About

History

Théâtre du Rêve, was founded in 1995 and was originally created to fulfill a lifelong dream of founding Artistic Director Carolyn Cook: a dream of performing great theatre in her adopted language: French. As a student at the Sorbonne in 1980-81, Cook had seen a wide variety of performances at Parisian theatres, including Les Bouffes du Nord, Le Théâtre du Rond-Point, L'Odéon, Le Théâtre de l'Est Parisian, and La Comédie Française. She returned to the U.S. determined to play great French roles in their original language. It would take her fifteen years to begin making that dream a reality.

It was through the Alliance Française d'Atlanta that she began to make connections with others who shared her dream. They formed a company, which opened in January 1996 with its first production, Ionesco's La Leçon. Le Consulat de la France d’Atlanta hopped on board with their support!

In 1997, Théâtre du Rêve incorporated as a non-profit: 501(c) (3)

In 2001, Théâtre du Rêve grew from a “one woman operation” to company run by Artistic/Producing Director, Carolyn Cook and a Marketing Director, Ariel deMan.

In 2003, Théâtre du Rêve hired Park Krausen as Development Director – a position mostly created to develop the audience base and to creatively fund-raise.

In 2006, the administration of Theatre du Reve evolved again. Carolyn Cook, passed the “Artistic Director Torch” to Park Krausen while she moved into the role of Education Director which became a necessity with added programming. Ariel deMan moved into the role of Managing Director. All administrators are artists as well.

Théâtre du Rêve’s core company consists of American actors, directors, designers and technicians, most of whom speak fluent French. Productions have included Ionesco's La Leçon and La Cantatrice Chauve, Sartre's Huis Clos, L'Autorisation by Pierre Bourgeade, Jean Anouilh's Antigone, Molière's Le Mariage Forcé and Les Precieuses Ridicules, Michel Vinaver's Dissident, Il Va Sans Dire, Va et Vient, Catastrophe and Pas by Samuel Beckett, directed by Walter Asmus and Vive La Fontaine!, a company-created work based on the fables of Jean de la Fontaine.

Teachers, students, French nationals, French-Americans, and Francophones from around the world are grateful for Théâtre du Rêve's presence in Atlanta. No wonder the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called Théâtre du Rêve’s productions "a once-a-year reverie!"

In 2006, Théâtre du Rêve was commissioned by the High Museum in Atlanta to create a theatrical piece to be performed at the opening of each new wave of art work that visits from the Louvre in Paris. They have performed at two special openings. They were also commissioned to create theater pieces to “flesh out” and compliment students’ visits to the Louvre exhibit at the High. In 2006 the company worked with playwright Lauren Gunderson in writing pieces about the court and art of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. In 2007 the company worked with playwright/actress Suheyla El –Attar on a piece about Napoleon and his search for treasures in Egypt. Since 2006, every Thursday morning a company actor performs in the Hill auditorium at the High Museum for up to 200 students.

Since Park Krausen has become Artistic Director, the focus of the company truly turned toward community outreach and cross-cultural collaborations: dialogues through art. She calls it “Phase II of the dream”. After a stage at Le Conservatoire National Superieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris, she decided to return to Atlanta where there were a number of international theater opportunities that she found exciting and feasible and a vibrant international community.

Théâtre du Rêve brings together restauranteurs, wine merchants, antique dealers, gallery owners, Francophones, Francophiles, French members of the community, community members hungry for something different and students with their productions. Since Park’s instatement, the company has worked with Walter Asmus from Germany on Samuel Beckett’s pieces in French and in English, provided a week-end of free bilingual theater at the International Farmer’s Market has begun a collaboration with artists from Martinique, is in discussion with the French-Canadian trade commission about a future project. Her largest scale project to date is a production called Voir un Ami Pleurer. She commissioned Belgian playwright Olivier Coyette to write a play for Théâtre du Rêve artists. It was directed by Parisian Valery Warnotte with original music composed by Parisian, Frédéric Lamarre. The full production happened in January of 2008. It will tour to France in November 2008 and will tour a few American cities early in 2009.

Théâtre du Rêve has performed at 7Stages “Backstage”, The International School, Spelman College, The International Farmers’ Market in Chamblee, The Hill Auditorium at the High Museum and The 14th Street Playhouse.