Théâtre Cercle Molière’s centennial season begins with a tribute to one of its most pivotal leaders and visionaries this week. Pauline Boutal, entre les toiles et les planches is a celebration of the company’s artistic director from 1941 to 1968 – the first woman to do so in the company’s history. Written by Lise Baboury-Diallo, the show traces her journey as a leader and an artist through snapshots of her career. “She kind of steered the ship at a pivotal time for the company,” says Simon Miron, the play’s director. “There’s a reason that there is an entire theatre named after Pauline Boutal.” .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } The play, which captures scenes from Boutal’s life from her teenage years to her 80’s, runs the gamut of key periods in her life and traces the journey of artistic influence that were passed to her and then to the next generation of theatre producers and artists. Miron is quick to point out that Boutal’s creative avenues spread far and wide from the theatre as well. “The thing I find so fascinating about Pauline is that not only did she lead this theatre company, but she had a whole other career as a designer, as a visual artist,” they say. “She worked for the Eaton's catalog for this design company called Brigden's drawing - and you know, this is when they were literally drawing by hand all the advertisements, all the designs, all the stuff that people were buying. It's madness when I think about it.” .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } While Miron admits that taking on Boutal’s story and legacy in dramatic form is a daunting challenge, they also take a lot of inspiration from her constant desire to learn and to continually develop her artistry. “She continued to try to educate herself, to study way into the later periods of her life,” they explain. “I find that that’s such a wonderful and unique thing. These days, we get our education and then we move into the professional world, and we mostly try to just live that life. But there was a real sense of wanting to stay ahead of the curve and continuing to explore new mediums and keep your art fresh.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Théâtre Cercle Molière (@cerclemoliere) As Pauline Boutal, entre les toiles et les planches kicks off the company’s 100th season, Miron notes that it is an excellent show to set the tone for the productions ahead. “I feel like this work is trying to find a balance between honoring the past and bringing together these characters, these people that the community knows, that they honor in the naming of schools, of theaters, of many, many different things that we are kind of merging that with certain fun, exciting, contemporary art elements to create sort of a bond between the old and the new,” they say, “to bring together the community in a way that we can have something that'll please everyone and show them kind of where we've come from and where we might be headed.” Pauline Boutal, entre les toiles et les planches runs at Théâtre Cercle Molière from October 22 to November. Showtimes, tickets and more information can be found at the company’s website.