English premiere of sci-fi
thriller Seeker at Centaur

Playwright, director, and cast share their thoughts on the play and the creative process

By Irwin Rapoport

April 16, 2026

The Centaur Theatre presents the English-language premiere of Marie-Claude Verdier’s award-winning science fiction drama, Seeker, running until May 3. Following its acclaimed 2021 French premiere — which drew sold-out audiences and rave reviews — this much-anticipated production arrives in Montreal with impeccable timing.

“Seeker arrives at exactly the right moment,” notes the show’s press release. “Audiences are craving stories that ask the big questions — about memory, connection, and what we owe one another.”

Set in the year 2250, Seeker centres on Lomond, a man with the rare ability to interpret and enter others’ memories. When he’s assigned to a classified military mission, he unexpectedly reunites with his estranged ex-wife, who has just returned from an enigmatic interplanetary voyage. What they uncover together may redefine the future of humankind.

A collaboration with Talisman Theatre, the production features a translation by Alexis Diamond, direction by Rebecca Gibian, and a stellar cast, including Bénédicte Bélizaire — a recent META Award winner for Outstanding Lead Performance — alongside Andrew Shaver, a familiar favourite of Montreal audiences.

Originally hailed as a “coup de force” when it premiered in French, Seeker unfolds within a remote military base in Colorado. As past and present blur, Lomond becomes entangled in a high-stakes investigation where memory is both the key and the battleground.

Seeker offers a rare fusion of science fiction and emotional depth — a theatrical journey that bridges memory, identity, and the mysteries that bind us.

The production’s immersive world is crafted by an award-winning design team: Geneviève Lizotte and Carol-Anne Bourgon Sicard (set and costumes), Paul Chambers (lighting), and Antoine Berthiaume (music and sound). Together, they’ve shaped an experience that feels “precise, cinematic, and transportive — a world both alien and achingly familiar.”

Seeker offers a rare fusion of science fiction and emotional depth — a theatrical journey that bridges memory, identity, and the mysteries that bind us.

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In the Q&A below, Playwright Marie-Claude Verdier, director Rebecca Gibian, and actors Andrew Shaver and Bénédicte Bélizaire share their thoughts on Seeker, from the writing process to bringing it alive on stage.

WM: What inspired you to write Seeker? Why did you choose to go with a science fiction theme?

Verdier: I have always been a sci-fi fan, and most of my theatrical work has revolved around it. I realized that theatre artists were somewhat wary of using literary genres, but I think they’re a great vehicle for conveying philosophical ideas. Theatre’s strength lies in its powers of suggestion and intimacy, and I believe this story blends these elements together well. I wanted it to be a very relatable story about two exes forced to work together that then opens up to larger issues. I was also influenced by Oliver Sacks’ idea that we are made from the inner story we keep telling ourselves, so I wondered what it would mean if somebody else told it for me? That is when the idea of the memories, and of the Seekers, humans capable of reading other people’s memories, came about.

WM: How would you describe the writing process for Seeker, and the overall process? Are you currently penning a new play?

Verdier: The play was written over several years due to COVID, which delayed the premiere. It got its world premiere in 2021 at Centre du théâtre d’aujourd’hui. The play won the Michel Tremblay prize for play of the year, and there was a sold-out remount in 2023. It was translated into Romanian in 2022 and presented in Craiova as part of their festival.

My adaptation of Dracula is currently playing at Théâtre Denise-Pelletier until April 16, and then my play Immortels will open in Marseille at the end of the month.

WM: What do you hope audiences will take away from Seeker?

Verdier: I hope people will enjoy this sci-fi thriller. The design team and the director, Rebecca Gibian, have worked their magic to transport us into this futuristic world. I hope that audiences will sense the intense and beautiful connection between these two characters, even though they are living hundreds of years in the future.

WM: How did you prepare to direct the play? What drew you to it?

