Normand Chaurette

{{Short description|Canadian playwright (1954–2022)}} {{Infobox writer | name = Normand Chaurette | birth_name = | image = | birth_date = July 9, 1954 | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | death_date = August 31, 2022 (aged 68) | occupation = Playwright | period = 1980s–2022 | notableworks = | spouse = | website = }}

'''Normand Chaurette''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|OC}} (July 9, 1954 – August 31, 2022)<ref>[https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2022/08/31/le-dramaturge-normand-chaurette-seteint Le dramaturge Normand Chaurette s’éteint], TVA Nouvelles, August 31, 2022. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> was a Canadian playwright,<ref name="canenc">{{cite web |last1=Doucette |first1=Leonard E. |title=Normand Chaurette |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/normand-chaurette |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica Canada |access-date=3 September 2022 |location=Toronto ON |date=16 December 2013}}</ref> best known as one of the first prominent writers of LGBT-themed plays in Quebec and Canada.<ref>Alain-Michel Rocheleau and Luke Sandford, "Gay Theater in Quebec: The Search for an Identity". ''Yale French Studies'' No. 90, "Same Sex/Different Text? Gay and Lesbian Writing in French" (1996), pp. 115-136.</ref>

==Life and career== Chaurette's career began in 1976 with ''Rêve d'une nuit d'hôpital'', a radio play broadcast by Radio-Canada and inspired by the life of Émile Nelligan.<ref name=canenc /> The play won the international Prix Paul-Gilson for francophone radio drama, and was later presented in a stage format in 1980. His second play, ''Provincetown Playhouse, juillet 1919, j'avais 19 ans'', was staged in 1981.<ref name=larousse>[https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/Chaurette/184915 Normand Chaurette] at Éditions Larousse.</ref>

His 1991 play ''Les reines'' became the first theatre piece by a Quebec writer to be staged at the Comédie-Française.<ref name=larousse />

He was a three-time winner of the Governor General's Award for French-language drama, for ''Le Passage de l'Indiana'' in 1996, ''Le Petit Köchel'' in 2001 and ''Ce qui meurt en dernier'' in 2011, and was nominated for ''Fragments d'une lettre d'adieu lus par des géologues'' in 1986.

He also published a novel, ''Scènes d'enfants'', which was nominated for the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction in 1988, and a non-fiction book, ''Comment tuer Shakespeare'', which won the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction in 2012. He won a Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 1993 for ''Les reines''.

He also translated a number of plays into French, including Friedrich Schiller's ''Mary Stuart'', Henrik Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and works by Shakespeare. As well, his translation of ''Romeo and Juliet'' was directed by Yves Desgagné as the 2006 film ''Roméo et Juliette'',

He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004.<ref>[http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=9095 Order of Canada citation for Normand Chaurette]. Governor General of Canada, April 30, 2009.</ref>

==Works==

===Plays=== * ''Rêve d'une nuit d'hôpital'' (1976) * ''Provincetown Playhouse, juillet 1919, j'avais 19 ans'' (1981) * ''Les Trois Grâces'' (1982) * ''La Société de Métis'' (1983) * ''Fragments d'une lettre d'adieu lus par les géologues'' (1986) * ''Les Reines'' (1991) * ''Le Passage de l'Indiana'' (1996) * ''Je vous écris du Caire'' (1996) * ''Brève d'ailleurs'' (1997) * ''Stabat Mater I'' (1997) * ''Le Pont du Gard vu de nuit'' (1998) * ''Stabat Mater II'' (1999) * ''Petit navire'' (1999) * ''Le Petit Köchel'' (2000) * ''Ce qui meurt en dernier'' (2011)

===Novel=== * ''Scènes d'enfants'' (1988)

===Non-fiction=== * ''Comment tuer Shakespeare'' (2011)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb name|nm2297053}} *{{in lang|fr}} Archives of Normand Chaurette [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3721023&lang=eng (Fonds Normand Chaurette, R13018)] is held at Library and Archives Canada

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaurette, Normand}} Category:1954 births Category:2022 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian male novelists Category:French-language Canadian non-fiction writers Category:French-language Canadian screenwriters Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian LGBTQ screenwriters Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:Université de Montréal alumni Category:Canadian gay writers Category:Canadian LGBTQ novelists Category:Governor General's Award–winning dramatists Category:Governor General's Award–winning non-fiction writers Category:French-language Canadian novelists Category:French-language Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Canadian translators Category:21st-century Canadian translators Category:Canadian male screenwriters Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century Canadian male writers Category:21st-century Canadian male writers Category:20th-century Canadian screenwriters Category:21st-century Canadian screenwriters Category:Canadian male non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Category:Gay screenwriters Category:Gay dramatists and playwrights Category:Gay novelists Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:Screenwriters from Montreal Category:Novelists from Montreal