Bio
Vincent de Tourdonnet has been focussed on his career as a writer/director of musical theatre since 1985. His epic musical Pélagie, co-written with Allen Cole, was co-produced in 2004 by CanStage in Toronto and The National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Vincent then directed a 2005 Eastern Canada tour of Pélagie, produced by Two Planks and a Passion with a bilingual cast alternating performances in French and English. Starring Québec chanteuse Marie Denise Pelletier, it was translated by Antonine Maillet, author of the novel Pélagie-la-charrette, on which the musical is based.
Vincent’s first production of Snappy Tales, Short Satirical Musicals, (book, lyrics & direction) at the Factory Theatre in Toronto, was nominated in 2003 for 7 Dora awards. In 2004 he directed a second production for Talk is Free Theatre. Currently, he is expanding a musical based on comic writings of Chekhov, How to Get Rid of a Monster, with composer Jane Miller. Their first version toured Southern Ontario with Smile last spring.
Book, lyrics and direction for other projects stretch back over 20 years and across Canada. The Joan of Arc musical Jeanne in Montreal premiered at the Saidye Bronfman Theatre, and then went on to large-scale commercial production at La Place des Arts and La Capitole in Quebec City in 1997, and was seen by over 100,000 people. de Tourdonnet also taught musical theatre writing at Long Island University in New York City. Having moved to Toronto in 1998, Vincent is part of a growing number of people who see the bicycle as fun, smart transportation.