We’re thrilled to announce that our 2019-20 production will be Vive La Fontaine! (Long Live La Fontaine!), TdR’s beloved, company-created play based on the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Performances will be March 13 – 29, 2020, at 7Stages Back Stage Theatre. (Tickets here!)
TdR’s Administrative Director Eliana Marianes remembers seeing the original production (and loving it!) when her high school French class attended a student matinee. She recently sat down with Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Cook, to find out more about how this hit show came to be.
Eliana Marianes: Where did you get the idea for Vive La Fontaine!?
Carolyn Cook: Well, let’s see. It was 2004, I think; the company had been producing for about eight years. We had done some contemporary plays and some Molière one-acts, but we had never developed our own work. I had this notion that TdR should create a play based on the fables of Jean de La Fontaine. Honestly, I can’t remember where the idea came from, but I do remember that the Comedie Française did their own production of the Fables at the same time! I used to laugh and say they stole the idea from us.
EM: How did you create the play?
CC: My friend Ariel de Man (now Fristoe) was creating very physical, innovative new work with the company she co-founded, Out of Hand Theater. Ariel speaks French, so I asked her if she’d like to develop a piece with TdR. We gathered a group of performers with a variety of skills (Park Krausen, Shaun Whitley, Adam Fristoe, and myself) and started reading fables, narrowing down our choices, and brainstorming all the theatrical styles we could think of. We began playing around with matching the fables to the styles — like an ESPN broadcast for the Tortoise and the Hare. Ariel would send us off in small groups with an assignment like, “create a silent movie version of this fable and be ready to perform it in fifteen minutes. GO!” There’s nothing like a deadline to get your creative juices flowing.
EM: Sounds challenging!
CC: It was! And fun, and creative, and everything you want theatre to be. We were writing music, cutting out shadow puppets, learning the tango . . . constantly trying to create something new and surprising. We discovered the form of the play as we went along. Ultimately we chose nine fables and performed each one in at least two wildly different styles.
EM: How did audiences react when they saw the play?
CC: They loved it. I wasn’t quite prepared for the enthusiastic response. They loved it so much we had to bring it back twice. (The last revival was in 2009.) I think we created a monster!
EM: Why are you bringing it back now?
CC: People never stop asking for this show! And honestly, the fables never get old. They seem so simple and innocent, but they’re brilliant social commentary. They’re part of every child’s education throughout the Francophone world. Literally from the Congo to Quebec, French-speaking people grow up on these fables. Plus, they’re part of the high school French curriculum here, and we have a whole new generation of French students to share them with. I’m excited to bring it back for a new audience, and see how it resonates today!
TdR presents Vive La Fontaine!, March 13 -29, 2020. Ticket information for public performances can be found on the 7 Stages website here. Student matinees begin March 11, 2020. If you are a teacher interested in school bookings, contact Lauren Rekhelman at lrekhelman@theatredureve.com for booking and show information, and read more here!