Despite their very young age, the actors of the Chat Noir association are not their first theatrical experience. Students in preparatory class of theater option, at Studio Théâtre d'Asnières or at Claude Mathieu school, the interpreters of the Spring Awakening of Wedekind, Tania Markovic (Madame Bergmann), Juliette Raynal (Wendla Bergmann), Valentin Besson (Moritz Steifel), Diego Colin (Melchior Gabor) and Léa Sananes (Ilse) who also stages the stage with great sensitivity, have all had the opportunity to burn the boards. In addition to the hard core of the actors, Jules Le Bihan and Hugo Vermeille for the scenography and choreography and finally Morse (Mathieu Husson) who composed the original music and who brilliantly held the role of Melchior until December. In short, a real troupe, which went on tour last year on the roads of France and which has just taken over the play for extensions at the Pixel theater every Friday until April 24.

“I knew this piece by Frank Wedekind well since I played it as a teenager at the Théâtre des Bergeries in Noisy-le-Sec under the direction of Alain Farrès. We immediately created the association Chat noir, whose name refers to a passage in the room, because I knew that it would be difficult for us to find rooms to perform if we did not have a real structure. This is how we had two Parisian theaters who agreed to audition us and that the adventure began and continued at the Pixel theater ” explains Léa Sananes.

Son of a doctor and of an actress and singer mother, Frank Wedekind is a German playwright born in Hanover in 1864 and died in Munich in 1918. Influenced by Ibsen, Nietzsche, Hauptmann, Büchner and Strindberg, his deeply unconventional work announces the 'expressionism. Wedekind's theater violently contests bourgeois society and sexual taboos while using many dramatic procedures, from farce to vaudeville through drama and circus. His provocations, often libertine, caused him incessant problems of censorship, prison or exile. So he turned to the cabaret, more permissive, both on the side of censorship and financing. Spring Awakening tells the story of the first emotions of young 14-year-old adolescents who have the rage to live and who violently come up against the moral and social prohibitions of the end of the 19^e century. Their thirst for freedom, their hopes and their sufferings, carried high by the troop of the Black Cat, are still those of the teenagers of today. This work, sulfurous Frank Wedekind, banned from its release, is still hot. The Awakening of Spring, which the author himself describes as a children's tragedy, is a play that depicts adolescents confronted with a body that is transforming and the awakening of desires on which it is difficult to put a name. It is in the face of this avalanche of questions that they will try to make their way into the adult world. Among young people, they confide, confront what they know and begin to experience the notion of limit and authority.

“Today, the theater has become a total art which mixes all artistic disciplines. We all have a theatrical background, but we have also been trained in music, dance or choreography. It seems to me very important that the actors are versatile. And the creation of this troop has enabled us to pool all our talents in order to carry out a concrete project on the fringes of our often theoretical studies ” emphasizes Léa Sananes.

Since the play's premiere in June of last year, these already promising young actors have grown even further. Under the enlightened leadership of Léa Sananès who plays a captivating Ilse, Tania Markovic and Juliette Raynal form a drumming duo with impeccable accuracy. Diego Colin - who takes up the beautiful interpretation of Mathieu Husson - and Valentin Besson, for their part, prance from one end of the stage to the other in a breathtaking verbal and emotional crossover. While waiting for the “off” of Avignon this summer, the troupe made a sensational foray into the Bastille Theater on March 06 (director's prize for Léa Sananès and best actor for Valentin Besson) as part of the Rideau student festival Red. A Parisian scene and a springboard of choice for this young, passionate and energetic troupe which will undoubtedly know how to quickly meet a larger audience.

David Raynal

Every Friday at 19:30 p.m. at the Pixel Theater
Spring Break February 20, March 6, April 6

18 rue Championnet 75018 Paris
Simplon or Jules Joffrin metro
Reservation: 01 42 54 00 92

www.theatrepixel.com

Full price: 16 € / reduced 10 €

Don't miss: March 06 as part of the Rideau Rouge student theater festival

76 rue de la Roquette, 75011 Paris 11th
Metro: Bastille, Voltaire or Bréguet-Sabin

http://www.theatre-bastille.com
http://www.festivalrideaurouge.com

All information on the Association Chat Noir blog: http://associationchatnoir.blogspot.fr/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chat- Noir/1422266614691116