Stephen hates his new neighbourhood. It's ugly, dirty and far from the country. And even worse, he doesn't know anyone. It's too hard--and takes too long--to make new friends. Matthew feels lonely too. He doesn't go to school anymore... not since his mother died from the sickness, his sickness, the sickness of our time.... Now, they're all afraid of him. Between a ration of pills and coughing fits, he lashes out at his enemies: the neighbourhood birds.

This outstanding play was awarded the Théâtre Jeunesse de Radio France prize. It has been staged 250 times in French throughout Canada, France, and Belgium.

Jean-Rock Gaudreault is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canadaâ??s playwriting section. His first play, La Raccourcie, produced by Théâtre les gens dâ??en bas in 1997, was remounted and performed during the Festival de Théâtre des Amériques in Montreal and was nominated for a Masque for best regional production in the same year. His play for young audiences, Mathieu trop court, François trop long was nominated for a Masque for best script in 1999. Mathieu François et les autresâ?¦ presented the play more than 250 times in Quebec and Europe. The English-language production, Matthew and Stephen, was produced in Canada and the United States in 2002. His second play for young audiences, Deux pas vers les étoiles, first produced by Mathieu François et les autresâ?¦ in 2002, has been performed almost 300 times in Quebec and France. It won the Rideau Vox Pares award and a Masque for best play for young audiences in 2003. Jean-Rock Gaudreault won the 2003 Governor Generalâ??s Literary Award for Deux pas vers les étoiles, which was produced (in French) in Tokyo, in 2004.

Jean-Rock Gaudreault's profile page

Linda Gaboriau is a dramaturge and literary translator renowned for her translations of some 100 plays and novels by some of Quebec's most prominent writers, including many of the Quebec plays best known to English Canadian audiences. After studying French language and literature at McGill University, she freelanced as a journalist for the CBC and the Montreal Gazette. She has worked in Canadian and Québécois theatre and is founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre, where she directed numerous translation residencies and international exchange projects. Her third translation of a Wajdi Mouawad play Forests in 2010 won her a second Governor General's Literary Award for translation. Originally from Boston, Linda Gaboriau has been based in Montreal since 1963.
David Homel is a writer, journalist, filmmaker, and translator. He is the author of five previous novels, including The Speaking Cure, which won the J.I. Segal Award of the Jewish Public Library, and the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Best Fiction from the Quebec Writer's Federation. He has also written two children's books, including Travels with my Family, which was co-authored with his wife, Canadian children's author Marie-Louise Gay. He has translated several French works, receiving two Governor General's Literary Awards for translation. Homel was born and raised in Chicago and currently resides in Montreal.
Maureen Labonté is a dramaturge, translator and teacher. She has also coordinated a number of play-development programs in theatres and playwrights' centres across the country. In 2006, she was named head of program for the Banff playRites Colony at The Banff Centre. She was dramaturge at the Colony from 2003-2005. She was also literary manager in charge of play development at the Shaw Festival from 2002-2004. Previous to that, she worked at the National Theatre School of Canada (NTSC), first developing and running a pilot directing program and then coordinating the playwrighting program and playwrights' residency. She still teaches at NTSC. She has translated more than thirty Quebec plays into English. Recent translations include: The Bookshop by Marie-Josée Bastien, Everybody's WELLES pour tous by Patrice Dubois, Martin Labreque and The Tailor's Will by Michel Ouellette, Wigwam by Jean-Frédéric Messier and Bienvenue à (une ville dont vous êtes le touriste) by Olivier Choinière.

Linda Gaboriau's profile page

Jacinthe Potvin's profile page

"Straightforward and unsentimental, this play by Jean-Rock Gaudreault shuns all easy ways out as it confronts both the inevitability of death and the rich promise of life. In so doing, Matthew and Stephen conveys sadness and joy... in its sweetly perceptive way, Matthew and Stephen validates the case for life."

The New York Times