The Theatre de la Jeune Lune was a celebrated theater company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. The company, in operation from 1978 to 2008, was known for its visually rich, highly physical style of theatre, derived from clown

Clown

Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...

, mime

Mime

The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...

, dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 and opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

.

History

Theatre de la Jeune Lune (French for Theater of the New Moon) was founded in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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

L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq

L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq is a school of physical theatre situated in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1956 by Jacques Lecoq, the school is a professional two-year course...

 school in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Actor Steven Epp joined Jeune Lune in 1983.

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

North Loop, Minneapolis

The North Loop is a neighborhood of the Central community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The neighborhood is commonly known as the Warehouse District from the city's shipping hub years. It includes the Minneapolis Warehouse Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...

. In 2001, the five original members officially took on duties as co-artistic directors.

In 2005, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune was awarded the Regional Theatre Tony Award

Regional Theatre Tony Award

The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special non-competitive Tony Award given annually to a regional theatre company in the United States. Initially presented in 1948 to Robert Porterfield of the Virginia Barter Theatre for their Contribution To Development Of Regional Theatre, the Regional Theatre...

By 2007, the company faced a crisis. Four of the original five members had either left the company or stepped down from their co-artistic director positions, with Dominique Serrand remaining as the sole director. Over the years, the company had also accumulated a debt load exceeding $1 million, even as it attempted restructuring and budget cuts in order to remain solvent.

In June 2008, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune board of directors announced it would sell the theater building and "shut down the arts group as currently organized." Serrand said in a statement that the artists "are exploring ways to reinvent an agile, nomadic, entrepreneurial theatre with a new name" that will be "coming soon to a theatre near you."

Shows

1978: A Midsummer Night's Dream

1979: Cirque de Molière; 1929

1984: Yang Zen Froggs in Moon Over a Hong Kong Sweatshop

1986: Romeo and Juliet

1989: 1789

1992: Children of Paradise — Shooting a Dream

1993: Scapin; Germinal

1997: The Kitchen

1999: The Magic Flute

2000: The Magic Flute

2001: Cosi fan Tutte; Gulliver: A Swift Journey; Hamlet; The Description of the World; Tartuffe

2002: Medea; The Circus of Tales; The Nuns

2003: The Seagull; Carmen; Figaro; The Man Who Laughs

2004: The Ballroom; The Golem; The Miser; Carmina Burana

2005: Maria de Buenos Aires; Antigone; Lettice and Lovage; The Little Prince; Tartuffe

2006: Amerika, or The Disappearance; Mefistofele; Tartuffe; The Miser

2007: The Deception; Don Juan Giovanni; Figaro

2008: Fishtank; Figaro