Bring Jeune Lune to the Bay

Whenever someone back home in England asks me to list my favorite theatre companies in the U.S. Theatre de la Jeune Lune is always at the top or close to the top of my list. I feel kind of guilty about mentioning the company, because it's not completely American at heart. It came together in 1978 as a collaboration between artists from Paris and the Twin Cities and the work continues to reflect more of a European tradition of clowning and post-modern physical theatre than anything intrinsically American.

I was troubled to read today about the company's financial woes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Just two years after it won the regional Tony Award, Jeune Lune is downsizing its staff and output owing to a $1 million deficit.

The article suggests that The nearby behemoth Guthrie Theatre might be to blame, though this seems unlikely. "Jeune Lune's precarious position might seem like the fruition of predictions that the Guthrie Theater, which opened its three-stage, $125 million complex in June 2006, would become a Walmart-style category killer that sucked up resources and talent and put mid-sized and small companies out of business," reporter Rohan Preston writes. "They haven't taken our audience away, because there's not much overlap," said Jeune Lune company member Steve Epp in an interview last week. "But with its Wonder Bread shows, the Guthrie has dumbed down expectations, so people have less of an appetite for adventurous work."

Here's hoping the company's upcoming run of Figaro at Berkeley Rep from April 25 - June 8 next year will help balance the books. The Bay Area loves Jeune Lune. If Minneapolis turns its back on its best theater company, maybe we can persuade artistic director Dominique Serrand to move his company here.

In other news: I am skipping town for a week. Back to blogging on Tuesday November 21.