Bridging the gap between the academic and performing arts communities through dynamic public programs and digital initiatives that are free and open to all.
Luc Saint-Eloy, photo courtesy of the artist. Magali Solignat, photo by Fanny Vambacas. Charlotte Boimare, photo by Céline Nieszawer. Jean-René Lemoine, photo by Marco Samson.
The ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project is initiated and coordinated by Stéphanie Bérard, specialist in Caribbean Theater, author of Théâtres des Antilles, in collaboration with Frank Hentschker from the Martin E. Segal Center at CUNY-The Graduate Center, Nicole Birmann Bloom from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, with Compagnie Siyaj from Guadeloupe, and with the participation of the choreographer-cultural producer Candace Thompson-Zachery as external artistic advisor.
2:00pm Roundtable: Women and/in Caribbean Theatre
With Romola Lucas, Amina Henry, Magali Solignat, and Charlotte Bomaire
Moderated by Candace Thompson-Zachery
4:00pm Street Sad / Trottoir Chagrin
Written by Luc Saint-Eloy (Guadeloupe)
Translated by Josh Cohen
Directed by Paul Price
Q&A moderated by Steve Puig
A prostitute is walking the streets of Paris. She does not care about anything nor anyone. One evening, she returns to the place where her brother Jeannot was murdered just a year before. There she meets a mysterious man with whom she starts a conversation and enters into a dangerous flirtation.
6:00pm The Day My Father Killed Me / Le jour où mon père m’a tué
Written by Magali Solignat & Charlotte Boimare (Guadeloupe)
Translated by Amelia Parenteau
Directed by Florent Masse Q&A moderated by Amélie Parenteau Based on a true story of a singer who murdered his son in Guadeloupe. Devised as a documentary theatre work, the play offers a diverse narrative account of the crime and the violence in contemporary Caribbean society.
8:00pm Adoration / L’Adoration
Written by Jean-René Lemoine (Haiti/France)
Translated by Amanda Gann
Directed by Sylvaine Guyot Q&A moderated by Amin Erfani
In a nightclub on a terrace overlooking the sea, a woman, Chine, and a man, Rodez, reflect on their relationship. Memories of desire, obsession, love, and hate mix with the sounds of the waves they hear from far away. Slowly, Chine unveils the inner workings of a dangerous passion in which she lost herself.
Plays have been selected by a distinguished advisory board: Alessandra Benedicty-Kokken (The Graduate Center, CUNY), Nicole Birmann Bloom (Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York), Stéphanie Bérard (specialist in Caribbean Theater, author of Théâtres des Antilles) Maria Brewer (University of Minnesota), Heather Denyer (Graduate Center, CUNY), Amin Erfani (Lehman College, CUNY), Christian Flaugh (Buffalo University), Amaya Lainez Le Déan (translator and director, Buenos Aires).
External Artistic Director: Candace Thompson-Zachery
The ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project is initiated and coordinated by Stéphanie Bérard, specialist in Caribbean Theater, author of Théâtres des Antilles, in close collaboration with Frank Hentschker from the Martin E. Segal Center at CUNY-The Graduate Center, Nicole Birmann Bloom from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, and with Compagnie Siyaj from Guadeloupe.
Stéphanie Bérard (Ph.D. University of Minnesota/Université de Provence) is a specialist of Francophone Caribbean and African theater and has taught in the US, Canada, and France. Her research sits at the crossroads of Postcolonial and Theater Studies, exploring the history of oral tradition, rituals, Caribbean drama, Creole and French, and drum music and dance. She is the author of Théâtres des Antilles: traditions et scènes contemporaines (2009) and Le Théâtre-Monde de José Pliya (2015) and she co-edited Emergences Caraïbes: une création théâtrale archipélique in Africultures (2010). She was awarded an NEH Fellowship for her project on Haitian drama, and a Marie Curie European Fellowship for FACT (Francophone African and Caribbean Theaters).
Founded in 2002 and directed by Gilbert Laumord and Elvia Gutiérrez in Guadeloupe, SIYAJ is a government subsidized theater company supported by the French Ministry of Culture and the Regional Council. SIYAJ asserts a Caribbean identity anchored in popular traditions inherited from Africa (drum rituals, oral tradition, Creole) and favors interdisciplinary aesthetic forms (music, dance, drama). Promoting intercultural collaborations (Cuba, Haiti, and South Korea), Siyaj has produced 10 plays performed in the Caribbean, metropolitan France, Asia, and the US.
The ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project is supported by FACE Contemporary Theater, a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with the support of the Florence Gould Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Institut français-Paris, the French Ministry of Culture, and private donors.
The translations of Adoration by Jean-René Lemoine and And the Whole World Quakes (The Great Collapse) by Guy Régis Junior are supported by the CONTXTO network.
(Untitled)
Caribbean Theatre Project Day 1
« Back to EventsLuc Saint-Eloy, photo courtesy of the artist.
