A woman embodies the role of Polytechnique gunman Marc Lépine in this year’s 90-minute monologue

For this year’s 35^th anniversary of the Polytechnique shooting, Monkland Community Centre is bringing back Adam Kelly’s monologue called The Anorak, based on the life and death of Marc Lépine, who was responsible for the death of 14 women in 1989.

But this year, for the first time in two decades, the infamous role is being played by a woman, Lisa McCormack.

“I came into the audition with a lot of questions,” said Lisa McCormak. “But after meeting Adam and reading the play for myself, I became enraptured with the storytelling and the thought of being able to do this.”

Playwright Adam Kelly said he’s been wanting to cast a woman for a long time and doesn’t see why a woman couldn’t take on the challenge this year.

According to Kelly, the whole point of the play this year is to have a woman brave enough to take on the role of a man who targeted “feminists” and women, which he says is the “last thing he [Lépine] would have wanted”.

“It’s hitting me on an emotional level that it never has before, and in particular having a woman speak for the victims, having the voice come through, it hits me emotionally every time Lisa does it,” said Kelly.

There’s also something new about this year’s performance – it’s being conducted in a small room with a mirrored-wall, providing a unique perspective into Marc Lépine’s character being portrayed by McCormack.

“The use of the mirrors and the intimacy that the space has created has just been a bonus, and the lighting as well,” added Kelly as he describes his initial idea of covering the mirrors with blankets, until McCormak’s natural talent and skill brought the idea to life.

McCormak describes this as a unique experience for both the audience and herself as a performer as she is able to maintain eye contact with her audience for the entirety of the monologue.

“I tell the story to the audience, I am looking people in the eye, so Lisa the human, in whatever regard that she’s still there is able to see the looks that I’m getting back and it’s been really interesting to see what comes back from the audience,” she said.

With four performances already completed, Lisa will perform for audiences until December 8th in NDG’s Monkland Community Centre, where she will continue to give audiences a deeper look into the events that led to the shooting on Dec. 6, 1989, 35 years ago.

“I feel very lucky that Lisa has not only been able to take on the role and the difficult requirements of the role but she’s been brave enough to go into the psyche of a character like this and try to understand how this could have happened and that’s sort of the whole point of the play,” Kelly said of McCormak’s performance.