Christine Rodriguez to Present Book Signing of SIMONE, HALF AND HALF at Librairie St-Henri Books

Librairie St-Henri Books will host the book signing and Q & A of Simone, Half and Half, a play by Christine Rodriguez for young audiences about a mixed-race Montreal teen that refuses to let others tell her where she belongs.

Written as a contemporary take on Black and mixed-race identity in Québec, the play draws from playwright Christine Rodriguez's personal experience as a woman of African descent, born and raised in Montreal.

From Christine Rodriguez: "I'm 55 years old and I'm still not sure what my place is in this province. I feel like my identity is constantly being questioned. Am I Québecoise enough? Am I Black enough? Ultimately, my strategy has been to shut out the outside voices and to follow my heart."

With the support of the Cole Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Playwrights' Workshop Montreal, Simone, Half and Half was commissioned by the former artistic director of Black Theatre Workshop, Quincy Armorer. The play toured to Montreal area high schools in February 2020 to great acclaim and received four 2020 Montreal English Theatre (META) nominations.

From Quincy Armorer, who also wrote the play's Foreword: "I have long been obsessed with the spectrum of mixed-race heritage and how the many labels and categories used to define me never felt fully accurate or complete. I thought often about my ancestors, many of whom were being omitted or ignored whenever one aspect of my identity was prioritized or favored over all the others. It was during my many conversations with Christine that it became clear to me that the embryo of Simone, Half and Half was growing in my brain, asking for Christine to be its surrogate."

Simone, Half and Half was recently published and now available on-line at Published by Playwrights Canada Press and at Libraire St-Henri Books.

From Annie Gibson, Publisher of Playwrights Canada Press: "I fell in love with this play the moment I met Simone. She's figuring it all out but has the confidence to try new things. Playwrights Canada Press is exceptionally proud to be publishing this book so everyone can follow Simone's journey."

Writer Christine Rodriguez will be autographing copies of Simone, Half and Half

and will also be available for Q & A, alongside Quincy Armorer.

6 pm - 7 pm on Saturday, November 12th

Libraire St-Henri Books, 516 Rue Thérien, Montreal QC

BIO / CHRISTINE RODRIGUEZ

is a screenwriter from Montréal who creates from a mixed-race, Afro-Trinidadian perspective as a means to explore identity and self-expression in an ever-changing, multicultural world. She is the recipient of two Rogers - Black Screen Office development grants: the first to write the pilot for her TV drama Nina's '80s; the second to write a pilot for her political sci-fi drama The Good King. Christine's short film, Fuego, which she wrote, directed and produced in English, French and Spanish, was an official selection at numerous festivals in Toronto, the US and France, including: the 2021 American Black Film Festival and the July 2022 NewFilmmakers LA Festival (InFocus: Canadian Cinema). The film earned her nominations for Filmmaker of the year by Gala Dynastie and for the LOLA Award at the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival. Christine also earned a coveted spot in the first cohort of the Warner Bros. Discovery Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program to write a feature version of Fuego. As a playwright, her one-woman show, Dreaming in Autism, received third prize at Ottawa Little Theatre's 72nd National One-Act Playwriting Competition. Her most recent theatrical work, Simone, Half and Half, has just been published by Playwrights Canada Press.

A current resident of the Norman Jewison Writers' Lab at the Canadian Film Centre, Christine holds a Certificate of Professional Screenwriting from UCLA and an MBA from McGill University. She is also working to complete a Major in Hispanic Studies at Université de Montréal.

 

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