Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
Photo: Marie-Andrée Lemire 
 

Post Humains

(Montréal)
by Dominique Leclerc
Direction: Dominique Leclerc, Édith Patenaude
Studio

Guest performance during FIND 2019

»Post Humains« casts a look into a future that has already long been the present: in terms of research, development and innovation, it appears that humans are outpacing their own evolution quicker than ever before. For some time, human-developed technologies have been increasingly combined with the actual human body with the aim of extending, enhancing and optimising our physical and cognitive capabilities and functions. People are becoming their own creators. But who are these new creators, of whom some are working to eliminate forgetfulness, decay, aging and even death itself?

From the starting point of her own disease, Dominique Leclerc begins to look for alternatives to the outdated and expensive medical devices upon which she has previously been reliant. Her search in Canada, Europe and eventually Berlin leads her to new encounters: implant parties, bio-hackers and key players from the cyborg movement and the transhumanist community who are increasingly blurring the lines between therapeutic medicine and pure self-optimisation.

Dominique Leclerc (*1980, Lévis) is an actress and author. In »Post Humains«, her first project as author and co-director, she combines documentary theatre, auto-fiction, and performance together with her partner, German journalist Dennis Kastrup who she met during her quest. Leclerc and Kastrup probe the heart of the worldwide cyborg and transhumanist movements, testing their own and the audience’s limits. The theatre becomes a place for the audience, performers and protagonists from the scene to encounter each other. In this, the audience is invited to probe their own ethics and, together with the ensemble, participate in a reflection on the future of our species. What have we got to lose and what to gain? And how far will we go?

Direction: Dominique Leclerc, Édith Patenaude
Assistant Director, Exhibition and Set Design: Patrice Charbonneau-Brunelle
Video: Push 1 Stop
Sound Design: Gaël Lane Lépine
Lighting Design: Cédric Delorme-Bouchard
Stage Management: Claudie Gagnon
Technical Director: Gabriel Duquette, Maude St-Pierre
Production Director: Andrée-Anne Garneau

With: Dennis Kastrup, Dominique Leclerc, Didier Lucien, Édith Paquet

Duration: ca. 120 minutes

Production: TRS-80

Funded by Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) and Canada Council for the Arts (CCA)