Atlanta’s unique Francophone theatrical group, the Theatre du Reve, has had both national and international tours during the past year and is preparing a play for a festival in Limoges, France, this September.
“We have had enormous growth,” an ebullient Park Krausen, the Theatre du Reve’s artistic director, told GlobalAtlanta during a video interview in mid-June.
Founded in 1995, the Theatre du Reve’s mission is to create a dialogue between American and French speaking artists. Over the course of the past year, its French speaking American actors have been working closely with French speaking Belgian playwright Olivier Coyette and director Valery Warnotte.
In November 2008 at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles near the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Ms. Krausen and four other Atlanta-based actors performed Mr. Coyette’s play “Voir Un Ami Pleurer” about the changing relationship between Europe and the U.S. and its impact on individual identifies.
Mr. Coyette provided a bridge between the theater group and the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, which then made it possible for the troupe to perform in Paris.
Ms. Krausen said that the responses of the audiences in Paris varied from performance to performance with some remaining quietly contemplative and others reacting with laughter and applause.
GlobalAtlanta interviewed attendees at the play’s opening night in Paris, including some Atlantans, who happened to be in France at the time. The responses reflected a variety of views registering cross-cultural insights and reactions.
Besides a week of performances in Paris in the past year, the troupe also performed “Voir Un Ami Pleurer” in Washington; Portland, Me. and Buffalo, N.Y., with the support of the Alliance Francaise headquarters in Washington.
Their audiences ranged from school children in Portland, who had received study materials ahead of time, to Washington diplomats.
Now on a roll, the group is preparing for its performance in Limoges where they will be performing a play titled “L’Acteur Sacrifiant,” based on the writing of the French contemporary playwright Valere Novarina.
To learn more about the activities of the Theatre du Reve, go to www.theatredureve.com
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