February 2012: Roland Mahé
Hats off to Roland Mahé – future pensioner of the Cercle Molière
We learned in January that Roland Mahé, at the helm of Le Cercle Molière for close to 45 years, was retiring. Difficult to believe, difficult to imagine the Cercle without him, although we have no doubt he will leave indelible marks of his long involvement on the entire theatre community as well as Canada’s francophones, well beyond the Manitoban border.
We often forget that the Cercle Molière, a member of the CCA since 1995, is the oldest theater troupe in Canada, no matter what the language. The Cercle Molière is one of Manitoba’s finest cultural flowers, driven by the most passionate of all: Roland Mahé.
Since 1970 Roland Mahé dreamt of turning the Cercle Molière into a professional troupe. Departing from the classical French repertoire, he dared to invite Michel Tremblay’s les Belles-Sœurs to the table. This initiative was a bit controversial, but above all, a great success. Controversy will not stop this man. We suspect he likes to rock the boat. After the success of les Belles-Sœurs, Roland Mahé placed his chips on Canadian creations and opened his theater to Franco-Manitoban playwrights… and he won the bet. Plays by Roger Auger, Jean-Pierre Dubé, Glenn Joyal, Irene Mahé, Real Cenerini, Claude Dorge, Marc Prescott and others were presented at the Cercle Molière with Manitoban actors.
Roland has also invested considerable energy to developing youth theatre. Thus in 1986, all youth and school activities were put under the umbrella of the Théâtre du Grand Cercle (TGC) directed by Irene Mahé, Roland’s youngest sister. It is these young people who one day become the audience, authors and actors of the theater Manitoba.
Roland Mahé could collapse under his awards but he remains humble. He was the first artist to receive the Prix Manitoba Award (1995) for his career and his contribution to the arts in the province. In 2001, the Association of Francophone Theatres in Canada awarded him the Marcus Prize, a distinction given to “a person who has made outstanding contributions to the development of theatre in French Canada.” In 2004 he received the l’Ordre des francophones d’Amérique and in 2009, the Order of Manitoba, the highest honor of the province.
What remains of 44 years of Roland Mahé at the helm of Cercle Molière?
“I believe that I managed to establish a connection between the franco-manitoban community and Le Cercle, between people and theatre. Our new theatre cost $10 million and $3 million of that came from the franco-manitoban community. ” Enough said!
Are you pessimistic or optimistic about the future Roland Mahé?
“Relative to the Cercle Molière, I am optimistic. Manitoban culture has deep roots and the Cercle Molière is firmly established therein. I have a little more concern with respect to funding cuts whose consequences could be severe. And in this context, one wonders what is the vision for the future of culture. ”
When you look at the legacy of Roland Mahé and the contribution of the Cercle Molière to Canadian culture, there is something to be proud of and perhaps make one dream of the future with a smile. As for Roland Mahe, something tells us he will not stray too far from the theater world … to our delight.
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Promise kept: @CanadianArts publishes its Provincial and Territorial Budgets Analysis, see http://t.co/dwo2Zusn5 months ago
CCA Publishes its 2012–2013 Analyses of Provincial and Territorial Budgets http://t.co/dwo2Zusn5 months ago