THE STORY
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Beauty Will Save the World is a spiritual allegory for our time, suitable for the whole family, a seafaring adventure packed with satire, music, action, laughter, and tears, reminding us about the sacred things in life that make life worth living. The story is a thought-provoking cautionary tale about the importance of passing on beauty to the younger generation. Relationships once lost are found again as mothers, fathers, lovers, loners, sons, and daughters are tested to choose what they stand for and who they will stand with.
In the wake of a long since passed “Great Danger”, a teacher and her teenage son, and a veteran and his young daughter seek to discover what it means to really live again. In a world of fantasy in which all things beautiful are forbidden by the always-watching entity “Control”, they must join a group of other citizens stuck in a repeating cycle to journey to a new promised land. Some eagerly and others reluctantly board the great ship “Pulchritudo” to begin their voyage together.
Each day the weary travellers are presented with more and more ever-changing absurd rules to follow in order to prevent beauty. While passengers sleep, nightmares of control surface and dreams of beauty erupt with forbidden breakouts of singing, dancing, and laughing. Tensions rise and chaos ensues on the high seas as competing values clash while passengers grapple with the consequences of their beliefs and actions. The story climaxes with one man's ultimate confrontation with “Control” that brings on a raging storm of beauty battling fear, culminating in a devastating shipwreck in which beauty appears to have been lost forever. Will they ever get to their promised destination? Will they end up repeating the same cycle again? Or will they choose to embrace beauty and be free from “Control” once and for all?​
THE DEVELOPMENT
Beauty Will Save the World is written and composed by Charley Bouchard. Dramaturgy and editorial assistance with structure and character development was provided by George Dutch. Inspiration for writing began in November of 2020. A first reading took place among friends in a grassy field under a tree in April, 2021 in Ottawa, Canada, and the first bits of music were composed that June. The piece was further developed by 9th Hour Theatre Company in the summer of 2021 which culminated in a development preview of the work for invited audiences that September. Contributing artists included George Dutch, Gabriella Gadsby, Sharon Dickson, Johanne Boisvenu-Henry, Michael Kosowan, Peter Graves, Paul Washer, Arya Landers, Martain Pearson, and Ruth Allison.
Editing and further revisions to the play's structure and characters took place in the winter of 2021-22 with enormous assistance from George Dutch and additional assistance from Gabriella Gadsby. The bulk of the musical score was composed in the fall and winter of 2021-22 with some assistance from Skye MacDiarmid, Sharon Dickson, and Johanne Boisvenu-Henry. The story was further developed in the spring of 2022 by 9th Hour Theatre Company. Contributing artists included Ruth Allison, Care Baldwin, Sharon Dickson, George Dutch, Gabriella Gadsby, Skye Macdiarmid, Bill Sangalli, Johanne Boisvenu-Henry, Casey Callahan, Andrew Kennedy, Arya Landers, Jay Landreville, Megan Mcleod, Erica O'reilly, Ranjeet Singh, Colin Sweeney, and Greg Thurlow.