Magali Solignat, photo by Fanny Vambacas.
Charlotte Boimare, photo by Céline Nieszawer.
Jean-René Lemoine, photo by Marco Samson.
Caribbean Theatre Project
ACT (Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales)
Monday, December 2
Segal Theatre
2:00pm Discussion + 4:00pm, 6:00pm, 8:00pm Readings
FREE + Open to public. First come, first served
The ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project is initiated and coordinated by Stéphanie Bérard, specialist in Caribbean Theater, author of Théâtres des Antilles, in collaboration with Frank Hentschker from the Martin E. Segal Center at CUNY-The Graduate Center, Nicole Birmann Bloom from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, with Compagnie Siyaj from Guadeloupe, and with the participation of the choreographer-cultural producer Candace Thompson-Zachery as external artistic advisor.
2:00pm Roundtable: Women and/in Caribbean Theatre
With Romola Lucas, Amina Henry, Magali Solignat, and Charlotte Bomaire
Moderated by Candace Thompson-Zachery
4:00pm Street Sad / Trottoir Chagrin
Written by Luc Saint-Eloy (Guadeloupe)
Translated by Josh Cohen
Directed by Paul Price
Q&A moderated by Steve Puig
A prostitute is walking the streets of Paris. She does not care about anything nor anyone. One evening, she returns to the place where her brother Jeannot was murdered just a year before. There she meets a mysterious man with whom she starts a conversation and enters into a dangerous flirtation.
6:00pm The Day My Father Killed Me / Le jour où mon père m’a tué
Written by Magali Solignat & Charlotte Boimare (Guadeloupe)
Translated by Amelia Parenteau
Directed by Florent Masse
Q&A moderated by Amélie Parenteau
Based on a true story of a singer who murdered his son in Guadeloupe. Devised as a documentary theatre work, the play offers a diverse narrative account of the crime and the violence in contemporary Caribbean society.
8:00pm Adoration / L’Adoration
Written by Jean-René Lemoine (Haiti/France)
Translated by Amanda Gann
Directed by Sylvaine Guyot
Q&A moderated by Amin Erfani
In a nightclub on a terrace overlooking the sea, a woman, Chine, and a man, Rodez, reflect on their relationship. Memories of desire, obsession, love, and hate mix with the sounds of the waves they hear from far away. Slowly, Chine unveils the inner workings of a dangerous passion in which she lost herself.
Plays have been selected by a distinguished advisory board:
Alessandra Benedicty-Kokken (The Graduate Center, CUNY),
Nicole Birmann Bloom (Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York),
Stéphanie Bérard (specialist in Caribbean Theater, author of Théâtres des Antilles)
Maria Brewer (University of Minnesota),
Heather Denyer (Graduate Center, CUNY),
Amin Erfani (Lehman College, CUNY),
Christian Flaugh (Buffalo University),
Amaya Lainez Le Déan (translator and director, Buenos Aires).
External Artistic Director: Candace Thompson-Zachery
The ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project is initiated and coordinated by Stéphanie Bérard, specialist in Caribbean Theater, author of Théâtres des Antilles, in close collaboration with Frank Hentschker from the Martin E. Segal Center at CUNY-The Graduate Center, Nicole Birmann Bloom from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, and with Compagnie Siyaj from Guadeloupe.
Stéphanie Bérard (Ph.D. University of Minnesota/Université de Provence) is a specialist of Francophone Caribbean and African theater and has taught in the US, Canada, and France. Her research sits at the crossroads of Postcolonial and Theater Studies, exploring the history of oral tradition, rituals, Caribbean drama, Creole and French, and drum music and dance. She is the author of Théâtres des Antilles: traditions et scènes contemporaines (2009) and Le Théâtre-Monde de José Pliya (2015) and she co-edited Emergences Caraïbes: une création théâtrale archipélique in Africultures (2010). She was awarded an NEH Fellowship for her project on Haitian drama, and a Marie Curie European Fellowship for FACT (Francophone African and Caribbean Theaters).
Founded in 2002 and directed by Gilbert Laumord and Elvia Gutiérrez in Guadeloupe, SIYAJ is a government subsidized theater company supported by the French Ministry of Culture and the Regional Council. SIYAJ asserts a Caribbean identity anchored in popular traditions inherited from Africa (drum rituals, oral tradition, Creole) and favors interdisciplinary aesthetic forms (music, dance, drama). Promoting intercultural collaborations (Cuba, Haiti, and South Korea), Siyaj has produced 10 plays performed in the Caribbean, metropolitan France, Asia, and the US.
The ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project is supported by FACE Contemporary Theater, a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with the support of the Florence Gould Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Institut français-Paris, the French Ministry of Culture, and private donors.
The translations of Adoration by Jean-René Lemoine and And the Whole World Quakes (The Great Collapse) by Guy Régis Junior are supported by the CONTXTO network.