Paul Georges Buissonneau, (born 24 December 1926 – 30 November 2014) was a leading francophone theatre director in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France, Buissonneau started his career as a singer with the French chorus

Les Compagnons de la chanson Les Compagnons de la chanson were a French harmony vocal group from Lyon, France, founded in 1946. Their best known song was " Les trois cloches" recorded with Edith Piaf in 1946. They were a nine-member group, and they were popular in France with ...

, alongside

Édith Piaf Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars. Pia ...

who was also singing with the group at the time. He parted company with the chorus during a tour of North America, and settled in Quebec. In 1952, the City of

appointed Buissonneau as artistic director of ''La Roulotte'', a parks-based outdoor theatre, which gave an early opportunity to famous Quebec artists

Yvon Deschamps Yvon Deschamps (born July 31, 1935, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec author, actor, comedian and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1 ...

, Jean-Louis Millette,

Claude Jasmin Claude Jasmin (10 November 1930 – 28 April 2021) was a Canadian journalist, broadcaster, and writer. While very prolific, with almost 50 published titles to his credit, he is most famous for his 1972 novel '' La Petite Patrie'', an autobiogr ...

Claude Léveillé Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etch ...

Marcel Sabourin Marcel Sabourin, OC (born March 25, 1935) is a Canadian actor and writer from Quebec.Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof"Sabourin, Marcel" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', October 20, 2015. He is most noted for his role as Abel Gagné, the centra ...

and

Robert Charlebois Robert Charlebois, OC, OQ (born June 25, 1944) is a Québecois author, composer, musician, performer and actor. Charlebois was born in Montreal, Quebec. Among his best known songs are ''Lindberg'' (the duo with Louise Forestier in particular ...

. In 1956, he founded his own company, the

Théâtre de Quat'Sous The Théâtre de Quat'Sous is a Canadian theatre on Pine Avenue in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal in the city of Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1955, it is the third-oldest theatre company in Montreal after Théâtre du Rideau Vert and Th� ...

(Four-penny Theatre) and served as its artistic director until 1989. Many famous Quebec playwrights began their career in this theatre, notably

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair l ...

François Barbeau François Barbeau (July 27, 1935 – January 28, 2016) was an award-winning Canadian costume designer. He was a professor at the National Theatre School of Canada and the Université du Québec à Montréal who worked on over 700 productions in Qu ...

André Brassard André Brassard (28 August 1946 – 11 October 2022) was a Canadian stage director, filmmaker and actor, best known for staging the vast majority of Michel Tremblay's plays. He was the director of the French section of the National Arts Center ...

René-Daniel Dubois René-Daniel Dubois, OC (born July 20, 1955, in Montreal) is a Québécois playwright and actor. Biography Movie career He is best known for his 1985 play ''Being at Home with Claude'', which was adapted into an award-winning film in 1992 and th ...

, and

Lothaire Bluteau Lothaire Bluteau (born 14 April 1957) is a Canadian actor. Biography He was born in Montreal, Quebec, and performs in both French and English. Bluteau has worked in theatre, film and television throughout Canada and internationally. He aband ...

. During his 35-year career as director of the ''Quat'Sous'' theatre, he played and wrote numerous plays and TV shows. He is remembered for creating and bringing to life the character of '' Picolo'' in the children's television series entitled ''La Boîte à surprises'' (The surprise box). The series started in 1954 and lasted until the early 1970s. He received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 1998 and the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 2001. In 2009, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

"for his contributions to the evolution of the performing arts, especially theatre, as director of the La Roulotte and Quat’Sous theatres."

References

External links

Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buissonneau, Paul 1926 births 2014 deaths Canadian theatre directors French theatre directors Officers of the Order of Canada Prix Denise-Pelletier winners 20th-century Canadian male actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male stage actors Governor General's Award winners

See also

References

External links