French faculty member Florent Masse named Officer in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Flora Champy, director of undergraduate studies and associate professor in the French department, had thought she was too busy to perform in Georges Feydeau’s comic Le Dindon. Then, Florent Masse, the director, convinced her to do it — as part of his now 25-year long quest to turn the University into a premier center for French theater.

“I am extremely glad Florent made me change my mind — the project was a moment of sheer joy for the community Florent had built over two decades,” Champy wrote to The Daily Princetonian.

Masse, professor of the practice in the Department of French and Italian, was awarded the rank of Officer in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in February. This is one rank up from the level of Knight (Chevalier), which he was honored with in 2017. 

The award and its three ranks are given to individuals who “distinguished themselves through their creations in the artistic or literary field, or through their contribution to the promotion of arts and letters in France and throughout the world,” the official website for the award states. The three ranks of the award, ordered by status, are Commander (Commandeur), Officer (Officier), and Knight. 

“I’m very honored,” he said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “And I found it particularly exciting to receive this award, after spending 25 years at Princeton.”  

Masse’s contributions to French culture primarily include his founding and continued development of L’Avant Scène, a French theater workshop on campus, as well as leading the annual Seuls en Scène, Princeton’s French theater festival. 

Masse’s students and colleagues praised his work in turning the University into “a vibrant hub” for French culture and artistry.

“This honor really speaks to how far his influence reaches beyond Princeton,” Chloe Zhu ’27 wrote in a statement to the ‘Prince.’ “The Avant-Scène has grown over two decades into a vibrant hub that draws not only students, but also members of the local community and even visitors from across the broader New Jersey and New York area who are connoisseurs or simply curious about French culture.”

Zhu is a business director for the ‘Prince.’

“He has built a world-renowned theater program from scratch, single-handedly creating Princeton’s reputation as the central hub for French theater in the United States,” Christy Wampole, a professor of French who has worked with Masse since 2011, told the ‘Prince.’ 

Masse came to Princeton in 2001 from Amherst College to teach French language. He carried his interest in theater, which he found in high school, to the University, and in August 2001, he founded L’Avant Scène which has produced full-length plays since 2004. At the time of Masse’s arrival, there was no program in French theater at the University.

Champy has played in 11 of Masse’s productions, including Le Dindon, which was performed for the 20th anniversary of L’Avant-Scène presenting full-length plays. In a statement to the ‘Prince,’ she described the scope of the program, writing “The French theater program he built is unparalleled in the country, I believe, by the sheer number of shows he is able to put together in any single year with his students.”

Eddie Kong ’27, who has performed in six plays with L’Avant-Scène, wrote to the ‘Prince’ that Masse “works tirelessly promoting French Theater both on and around campus — every time we perform the audience is actually filled with people from all over the region, sometimes even professors from other states.” 

Masse’s cultivation of French theater has gone beyond L’Avant-Scène. In 2012, Masse launched Seuls en Scène, Princeton’s French theater festival, which is now an annual event that invites contemporary French performers across the country to campus. The festival has grown over the past decade, supported in part by partnerships with French cultural institutions and the French Embassy. 

“It’s one of the rare opportunities in the U.S. for French theater artists to come and perform,” Masse said of the festival.

Masse’s work on these festivals has made the University a household name both in France and in discussions of French culture, according to Masse and his colleagues and students.

“If you go to France, the name Princeton is known because it’s known as one of the places in the U.S. where French theater is welcome,” Masse said.

“We’ve even been invited to speak at the Villa Albertine, a French cultural institution in the heart of New York’s Museum Mile, which goes to show the sheer recognition Prof. Masse has in the French cultural scene,” Kong wrote to the ‘Prince.’ 

Many students experienced Princeton and Masse’s reputation firsthand when traveling with him, both in France and the U.S.  

“I visited him at the Festival d’Avignon when I was abroad doing Princeton in France, and I remember him chatting to someone about every five minutes when we were walking from site to site. Everyone knows him, it’s incredible,” Kong wrote.

Gil Joseph ’25, a former member of L’Avant Scène, said that when the group traveled to Paris for an exchange with a drama school, Masse introduced the members of the group to all of his friends.

“It was a surreal experience … he just showed up, and people were like, ‘Oh, Florent, how is it going?’” Joseph said. 

Wampole, who has invited Masse to be a guest lecturer for some of her courses, told the ‘Prince’ that he has a “reputation [that] always precedes him.” 

“I can think of no one more passionate for and knowledgeable of French theater,” Wampole wrote to the ‘Prince.’

Masse’s reputation extends also to his teaching style, which emphasizes participation, physical engagement, and building speaker confidence. 

“I try to put students in motion,” Masse said. “We might have discussion, but also exercises, scenes, presentations. It’s very active.” 

Joseph is a native French speaker and described how Masse “created an environment where we could all play on our strengths.”

Tying his teaching techniques into his love of theater, Wampole noted how “he does not study texts as dead scholarly objects; he brings them alive on the stage.”

“Whether in rehearsal or abroad, he is constantly thinking about how to create meaningful experiences for his students, never sparing any effort to get all the details right,” Zhu wrote to the ‘Prince.’ “Traveling with him, you feel truly invited into a cultural world he cares deeply about.”

But for Masse, the award is so much more about being honored for his own achievements. It is about being recognized by his home country for the work he does out of sheer love for it.  

“It’s wonderful to be recognized by your country for what you do to promote it abroad,” Masse said. “[It is] a great encouragement to continue.”

Clara Docherty is the assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading faculty, graduate students, and alumni coverage. She is from Lafayette, N.J., and can be reached at clara.docherty[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.