Ariane Mnouchkine

{{Infobox person

| name = Ariane Mnouchkine

| image = Ariane Mnouchkine.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|3|3|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Boulogne-sur-Seine, France

| father = Alexandre Mnouchkine

| mother = June Hannen

| spouse =

| relatives =

| alma_mater = Sorbonne University

| years_active = 1964 – present

}}

Ariane Mnouchkine ({{IPA|fr|aʁjan nuʃkin|lang}}; born 3 March 1939) is a French stage director.{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/mnouchkine-ariane-1939|title=Mnouchkine, Ariane 1939- | Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}} She founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble Théâtre du Soleil in 1964. She wrote and directed 1789 (1974) and Molière (1978), and directed La Nuit Miraculeuse (1989).{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fb21118|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006134830/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9fb21118|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 October 2019|title=Ariane Mnouchkine|website=BFI}} She holds a Chair of Artistic Creation at the Collège de France,[http://www.college-de-france.fr/default/EN/all/cre_art Collège de France website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020105139/http://www.college-de-france.fr/default/EN/all/cre_art |date=20 October 2007 }}; accessed 18 January 2016. an Honorary Degree in Performing Arts from the University of Rome III, awarded in 2005{{Cite web|url=http://www.uniroma3.it/page.php?page=arianemnouchkine|title=Uniroma3.it :: Laurea Honoris Causa a Ariane Mnouchkine|date=4 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704123442/http://www.uniroma3.it/page.php?page=arianemnouchkine|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=4 July 2013}} and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Oxford University, awarded 18 June 2008.{{Cite web|url=https://thesegalcenter.org/event/ariane-mnouchkine-the-castaways-of-the-fol-espoir/|title=Ariane Mnouchkine: The Castaways of the Fol Espoir|website=thesegalcenter.org}}

Biography

Ariane Mnouchkine is the daughter of Jewish Russian film producer Alexandre Mnouchkine and June Hannen (daughter of Nicholas Hannen).{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/aug/10/ariane-mnouchkine-life-in-theatre|title=Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil: a life in theatre|first=Andrew|last=Dickson|newspaper=The Guardian |date=10 August 2012|via=www.theguardian.com}} Mnouchkine's paternal grandparents, Alexandre and Bronislawa Mnouchkine, were both deported from Drancy to Auschwitz on 17 December 1943, where they were both murdered. Ariane is the namesake of the production company Ariane Films that was founded by her father.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b942b26fb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720014456/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b942b26fb|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 July 2017|title=Les Films Ariane|website=BFI}}

Mnouchkine attended Sorbonne University in Paris, France, where she studied literature. On a year abroad at Oxford University in England, studying English literature, she joined the Oxford University Dramatic Society, and decided to return to her roots in theatre.{{Cite news|last=Dickson|first=Andrew|date=10 August 2012|title=Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil: a life in theatre|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/aug/10/ariane-mnouchkine-life-in-theatre|access-date=6 November 2020|issn=0261-3077}} She founded the ATEP (Association Théâtrale des Étudiants de Paris or Parisian Students’ Theatrical Association) in 1959 when she returned to the Sorbonne.{{Cite web|title=Histoire – ATEP3|url=http://www.atep3.fr/WordPress/latep3/histoire|access-date=6 November 2020|language=fr-FR}} She continued theatre studies at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where in 1964 she founded Théâtre du Soleil (Theatre of the Sun) with her fellow students.{{Cite web|url=https://world-theatre-day.org/ariane_mnouchkine.html|title=World Theatre Day – International Theatre Institute ITI|website=world-theatre-day.org}} The theatre collective still continues to create social and political critiques of local and world cultures. Théâtre du Soleil's productions are often performed in found spaces like barns or gymnasiums because Mnouchkine does not like being confined to a typical stage.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTcPZjgSjdQC&q=ariane+mnouchkine+Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre+du+Soleil%27s+in+found+spaces&pg=PA149|title=Robert Lepage|first=Aleksandar Saša|last=Dundjerovic|date=25 November 2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-18764-5|via=Google Books}} Similarly, she feels theatre cannot be restricted with the "fourth wall".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCjbBQAAQBAJ&q=ariane+mnouchkine+restricted+by+%27fourth+wall%27&pg=PA180|title=Applied Theatre: Aesthetics|first=Gareth|last=White|date=26 February 2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4725-1177-5|via=Google Books}} When audiences enter a Mnouchkine production, they will often find the actors preparing (putting on makeup, getting into costume) right before their eyes.

