Inside the Des Voix Mind: Kimberly Jannarone & Erik Butler on Christophe Honoré and "Un Jeune se tue"

Christophe Honoré's work has been haunting this translator for years, although I didn't know it until I woke up in a panicked sweat in an apartment in Paris last Fall, rushing to turn on the lights, trying to shake off the most intensely frightening dream I'd had in years.

I'd just landed in France the night before, and before I went to bed, I'd finished reading "Un Jeune se Tue," one of the plays we were considering for Des Voix.  I wrote in my assessment that it was a powerful play, "a look at youthful fear and aggression through the prism of sex and death," one that emanated intelligence, rawness, and a distinct poetic sensibility.  A dark road late at night; a car crash; a severed arm; a ghost; young friendships re-evaluated; life.  I was drawn to it.  I thought we should do it.  I said so, and I went to sleep.

And then, hours later, in my jetlagged dreams, the ghost of the young girl, Gaëlle, turned to me and spoke.  She wasn't nice—she wasn't happy about dying so young.  She embodied youth's anger, desire, scorn, frustration. They were radiating out from her in relentless waves.  To deal with her, I had to wake up.  I called Erik, back in California, and told him we had to do this play.

It's rare to encounter a play that climbs so insidiously into your psyche, whose impact you don't even reckon until your unconscious alerts you to its presence.  Honoré had crafted such a piece.  And it turned out he'd done it before.

Several years earlier, I was sitting in a different apartment in another area of Paris.  I was watching late-night tv.  A movie came on: Isabelle Huppert.  George Bataille.  Deviance, sex, and death.  It was "Ma Mère," and I watched it alone at 2am.  It haunted me.  I never spoke to anyone about it.  It wasn't until Gaëlle's ghost woke me up last fall that I realized "Ma Mère" was Honoré's work.  It was another master feat of atmosphere, character, and storytelling.  The intensity of desire.  The immediateness of youth.  The poetry of menace.  The fear and allure of death.  The heartbreak of beauty.

Back in California, Erik and I read the first scene of "Un Jeune se tue" together, hooked by the uninhibited thought, the audacity of the plot, the genuineness of the characters, the immediacy of the language.  We sought to convey some of that power in our translation, so that you, too, might be haunted by the dark brilliance of Christophe Honoré, at least for a while.

- Kimberly Jannarone & Erik Butler, Des Voix Festival Translators

"Un Jeune se tue" or Death of a Young Man by Christophe Honore will be presented in two staged readings the weekend of May 8-11 at the Tides Theatre, part of the Des Voix Festival. 

Des Voix...Biennial 2014: A Festival of New French Plays and Cinema features the American Premiere of Communiqué n˚10, three new French Plays in translation, five french film screenings and a Bal Littéraire, a New Play Night Club.  

Purchase a Full Festival Pass here and gain access to every event available in Des Voix!

Check out the Des Voix Festival website for more information, including links to buy tickets, a full festival schedule and directions on how to find where the Left Bank Meets the Left Coast.  

Our friends over at the New York One-Minute Play Festival blog have given us and our playwrights a little bit more press, and we're seeing double. 


First, they talk to Garret Groenveld.  Garret, one of Playwrights Foundation's resident playwrights, recently was a finalist for the Global Age Project with his work The Serving Class.  Not only a playwright, Garret reflects on the First Annual One-Minute Play Festival with a little bit of his background in poetry:

And here’s a case for poetry.  Critiques often say, “The writing was poetic.”  When it’s not, it might be elegant, it might be labored or it might even be full of flourish, but not poetic.  It’s poetic when it transports, when the unexpected is achieved through a combination of language, metaphor and spatial relation on the page/with the audience.

And then goes on to show his frustration with it:

I also argue against poetry.  Just say it, already and get over yourself!

Read the rest of his interview HERE.

The other mention we have is with Bay Area Playwright Festival and ROUGH Readings alum, Geetha Reddy.  She gets out all of her frustration, but telling the New York One-Minute Play Festival blog just how difficult it is to be a writer sometimes:

Here is what happens when your director sends you this email:
“Love your one minute play! Can you cut 30 seconds?”

First a Tantrum:
No. No I can’t. How can you ask me that!

