Celebrated French theater artists converge onstage at Princeton University - 8th Edition of the Festival
Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, Department of French and Italian, and L’Avant-Scène will present the eighth annual Seuls en Scène French Theater Festival, which will take place from September 19 to 28 at venues across the University’s campus. Most performances will be in French, and several will include English subtitles; all are free and open to the public. Please visit the festival website.
All events in the French Theater Festival (except Laure Adler In Conversation with Julien Gosselin + Pascal Rambert) require tickets. Tickets for all performances are free; donations accepted. Reserve tickets online through University Ticketing, in person at the Frist Campus Center Ticket Office, or by calling 609-258-9220.
Seuls en Scène ushers in the 19th season of L’Avant-Scène, a French theater troupe of Princeton students. It also celebrates professional theatrical achievements from the past year: many of the invited artists to Seuls en Scène are prominent contributors to contemporary theater in France. The Festival is curated and organized by Florent Masse, Senior Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian and artistic director of L’Avant-Scène.
Thursday, September 19, 2019; 8:00 PM | McCosh 10
Friday, September 20, 2019; 6:00PM | McCosh 10
Désordre du Discours by Fanny de Chaillé
On December 2, 1970, Michel Foucault gave his inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, the first lesson for which a rewriting subsists, entitled L’Ordre du discours. Fanny de Chaillé recreates the event and puts together a discursive performance destined for university amphitheaters. The effect of this re-enactment of Foucault’s words is to set his thoughts in motion once again.
Friday, September 20, 2019; 8:00 PM | Wallace Theater - Lewis Center
Saturday, September 21, 2019; 8:00 PM | Wallace Theater - Lewis Center
Le marteau et la faucille by Don DeLillo / Julien Gosselin / Cie Si vous pouviez lécher mon coeur
After Houellebecq and Bolaño, the director Julien Gosselin continues his scenic exploration of the literature of today and violence in our societies. Based on a short story by the American writer Don DeLillo, this latest production presents the dystopian world of high finance.
Saturday, September 21, 2019; 11:00 AM | Julis Rabinowitz 399
Laure Adler In Conversation with Julien Gosselin + Pascal Rambert
A conversation (in French) between Julien Gosselin and Pascal Rambert with Laure Adler, a French journalist, essayist, historian, radio producer, former director of France Culture, and author of Marguerite Duras; Dans les pas de Hannah Arendt; and L’Insoumise: Simone Weil.
Saturday, September 21, 2019; 2:00 PM | Mathews Acting Studio
Qui a tué mon père by Edouard Louis, directed by Stanislas Nordey
In the manner Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir, Annie Ernaux and Didier Eribon, Edouard Louis writes from his personal experience. His two almost biographical novels: The End of Eddy (2014) and History of Violence (2016), have moved many of his readers. For this play, he responded to the invitation of stage director and performer Stanislas Nordey, to write a text to be spoken and to be read, a work for the theater.
Sunday, September 22, 2019; 5:00 PM | Hearst Dance Studio - Lewis Center
Avignon à vie by Pascal Rambert
Avignon for Life, the title rings out like a declaration of love and it is one. That of the author and director Pascal Rambert made in Avignon and at its Festival. “I wrote this text on trains, at airports, in stations, on planes. When you can finally be quiet. [...] And daydream a little. Dreaming a little about what you love. Here, Avignon and its Festival. I don't know why I wanted to write a kind of love letter to Avignon and its Festival. Probably because the conditions of beauty and sorrow of the human condition, which are represented, are held for three weeks in this place.” It is Stanislas Nordey who will lend his voice to this luminous ode to the theatre.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019; 5:00 PM | Wallace Theater - Lewis Center
Wednesday, September 25, 2019; 8:00 PM | Wallace Theater - Lewis Center
Blablabla by Joris Lacoste
With Blablabla, Joris Lacoste and Emmanuelle Lafon orchestrate, for the first time, a children’s version of their Encyclopédie de la parole. In this piece, devised using recordings of all different kinds, an actress-singer-performer explores how children hear. Thus, the question is not what is their point of view, but what is their “point of hearing?” This show is designed for adult and child audiences alike.
Thursday, September 26, 2019; 8:00 PM | Mathews Acting Studio
Friday, September 27, 2019; 8:00 PM | Mathews Acting Studio
La loi des prodiges by François de Brauer directed Louis Arène
In this enthralling one-man show, François de Brauer creates twenty captivating characters using minimal props and costumes. We follow the story of Remi Goutard, who from his birth, develops a hatred for the arts and holds a persistent grudge against artists and performers. When appointed as a Congressman at the National Assembly, he strives to get rid of all cultural events, and artists who wish to reintegrate into society.
Saturday, September 28, 2019; 2:00 PM | Wallace Theater - Lewis Center
Saturday, September 28, 2019; 8:00 PM | Wallace Theater - Lewis Center
Radio Live by Aurélie Charon and Caroline Gillet
Since 2012, radio journalists and producers Aurélie Charon and Caroline Gillet have explored innovative documentary formats; their voices already well known to listeners of France Inter and France Culture, this duo, together with illustrator Amélie Bonnin, have developed a live program on stage accompanied by music, archives, and real-life exchanges.
