Michaela Di Cesare has been waiting a long time to see her latest play on the stage. Almost six years to be exact.
“There have been so many drafts since 2017,” muses Di Cesare. “But I am so happy it’s finally getting on its feet.”
Extra/Beautiful/U was the winner of Infinithéâtre’s Write-on-Q playwriting competition in 2017. After delays due to COVID, a new artistic director, and long waits for good news about grant applications, Di Cesare’s play premiered at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre as part of its Brave New Looks Selection for 2023/2024.
Directed by Caitlin Murphy, and featuring Toni Ellwand, Cara Rebecca, Sean Ryan, Madeleine Scovil and Stephanie Torriani, the play centers on the story of five women as they shape each other’s lives, and affirm their own identities. A former Reality TV beauty queen needs reconstructive surgery after a violet car crash leaves her disfigured. Her surgeon turns out to be an old high school colleague; her nurse is a super fan; her mom is stressed out; her sister wants to live her own life. Cue transformative moments and five defiant spirits.
“I always call my plays comedies. The other day my director reacted, really, you call this a comedy? I guess it’s light at times and really dark at other times. It’s a dramedy. I hate the way the word sounds, but I guess it’s what I write,” Di Cesare comments.
“In 2017 I was looking at social media and influencers, and at the way the masses can be distracted by these figures. During COVID, influencer culture took an even bigger role in our lives. That’s what this play tackles,” she continues.
Di Cesare was playwright-in-residence at Centaur Theatre for the 2019/2020 season, and her play Successions premiered at the Centaur Theatre, winning the META for Outstanding New Text in 2018. Her debut play, 8 Ways My Mother Was Conceived, made its Montreal premiere at the 2011 Montreal Fringe Festival. Di Cesare went on to perform her one-woman show in Toronto, New York, Hudson, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Stratford.
Di Cesare’s next projects include a Spaghetti-Western-inspired play about the Garibaldi campaign and a baby.
Extra/Beautiful/U runs at the Centaur Theatre, at 453 Saint Francois Xavier Street in Old Montreal, until December 9, 2023. Tickets are available at centaurtheatre.com.
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