Théâtre du Soleil

Le Théâtre du Soleil (lit. "The Theater of the Sun") is a Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble founded by Ariane Mnouchkine, Philippe Léotard and fellow students of the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in 1964 as a collective of theatre artists. Le Théâtre du Soleil is located at La Cartoucherie, a former munitions factory in the Vincennes area of eastern Paris. The company creates new theatrical works using a devising process based on utilizing physical theatre and improvisation.

The Theatre du Soleil was founded as a theatre collective in 1964, in the midst of cultural turmoil that was sweeping the western world. With the capitalist west and the Communist east locked in the midst of the Cold War, nuclear warfare was imminent while the whole of Europe was slowly recovering from the destruction of World War II. In 1965 Charles de Gaulle was re-elected President of France in the first election with direct popular vote for the office. The year 1968, a watershed for protests and turmoil around the world, was characterized by rebellion against conventional culture, huge political demonstrations, and labor strikes in France involving 11 million workers, students, and far-left politicians. It was in the middle of this period of uncertainty, changing cultural attitudes, and disillusionment that Mnouchkine, a student in land, started Le Theatre du Soleil with her peers who were interested in creating original theatre.

1964: Le Theatre du Soleil is established

1964–65: Les Petits Bourgeois presented at Théâtre Mouffetard

1965–66: Capitaine Fracasse presented at the Theater Récamier

1967: La Cuisine presented at Cirque de Montmartre

1968: Le Songe d'une Nuit d'Ete (A Midsummer's Night's Dream) L'Arbre Sorcier, Jerome et la Tortue

1969–70: Les Clowns presented at Festival d'Avignon, Piccolo Teatro de Milan

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