Elodie Chancelier, French as Second Language Teacher (FLE) Jean-Claude Redonnet, Professor emeritus Paris-Sorbonne
Willy LeBihan, Director of L'Ecole Française du Maine
Professor emeritus from Paris-Sorbonne, Jean-Claude Redonnet has offered his collaboration for the major theatrical project "Des ponts et merveilles" planned for May 2014 as avant-première to the Congrès Mondial Acadien (August 2014). This production will celebrate the Acadian history and bring its rich culture onto the stage. The play will continue where "La Cachette du Francais" left off four years ago. At the time, students of l'Ecole Française du Maine wrote a script entirely in French, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Champlain's discoveries throughout New-England and Quebec. The play was in the form of a mystery, featuring a detective searching for the "French" in Maine today. More than 500 spectators attended the show at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, which got great reviews from the French, Canadian and Quebecquois Cultural Attaches while building enthusiasm in the francophone public of Maine.
Cast of "La Cachette du Français" May 7, 2008
In "Des ponts et merveilles", Jean-Claude Redonnet will help teachers and students write portions of the script while supervising its historical accuracy and cultural relevancy with the themes of CMA2014.
The title for the play, "Des ponts et merveilles", suggested by Jean-Claude Redonnet, presents two principal themes that will be developed on stage: bridges (ponts) between cultures, lands, past and present and communities and wonder (merveilles) such as the wilderness of Acadia and the francophone identity.
Through history, the Acadians will be portrayed as participants of the American revolution who helped bridge the French, Canadian and early American cultures and languages. Then, when displaced during the Grand Derangement, the Acadians maintained with determination a rich culture, serving as a bridge between a tragic past and the hopes for a better future; the play will then depict the settlement in the St John River Valley with the romanticism of Evangeline and its nostalgia as narrated by Longfellow and Emerson.
Finally, the play will share the Acadia of today: the land, the forest, its home in Maine, a unique identity with a rich past on which can be built a francophone future.
Samuel de Champlain in "La Cachette du Français" May 7, 2008
Scott Vaillancourt, music instructor at l'Ecole Française du Maine and Acadian from the St John Valley, will be responsible for the musical accompaniment. The school is currently seeking volunteers and sponsors and will be finalizing a date and ideal location for the venue.
Jean-Claude Redonnet recently published Héritages francophones: An innovative program of cultural readings designed for college French classes at the upper-intermediate level and beyond, Héritages francophones is an introduction to several living Francophone cultures in the United States. The communities that are introduced include the descendants of the Acadians in the St. John Valley of Maine; the Haitian community of Miami; and immigrant peoples from Africa, Asia, and Europe. The focus then widens to the countries or areas of origin of these various groups. This emphasis on the diversity of interrelated Francophone issues shows students that French is indeed an international language, with relevance to their own world. Héritages francophones was granted the official patronage of the Académie française in 2007.
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