Jean Duceppe © Guy Tardif

"Theatre must celebrate the audience. I want to make them laugh or make them cry; I want to reach out to them, to touch them, as in life." This brief quote provides some insight into what motivated Jean Duceppe to envision and create a theatre driven by emotion and identity, a popular theatre in the very noblest sense of the term, a true mirror in which audiences come face-to-face with themselves. His aim, recalls actor Paul Hébert, was to give the people of Quebec a theatre they could call their own.

The year was 1973, and Jean Duceppe decided Montrealers should experience productions of Charbonneau et le Chef and La mort d'un commis voyageur (Death of a Salesman) that had just played at the Trident Theatre in Quebec City. And so he founded his own theatre company, from the outset infusing it with the passion, instinct and drive for which he was known. The company proved a hit from that first season, in which it sold 152 262 tickets at the Théâtre Port-Royal of Montreal's Place des Arts.

Jean Duceppe in Charbonneau et le Chef © François Brunelle

Thirty-five years later, more than 5 500 000 spectators have attended the company's 178 productions, not only in Montreal but throughout Quebec, with additional performances by the touring company Tournées Jean Duceppe. The works of numerous local and international playwrights have at some juncture been presented, leaving an indelible mark on the theatre scene.

Compagnie Jean Duceppe has always showcased contemporary works that address life's essential themes, as well as cultural and social preoccupations. These include classic plays from writers such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Eugene O'Neill, and George Bernard Shaw. It has also remained open to playwrights from Quebec and Canada. The company's audiences have enjoyed works by Michel Tremblay, Marie Laberge, Françoise Loranger, Gratien Gélinas, Marcel Dubé, Michel Marc Bouchard, John Thomas McDonough, Antonine Maillet, Steve Galluccio, Claude Meunier and Louis Saia, Serge Boucher, Evelyne de la Chenelière.

Jean Duceppe passed away in December 1990. The artistic direction has been assumed since then by Michel Dumont, who took it on with all his characteristic gusto and energy. The management of Place des Arts renamed Théâtre Port-Royal Théâtre Jean-Duceppe in 1991.

Compagnie Jean Duceppe presents its 36th season in 2008-09. As its driving force and inspiration, Jean Duceppe provided the momentum necessary for it to become one of the province's most respected cultural institutions. Those who followed in his footsteps, with Michel Dumont and Louise Duceppe at the helm, insure the original spirit is perpetuated. Every production by Compagnie Jean Duceppe stands as living testimony to a theatrical legacy of creativity, invention, intelligence and quality, as the company continues to respond to the essential and fundamental needs of the Quebec community.