The life and work of one of France's greatest poets is the subject of a multimedia program called "Verlaine: Muse and Music Maker" by French professor Christine Renaudin at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 20-22 in PE 1 at Sonoma State University.
Renaudin, an accomplished dancer and actress as well as an associate professor of French at SSU, brings together French and English, dance, theater, visuals, instrumental music and vocals in a unique poetic collage that stages a selection of the nineteenth-century French poet's work.
Renaudin sees "Verlaine: Muse and Music Maker" as a rare opportunity to combine her expertise in French literature and her skills in the performing arts. The show also marks Renaudin's debut as a director.
With Verlaine, Renaudin brings to the North Bay community a multilayered performance which retraces the poet's journey into the flesh. The show does not merely illustrate Verlaine's texts but, rather, "seeks to explore a rich variety of readings and responses generated among artists of all kinds, from the actor to the dancer, the musician to the photographer," Renaudin says.
At the crossroads of such famous aesthetic movements as Romanticism, Symbolism, Impressionism, and the blurrier notion of Decadence, Paul Verlaine's poetry and personality made him an impressive, if at times controversial, figure on the social and literary scene of his era. Verlaine came to be known for the extreme musicality and intensely suggestive powers of his poetry. As a result, his texts have inspired no less than 1500 musical compositions, by some 650 composers, including Claude Debussy and Reynaldo Hahn, both featured in the show, along with the perhaps less-known Arthur Maskats.
"Verlaine" also represents Sonoma State University's contribution to the Year Of Languages, an initiative of the American Council for Teachers of Foreign Languages, as well as to National French Week, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French.
Renaudin is Associate Professor of French and has been performing in Sonoma County for fifteen years, as a dancer (former member of Ann Woodhead's Dance Company, co-founder of Lezokiparl), and as an actor (Anna Petrovna of "Wild Honey,"1995, Magdalena of "Another Part of the House," Solange of "The Maids," 1999, Mrs. Gabor of "Spring Awakening," 2000).
She has also earned acclamations for her choreography of "Flight of the Heart," in 2000, and more recently choreographed Dido and Aeneas and "Caliban's Dreams," (2004).
Tickets are $12 general, $10 faculty, staff and $6 students and will be available at the door.
NOTE: Digital photos of Christine Renaudin are available upon request.
