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  • $18.95 | $14.21 | 25% off

    ISBN: 9781772010275 | Paperback

    144 pages | Pub. Date: 20161118
    5.5 W × 8 H × .315 D inches
    Backlist | Drama | Bisac: DRA013000
    Rights: WORLD

    Or find False Starts in your local bookstore

False Starts
A Subterfuge of Excellent Wit
By Louis Patrick Leroux
Translated by Alexander St-Laurent & Katia Grubisic
Introduction by Jenn Stephenson & Nicole Nolette

False Starts presents a series of determining moments between two people stuck reliving the same moment over and over, but in unexpected ways and in different genres (from diary to dramatic dialogue, film script to sound installation). Their interdependence and fundamental inability to say how they feel for one another over twenty years – in spite of their eloquence, in spite of their creativity – constitutes the background of the ongoing spectacle of their relationship.

Made up of a series of short pieces originally published in French as Dialogues fantasques pour causeurs éperdus, this translation by the author and Alexandre St-Laurent with Katia Grubisic, also offers previously unpublished texts. Originally staged for the stage, screen, and elevator at Montreal’s matralab.

By Louis Patrick Leroux

A playwright and theatre director, Louis Patrick Leroux is also an associate professor in both the English and French departments at Concordia University.

Read more about Louis Patrick Leroux


Translated by Alexander St-Laurent

Alexander St-Laurent completed a BA and an MA in Creative Writing at Concordia University. He is currently a PhD student in English Literature at the Université de Montréal.

Read more about Alexander St-Laurent


Translated by Katia Grubisic

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor, and translator.

Read more about Katia Grubisic


Introduction by Jenn Stephenson

Jenn Stephenson is a professor at the Dan School of Drama & Music at Queen’s University.

Read more about Jenn Stephenson


Introduction by Nicole Nolette

Nicole Nolette is a professor in the Department of French Studies at the University of Waterloo.

Read more about Nicole Nolette


news | 2016-12-14
All Fall 2016 plays are now available!

…got you covered. Plays newly available include False Starts by Louis Patrick Leroux, translated by the …


news | 2016-11-02
Save the date! False Starts launches in Montreal on November 8

…Leroux next Tuesday evening for the launch of False Starts, a new and unique play just published by … E Montreal, Quebec H2T 1P6 About the book: False Starts presents a series of determining moments between …


news | 2016-07-04
Fall 2016 previews!

…planned: A new play by Louis Patrick Leroux, False Starts (translated by the author and Alexander …


news | 2015-03-25
Oana Avasilichioaei Launches Limbinal in L.A. and S.F.

…Marathon Reading Event (Los Angeles, CA), and the False Starts Reading Series (San Fransisco, CA). Full details …