Theatre de la Jeune Lune

The Theatre de la Jeune Lune was a celebrated theater company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company, in operation from 1978 to 2008, was known for its visually-rich, highly physical style of theatre, derived from clown, mime, dance and opera.

History

Theatre de la Jeune Lune ("Theater of the New Moon" in French) was founded in France in 1978 by Dominique Serrand, Vincent Gracieux and Barbara Berlovitz. The three were joined a short while later by Robert Rosen. All are graduates of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq school in Paris. Actor Steven Epp joined Jeune Lune in 1983. For the first years of operation, Jeune Lune split its time between performing in Paris and in Minneapolis. The company permanently settled in Minneapolis in 1985 and, in 1992, moved into the renovated Allied Van Lines building in the Minneapolis Warehouse district. In 2001, the five original members officially took on duties as co-Artistic Directors.cite web | author= | title=Theatre de la Jeune Lune: History | url=http://www.jeunelune.org/about/history.asp | publisher=Theatre de la Jeune Lune | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-06-02]

In 2005, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune was awarded the Regional Theatre Tony Award [cite web|title='2005 Tony Award Winners' | accessdate=2008-08-21 |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/118922.html BroadwayWorld.com]

By 2007, though, the company faced a crisis. Four of the original five members either left the company or stepped down from their co-Artistic Director positions, leaving Dominic Serrand as the sole Director. Over the years the company had also accumulated a debt load exceeding one million dollars, even as it attempted restructuring and budget cuts in order to remain solvent. [cite web|title='Up against $1 million deficit, will Jeune Lune theater wane?' | accessdate=2008-08-21 | url=http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/onstage/11503381.html Rohan Preston, Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 7, 2007]

In June 2008, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune Board of Directors announced it would sell the theater building and "shut down the arts group as currently organized." Former Artistic Director Dominique Serrand said in a statement that the artists "are exploring ways to reinvent an agile, nomadic, entrepreneurial theatre with a new name" that will be "coming soon to a theatre near you." [cite web|title='Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Innovative Tony-Winning Regional Troupe, to Shut Down' | accessdate=2008-08-21 | url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/118922.html Kenneth Jones, Playbill, June 23, 2008.]

hows

1978: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
1979: "Cirque de Moliere"; "1929"

1984: "Yang Zen Froggs in Moon Over a Hong Kong Sweatshop"

1986: "Romeo and Juliet"

1992: "Children of Paradise — Shooting a Dream"
1993: "Scapin"; "Germinal"

1997: "The Kitchen"

1999: "The Magic Flute"
2000: "The Magic Flute"
2001: "Cosi fan Tutte"; "Gulliver: A Swift Journey"; "Hamlet"; "The Description of the World"; "Tartuffe"
2002: "Medea"; "The Circus of Tales"; "The Nuns"
2003: "The Seagull"; "Carmen"; "Figaro"; "The Man Who Laughs"
2004: "The Ballroom"; "The Golem"; "The Miser"; "Carmina Burana"
2005: "Maria de Buenos Aires"; "Antigone"; "Lettice and Lovage"; "The Little Prince"; "Tartuffe"
2006: "Amerika, or The Disapperance"; "Mefistofele"; "Tartuffe"; "The Miser"
2007: "The Deception"; "Don Juan Giovanni"; "Figaro"
2008: "Fishtank"; "Figaro"

References

External links

* [http://www.jeunelune.org Theatre de la Jeune Lune offical website]
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