by AMY BARRATT

So, you think you know the English theatre scene pretty well, do ya? Ever heard of Pumpkin Theatre? Ever heard of White Raven? MainLine? Persephone?

When it comes to small professional and semi-professional companies, our cup runneth over. If only there was a better way for them to get the word out about what they’re doing…

Enter MAST, or Montreal’s Alternate Season of Theatre, a new initiative this year that will see six independent companies pool their resources in hopes of creating an appealing package for theatre-goers. The companies involved include the four mentioned above, along with Projet porte parole and Imago Theatre.

After years, decades even, of talking about it, small companies are finally starting to realize that they can help themselves by helping each other.

“There’s been a big change from 15 years ago,” says Imago’s Clare Shapiro. “Back then there was a sense of ‘I’m going to lose something if I give something.’” MAST, she stresses, is a collaborative effort. No one person or company is in charge; there is no single spokesperson. And all of the companies, while grouped under this umbrella, maintain their independence. The plays are being produced in various venues from Old Montreal to Mile-End.

The use of the word “alternate” is meant to signal to the theatre-goer that she or he has a choice, that there’s a lot more out there besides Centaur and Segal/Saidye. The only two criteria for being in this season were practical, not artistic: the company had to be planning a production between October 2005 and May 2006 and had to be paying its artists. (The initial requirement that they be paid union scale was loosened up so that now they simply must be paid something. Three of the six companies are managing union wages.)

The first show up is Projet porte parole’s Seeds. Written in this company’s trademark documentary theatre style (Novembre, 2000 Questions), the play deals with the real-life battle between Saskatchewan canola farmer Percy Schmeiser and Frankenfood producer Monsanto. It opens November 4 at the Monument-National.

Next, and overlapping with the previous show, Persephone Productions presents Spring Awakening, by Frank Wedekind, November 10 to 20 at Theatre La Chapelle.

The Three Apollos, going up December 1 at the Bain St-Michel, is a co-production between Pumpkin Theatre (Rhapsody, An Act of God) and White Raven (Forking Mona Lisa, 2004 Fringe). The latest play by one of Montreal’s best kept secrets, playwright Joel Fishbane, it features a young, talented cast including Tristan D. Lalla, Neil Napier and Freya Ravensbergen.

In the new year, look forward to Johnny Canuck and the Last Burlesque, a MainLine theatre (that’s the people behind the Fringe) production in their brand new MainLine Theatre space at 3997 St-Laurent. Persephone has a second show, Prodigy, by Nancy Huston, in the spring, and Imago Theatre takes over the Centaur with a revival of their Bye Bye Baby.

In terms of what they’re offering the public, MAST is starting on a rather modest scale. You can’t buy a subscription per se, but you can get 10 per cent off tickets to any first Saturday night, or 20 per cent off if you order Saturday night tickets to all six shows. MainLine is coordinating this at the moment, so the number to call is the Fringe line: 849-FEST.

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