Trevor Barrette

queer theatremaker, performer and stage manager based in Montreal

about me

My name is Trevor Barrette (he/him) and I am a queer theatremaker, director, writer/composer, performer and stage manager of French-settler ancestry. I am based in Montreal (Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang) where I live with my husband and two black cats (adorable cat photos available upon request).

Upon graduating from Montreal's John Abbott College’s Professional Theatre program in 2011, I founded the award-winning, little-company-that-could KaleidoscopeMTL, for which I directed 10 productions including four of my own original musicals and one site-specific play (Memento Mori, a support group for the dead). After a year of studies at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, my superhero musicals, Captain Aurora and its sequel, Captain Aurora II: A New Dawn, performed to sold-out houses at the Montreal Fringe Festival in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Since 2015, my work has been presented at Centaur Theatre’s Wildside Festival, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s Young Creators’  Unit's Showcase, Segal Centre’s Academy, CETM Inc.'s Next Wave Festival, Playshed Theatre’s WRK’N’PRGRSS, Freestanding Room’s Shortstanding Festival and MainLine Theatre’s Fringe Encore Series. This past winter, a workshop presentation of my queer, musical-within-a-musical One Day was produced by Playwrights' Workshop Montreal and presented by the Segal Centre (after being slated for the COVID-cancelled 2nd Annual Queer Reading Series presented by Centaur Theatre).

I have assisted Gordon Greenberg on The Angel and the Sparrow (now known as Piaf/Dietrich) for the Segal Centre and Zachary Fraser on Coma Unplugged for Talisman Theatre. Last summer, I directed and choreographed the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre’s production of The Sages of Chelm for the Segal Centre. I am currently assistant directing Les Belles-Soeurs at the Stratford Festival with director Esther Jun.

As a performer, I have had the pleasure of performing with the National Arts Centre, the Segal Centre, Centaur Theatre, Repercussion Theatre, Scapegoat Carnivale, Geordie Productions and Janus Productions (Edinburgh Fringe), among others. I have performed in workshops and readings with Teesri Duniya Theatre, Infinithéâtre, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal and the National Theatre School of Canada, among others. I have played a dog twice (one TYA, one NSFW) and am often cast as the innocent central character who has been sentenced to death (both figuratively and literally).

As a stage manager, I have had the opportunity of working with Scapegoat Carnivale (PSM), CABAL Theatre (PSM and SM), Troisième espace théâtre (SM), Centaur Theatre (SM upcoming and apprentice), the Segal Centre (ASM and apprentice), The 20K Collective/Kidoons Network/Wyrd Productions (virtual SM)  and Nightswimming/safeword collective/Harlot X (virtual SM), among others.

I teach regularly at the Segal Centre Academy and Geordie Theatre School and have taught workshops at McGill University, Explorations Learning, Hope and Cope, Pointe-Claire Senior Services and several schools in the Greater Montreal area through the English Language Arts Network's ArtInspires program. 

I have served the Montreal theatre community as past-President of the Montreal English Theatre Awards, past-Vice-President of the Quebec Drama Federation, and past member-at-large for the West Island Student Theatre Association and the Montreal Clown Festival. I am a proud alumnus of Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s Young Creators’ Unit.

I am currently developing two new works: Erwin's Many Worlds, a digital/installation piece conceived at Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s national Digital Dramaturgy Initiative in 2021, and A Curious Life, a new musical based on the life and legacy of Dr. Brenda Milner, developed with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec.

artist statement

As a multidisciplinary artist, I approach the search for a project’s fundamental question or undeniable human truth from a holistic space. As a director, I am a curator of moments. 

I seek projects that toy with our sense of time, space and causality, inhabited by characters whose dreams, memories, expectations and destinies are in tightly woven conflict. I am fascinated by the inherently metatheatrical energy of an ensemble and its ability to offer a refractive interpretation of a project's theme. My research-centred and text-based approach engenders comprehensive world-building, providing a vibrant playground for performers to explore and master. I favour worlds that engage with a myriad of historical and cultural contexts, realities, narratives and dramatic styles. I love the play that can be found in the grey matter between worlds! 

I am committed to providing a safer creative space for my collaborators. I endeavour to promote an environment where individuals are invited to bring their authentic selves, accessibility needs, varied identities and lived experiences, to the room without prejudice. I encourage a compassionate, sustainable and challenging practice that is sacred, but not precious.

My joy-forward projects promise kaleidoscopic vision, dynamic timescapes, ensemble casting and a resourceful production design, immersing the audience in novel and exciting universes where intimate and sublime transformations can occur, cultivating in each patron a childlike sense of wonder, curiosity and possibility.