Gibian: My preparation has primarily been months of drawing from my imagination and pushing the bounds of what is possible. The play is an unusual genre — sci-fi theatre is rarely seen — and it felt like an incredible opportunity to go above and beyond. I started by gathering my ideal team of designers who I knew would share my exhilaration in creating a whole new future world and give our audiences the chance to experience theatre like they never have before.

WM: How did you assemble the cast? What qualities were you looking for in the actors?

Gibian: We had extensive auditions, and it came down to who could bring to life the thrill and adventure of our immediate setting: an underground military bunker in 2250. That sense of adventure and strength felt key to me from the beginning, and Andrew Shaver and Bénédicte Bélizaire are more than up to the challenge. Because the play is a two-hander (mostly… with some surprises at the end), it becomes a vehicle for spell-binding performances.

WM: At what moment did you know that all the pieces of the play came together?

Gibian: I’m writing this as we are still in the process, but it has something to do with moments where every element is operating so completely together that we, the audience, lose ourselves in the play. Those are the moments that really give me goosebumps — sometimes literally, even still!

The audible gasps from our early audiences are also, of course, really rewarding as a director.

WM: What steps did you take to master your character, the dialogue, and the flow of the play?

Shaver: A play always comes alive for me once we are on our feet and figuring out how it moves through the space. Questions I may have had about what a certain section of the text, or even just a line, means tend to answer themselves as soon as I’m living as the character onstage.

‘… it came down to who could bring to life the thrill and adventure of our immediate setting: an underground military bunker in 2250. That sense of adventure and strength felt key to me from the beginning, and Andrew Shaver and Bénédicte Bélizaire are more than up to the challenge.’

– Rebecca Gibian, director, Seekers

Bélizaire: My process never looks the same from project to project. The first step I took was to be as off-book as possible before the first week. Then I researched the sci-fi genre by watching movies like Total Recall and Minority Report. Something really wonderful happens around the second week of rehearsal, when I start seeing everything through the lens of the story and my character. Finally, most of the magic happens during rehearsal, through collaboration with Andrew, Rebecca, and the rest of the team. I can have all the ideas in the world, but it’s only in testing them out in that space, making mistakes and working out the kinks that I can access the honesty needed to portray this wonderfully complex character.

WM: When did you know you wanted to be an actor? Are there any actors and performances that you look to for inspiration?

Shaver: I knew I loved the thrill of performing for almost as long as I can remember, but I didn’t really start acting until I went to university. In high school, I played on a couple of hockey teams. One was a travel team, and the other was the high school team. The level of travel hockey far surpassed that of the high school games, but playing in those high school games was so much more fun. My buddies were in the crowd, and I loved performing for them.

I’ve always admired actors like Robin Williams, Kevin Kline, Meg Ryan, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Bill Murray… actors who know how to sell a joke, be it verbal or physical, while staying rooted in an emotional honesty. It’s like they can do anything at that point.

Bélizaire: I knew when I was 12-years-old that I wanted to be an actor, after going on stage for the first time at an elementary school show. But for a very long time, I held on to the belief that it wasn’t my place as a daughter of Haitian immigrants and an immigrant myself. The safer choice of studying to become a doctor or a lawyer really made sense to me from that perspective.

However, the theatre kept calling me back. The call kept getting louder and louder, and I relented, for better and for worse. Building a career as an artist is an ongoing commitment. A choice that I make again and again. One of the turning points was in 2018, when I played Chloe in How Black Mothers Say I Love You with Lucinda Davis. I looked up to her a lot. Seeing her in Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God made my jaw drop. I hope to follow in her footsteps as I navigate the ebb and flow of this career.

Images: Andrée Lanthier

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Irwin Rapoport is a freelance journalist and community advocate from Westmount with bachelor’s degrees in History and Political Science from Concordia University. He writes extensively on local politics, education, and environmental issues, and promotes informed public discourse and democracy through his writing and activism.