L'Atelier students say 'bonjour' to Parisian theater scene

Paris: the name of the city alone resonates with culture and allure (especially when it is pronounced with a French accent). For L'Atelier, a French theater troupe here at the University, Paris turned from un rêve to reality over Intersession.

For five unforgettable days, 10 students from the group toured the Comedie Francaise — the state theater of France — and attended one of its private cast parties, meeting actors in a play which they themselves will be performing this spring. To round out the week, the students visited the French Senate and sat in on a class at the French National Drama Conservatory.

During the course of these activities, the students came in contact with France's top actors and directors. They had a 3-hour discussion with Guillaume Galliene, who plays the lead in the Comedie Francaise's "Le Dindon." Daniel Mesguiche, who taught the acting class, is the former professor of Florent Masse, L'Atelier's director and tireless proponent, who orchestrated the trip with subsidization from the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS).

Masse, a French professor, said he realized last spring that "the University is literally six hours away from Paris." In Paris over intersession last year, he said he wished his students "could have been there." He wanted his students to discover French theater in the field. Masse made it happen.

"It helped me get a much more specific idea of what it means to act like a Frenchman; their mentality, their stage presence, their speech, all of which are L'Atelier's goals to recreate at Princeton," Aaron Cooper '05 said.

"They were also just really fun," he said. "Galliene was very free with some humorous advice on our play, and the students at the Conservatory were some of the most spectacular actors that I've ever seen."

Comedie Francaise is the oldest troupe in Europe, founded in 1680 by King Louis XIV.

"Only the best actors get there," Iva Kleinova '06 said. "The three plays we saw were excellent."

She said she was also glad to have heard firsthand about life as an actor.

"I don't think any of us want to become actors, but it was really interesting," she said.

Kleinova said watching the French students at work was, for her, the most educational part of the trip.

"They were very good. We were quite intimidated by that. The students were able to adapt to whatever the director said. It was very inspiring," Kleinova said.

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Though he said he also enjoyed the privilege of these acquaintances, Hiroyuki Tanaka '06 relished more mundane aspects of the trip to Paris.

"I really enjoyed going to the cafes, restaurants and supermarkets. Just strolling around local areas when I had some free time really gave me a taste of Paris, too. I was so happy when French people in France understood my French," he said.

L'Atelier has achieved much in the past three years that has allowed it to work up to this trip. Sponsored by the French department and the Center for French Studies, it began when Masse came to Princeton from Amherst. Students commit to the group for the entire year, participating in acting sessions and language labs.

"I make sure every time the French is perfect," Masse said. "It is a cultural, linguistic, artistic adventure. You have to change the way you move if you are a knight, a queen."

For some, French can be simply the gateway to a novel world of theater. Tanaka, who never had any acting experience before L'Atelier first joined to practice the language.

"I didn't know what I was getting myself into! I never thought that I'd be acting out classical French plays by Moliere and Racine!"

Tanaka expressed a common sentiment among the students — that the course went beyond the average college French class.

"I didn't know how the audience would react to my acting, but after receiving lots of encouragement and support from my friends, faculty and people who I never even met before, I've gained much more confidence," Tanaka said, adding, "That's what's so great about L'Atelier. It's not just the acting, and it's not just the language. You can learn both at the same time."

"There are so many rules in classical French theater that an actor must follow, and it takes years of training to really master them," Tanaka added.

In the process, students enjoy rich side benefits to being part of L'Atelier, such as lasting friendships among different circles of students, including diverse majors, graduate students and international students.

Students also gained exposure to material not usually taught in the classroom.

"It's very different from any other form of theater that I know," Jennifer Schanbacher '04 said. "[It's] so over-the-top, almost operatic, and I didn't have much experience of it before joining L'Atelier. But now it's absolutely my favorite form of theater."

Though the group rehearsed the same short scenes all last year, this spring "Le Dindon," a comedy, will be its first full-length play. "The advanced students wanted new challenges," Masse said.

The trip to Paris will be instrumental in guiding the transition, but Masse knows it will not happen right away.

"I will wait to see the results to this trip because it can't happen overnight," Masse said. "They were exposed to the very best. Even though it was short, they got the taste."