Érika Maheu-Chapman
VOICE Dominique Cyrille
VIDEO INTEGRATOR Dominique Hawry
SOUND MANAGER Frédéric Auger
VIDEO MANAGER Marie-Frédérique Gravel
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Romane Bocquet
SURTITLES Elaine Normandeau
TOUR MANAGER AND SURTITLES MANAGER Élise di Pierro
PRODUCTION Dominique Sarrazin
PRODUCTION Productions Onishka
COPRODUCTION Espace Go
CONTRIBUTION TO THE CREATION Madeleine Sarr, Aïcha Bastien N’diaye, Letícia Tórgo, Soleil Launière
In 1740, the trial of Marguerite Duplessis took place in Quebec. Bought to be sold, she had to be put on a merchant ship bound for Martinique. This was the first time in the history of New France that an indigenous person took legal action. It was also the first time that a person who had been enslaved tried to have her right to freedom recognized. Inevitably, Marguerite lost her case and was taken to Martinique. What happened to her afterwards is unknown.
It is Marguerite’s fire that inspired this show. It is the same fire that burns in all the Marguerites, those of yesterday and today, who fight to have justice recognized. It is the fire of regeneration and recovered memory.
Marguerite was presented in the official program of the 77th Festival d’Avignon, on five sold-out evenings.
DURATION 70 minutes (no intermission)
CREW 4 performers + 4 tech crew members
+ 1 stage manager + 1 tour director
SET-UP 16 hours (excluding pre-hanging)
WIDTH/DEPTH/HEIGHT
13m (43’) / 9.5m (31’) / 5.65m (19’)
AUDIENCE SIZE Medium venues
OUTREACH
- Talkbacks
- Podcast Marguerite: la traversée
- Dramaturgical files
BALADO - Marguerite: la traversée (FRENCH)
MARGUERITE TRAILER - FESTIVAL D'AVIGNON

Photographer : Helena Valles

Photographer : Helena Valles
NIGAMON/TUNAI - 2024
INTERDISCIPLINARY THEATER
IN CREATION
CO-AUTHOR, CO-DIRECTOR, PERFORMER Émilie Monnet
CO-AUTHOR, CO-DIRECTOR, PERFORMER Waira Nina
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Sarah Williams
VIDEO ARTIST Mélanie O’bomsawin
SOUND DESIGNER Leonel Vasquez
MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGNER Frannie Holder
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND STAGE MANAGER Wanderson Santos
SET DESIGN ASSISTANT Fernando Maya Meneses
DRAMATURGE Yohayna Hernández
SOUND ENGINEER Frédéric Auger
The words Nigamon and Tunai mean “the chant” in the Anishinaabemowin and Inga languages. NIGAMON/TUNAI is a poetic manifesto by Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina, inspired by the bonds of friendship and solidarity between them, and by the exchanges and collaborations they have been developing over the past twelve years between indigenous communities in the North and South.
At the crossroads of friendship and resistance for the protection of water and against extractivism in their respective territories, the two women invite us to a precious sharing nourished by the living knowledge, cosmogonies and struggles that link them. In Canada, mining and oil companies still thrive, while over there, in the Amazon, on the territory of the Inga people, they destroy entire living environments to plunder their resources - including copper, central to Anishinaabe culture.
In NIGAMON/TUNAI, Émilie Monnet and Waira Nina experiment with their voices, their breath and their bodies. Interweaving immersive performance and audio documentary among indigenous knowledge and voices, this new theatrical work reveals fascinating resonances between territories.
WHERE TO SEE PRODUCTIONS ONISHKA NEXT
May 14th, 2024 - World Premiere : Nigamon / Tunai, Espace GO, Montreal, QC