On December 8, Marcel Boyer, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Economics at the Université de Montréal, CIRANO Researcher and Fellow, participated alongside Jean-Martin Aussant (CEOS), Jacques Drouin (Keira Capital) and Marie-Josée Privyk (Novisto) in the virtual theater event The Assembly on corporate responsibility.

This virtual experience is a theatrical response to an essential but polarizing question: to whom are corporations accountable? Should corporations primarily pursue profits for their shareholders, or be responsible more broadly to various stakeholders like employees, civil society and the environment?

Live from the Théâtre de la Ville, the four guests – economists and professionals in the financial services sector – engaged in a thrilling discussion over these questions, confronting their ideas, experiences and personal values. Actors Brett Watson and Alex Ivanovici, co-authors with Annabel Soutar of The Assembly, will act as moderators for the evening.

Presented in collaboration with the Théâtre de la Ville, this event is the outcome of an artist’s residency during which Porte Parole is exploring dynamic ways to present its documentary plays and other events online.

The Assembly started in 2017 as a long-term documentary project. In each touring city, the play’s creative team sets up and records encounters in which four strangers of wildly different ideological leanings face off and candidly confront the issues that most divide them. A play script is created from the verbatim content of these recorded encounters and, on stage, actors play the four real-life characters in a unique play, specific to each city. For the digital episodes of The Assembly, these dialogues are broadcast live.

More information on The Assembly