See her hilarious account over at the NYOMPF blog.
Thanks for the New York One-Minute Play Festival for posting these, yet again, and DO NOT FORGET! This weekend: Saturday, 18 December, and Sunday the 19th are the FIRST EVER... FIRST ANNUAL San Francisco One-Minute Play Festival.  Tickets are ALMOST sold out, so don't forget to grab yours here!

Steve Yockey and the One-Minute-Play-Extravaganza

A recent face in Playwrights Foundation history has managed to go under our radar with talking to the New York One-Minute Play Festival blog, so we at PF apologize for not running this story sooner!  Steve Yockey, who recently had his new play, Wolves, read in our ROUGH Readings series discusses his involvement in both the First Annual LA and First Annual SF One-Minute Play Festivals.

I immediately thought the timing was going to be the hardest part. And it’s been a fun challenge to get my head around the time & production restrictions. But the comment that struck me most in the big explanation e-mail we all received was, “Also, while comedic plays are always a big hit, plays that tackle more serious themes are encouraged too!”

Check out what he has to say over at the NY One-Minute Play Festival blog!

Don't forget that Saturday Saturday Saturday! AND SUNDAY! Is the FIRST EVER San Francisco One-Minute Play Festival (December 18, and 19 at 8PM, and 7PM respectively).  Never before seen one-minute plays will be flying through the stage of the Thick House like a whirlwind of theatre, blowing minds instead of wind!  Don't forget to reserve your tickets over at Brownpapertickets.com!

PF Alumni Get the Star Treatment!

Two recent veterans of our humble theatrical organization have recently received quite the star treatment.

First up, we need to congratulate past ROUGH Readings playwright, Rajiv Joseph for his Pulitzer Prize finalist play, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, for getting its BROADWAY Premiere! Oscar winner Robin Williams returns to Broadway, this time not for his unique brand of stand-up comedy, but as the eponymous character of "Tiger," with Tony nominee Moisés Kaufman directing.  The curtain goes up for previews March 11, 2011, and tickets are on sale now!  Playbill.com has the scoop:

"Rajiv Joseph's ferocious comedy…follows the intertwined lives of a tiger (Williams), two American marines and an Iraqi gardener as they roam the streets of Baghdad in search of friendship, redemption and a toilet seat made of gold."

Another Playwrights Foundation vet's star is rising.  Marcus Gardley, of various ROUGH Readings, and Bay Area Playwrights festivals of yesteryear has received enormous praise for his play Every Tongue Confess at The Arena Stage in DC, from The Washingtonian, having been awarded 3.5 out of a possible 4 stars:

Something is rotten in the state of Alabama in Marcus Gardley’s new play at Arena Stage, Every Tongue Confess—particularly in Boligee. The town is suffering through a litany of strange events—the temperature is 103 and rising, hailstones are falling and melting into the arid ground, and a string of churches have been set on fire. To make matters worse, ghosts seem to be lurking...

 Every Tongue Confess only runs until January 2.  THAT'S ONLY ANOTHER MONTH! Theatre-goers in these areas, do NOT sleep on these two plays, believe me.  Even Playwrights Foundation Artistic Director, Amy Mueller made it out for Every Tongue Confess, so it's worth the country-wide flight, and while you're there, make sure to book a flight and tickets for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, as well.

Write on, playwrights!

Festival Alum Reflects on Writing One-Minute-Plays

Bay Area Playwrights Festival alum, and all-around cool lady, Erin Bregman, shares her thoughts on writing for the FIRST ANNUAL SAN FRANCISCO ONE-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL (December 18th & 19th at the Thick House, in Potrero Hill) with the NY One-Minute Play Festival Blog:

Six weeks ago I opened the longest, most exciting email I had ever received from someone I didn’t know–it was Dominic D. soliciting writers for the 1^st annual San Francisco One-Minute Play Festival. (Actually, that’s only a half truth. The email was partially authored by the beloved Jill MacLean of the Playwrights Foundation, but we’ll let that particular detail slide for the sake of superlative.) Like any responsible person would do after receiving an emailed request from a total stranger, I wrote back immediately and accepted his proposition.

Read the rest over at their blog: “Writing a one-minute play wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be.”

Come see Erin, and our whole plethora of plays, playwrights, and actors December 18 and 19 at the Thick House: 1695 18th St, between Carolina and Arkansas.  Tickets are $15: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/137981