In 2023, it was then further adapted from a stage play to a musical audio drama with additional music composed in the summer and fall of that year. Beauty Will Save the World was rehearsed in January and February of 2024 then recorded at Raven Street Studios in Ottawa, Canada. It features the voice talents of Alex Meek, Andrew Kennedy, Ashley Gillard, Charley Bouchard, George Dutch, Isabella O’shaughnessy, Jaqui Cadieux, Jenn Hennessy, Jon Peirce, Julia Coleman, Logan Indewey, Melodi Uygur, Naomi James, Nicholas Maillet, Nicolas Leblond, Nora Malhearst, Olga Kirchanova, Sanjiv Kalra, Sarah Mckay, Shauna Akkermans, and Tom Charlebois.​
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THE PRODUCTION TEAM
SHAUNA AKKERMANS (Assistant Director, Rehearsal Manager) | SHANNON AU (Production Assistant) | CARE BALDWIN (Intro & Credits) | CHARLEY BOUCHARD (Music Director) | GEORGE DUTCH (Director, Dramaturge) | SUSAN MARRINER (Graphics Designer) | JONATHAN HARRIS (Producing Artistic Director) | JAKUB RACEK (Sound Designer, Engineer, Mixer) | TINA SEGRETO (Production Manager)
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THE ENSEMBLE CAST
SHAUNA AKKERMANS (The Youth, Various Citizens) | CHARLEY BOUCHARD (Voice of The Soul, Vocalist) | JAQUI CADIEUX (The Mother, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | TOM CHARLEBOIS (The Grandpa) | JULIA COLEMAN (The Teacher, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | GEORGE DUTCH (The Fool, Vocalist) | ASHLEY GILLARD (The Celebrity, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | JENN HENNESSY (Voice of Control, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | LOGAN INDEWEY (The Officer, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | NAOMI JAMES (The Journalist, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | SANJIV KALRA (Various Citizens) | ANDREW KENNEDY (The Boy) | OLGA KIRCHANOVA (Various Citizens, Vocalist) | NICOLAS LEBLOND (The Elite, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | NICHOLAS MAILLET (The Veteran, referred to often as The Child's Father, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | NORA MALHEARST (The Nurse, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | SARAH MCKAY (The Expert, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | ALEX MEEK (The Cleric, Various Citizens) | ISABELLA O’SHAUGHNESSY (The Child, Vocalist, Various Citizens) | JON PEIRCE (The Captain, Various Citizens) | MELODI UYGUR (The Artist, Vocalist, Various Citizens)
THE Company
9th Hour Theatre Company was founded in 2009 and is located in Canada's capital city Ottawa. They became a registered Canadian charity in 2012, and have now produced close to 30 productions. The company's purpose is to explore, examine, and express the big ideas and questions relating to faith, spirituality, and the human experience. This is accomplished primarily through 'physical ensemble theatre' with an added emphasis on the creation, development, and production of original artistic works.
The purpose is ideally pursued with intelligence, creativity, excellence, inclusivity, and an expansive view of the world and people. The company strives to challenge artists and audiences with regards to the big questions raised from its art, often emphasizing an ensemble approach and collaborative creative process. Artists and volunteers of any or no faith background or identity work with the company. The various and diverse opinions, beliefs, and perspectives of all people are respected and appreciated, thus informing a robust view of humanity’s relationship with faith and the many facets of this manifestation.
With the exception of the original work of Beauty Will Save the World, 9th Hour believes 'theatre' is a live, in-person, shared and communal experience that transforms and transports the audience due to their intimate proximity and presence to the performers and the art itself. The company defines 'physical ensemble theatre' as working together to tell a story in which all performers take on multiple roles and are all equally essential in telling the story. The emphasis is on high touch, high impact, expressive sound and movement, often involving close contact.
THE CREATOR
Charley Bouchard is a writer, musician, athlete, lay theologian & philosopher, and professional theatre artist living in Ottawa, Canada. While in university studying engineering, Charley had what can only be described as a transcendent experience upon witnessing the "beauty" of a kind and courageous friend performing a hip-hop dance in a campus bar "for God's glory." This life-changing experience put Charley on a new course with radically changed priorities and values, starting with many years of professional youth work which included high schools, churches, camp leadership training, as well as an art program for inner-city street engaged and homeless youth.
Originally from rural Atlantic Canada, Charley grew up with a nurse as a mother and a physical education teacher as a father. Both passed on the importance of health, learning, nature, history, and art. One of Charley's grandparents worked in the Halifax shipyards, another was an electrician for the Royal Canadian air force, another was a homemaker, and another was a hospital chef. Charley's sister works in a long term care home, one brother works in media as a radio host, and the other has worked in hotel hospitality and now in public transit.
Charley is thankful for the widely diverse perspectives, beliefs, and ways of being in the world encountered in what can only be described as an unpredictably unusual and passion-driven life. These differences in people have provided Charley insight into the complexities of the human experience, and has sparked greater curiosity to discover what is unique, or understand better what is unknown. Charley self describes as a mystic Christian, ready and open to question and discuss big ideas that affect our culture and shape our lives, doing so with a deep love of people, seeking to better understand "the other", and exploring important themes through art and story-telling.
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Beauty Will Save the World is dedicated to all those who suffered, those who grieved, who were misunderstood, who lost loved ones, friendships, community, purpose, livelihoods, and dignity; to all those who stood for others, for liberty, humanity, and for beauty. (S.D.G.)
"Surely from the start, Life is measured by more than a beating heart." - Beauty Will Save the World