— Saint Augustine
A Note From the Director
The first time I read Fêtes de la Nuit, I was filled with a sense of hope, awe and celebration. Fêtes de la Nuit is a sexy, sensual, joyous love letter to Paris that asks people “What will it take to see the world you really live in, to see another for who they are rather than what?” It is a play about communication, the “how” of communicating, the acceptance of differences, of immigrants in a city coming together to create their own new community while unflinchingly speaking about racism and stereotypes---their own and others…and it is about LOVE…..the search for love, the loss of love, the how of love, the why of love, the what of love, the discovery of love, while exploring the mystery of life. It says that it is our ability to love that makes us human and in that ability lives the hope for a better future.
The prologue to Fêtes de la Nuit reads:
"The human species confront each other,
but do they see a stranger or themselves?
because how can one tell in the structure of everyday life
whether we live on earth or in heaven
because: these sudden appearances of life on earth
who knows
it is such a mystery
and the human species, she will never know
so it is for us only to live
and to thank god for it
or not
or not if one thinks god is not to be thanked
well, then, OK,
we can thank ourselves
or each other
or Michel Foucault I don't know
even though it's not for me to understand
why he should always be taking the credit
for something human
when he himself
often he didn't know
he was only guessing
and sometimes it seems to me
he was so far off the mark
it was crazy
why people would give him the time of day
or even say hello to him
when they saw him in a café
and even still for the life each day
we know it is the miracle
something that is so amazing
for which we are so grateful
and simply astonished."
At the end of an artist’s life if you look back on all of their work, it is quite possible that you’d be able to see that there was one major question that ran through the body of their work like a great river, nourishing other facets of their art, a “spring” from which inspiration could be drawn, a question that in essence would remain the same while trying to be answered from every conceivable different angle and perspective. I think for me, that question is, “What is love?”
It is my hope that with Mee’s collage of all things French, we are able to create an evening in the theatre which engages you by reminding you of the beauty in fully living, of savoring the intimacy of every day life, for example, the glory of the perfect café au lait, the lusciousness of a meal so delectable that it awakens all of your senses to the point of one day telling your grandchildren about it, or the eroticism of a caress to the curve of your lover’s lower back that conveys everything without you having to say a single word. We hope to bring you an evening in which you emerge out into the world celebrating life, feeling and thinking about it’s preciousness, embracing another as you open your heart to the mystery, wonder and impermanence of life.
We look forward to meeting you at The Ohio Theater in February.
— Kim Weild
