by AMY BARRATT

He's a Belgian-born, internationally raised actor who, since coming to Quebec, has integrated himself into the local anglo theatre scene. Hello?

Manuel Verreydt's first language is French. So why, I had to ask, did he choose to study theatre at Concordia and co-found the predominantly English-language Renegade Productions?

Funny I should ask, he says, it's something the good people at the immigration department were also curious - and not too pleased - about (24-year-old Verreydt was on a student visa until last spring when he graduated but has since become a landed immigrant).

Ending up at Concordia after a childhood spent moving between Europe, Africa and the U.S. wasn't premeditated. It was Verreydt's father who suggested that he audition for the theatre program there after completing studies at the Lassaad theatre school in Brussels.

At Concordia, Verreydt met Jory Kevin Berger and the two formed Renegade. They attracted positive critical attention with their debut production two years ago of George F. Walker's Criminal Genius. Since then, they've distinguished themselves producing works by well-known Canadian playwrights such as Jason Sherman and Daniel MacIvor, alongside original and often collective creations. Last fall, Renegade was awarded a MECCA for Revelation of the Year by the Montreal English Critics Circle.

"We like movement," is Verreydt's laconic explanation of Renegade's style. "We don't like actors sitting on a chair." Certainly movement is Verreydt's strong suit, whether in his pet project, a mime piece inspired by 1920s silent films, or morphing from milquetoast to sadist in Lawrence and Holloman.

Renegade's next project, in which Verreydt will appear, is Jennydog, a previously unproduced play by actor and Concordia prof Harry Standjofski, coming in February 2004.

Meanwhile, Verreydt has no objection to working in French, should the opportunity ever come knocking, but he is partial to the "family-like" feel of English theatre in Montreal.

"English theatre here is not a lost cause," he insists, "but a righteous cause."

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