FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: David Hyry (415) 864-3547 [email protected]
A MAJOR CULTURAL AND THEATER EXCHANGE INITIATIVE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CULTURAL SERVICES OF THE
CONSULATE GENERAL OF FRANCE IN SAN FRANCISCO AND MAISON ANTOINE VITEZ, PARIS, FRANCE
SAN FRANCISCO’S PLAYWRIGHTS FOUNDATION LAUNCHES
DES VOIX … FOUND IN TRANSLATION
A Festival of New Works by Contemporary French and U.S. Playwrights
In San Francisco May 25-27, 2012, In Paris, Fall 2012
For The First Time in America A “Bal Littéraire” A New Play Night Club - May 25
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, U.S.A. – Playwrights Foundation today announced that it is spear-heading a
major new international exchange project, Des Voix…Found In Translation, that supports the
translation of vanguard French and American playwrights and promotes their work to audiences on
both sides of the Atlantic. The San Francisco festival will feature translations of wildly provocative new plays
by three of the most innovative emerging playwrights working in France today. Plays by Marion Aubert,
Samuel Gallet, and Nathalie Fillion, will be performed in English during a Festival, scheduled from May 25-27,
2012, in partnership with Z Space, a theater located in San Francisco’s vibrant, cutting-edge Mission District.
DES VOIX …FOUND IN TRANSLATION is an exciting collaboration between Playwrights Foundation, a
legendary new play development organization in San Francisco, and the Maison Antoine Vitez (MAV),
the International Centre for Drama Translation in Paris, in an exchange that exposes the work of the
newest and most innovative contemporary playwrights to audiences in both countries, sharing ideas and
perspectives of today’s world, and increasing and deepening cultural exchanges between France and the U.S.
Dennis Bisson, Cultural Attaché of the San Francisco French Consulate rermarks "Reciprocity is what makes
this project unique and a model of cooperation: three French contemporary plays will get a unique opportunity
to meet an audience - and, why not, potential producers - in the US, and the same goes for American
playwrights in France.”
The selected works for the San Francisco festival are: Marion Aubert’s “Pride, Pursuit, and
Decapitation,” a ferocious and unsparing comedy that depicts the everyday insanity of our world; Nathalie
Fillion’s “Out There,” an anti-depressant driven, highly-charged Chechovian drama for the 21st Century; and
Samuel Gallet’s much darker work, “Communiqué No. 10,” that explores the explosive, rebellious world of
Paris’ underclass banlieues, set in a futuristic apocalyptic landscape.
DES VOIX …FOUND IN TRANSLATION is pleased to announce that the translations from the festival will be
presented in cities across the U.S. The ACT Theatre in Seattle will be the first to present two of the
festival’s works in the Fall of 2012 and that it is currently working with theaters in Boston, Chicago and New
York to bring these translations to a national audience.
The San Francisco festival features for the first time in America a “Bal Littéraire” A New Play Night
Club (Friday May 25 at 7 pm), an event that is wildly popular throughout France. Performed for one
evening only, a unique hybrid of flash plays, songs, club dancing and literature, created the week of
performance by six writers – three French and three American. “Bal Littéraire” is presented in association with
Litquake, the engaging evening “tells a story, a story with songs we can all dance to” as it unfolds in a
celebratory club atmosphere with audience and artists dancing between scenes, a no-host bar and food.
The Festival also will also present “Translating Experience: Talking About Experimental Theater
Between Languages and Cultures”. (Sunday May 27 1 PM) An "interactive convening," conversations with
the audience as a think-tank exploration of Theater, Language and Culture. This "convening" is lead by Judith
Miller, the foremost American translator of French plays in partnership with Laurent Mulheisen (executive
director of the Maison Antoine Vitez, translator) and Ivan Bertoux (Deputy Cultural Attaché, translator.)
Participants will include French playwrights Samuel Gallet, Marion Aubert, Nathalie Fillion, American
playwrights, and audience in several rounds of conversations, as well as skype, twitter, and other interactive
media feeds.
Playwrights Foundation’s Artistic Director Amy Mueller is inspired by the selected works: “These three
extraordinary plays rose to the top of the review process for the theatrically brilliant and divergent ways that
each story tackles today’s cultural, political, social and economic tsunami of chaos and reinvention. U.S.
audiences are in for a real treat, and we are thrilled to create a bridge to such exceptional theater artists across
the proverbial pond.” Playwrights Foundation is well known for championing work at the vanguard of theater for
more than three decades, developing new work by as yet unknown writers, who go on to literally reshape the
American theatrical landscape – from Sam Shepard in 1976, onwards. “Collaborating with our artistic sisters at
the Maison has surprised us in our shared taste of innovation, depth and wild creativity in dramatic work. We
sent them more than thirty plays, and we were truly amazed at the choices they made.” says Mueller. Works by
Rajiv Joseph, Liz Duffy Adams and Marcus Gardley, all artists who PF has invested in from very early in their
careers, will be featured in translation at a Festival in Paris, currently scheduled for the fall at the Théâtre de la
Ville.
