Theatre de la Jeune Lune

The Theatre de la Jeune Lune was a celebrated theater company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company, in operation from 1978 to 2008, was known for its visually rich, highly physical style of theatre, derived from clown, mime, dance and opera. The theatre's reputation also stemmed from their reinvented classics and their productions of highly ambitious original work.

Theatre de la Jeune Lune (French for Theater of the New Moon) was founded in France in 1978 by Dominique Serrand, Vincent Gracieux and Barbra Berlovitz, who were later joined by Robert Rosen, all graduates of the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq school in Paris. Actor Steven Epp joined Jeune Lune in 1983. The company's name was inspired by the verses of a poem by Bertolt Brecht which reads, "As the people say, at the moon's change of phases / The new moon holds for one night long / The old moon in its arms". Serrand recalls starting the company as being "complete chaos, and that's what was great... We wanted to change theater but we didn't have a clue how to do it."

For the first years of operation, Jeune Lune split its time between performing between Paris and in Minneapolis. The company permanently settled in Minneapolis in 1985 and, in 1992, moved into the renovated Allied Van Lines building in Minneapolis' Warehouse District. In 2001, the five original members officially took on duties as co-artistic directors. This collaborative style of direction made it possible for everyone to have an equal say of what goes onstage, as well as keep their creativity flowing.

They were very well known for their theatrical trademark of incorporating what they learned under Jacques Lecoq into the works of Moliere, Shakespeare and D’Artagnan. They would also use a rather inventive style of mise en scene in shows, as well as comedic acting very similar to Charlie Chaplin, Marcel Marceau and Commedia dell’arte. Epp explained their approach for producing shows saying, "We dissect the body in its movement, power and playfulness, and glean from that ways to apply that physicality to whatever material we're working with, to galvanize the role and find what's pertinent to a contemporary audience."

...
Wikipedia