Trop cool!

I got interviewed for France-Amérique! Read it here (it's in French).

For those of you whom I haven't yet badgered incessantly about it (and, note to self: get on that), my friend Manisha Snoyer - Francophone actress teacher extraordinaire, and director of Into This City International Acting School - has most kindly invited me back to NYC to co-teach a puppetry workshop with her.  I just realized this marks the first time since 2006 that I won't be there en tant qu'étudiante (as a student).  Yay for that!

And yay goes double for our puppetry workshop, which - here goes ...

YOU SHOULD COME TO YOU SHOULD COME TO YOU SHOULD COME TO YOU SHOULD COME TO.  DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!

Ahem.  Anyway, for those non-Francophones, the article linked above basically talks about my feelings about puppetry in France and the U.S. (this is one of the few Major World Issues that I have strong feelings about, the other two being men's figure skating and caffeinated beverages).  And it reminds you to come make puppets with us on Saturday, August 27.

A big thank-you goes out to Guénola Pellen of France-Amérique, who interviewed me and then, being an excellent journalist, managed to cobble my occasionally comical, French as a Second Language ramblings into something cogent and lovely.  Here's an example snippet from our conversation, with translation in parentheses:

GUÉNOLA: Alors, qu'est-ce que l'art de la marionnette représente pour vous?
(What does puppetry represent for you?)

ME: Ah bon bah ... j'ai pas exactement ... comment dirais-je? Hehhheh c'est difficile hehheh, heh.  Eh bien, moi je trouve que c'est une très bonne façon de s'exprimer, à travers la marionnette, buhh, c'est-à-dire que buhhh ça révèle plein de choses, euhhhh, même chez les personnes qui sont en générale très, euhhh, buh, est-ce qu'on dit "inhibitées"?* Est-ce que c'est un mot, ça?
(Ah bon bah ... I'm not sure exactly ... how do I put it? Hehhheh it's difficult, hehheh, heh.  Well, I find it's a very good way to express yourself, puppetry; buhh, I mean, buhh, it reveals a lot of things, euhhh, even in people who are normally very, euhhhh, buh, can one say "inhibitées"? Is that a word?)

GUÉNOLA: Uh.... (Uh....)

ME: Buh, je veux dire, buh ..... attendez je cherche sur Google .... (Buh, what I mean is, buh, hold on, I'll look on Google.)

GUÉNOLA: Ah, vous voulez dire "coincées" peut-être? (Oh, I think you mean "uptight," perhaps?)

ME (puffed up with the pride that can only come from having lit on the "mot juste"): Oui, c'est ça.  (Yes, that's it.)

Thankfully, in print I'm eloquent (merci madame), which is great, because now you'll never have to know how I sounded on the phone. 

Also, Princess Marcheline looks quite fetching in her close-up, n'est-ce pas? Although I notice they cut off our headshot right above her ample pom-pom bosoms, which is just not very français of France-Amérique at all.  On the other hand, there is Amérique in the title, which is probably where the decency comes from.  In the U.S., one doesn't just go around exposing our children to brazenly bared pom-poms.

I mean, it probably won't bother me if and when I'm a parent, but then, I'm a puppeteer.  I like to think our house will be known among my children's little friends as "the house where sometimes you get to see pom-poms." 

 


* Inhibited = inhibé, in fact.  I was close but not close enough.  I've goofed this one at least twice now which means, only six more times before I get a free coffee.