The French playwrights will be in residence at Playwrights Foundation for the duration of the Festival in May,
and will participate in the rehearsal and performance process of their newly translated plays. Translators
include Kimberly Jannarone and Erik Butler (Pride, Pursuit, and Decapitation,) Emily-Jane Cohen and Michelle
Haner (Out There,) and Rob Melrose (Communiqué No.10). Each of the three plays will be performed as
staged readings during the festival by the Bay Area’s finest actors, directed by ACT’s Carey Perloff, Rob
Melrose (who is also translating), and Playwrights Foundation’’s Artistic Director Amy Mueller. Mueller
continues, “It’s awe-inspiring to witness a new theatrical aesthetic coming into being, and one so clearly an
explosive response to its historic predecessors of the French Avant Guarde– where absurdism, political satire,
and futurism were born.”
The Paris festival is being produced by the Maison Antoine Vitez, and is scheduled to be presented in the Fall
of 2012 at the Théâtre de la Ville, known worldwide as the place to see the most current and interesting new
work. The Paris festival will feature translations of exceptionally gifted, early career American playwrights Rajiv
Joseph(“Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo”),Marcus Gardley(“every tongue confess”),and Liz Duffy
Adams(“The Reckless Ruthless Brutal Charge Of It, or, The Train Play”), each performed in French.
Commissioned to translate these three works are Dominique Hollier (Bengal Tiger), Adelaïde Pralon (Train
Play) and Isabelle Famchon (every tongue). Dennis Bisson adds, “Translating drama is a very demanding
exercise, and the quality of the translations on both sides is amazing, so the Cultural Services of the Consulate
General of France in San Francisco is very proud to have contributed to this exciting endeavor."
In addition to Cultural Services, Playwrights Foundation is working closely with partners Z Space and Deborah
Taylor/FireMused Productions, LLC on the presentation of the American festival – both noted for their expertise
in the development and production of new plays.
ABOUT THE PLAYS
“Pride, Pursuit, and Decapitation” (“Orgueil, Poursuite, et Décapitation”) by Marion Aubert; translated by Kimberly
Jannarone and Erik Butler In a ferocious and unsparing comedy, a mad playwright conjures up a whirlwind of hilarious unhinged
scenes in lurid color to depict the everyday insanity of our world.
“Out There” (“A L’Ouest”) by Nathalie Fillion; translated by Emily-Jane Cohen and Michelle Haner
While global markets collapse and sound investments dissolve, Jean, a depressed man in his forties, propelled into euphoria by a new
anti-depressant, prepares to sell off the family’s properties. A highly-charged Chechovian family drama for the 21st century.
“COMMUNIQUÉ No. 10” by Samuel Gallet; translated by Rob Melrose
Built like a puzzle, and set in a slightly futuristic megalopolis surrounded by a wasteland, Gallet’s play is neither a strictly realistic piece,
nor a thriller, nor a hallucinated vision of the future, but all three simultaneously.
PLAYWRIGHTS
Marion Aubert’s work has been produced throughout France and across Western and Central Europe, and translated into many
languages. She is a founding member of Tire pas la Nappe Theatre Company and the Coopérative d’écriture, both important emergent
companies in Paris. Nathalie Fillion is a prize winning playwright and veteran actress. Her plays have been translated and produced
throughout France, Europe and in Quebec. She is a founder of the Coopérative d’écriture and divides her time between writing,
directing and teaching at the Studio d’Asnières. Samuel Gallet is an emerging writer from the ENSATT school, a graduate of the class
of 2003, and has since made his mark as one of the most prominent young playwrights of his generation, with plays staged by top
Parisian directors. Among his many theatrical endeavors, his rock poem, Oswald by night, has become a popular animated concert,
and his play Encore un jour sans was a top finalist for the Grand Prix de Littérature Dramatique.
TRANSLATORS
Kimberley Jannarone is a prize-winning scholar, translator, director, actor, and professor, who specializes in theater of the French
avant-garde. She is the author of the highly praised Artaud And His Doubles, and is Associate Professor of Theater Arts at Santa Cruz
University. Her husband, and co-translator, Erik Butler, is the author of highly acclaimed works on cultural history, and is also a wellrespected translator of French literature. Michelle Haner is an American actress, director, teacher and translator who has worked
extensively in both the US and Europe. She is a member of foolsFURY where she heads the company’s French Plays project, and has
won accolades for her translations of works by Fabrice Melquiot, among others. Her co-translator, Emily-Jane Cohen, is a scholar,
writer, translator, and Acquisitions Editor for Literature, Philosophy, and Religion at Stanford University Press, as well as an expert on
French cooking. Rob Melrose is an award-winning director and translator, and is the Artistic Director of San Francisco’s highly
acclaimed Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco. He has translated extensively from both French and German avant-garde classics,
and is well known for his immersive stagings of re-imagined classics and experimental works.
