Carole Fréchette (born 1949) is a Canadian playwright. She won the Siminovitch Prize in 2002. To date she has written more than a dozen plays including The Four Lives of Marie, The Seven Days of Simon Labrosse, Helen's Necklace, John and Beatrice, The Little Room at the Top of the Stairs, and most recently: Thinking of Yu.
Career
Fréchette studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada from 1970 to 1973. She became involved in political and feminist theatre as well as collective writing which was flourishing at that time in Quebec. In 1974, she joined the feminist theatre group called the Theatre des cuisines (Kitchen Theatre Group) and participated in three productions: Nous aurons les enfants que nous voulons, Moman travaille pas, a trop d'ouvrage and As-tu vu ? Les maisons s'emportent! It was in this context that she began writing for the theatre, as part of a group effort by the women involved.
The Kitchen Theatre experiment came to an end in the early 1980s and Fréchette undertook graduate studies in dramatic arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal. It was there that she wrote her first single-authored play:Baby Blues which was staged in 1989 at the Theatre d'Aujourd'hui (principal playhouse for contemporary Quebec writers in Montreal). Her second play, The Four Lives of Marie, translated by John Murrell and published by Playwrights Canada Press, won the Governor General's Award for French-language drama in 1995. This play constituted a turning point in Fréchette's career as a playwright. It was first produced in English in Toronto, Ontario, in 1997 and then in French in Montreal and Paris in 1998. The same year, her third play, Elisa's Skin was staged in Montreal. This was immediately followed by The Seven Days of Simon Labrosse which saw productions in Canada, Belgium and France.
Since then, Fréchette's work has continued unabated (five more full-length plays and numerous short plays). She has been translated into over twenty languages and is presented to audiences the world over. She has also written two novels for young adults Carmen and In the Key of Do, which have also been translated into several languages. Her work has won several prizes, in Canada and abroad. Many of her plays have been broadcast over the radio in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. The Seven Days of Simon Labross and John and Beatrice were adapted for television. Fréchette has also been active in the theatre world in Quebec. From 1994 to 1999, she was president of the "Centre des auteurs dramatiques", a professional association of playwrights devoted to promoting French language Quebec theatre.
Plays published in English
Fréchette, Carole. (2002). Three Plays. [The Four Lives of Marie, Elisa's Skin, Seven Days in the Life of Simon Labrosse].Translated by John Murrell. Playwrights Canada Press, Toronto. Fréchette, Carole. (2005). Two Plays. [John and Beatrice – Helen's Necklace]. Translated by John Murrell. Playwrights Canada Press, Toronto. Fréchette, Carole. (2010). Earthbound. Translated by John Murrell. In FORSYTH, Louise H., Anthology of Quebec Women's Plays in English Translation Vol. 3, 2004–2008, Playwrights Canada Press, Toronto. Fréchette, Carole. (2012). The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs & Thinking of You. Translated by John Murrell. Playwrights Canada Press, Toronto.
Publications in original French
Theatre
Baby Blues, Éditions les Herbes Rouges, Montréal, 1989. Les Quatre morts de Marie, Éditions Actes Sud- Papiers, Paris, 1998. La peau d'Élisa. Éditions Leméac/ Actes Sud - Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 1998. Les sept jours de Simon Labrosse. Éditions Leméac /Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 1999. Le collier d'Hélène. Éditions Lansman, Carnières, 2002. Violette sur la terre. Éditions Leméac-Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 2002. Jean et Béatrice. Éditions Leméac- Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 2002. Route 1 (pièce courte), in Fragments d'humanité. Éditions Lansman, Carnières, 2004. La Pose (pièce courte), in La Famille. Éditions de L'avant-scène – La Comédie Française, Paris, 2007. La petite pièce en haut de l'escalier. Éditions Leméac/Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 2008. Sérial Killer et autres pièces courtes. Éditions Leméac/Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 2008. Entrefilet, Éditions Leméac/Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 2012. Je pense à Yu, Éditions Leméac/Actes-Sud Papiers, Montréal et Paris, 2012