Two Productions Supported by FACE at the Avignon Festival
Performing Arts
Two productions supported by FACE Contemporary Theater are part of the 77th edition of the Avignon Festival, under the new direction of Tiago Rodrigues. As part of Tiago’s vision, each year, a language will be celebrated and in 2023, the English language and creatives will be featured.
France / Creation at the Festival d’Avignon 2023
July 5 – 14 (in French with English titles)
“I like to watch people, I like to think about everything I see:” These words by film-maker Frederick Wiseman’s are at the heart of this adaptation of Welfare (1973) by Julie Deliquet. A unique day in the life of the homeless, stateless, workers, single mothers and other destitute people who file into the makeshift welfare centre set up in the Cour d’honneur. For the duration of the performance, the Palais des papes becomes a place of hospitality struggling to take on a human face. This is the territory inhabited by the characters of this adaptation by the current director of the Centre dramatique national de Saint-Denis, whose theatre ceaselessly tries to capture life within the human comedy. Fifteen everyday heroes whose stories intertwine to show in stark relief the dysfunctions of our society. Characters who invite us to follow them and to step through the fourth wall the way one must see through a fantasy to find reality again.
Welfare, Julie Deliquet © Louise Quignon
United States / Creation 2021
July 7 – 11 (in English with French titles)
Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro? This question was posed to the writer James Baldwin and to conservative thinker William F. Buckley Jr. in 1965. Surrounded by students at the University of Cambridge, the two men debated, their arguments recorded for posterity. Inspired by the contemporary resonances of their arguments, John Collins and Greig Sargeant of the New York company Elevator Repair Service immerse us in the historical debate. A narrow room, a pulpit, an audience within arm’s reach… To be at the heart of the debate, struck and carried away by strong convictions and timeless ideas. The arguments used couldn’t be more timely, leading us to think about relationships of discrimination, but we also watch James Baldwin and slowly get to know the private side of this public figure. Past and present collide. The power of words prevail.
Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, Elevator Repair Service © Joan Marcus
In partnership with
Louis Roederer Foundation
The Louis Roederer Foundation, presided by Frédéric Rouzaud, supports contemporary artistic creation and the transmission of knowledge. Founded in 2011, the Foundation accompanies ambitious cultural initiatives led by renowned institutions both in France and abroad.
It provides steadfast support to the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Jeu de Paume in Paris, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, and the Villa Albertine in the United States. Through the Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles Photography Festival, the Revelation Prizes at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and the Festival du cinéma américain de Deauville (Deauville American Film Festival), as well as its Carte Blanche collaboration with Le Fresnoy, the Louis Roederer Foundation actively fosters the emergence of talented artists. With the Photographic Research Grant from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, its support for international researchers at the Institute for Ideas & Imagination in Paris, and its global “Thinking Sustainability” program, the Foundation contributes to a better understanding of the world and enhanced mutual respect.
The Foundation also engages in the viticultural domains of the Roederer Collection by initiating cultural actions specific to each site. To perfect its commitment to the arts, the Louis Roederer Foundation is building its own collection of works by emerging and established artists, whether represented or not, and offers carte blanche collaborations in various artistic fields.
