Lewis Center for the Arts Presents “Seuls en Scène”
Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, Department of French and Italian, and L’Avant-Scène will present the fourth annual Seuls en Scène French Theater Festival, which will take place from September 24 through October 24 at venues across the University’s campus. All performances are free and open to the public. While performances will be in French, three productions will include English subtitles: Jaz, Le 20 novembre, and De mes propres mains.
Marking the launch of the fifteenth season of the student French theater workshop L’Avant-Scène, Seuls en Scène brings celebrated French actors and directors to the University and the local community. This year’s festival features an exciting line-up, including a play from the 2012 Avignon Theater Festival, a preview of a new production to premiere at the 2016 Avignon Festival, and works by some of the greatest contemporary playwrights in Europe and the Francophone world. Seuls en Scène has been organized by Florent Masse, Senior Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian and director of L’Avant-Scène.
Astrid Bayiha, Lena Paugam, Mathurin Voltz, Bertrand Usclat and Pauline Clément, recent graduates of the Paris National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (CNSAD), will perform works begun during their studies. Seuls en Scène provides these early career artists with the chance to continue refining their work and to perform internationally for the first time. Jeune Théâtre National of the French Ministry of Culture, the organization that supports recent graduates of the leading national French drama schools, will partner with the Festival in order to bring these promising artists to Princeton.
Kicking off the festival, Lena Paugam will direct Mathurin Voltz in Le 20 novembre by celebrated contemporary Swedish playwright Lars Norén on September 24 and 25 at 6 p.m. Based on the diary of 18-year-old Sebastian Bosse, who entered his former middle school with a firearm and explosives in the German city of Emsdetten on November 20, 2006, the play gives voice to social outcasts and invites audiences to reflect on the darkest aspects of contemporary societies. The site-specific performance was created last spring in Brittany and will be presented in a classroom on campus with limited seating.
Ayouba Ali will direct Astrid Bayiha and Caroline Rabaliatti in Jaz on September 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. Written by Ivorian writer Koffi Kwahulé, currently one of the most popular African playwrights, Jaz tells the story of the title character who lives in an abandoned housing project with a clogged communal bathroom that no one will repair. She seems to be responding to a cross-examination, but there is no interlocutor present. Jaz has lost her identity and her virginity following a rape in a public bathroom. Reflecting the jazz music that she personifies, Jaz tries to extricate herself from the resulting chaos. Jaz tackles the question of how to reconstruct the self, to voice wrongs, and to denounce them by fully exposing them.
Comme la lune, a fairy tale for teenagers as well as adults, will be performed on September 29 and 30 at 7 p.m. A new play by Bertrand Usclat and Pauline Clément, Comme la lune comes directly from Studio Hébertot in Paris, where it has been in development and performance this past summer. Clément takes on the performance of all characters in the play, starting with Princess Daisy, who will soon come of age but suffers from a quirky and “off the wall” personality. A constant target of mockery and blame from her guardian, she endures a life for which she is not prepared.
On September 26 and 27 at 8 p.m., Rodolphe Dana, the artistic director of Collectif Les Possédés and the newly appointed head of Théâtre de Lorient – CDN, will perform in Loin d’eux, the story of a family coping with the grief of a child who has left home. Based on the first novel by celebrated contemporary writer Laurent Mauvignier, Loin d’Eux lies at the border between theater and literature. Dana and his director David Clavel focus on the first part of the novel, which crystalizes the family’s tensions, fears, and doubts.
Most Festival performances will take place in the Marie and Edward Matthews ’53 Acting Studio at 185 Nassau Street. Admission to all events is free, but reservations are strongly recommended and can be sent to ftw@princeton.edu, subject line: “Festival.”
For a complete performance schedule, visit www.princeton.edu/fit/resources.