Theater – Avec une légère intimité by Céline Malraux
Performance
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Alliance Française de Chicago
54 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL, 60610
Oct 27, 2026 | 6:30 pm
To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of André Malraux, the Alliance presents a special theatrical adaptation in French of his granddaughter Céline Malraux’s 2012 novel, Avec une légère intimité.
The play tells the story of Madeleine Malraux, André Malraux’s wife and a professional pianist who studied at the Paris Conservatoire. Through a fictional diary, the performance traces her life as an artist, wife, and mother, from the Second World War through the early 1970s, while reflecting on the broader history of France and André Malraux’s public life as a writer, intellectual, and statesman.
Park Krausen and Abigail Boucher portray Madeleine at different stages of her life, accompanied by piano works she loved.
French author, filmmaker, and scholar Céline Malraux is the author of Avec une légère intimité, which received the Madame Figaro Grand Prix de l’Héroïne in 2013, and Impasse Parole (2023).
The performance will be followed by a complimentary glass of French wine and an opportunity to meet the actors.
In partnership with
Alliance française de Chicago
The Alliance Française de Chicago is over 120 years old and is part of an international network of over 1,100 Alliances and affiliated cultural centers worldwide. It is the second oldest Alliance Française in the US and second largest after the Alliance Française in New York City. Classes are offered for all ages and levels of French, leading to certifications in French for professional purposes or simply for experiencing another language and its various cultures. It also hosts an impressive array of events, bringing notable lecturers to Chicago: authors, filmmakers and directors, winemakers, chefs, designers, historians, actors and performing artists.