After studying singing at the Conservatoire de musique de Chicoutimi and acting at the National Theatre School of Canada, Gervais Gaudreault continued to train as an actor at Atelier-Studio Kaléidoscope, directed by Marthe Mercure. In 1973, he began to work with various Montreal companies. He was then invited by Gilles Maheu to join Les Enfants du Paradis (which later became Carbone 14), where he furthered his research on voice and space.

In 1975, with Suzanne Lebeau, Gervais Gaudreault founded Le Carrousel and acted in the company’s early productions. He was soon bitten by the directing bug; in 1981, he directed Une lune entre deux maisons, Le Carrousel’s first play to be produced internationally. In 1987, he directed Gil, adapted from the novel by Howard Buten Quand j’avais cinq ans je m’ai tué. The play received the award for best production for young audiences from the Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre (AQCT). Between 1989 and 1991, he directed Comment vivre avec les hommes quand on est un géant and Conte du jour et de la nuit at Le Carrousel, as well as Baby Blues by Carole Fréchette at Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui. In 1990, he co-wrote the screenplay for Une histoire inventée, by Quebec filmmaker Marc-André Forcier.

Gervais Gaudreault then directed Conte d’enfants réels (1993), which received the award for best production for young audiences from the AQCT and the Académie québécoise du théâtre, and Salvador (1994) by Suzanne Lebeau. These two shows went on to long and successful international careers and encouraged Quebec and foreign theatres to co-produce the following Le Carrousel productions, all directed by Gaudreault: Petit Navire by Normand Chaurette (1996), L’Autoroute by Dominick Parenteau-Lebeuf (1999), Le pays des genoux by Geneviève Billette (2005), and L’Ogrelet, Petit Pierre, Souliers de sable, and Le bruit des os qui craquent by Suzanne Lebeau (1997, 2002, 2006 2009). He also directed Contes à rebours (1997), a montage of tales for adults by his partner, Suzanne Lebeau, and Le Cid by Corneille at Théâtre du Trident in Quebec City (2004); collaborated with the Mexican company Marionetas de la Esquina to mount the French-language première of Una luna entre dos casas; and directed Je suis d’un would be pays by François Godin at Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (2007). In 2008, he directed Michel Vinaver’s Dissident, il va sans dire for Tréteaux de Haute-Alsace de Mulhouse and Nous étions une fois… for Douze à table, presented at Eva B as part of OFFTA (2008). Since Le Carrousel was founded, Gervais Gaudreault has directed a dozen productions in foreign languages (English, Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin).

Gervais Gaudreault is also an experienced teacher; he taught vocal techniques at Collège Lionel-Groulx from 1992 to 2001, he is regularly invited to direct public readings at the National Theatre School of Canada, and he teaches advanced vocal techniques to many experienced actors. His expertise has led to frequent requests to teach in France, Mexico, and Argentina, at institutions such as the École supérieure d’art dramatique de Strasbourg, the Centre national des écritures du spectacle - La Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, and CEUVOZ of Mexico.

To offer an opening to the arts and provide a truer understanding of his creative work, Gervais Gaudreault acts as curator in the context of the company’s cultural activities. In 1985, he created Traces, an exhibition marking Le Carrousel’s 10th anniversary, and in 1993 Lorsque le conte et la réalité se jouent l’un de l’autre, in conjunction with the show Contes d’enfants réels. In 1998, for the Montreal première of L’Ogrelet, he produced La forêt s’expose; this exhibition of contemporary art was shown again in Mont-Laurier (2001). As part of the tour premièring Petit Pierre in France, Gervais Gaudreault curated Entre les lignes – parcours d’une mise en scène, an exhibition that provides insight into the world of the Petit Pierre production team, and Pas à pas, an installation welcoming audiences for Souliers de sable.

Photos, and illustrations:
Manon André, Bernard Bélanger, Véro Boncompagni, Caroline Bourbonnais, Bernard Brault, Nathalie Caron, Maxime Côté, Marc Cramer, Jacques Driol, Yves Dubé, Stéphane Dumais, Marc Dussault, Matthew Fournier, Émilie Gagné-Prud’homme, François-Xavier Gaudreault, Alain Gauvin, Sophie Grenier, Jean-François Hamon, Josée Lambert, Bruno Marcil, Bernard Préfontaine, Olivier Prialnic, Isabelle Rancier, Yves Renaud,Daniel Robillard, Marie-Claude Rodrigue, Pierre Roussel, Jean-Christophe Verbert, Chen Yu-Wei, Izabel Zimmer.

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E-mail : theatre@lecarrousel.net - Telephone: 514 529-6309