FIAF Announces LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD as Part of Tilt Kids Festival

The Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) are pleased to present Joël Pommerat's Little Red Riding Hood, a rare stateside performance of his most celebrated work, to open the third annual Tilt Kids Festival. Performances will take place at FIAF's Florence Gould Hall (55 East 59th Street) on Saturday, March 3 at 12 & 7pm, and Sunday, March 4 at 12pm.There will also be a Festival opening brunch before the Saturday matinee from 11am-12pm.

Once upon a time, there was a fearless little girl. A workaholic single mother. A homemade flan. And a crafty wolf. A narrator and evocative projections guide audiences through this unforgettable adventure and powerful rite of passage, as the play's boundless artistic imagination radiates empathy, curiosity, and warmth.

Hailed for creating "spellbinding theater" (The Guardian), visionary French director Joël Pommerat makes Little Red Riding Hood startlingly new in this contemporary staging of Charles Perrault's classic fairytale. Created by Pommerat to introduce his eight-year-old daughter to the world of theater, this production revolutionized the way theatre is made for kids, in France and around the world. With the aim of speaking truth, he imbues a sense of magic in his storytelling and proves that profound art does not need to be specific to any age. This production will be in French, with easy-to-read English subtitles.

Co-presented with Princeton University. Supported by FACE Contemporary Theater, a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with lead funding from the Florence Gould Foundation, Institut français, and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

Written and directed by Joël Pommerat
Performed by Rodolphe Martin, Isabelle Rivoal and Valérie Vinci
Production: Compagnie Louis Brouillard
Co-production: Centre Dramatique Régional de Tours, Théâtre Brétigny - Scène conventionnée du Val d'Orge (subsidized theatre space), with the support of the Haute-Normandie Region of France

About Joël Pommerat

Joël Pommerat, a self-taught artist and one of the most prominent playwrights and directors in Europe, is known for developing a new approach to theater by constructing works that are familiar, magical, and unforgettable at the same time. He founded the Compagnie Louis Brouillard in 1990 to create theater that combines his two passions: writing and acting. He has worked extensively at the Théâtre de la Main d'Or in Paris (Le Chemin de Dakar, Le Théâtre, Vingt cinq années, Des suées, Les Evénements) and was able to develop several of his best known pieces and workshops with the support of the Théâtre de Brétigny and the Théâtre Paris-Villette.

In 2007 he was invited by Peter Brook to be artist-in-residence at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord until 2011. He has been associate artist at the National Theatre of Brussels and the Paris-Odeon Théâtre de l'Europe, and is currently a member of the artist's association of Nanterre-Amandiers. He is associated with la Coursive/Scène Nationale de La Rochelle and la Comédie de Génève. In 2007, Joël Pommerat received the third Grand Prix de Littérature Dramatique for his play Les Marchands.

The performances at FIAF are part of Joël Pommerat's first US tour, including performances in Los Angeles and New York, and masterclasses taught by the company at Princeton University.

About Tilt Kids Festival

Tilt encourages a sense of freedom and adventure in the ways young people encounter art. Kids and adults alike discover new works by renowned artists that offer mind-opening experiences and celebrate diversity across cultures. Tilt Kids Festival is produced by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in partnership with leading cultural institutions, which this year include Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn Public Library, and NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

Tilt is co-curated by Rima Abdul-Malak, Cultural Attaché, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Lili Chopra, Executive Vice President and Artistic Director at FIAF, and Violaine Huisman, writer, translator, and curator.

About the Cultural Services of the French Embassy

The Cultural Services of the French Embassypromotes the best of French arts, literature, cinema, digital innovation, language, and higher education across the US. Based in New York City, Washington D.C., and eight other cities across the country, the Cultural Services brings artists, authors, intellectuals, and innovators to cities nationwide. It also builds partnerships between French and American artists, institutions, and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. In New York, through its bookshop Albertine, it fosters French-American exchange around literature and the arts. www.frenchculture.org

About FIAF

The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) is New York's premiere French cultural and language center. FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.org

Merci!

Tilt 2018 is made possible by: Air France and Delta, Florence Gould Foundation, FACE Foundation, the French Ministry of Culture, Howard Gilman Foundation, Institut français, Jacadi, La Roche-Posay, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques).

The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Special thanks to FIAF's 2018 Producer's Circle: Sarah Arison, Michel G. Bernard, L'Arsenal Contemporary New York, Didier Lestienne & Pierre Rouy-Cartier, Marie Nugent-Head, and Elisabeth Wilmers.