The Cultural Services of the French Embassy, in partnership with FACE Foundation, is pleased to announce the 2020 grantees of FACE Contemporary Theater.
This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all countries and continues to deeply affect the world. The artistic and cultural sector has also been particularly hit by the sanitary crisis. Today, more than ever, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the FACE Foundation are proud to promote and support artistic performances through the FACE Contemporary Theater program.
In 2020, 15 institutions will receive grants for a total amount of $133,000 supporting 17 productions with a highlight on performances in public spaces, reaching out larger audiences and communities, now all postponed until 2021-2022.
Among them, Instable, a solo piece performed on a vertical pole by acrobat Nicolas Fraiseau, reveals the fragility of the human condition. Directed by Christophe Huysman, Instable will premiere at the Three Rivers Arts festival, presented by Pittsburg Cultural Trust, and then at Performance Spaces for the 21st Century (PS21), Chatham, NY. Also premiering in the United States, the performance-installation C'est pas là, C'est par là by Compagnie Galmae-Juhyung Lee shares similar concerns; it will also be presented at PS21, and then by ArtPark, Lewiston, NY, in summer 2021.
Among the other performances, the participative Monumental Constructions, an ephemeral project made from cardboard, created by Olivier Grossetête will be produced by Halcyon for the Festival By the People in Washington, DC. The Portland-based company Hand2Mouth and the French street theater ensemble Begat Theatre, will partner with the Alliance francaise of Portland and the organisation Outside In, to develop and present Home, an interactive play examining the situation of homeless people. Exit, an acrobatic show under a hot air balloon, by Cirque Inextremiste will be hosted by the Rochester Fringe Festival for its U.S. premiere.
Text-based theater productions are also largely represented in the 2020 selection: Quake based on the play When The Whole World Quakes by Guy Regis Jr. and directed by Kaneza Schaal will be developed at Abrons Art Center, New York. The English-language premiere of Letters to Nour by Rachid Benzine, telling the story of an epistolary correspondence between a Muslim father and his daughter who joined her jihadist husband in Iraq, will be developed and presented by FIAF-French Institute Alliance Française, New York.
Two monologues The Art of Theater along with With My Own Hands by author-director Pascal Rambert, will be developed with two American actors, and then, presented at the Under the Radar Festival in New York in January 2022.
In partnership with BRICK Theater, Brooklyn, the author-director Nihaarika Negi with Paris-based Tamanoir Immersive Studio, have been developing A City of Foxes, a VR production, recently supported by the Venice Film Festival's Development Labs as well as the CNC.
New MississipiS , a performance-discussion conceived by director-actor Duncan Evennou and researcher Clémence Hallé will be developed online with Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology and complemented by new research with Clark Atlanta University's Art Museum, starting fall 2020.
Following curators' trips to France, puppetry and contemporary circus projects, several projects are also part of the 2020 selection:
Peak Performances at Montclair State U. will host two French contemporary circus productions Appui-toi sur moi by Cirquons Flex and Fractales by Compagnie Libertivore-Fanny Soriano.
This year again puppet shows were awarded by the FACE Contemporary Theater program. Kazu by Compagnie Singe Diesel will be presented by Sandglass Theater at the 11th Puppets in the Green Mountains International Festival; Milieu & Alentour by Renaud Herbin will premiere in the U.S. at La MaMa Puppet Festival; and, R.A.G.E. by Les Anges au Plafond directed by Camille Trouvé will be performed at Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.
Mileu & Alentour by Renaud Herbin
Click here for more information about our 2020 FACE Contemporary Theater Grantees.
FACE Contemporary Theater is 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 other private donors.
