Featured in The New York Times and The New Yorker!
“To see urgently” – Les Inrockuptibles
For the last few months, 16-year-old Jeanne (Helena de Laurens) has been the target of taunts and ridicule on the subject of her virginity. In hopes to interact more courageously with the world, she decides to break her silence and speak out on Instagram under the pseudo _jeanne_dark_. Her words, timid and full of shame at first, soon transform into a fast-paced outpouring in which she places herself center-stage, recreating past situations, and one by one, embodying the individuals which make up her world. Under the watchful gaze of her followers, Jeanne films, reinvents, experiences and confounds herself.
Delicately addressing the pertinent issues of bullying and sexuality, director Marion Siéfert creates a striking work that breaks the fourth wall of theater through intimate live Instagram video. At first timid and ashamed of her virginity, _jeanne_dark_ finds awareness, and eventually strength in herself.
Join us at FIAF’s Florence Gould Hall on Wednesday, September 14 or Thursday, September 15 to experience this ground-breaking work in person through a staging that combines performance with live Instagram video. After the show on Wednesday, you’re invited to meet and mingle at a celebratory wine reception.
If you are unable to attend in person at FIAF, follow the Instagram portion through her active handle @_jeanne_dark_ during both performances. Please note that the livestream will not have subtitles.
90 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Recommended for ages 14 & up
With Helena de Laurens
Helena de Laurens is an artist, actress and dancer. She was born in 1988 and lives in Paris.
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Her work explores the grotesque, the grimace and metamorphosis. She is writing a thesis on Valeska Gert as part of her studies at the EHESS. She has performed in nightclubs, museums, gardens and bookstores. She regularly collaborates with Esmé Planchon, Clara Pacotte and Sophie Bonnet-Pourpet. As a performer and choreographer she plays two solos written and directed by Marion Siéfert: Le grand sommeil in 2018 and _jeanne_dark_ in 2020. In 2022 she will perform alongside Emmanuelle Lafon and Frédéric Leidgens in L’Homosexuel ou la difficulté de s’exprimer by Copi, directed by Thibaud Croisy.
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Marion Siéfert
Marion Siéfert is an author, director and performer.
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Her work is at the crossroads of several artistic and theoretical fields and is realized through different mediums: shows, films, writing. In her first show, 2 ou 3 choses que je sais de vous, she explored the intimacy of our Facebook profiles and drew a dizzying portrait of the public. The woman who honed her sense of dramaturgy at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen cultivates a taste for irreverence and seeks to bring into the theater a reality that is usually kept off the stage. Her shows are always the result of an encounter: with the audience, with a child played by Helena de Laurens in Le grand sommeil, with the rapper Original Laeti and the dancer Janice Bieleu in DU SALE, with herself in _jeanne_dark_. Marion Siéfert writes her plays by drawing from the living and burning material of rehearsals, and by using the pitfalls encountered during creation. In this way, she presents a new theater, resolutely turned towards youth.
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Production Team
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Concept, direction and text by Marion Siéfert
Artistic collaboration, choreography and performance by Helena de Laurens
Artistic collaboration by Matthieu Bareyre
Stage design by Nadia Lauro
Lighting by Manon Lauriol
Sound by Johannes Van Bebber
Video by Antoine Briot
Baroque harp accompaniment by Babett Niclas
Costumes by Valentine Solé
Makeup by Karin Westerlund
Vocal work accompaniment by Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias
General management by Chloé Bouju
Video management by Jérémy Oury
Set management by Marine Brosse
Production by Cécile Jeanson
Distribution and administration by Ziferte productions – Anne Pollock
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