VIERGE Comes to Ottawa's GCTC

Great Canadian Theatre Company will close its 24-25 50th Anniversary Season with Vierge - from award-winning Montreal playwright Rachel Mutombo. Running March 18-30 at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre, Vierge is directed by Dian Marie Bridge and is a co-production with Montreal's Black Theatre Workshop.

Vierge explores the world through the lens of four Congolese-Canadian teenagers. Sixteen-year-old Divine's family joins a new church, where she makes new friends and learns that the world around her is not as it seems. The girls navigate Christianity, virginity, and teenage hormones with a mix of humour and heart.

“I am excited to highlight a talented young writer such as Rachel. She brings a fresh Black voice to the stage.” says director Dian Marie Bridge. “Vierge explores Black life beyond trauma, power dynamics, the influence of the church, and the often hidden challenges faced by young Black girls. This work confronts memory, internalized blame, and predatory behaviour, capturing a too-soon coming of age with depth and authenticity.”

Mutombo is an award-winning actor and writer and an acting graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada. Vierge, her breakout play, was awarded first prize in Infinitheatre's Write-On-Q playwriting competition as well as recently being shortlisted for the Quebec Writers' Federation Prize for Playwriting.

“I wrote this play to celebrate and honour the resilience, the courage and the hilarity of African women,” says Mutombo. “In the face of adversity, we rise, we find joy, we dance, we laugh.”

Vierge will run for two weeks at GCTC's Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre.