Female team tackling Empire

- DISPATCH from THE EMPIRE- 

Susanna Fournier’s much anticipated THE EMPIRE trilogy charges into Toronto with back to back productions in December/January and a presentation in association with Luminato in June 2019.

To satisfy modern cravings for binge-worthy, episodic stories, The Empire follows the rise and fall of modern imperialism through 500 years of an imagined society over the course of three very distinct, but connected plays. This multi-platformed trilogy boasts three theatrical presentations, accompanying podcasts, and an immersive, in-game creative marketing campaign.

Contrary to popular belief, launching an empire is not a man’s game and PARADIGM productions epic project is led by a female producing team, Alison Wong (b current, Obeah Opera, Small Wooden Shoe) Susanna Fournier, and Claire Burns (Storefront Theatre, Feminist Fuck It Festival, Krapp’s Last Tape) and designed by TRIGA, a newly formed female design collective encompassing award-winning designers, Shannon Lea Doyle (Dora Mavor Moore Award, Pauline McGibbon Award) Michelle Tracey (Soulpepper, Convergence Theatre) and Alexandra Lord (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Soulpepper) who will create the extraordinary live experience of the world of The Empire in a long-form, collaborative design process with seven other designers.
 

Fournier’s feminist gaze subverts popular notions of nation building, calling into question the prescribed gender roles perpetuated through our modern history and flipping the concept of a modern epic on its head through it’s unsustainably grotesque, sensual and opium addled representation of the Age of Man.