ABOUT LA MAISON ANTOINE VITEZ
La Maison Antoine Vitez is led by Laurent Muhleisen, a leading French translator, and is dedicated to translating dramatic literature
from all languages into French. Established 20 years ago, it bears the name of one of France's greatest 20th century theatre figures
and accomplished translator. The Maison promotes the plays translated at its initiative or by its members through an animated website
and readings throughout France, and through various partnerships with publishers, theatres, and other institutions. The English
translation committee is currently coordinated by Dominique Hollier, Séverine Magois, and Kelly Rivière.
ABOUT PLAYWRIGHTS FOUNDATION:
The Playwrights Foundation is widely recognized as one of the top play development labs in the U.S. Since its founding in 1976 by
noted auteur director Robert Woodruff, PF has served more than 425 playwrights early in their careers, providing invaluable resources
for the advancement of their work and connecting them to theater companies that produce new plays. Playwrights Foundation’s annual
Bay Area Playwrights Festival will celebrate its 35th year this summer and is well known for introducing young playwrights who go on to
shape the future of theater. Playwrights Foundation also supports emerging national playwrights throughout the year through
residencies, producing partnerships, commissions, readings, exchanges, and mentorships. Program alumni include some of the most
prominent names in contemporary U.S. theatre, such as Sam Shepard, David Henry Hwang, Paula Vogel, Maria Irene Fornes, Philip
Kan Gotanda, Brighde Mullins, Claire Chafee, Marcus Gardley, Liz Duffy Adams, Katori Hall, Annie Baker and Nilo Cruz, to name just a
few playwrights who name Playwrights Foundation as having incubated their artistic voices and launched their careers.
ABOUT Z SPACE:
Founded in 1993, Z Space is a hub for artists and audiences to revel in the creation, development, and production of outstanding new
work. Z Space commissions, develops, and produces a full season of new works from a variety of disciplines including theater, dance,
music, performance art, and new media. Z Space fosters opportunities around the nation for these works and for their Bay Area artists.
The organization engages diverse audiences through direct interactions with the process, the projects, and the artists. Since 2009 Z
Space has managed and operated a 13,000 sq/ft, 229-seat performing arts venue and gallery: home to more than 40 weeks of public
multidisciplinary arts programming annually. www.zspace.org.
ABOUT DEBORAH TAYLOR/FIREMUSED PRODUCTIONS, LLC
Deborah Taylor/Firemused Productions, LLC is a Broadway producer who specializes in promoting new work and new voices.
Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning La Cage aux Folles and Green Day’s American Idiot. Other Broadway credits
include Elling, The Mountaintop, and The National Theatre of London's production of the sold out hit One Man Two Guvnor’s coming to
Broadway this spring. She has produced extensively off-off Broadway, credits include: Street Lights, NYMF; Abe Lincoln’s Big Gay
Dance Party by Aaron Loeb; Tracy Letts’s Killer Joe; Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Schwartz; and Allison Moore’s Slasher. Her film
credits include: Highway Courtesans, Stomp: a pulse odyssey, and The King’s Speech. Ms. Taylor is one of the producers of the
Aurora Theatre's new work series, The Global Age Project. She is a board member of Moises Kaufman's Tectonic Theatre Project, and
a member of the auxiliary board for The San Francisco Ballet Company. In addition to the Des Voix Festival, her upcoming projects
include Marcus Gardley’s Dance of the Holy Ghost, Broadway 2012.
# # #
Calendar Editors Please Note:
DES VOIX … FOUND IN TRANSLATION
A Festival of New Works by Contemporary French and U.S. Playwrights
In San Francisco May 25-27, 2012
May 25th, 7 p.m. Bal Littéraire: A New Play Nightclub
May 26th, 4 p.m. Reading: “Communiqué No. 10,” by Samuel Gallet, translated by Rob Melrose
May 26th, 8 p.m. Reading:”Pride, Pursuit, and Decapitation” (“Orgueil, Poursuite, et Décapitation”) by Marion Aubert,
translated by Erik Butler and Kimberly Jannarone
May 27th, 1 p.m.
Colloquium: Translating Experience: Talking About Experimental Theater Between Languages and Cultures
May 27th, 5 p.m. Reading: “Out There” (“A L’Ouest”) by Nathalie Fillion, translated by Emily-Jane Cohen and Michelle Haner
Tickets range fro $15-$75 with multi-event passes available.
Z SPACE 450 Florida Street, San Francisco 94110
Tickets: at www.brownpapertickets.com or
(800) 838-3006 (24-Hour Ticket Hotline) or visit www.zspace.org.
LINKS:
Des Voix…Found In Translation [LINK TO: www.desvoixfestival.com]
Playwrights Foundation (PF) [LINK TO: www.playwrightsfoundation.org]
Maison Antoine Vitez (MAV), [LINK TO: www.maisonantoinevitez.fr]
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