Mind the Light is a new musical created by Gabrielle Papillon, with book, music, and lyrics by Gabrielle Papillon. It is currently in development.
“It’s the music that makes this show so exciting. It is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard for a musical.”
Gabrielle Papillon. Photo by Lindsay Duncan
From Gabrielle
“Mind the Light is a musical about a family of Lightkeepers, taking place in a lighthouse in the 1880s, on a tiny island, off the coast of a small town in the East Coast. The story is fictional, but rooted in my family history: My great-grandmother Azélie was born on a stormy night, in a lighthouse, on a small isolated island, where her father and mother, and their niece tended a lighthouse. Azélie's father perished in that storm, the night she was born, while trying to get to the mainland to fetch a midwife. Soon after, Azelie’s mother gave up the light, and they left the island. In 2011, on a stormy night, days after my grandfather Charles (Azéli’s son) passed away, my song Go Into the Night poured out of me in one shot, like a parting gift. I knew when I finished the song that it was the story of that fateful night. In 2016, an idea for a story began brewing, and I started writing my ideas down, weaving in my family and my Queer identity. I’ve reimagined a story where they stay and fight to keep the light.”
Synopsis
Raised by her mother and her uncle, and sharing her family’s dedication to the lighthouse on Parakeet Island (which also provides them with a home, autonomy, and safety) Azélie Forgues struggles with family dynamics, love, grief, and isolation. Despite gaining local and then national fame from a young age for her daring water rescues she must fight to keep her independence and her home through physically demanding and dangerous work, tremendous loss, and a love that she must keep secret.
2023 Workshop and Workshop Concert Reading
Presented by Eastern Front Theatre Stage’s Festival, with support from The Canada Council for the Arts, Eastern Front Theatre, and Neptune Theatre.
