Compagnons de Saint-Laurent is a theatre company that was founded in August 1937 at Collège de Saint-Laurent in Saint-Laurent, Quebec under the direction of at the insistence of, considered to be the co-founder. Léonide Lavinge is also considered a co-founder of the company. The company dissolved in 1951.
History
Financial support at the debut of the company was provided by Léonide Lavinge, the father of François Lavinge, one of the original members of the company. Although his father did not support his son's choice of profession as an actor, he still provided considerable financial support of the company. Among others, he bought the property and the farm which served as a rehearsal place for the company. According to his son, the building was cold and difficult to heat in the winter and the members of the company did not like those conditions. Léonide would eventually sell the property, which was later purchased by Félix Leclerc for his home residence. The property is now a Quebec cultural heritage site. At the funeral of François Lavinge in Montréal in 1989, Émilie Legault made the eulogy. In the early history of the company, it favoured the principle of strictly religious performances, but later adopted a more national approach. The company travelled across Quebec and would give, for many people, the first theatrical experience of their lives. To do this, the group often performed in venues that did not look like rooms, such as fire stations. The company had the distinction of having brought a new cultural dimension to ensemble in Quebec, breaking up the monopoly held by Montreal until then. The performances of the company were well received by critics and the public. The company received the trophée Bessbourough for the best theatre company in Canada, affirming the cultural vocation of the college, it had to relocate several times to larger venues to accommodate larger audiences and larger productions. The company was a part of the Collège de Saint-Laurent from 1938 until 1942, then at L'Ermitage from 1942 to 1945, then at the Church of the Gesù from 1945 to 1948 and finally at the Théâtre des Compagnons from 1948 to 1952. In the more than 15 years of its existence, from 1937 to 1952, the company had more than fifty actors, many of which became well-known Quebec dramatists.
