Acadian theatre
[19] The company existed for a relatively brief period, yet it presented many notable productions, including Paul de Néha's La Cloche d'argent, René William's L'Échelle de Saint-Joseph,Léon Chancerel [fr]'s The Comedian in the Fields, Molière's La Jalousie du barbouillé [fr], Henri Ghéon's The Farce of the Hanged Man, Marcel Dubé's Zone, and Thornton Wilder's Our Town.
[22] TCB received numerous awards for its productions of works by Molière, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Eugène Labiche, Carlo Goldoni, and Federico García Lorca.
[23] They proved highly appealing to many young women with an interest in the arts, inspiring some of them to go on to establish literary and dramatic circles, debate societies, and other French-speaking cultural organizations.
[17] During the Acadian renaissance [fr], as Acadia experienced a period of significant socio-economic change, the role of the storyteller diminished, while people engaged in a greater variety of activities outside the home.
[17] Following the establishment of the Mutual Society of the Assumption (now Assomption Life) in 1903 in Waltham, Massachusetts, numerous branches were opened in various Acadian communities, to promote the French language, notably through the organization of sessions.
[23] Theatre no longer served as a vehicle for national identity politics and French language promotion and was supplanted by other leisure activities such as bingo, sports, cinema, and television.
[25] The year saw the liberation of the performing arts from the influence of the Church and colleges, as evidenced by the founding of two troupes: Les Feux chalins and the Théâtre Amateur de Moncton (TAM).
[25] Following its presentation at Théâtre du Rideau Vert in Montreal in 1972, Antonine Maillet's La Sagouine enjoyed immense success, establishing her as an internationally renowned author.
[29] In 1974, Father Maurice Chamard, desirous of perpetuating the theatrical tradition of St. Joseph College in Memramcook, established a comprehensive bachelor's program and a drama department.
[27] In 1975, the troupe presented Hugette Légaré in her play Les Tombes de Madame Mélanie, directed by Laval Goupil [fr], and Roger Leblanc in Kouchibou quoi?, a children's show.
[27] Les Feux chalins and TAM sparked interest in theatrical activity in southeastern New Brunswick that was not tied to educational institutions and paved the way for the first professional troupes.
[39] Other groups, such as Callaghan, Jeunes en Marche from the Évangéline region, and Les Quenoeils de Westisle, present didactic or moralizing performances addressing issues faced by young people.
[40] Additionally, TPA produced children's plays in the late 1980s, including Le Roi Triste (1992) and La Chaise Perdue (1995), which were co-written by Luc Leblanc and Quebec's Louis-Dominique Lavigne.
[40] Subsequent plays were written by Herménégilde Chiasson, including L'Exil d'Alexa (1993), La Vie est un Rêve (1994), and Aliénor (1996), which collectively form a dramatic trilogy on identity issues.
La Gang Asteur staged Tchissé qui mène icitte by Raymond Leblanc, while Les Productions Fait Dodo produced Première Neige d'Automne by Clarence Comeau [fr].
[35] In 1996, she published a collection of monologues from Pays de la Sagouine and L'Île-aux-Puces, which, according to David Lonergan, suffered a significant loss of impact when transferred from an oral to a written format.
[36] The work of Antonine Maillet (born in Bouctouche in 1929) is of great significance in Acadian culture, whether in literature —she was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1979 for her novel Pélagie-la-Charrette [fr]— or theatre.
[43] His most celebrated work is the large-scale musical drama Louis Mailloux [fr], created with Calixte Duguay, in which he acknowledges the necessity of modifying historical reality to align with the contemporary context and present the struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor as a symbol of Acadian resistance.
[43] With the musical comedy La Lambique (1983), the Boudreau/Duguay duo departs from the conventional treatment of Acadian nationalism by employing humor as a means of approaching the subject matter.
This is evident in her works, such as Les Enfants taisez vous!, and Le Gros ti-gars, which tackle the subject of abuse of power, and Enfantômes Suroulettes, which explores illness, suffering, and death.
[51] In other words, young artists eschewed the subject of the deportation of the Acadians, deeming it detrimental to retreat into the past while Acadia was undergoing a period of experimentation and liberation.
[52] In 1977, Jules Boudreau [fr] published Cochu et le soleil, which deals with the "second deportation of the Acadians" from the Saint John River valley upon the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783.
[53][54] The troupe La Revue acadienne [fr] presents a comedic retrospective of the year at the HubCap festival in Moncton, commencing with events from 2001 and continuing with their performances from 2003 onwards.
The use of the English language during select parish theater performances has been the subject of criticism, occasionally resulting in impassioned discourse, as evidenced by the pages of L'Évangéline [fr] in 1913.
Antonine Maillet's works, notably La Sagouine, with their vernacular language and portrayal of the poor and marginalized, have contributed to shaping Acadian identity through theater.
[37] From the organization of the inaugural public sessions in Memramcook, the local press, particularly Le Moniteur Acadien, has consistently highlighted performances, referenced the participation of notable figures, and promoted these events.
[57] Originally, journalists merely reported on events —a term considered more accurate than criticism by Jean-Claude Marcus, who often stated that a given session "was the most beautiful [...] ever given," making it difficult to judge the true quality of the plays produced.
[59] CBAFT-DT produced a television film by Jacques Savoie and two series based on La Sagouine, but only one true tele-theater, Mon mari est un ange (1988) by Gracia Couturier, which had been staged a year earlier in Edmundston.
In a staging by the author, the main character, psychology professor Tarzan Mâzzerolle, played by Philippe Beaulieu, has a temporary bout of feminism and decides to shoulder his wife's pregnancy so that she can pursue her career.
[59] Several young authors began their careers there, including Laurier Melanson [fr], who read the texts of Zélica à Cochon vert and Otto de le veuve Hortense.
