The discovery of Wajdi Mouawad's La mort est un cheval in the NST archives during my residency sparked an intense creative journey. Raw and allegorical, the text demanded more than direction — it called for embodiment, collaboration, and transformation.
Guided by directors Philippe Racine and Nini Bélanger, I immersed in a year of research, dissecting rhythm, structure, and the ethical pulse of the work. With dancer–choreographer Sona Pogossian, we explored the feminine and anger: metamorphosis - the project’s dramaturgical core. Composer and sound designer Laure Anderson shaped the piece’s sonic and visual universe, where light, breath, and silence collide.
The performers - Lebanese-Canadian actor Aida Sabra and Canadian-American dancer Neil Sochansky - embodied Emma and her counterpart through an interplay of body and voice, merging the physical and the allegorical. Together, technical collaborators Joanna Gourdin (scenography and costumes) and Armando Menicacci (technology and spatial design) transformed the prison setting into a shifting space of confinement and release.
Created in Montreal, the work united a team of neo-Montrealers around a voice confronting today’s fractured world - where love, violence, and exile coexist. Presented at Théâtre Aux Écuries during my artist residency (2024–25) and supported by the Montreal Arts Council & Menuentakuan Productions, the piece was recorded in radio format* at Studio Makina.
La mort est un cheval was a metamorphosis, a multidisciplinary exploration of identity, power, and transformation through embodied theatre. It affirmed my artistic path: to question, include, and transcend both self and collective.
This work embodies my artistic practice, a multidisciplinary, multicultural exploration of identity, power, and transformation. Facing today’s urgent realities with inclusivity and fearless engagement with otherness. Theatre as an act of endless renewal.
My deepest gratitude to my extraordinary team, to Théâtre Aux Écuries, and to the Montreal Arts Council for their unwavering trust.
And to the Author - thank you for the spark that set this creation in motion.
Text by W. Mouawad
Direction by V. Hovanisian
With
Aida Sabra & Neil Sochansky
Visual by M.D.Pettit
*Radio play available for listening upon request