Skip to main content

Theatre de la Jeune Lune records

 Collection
Identifier: PA094

Scope and Content Note

The collection is rich in production records: scripts, prompt books, clippings, press releases, photos, research, and other related materials. Theatre de la Jeune Lune also kept files on smaller projects, collaborations, and guest performances hosted or co-produced by Jeune Lune(found here as Special Events).

Along with production and performance records, the collection also includes extensive administrative records: files regarding other artists and organizations, Board of Directors materials, funder and development records and other financial records, strategic and long-term planning, records relating to the theater’s building, and other miscellaneous administrative files.

The collection includes a large audio/visual collection, and much of the video has been digitized thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Legacy Amendment Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Additional audio, video, and photographic records are also included. Publications and press materials can also be found, as well as a small collection of materials from the early Berlovitz and Serrand duo act, ephemera (posters and other materials), and realia (costumes, masks, and props).

Dates

  • Creation: 1973-2008

Language of Materials

English, French

Restrictions on Access

The collection is open and available for use by researchers in the Andersen Library Reading Room.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright is retained by the copyright holders.

Historical Note

Theatre de la Jeune Lune was a mid-size theater company founded in 1979 by Dominique Serrand, Barbra Berlovitz, Vincent Gracieux, and Robert Rosen. Before the formation of the company, Dominique Serrand and Barbra Berlovitz maintained a successful duo act, Berlovitz and Serrand, that toured in both the United States and France. Berlovitz and Serrand’s work drew from their training at École International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, the work of Charlie Chaplin, and from Commedia dell’arte through the use of masks and treatment of characters.

Wanting to continue the ideas explored in their duo act, Berlovitz and Serrand founded Theatre de la Jeune Lune with Vincent Gracieux and Robert Rosen, both former students of École Lecoq.

During the early years of the company, the troupe split their time between Paris and Minneapolis, performing works in both French and English. Productions during this time emphasized the development of new and original works, some of which were written and created in close collaboration by the company. In 1983 actor Steven Epp joined the four original founders as a permanent member of the company and began having artistic input on the Theatrede la Jeune Lune’s direction.

In 1985, Theatre de la Jeune Lune permanently settled in Minneapolis, performing frequently at venues such as the Hennepin Center for the Arts andthe Southern Theater. In 1992 the company purchased the Allied Van Linesbuilding in the Minneapolis Warehouse District and renovated the space into performing and office spaces. The first production to open in the new theater was the critically-acclaimed company-created piece Children of Paradise: Shooting a Dream. Beginning in the late 1990s, Theatre de la Jeune Lune began to stage fewer original works in favor of reinterpretations of classics from theater and opera. Notable productions during this period includeDon Juan Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Carmen, Figaro, and Tartuffe.

The company continued to receive critical attention locally, nationally, and internationally: Theatre de la Jeune Lune received a Regional Theatre Tony Award in 2005 and, in the same year, both Serrand and Gracieux were knighted by the French government. The 2006-2007 season, however, brought major changes to the company’s artistic leadership, with Dominique Serrand named as sole artistic director, and the other founding co-artistic directors stepping down from the theater’s leadership. The 2006-2007 season featured remakes of previous productions as the company struggled to remain creatively and financially solvent.

Despite efforts to address a large accumulated debt, Theatre de la Jeune Lune's Board of Directors voted to close the theater in 2008 in order to meet the organization's financial responsibilities. The decision to shut down was announced June 2008, and the company officially ceased operations in July of that same year.

In the years following the theater’s closing, Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp continued to work closely with Theatre de la Jeune Lune company members Nathan Keepers and Christina Baldwin, founding a new theater, The Moving Company, in 2008. Robert Rosen established Studio 208, an organization dedicated to creating new work and to training performing artists, with choreographer Shawn McConneloug. Barbara Berlovitz continues to direct, act,and teach as a part of the faculty of the University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, and Vincent Gracieux has remained an active performer with Footsbarn Théâtre in France.

Extent

150 Cubic Feet

Abstract

Collection containsproduction records, administrative files, audio/visual materials, memoribilia and digital files.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in ten series, two of which have beenfurther arranged into subseries. The series arrangement is as follows:

  1. Full Productions
  2. Special Events
  3. Press
  4. Publications
  5. Audio/Visual
  6. Posters and Ephemera
  7. Realia
  8. Berlovitz and Serrand
  9. Administrative
  10. Born-Digital Files

Physical Location

High Bay, MLAC

Acquisition

The collection was donated to the Performing Arts Archives by the Board of Directors of Theatre de la Jeune Lune in 2008.

Related Material

Related collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries include: Barbra Berlovitz Collection of Theatre de la Jeune Lune Video Recordings (PA094a).

Processing Information

The collection was processed and finding aid written by Shanté Zenith and Kathryn Hujda from 2011-2014, with generous support from Creative Heritage Initiative donors.

Title
Theatre de la Jeune Lune records PA094
Author
Kathryn Hujda
Date
May 2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Collecting Area Details

Contact The Performing Arts Archives Collecting Area

Contact: