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Ginette Noiseux, set and costume designer, theatre artistic director and general manager (born 23 January 1958 in Montreal, QC). Ginette Noiseux has designed costumes for some 60 productions by such theatre companies as Espace Go, Théâtre de Quatre Sous, Théâtre Expérimental de Montréal, the National Arts Centre, Opéra de Montréal and Théâtre de nouveau monde. She is a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de France, a Compagne of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec, and a Member of the Order of Canada.
Education
Ginette Noiseux originally intended to pursue a scientific career but switched to theatre. She joined the National Theatre School’s stage and costume design program, graduating in 1980 with honorable mention.
Early Career
After leaving school, Noiseux apprenticed as an assistant to costume designer François Barbeau. She worked with major Quebec theatre companies before collaborating, in the fall of 1981, with actor and director Pol Pelletier for a production of Jovette Marchessault’s La Terre est trop courte, Violette Leduc at the Théâtre Expérimental Des Femmes (TEF). This collective was founded in 1979 with the goal of promoting the works of women. In 1982, it invited Noiseux to be one of four co-artistic directors, along with the company’s three co-founders, Louise Laprade, Nicole Lecavalier and Pelletier.
Career with TEF and Espace Go
Beginning in 1985, the theatre's mandate was broadened to welcome projects from authors and poets, integrating them with dance and the visual and performing arts. One example was La Soirée des Murmures at the Festival de Théâtre des Amériques. The TEF was renamed Espace Go and several successful works followed. In 1987, Noiseux programmed a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest with an entirely female cast. It received the Grand Prix du Conseil des Arts de la Communauté Urbaine de Montréal. In 1989, at the chapel of the Grand Séminaire de Montréal, Noiseux produced a noteworthy L'Annonce faite à Marie by Paul Claudel.
Although male actors had worked there for a few years, in 1990 Noiseaux opened the creative teams to men and initiated a new production cycle: work by a Québecois author; one by a foreign contemporary author; and the rediscovery of a work from the repertoire.
In 1991, Espace Go received the Prix Spécial de l'Association Québécoise des Critiques de Théâtre. In January 1995, the company’s 280-seat studio-theatre was inaugurated. It was later awarded the Prix d'Excellence catégorie institutionnelle by the Order of Quebec Architects.
Honours
For Les Guerriers by Michel Garneau (1996–97 season), and Eugene Ionesco's Le Roi se meurt (1998–99 season), both staged by René-Daniel Dubois at Espace Go, Noiseux was a finalist at la Soirée des Masques de l'Académie québécoise du Théâtre. Noiseux has also been awarded the Prix Femme de mérite catégorie Arts et Culture (2002) and the 20th Grand Prix du Conseil des Arts de Montréal (2004). She was made a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de France in 2001, a Compagne of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec in 2018 and a Member of the Order of Canada in 2020.
