Brigitte Haentjens decided to welcome her new audience in a warm embrace. The new Artistic Director of French Theatre opened her season with an intimate chat, in a new spot, the lobby of the Theatre. There were comfortable chairs, cheese and wine, and some great conversation.
"I believe in the beauty of words," she told the assembled audience. Her first "event", Haentjens didn't want to call it a "show" is entitled, "Jusqu’où te mènera ta langue?".
It's about language and speaking one's mind. The artists were given the complete freedom to choose whichever texts inspired them. They were asked by the creative team behind the project, Marcelle Dubois and Martin Faucher, to loosen their tongues and to write, on the spot, whatever came to mind, leading to pieces that are magnificent, surprising or caustic, and sometimes political, amusing and hilarious.
And Haentjens made sure the artists on stage reflected the theatre where she now works-inviting actors and writers not only from Montreal but also from the Ottawa/Gatineau region. It was a deliberate decision, because when she lived herself in Ottawa in the 1970s she felt that the NAC or "Centre National des Arts" was actually the "Centre National des Autres", that the the NAC didn't reach out to artists living in the national capital region. She plans to change that.
And all of us at the Centre National des Arts wish her every success! Félicitations Brigitte.