In 1971, Mnouchkine signed the Manifesto of the 343, publicly announcing she had an illegal abortion.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cidem.org/themes/egalite_hommes_femmes/ega_infos/eclairages/ega_k003.html|title=manifeste des 343|date=23 April 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010423084113/http://www.cidem.org/themes/egalite_hommes_femmes/ega_infos/eclairages/ega_k003.html|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=23 April 2001}}

Mnouchkine has developed her own works, like the political-themed 1789, as well as numerous classical texts like Molière's Don Juan or Tartuffe.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/all-the-worlds-a-stage-ariane-mnouchkine-and-theatre-du-soleils-a-room-in-india|title=All the World's a Stage: Ariane Mnouchkine and Théâtre du Soleil's "A Room in India"|first=Cynthia|last=Zarin|magazine=The New Yorker |date=14 December 2017|via=www.newyorker.com}} Between 1981 and 1984, she translated and directed a series of William Shakespeare plays: Richard II, Twelfth Night, and Henry IV, Part 1. While she developed the shows one at a time, when she finished Henry IV, she toured the three together as a cycle of plays. Similarly, she developed Iphigenia by Euripides and the Oresteia (Agamemnon, Choephori, and The Eumenides) by Aeschylus between 1990 and 1992.{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1992/10/11/theater/a4b0a138-9562-44ff-befb-64b50f8396fd/|title=THEATER|first=Lloyd|last=Rose|date=11 October 1992|work=The Washington Post}}

While mainly a stage director, she has been involved in some films. She shared an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay for L'Homme de Rio (That Man from Rio, 1964).{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1965|title=The 37th Academy Awards | 1965|website=Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=5 October 2014 }} Her movie 1789 (filmed from the live production), which dealt with the French Revolution, brought her international fame in 1974.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b70ccdfb5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006134819/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b70ccdfb5|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 October 2019|title=1789 (1973)|website=BFI}} In 1978, she wrote and directed Molière, a biography of the famous French playwright, which earned her a Palme d'Or nomination at Cannes.{{Cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/festival/films/moliere|title=MOLIERE|website=Festival de Cannes}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/moli%C3%A8re-v136392|title=Molière (1978) – Ariane Mnouchkine | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}} She collaborated with Hélène Cixous on a number of projects including La Nuit miraculeuse and Tambours sur la digue, two made-for-television movies in 1989 and 2003 respectively.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/ariane-mnouchkine-p206578|title=Ariane Mnouchkine | Movies and Filmography|website=AllMovie}} In 1987, she was the first recipient of the Europe Theatre Prize for her work with the Théâtre du Soleil.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160324230548/http://www.premio-europa.org/open_page.php?id=247 I Europe Theatre Prize/Reasons] Europe Theatre Prize, premio-europa.org; accessed 18 January 2016.

In 1992, Mnouchkine criticized the EuroDisney as cultural Chernobyl and was very much against about the decision to open the European branch of the theme park in Paris.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/11/disneyland-paris-20th-birthday-debt |title= Disneyland Paris celebrates 20th birthday €1.9bn in debt |work= The Guardian |date= 11 April 2012 }}

In 2009, Mnouchkine won the Ibsen Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.internationalibsenaward.com/2009-ariane-mnouchkine-1|title=2009: Ariane Mnouchkine|website=The International Ibsen Award}} The prize was awarded to her at a ceremony at the National Theatre in Oslo on 10 September 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.norwegianamerican.com/featured/ariane-mnouchkine-wins-the-2009-international-ibsen-award/|title=Mnouchkine wins The 2009 International Ibsen Award|date=22 September 2009|website=The Norwegian American}} Mnouchkine received the Goethe Medal in 2011.{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/21/john-le-carre-goethe-medal |title=Germany honours Le Carré with Goethe Medal |work=The Guardian |date=21 June 2011 |access-date=23 October 2016}}

In 2019, Mnouchkine was awarded the Kyoto Prize{{Cite web|title=Ariane Mnouchkine {{!}} Kyoto Prize|url=https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/ariane_mnouchkine/|access-date=12 May 2021|website=京都賞|language=en-US}} for Arts and Philosophy (Theater, Cinema).