30 DAYS OF NYMF: Day 15 Les Enfants De Paris

Day 15 Les Enfants De Paris

From one of the writers (Stacey Weingarten, book of ‘Les Enfants de Paris')

I know you don't know who I am (unless you frequent the NY puppet community-yes, I said puppet), but please hear me out. David Levinson first approached me to write the book for Les Enfants in August of last year. Writing went so fast we had our first reading in October, and rewriting so fast our second reading was in January. Donna Drake has been our trusty companion since the first reading, assisting developmentally as director.

Upon first glance, Les Enfants is not the prototypical musical one would expect from two late-80s kids. After all, we were children of the 90s, a time of new Americana and growth. But we were caught in transitional years as America's bubble burst at the dawn of the new millennium. At first, everything was perfect, and beautiful, and calm. Even the day that changed American identity and culture had the most unassuming, clear blue sky-- but after the towers fell, the surge of patriotism would eventually dissipate, leaving us with the America we know today. As such, Les Enfants de Paris was born of a 9/12 world.

France in the ‘50s has long been romanticized by Americans. There's simply a je ne sais quoi about the time and place. The reality, however, was quite the contrary-- the French were embroiled in an unpopular war on foreign soil, desperately clinging to keep control of Algeria. The war raged on for years, even coming to the point of terrorist attacks in France itself. Enfants allows us to tread between the perceived reality and actual reality, exploring the issues that plague us as Americans in the post-9/11 era-- among them xenophobia (Islamophobia, especially) and a disenfranchised youth-- through the historic lens of France in the ‘50s. But it's difficult for me to give you a real sense of the piece, it's ambiance. Unless...

From one of the written (Pierre Frollo, narrator of ‘Les Enfants de Paris'):

"Has it been one year or two? The time just... I don't know. Ever since that September I've kept to myself. Sometimes I forget to wind my watch, and with no one to wind it for, who would notice? The other artists here want me out; I figure if I stay in, they can't make me. I'm afraid I don't like to talk--- to anyone-- I no longer write songs, anything-- and I don't share well. I've taken solace in drugs again, but that's nothing new. Harder ones now. But nothing can replace their faces, laughter, love...

I was only twenty-one that summer when she walked into my life. That Muslim beauty, refugee made of light. She would never know just how much she changed my world. I had no purpose, a lost boy trapped becoming a man, pressure figure out my life. I didn't know who I was until she came.

Those days the breeze along the Seine reminded me of everything life had in store for us, it calmed me. We danced in the rain, no worries or cares-- we were all still young, all with paths to choose, lives to be lived. Every song was a love song, every word, poetry... until autumn came and brought with it the reality of the world around me. If only she hadn't... he hadn't... they hadn't...

You have to understand, nothing was my fault. It couldn't have been... Right? It was all circumstance-- just circumstance! The universe conspired against me. Summer was a wonder-- Everything was perfect, and beautiful, and calm... And then came autumn.

I need a fix."

To buy tickets or to learn more about Les Enfants De Paris visit www.nymf.org/lesenfantsdeparis or call 212-352-3101