A curtain of debt falls on Jeune Lune

Faced with a $1 million-plus debt, Theatre de la Jeune Lune is shutting its doors after 30 years on the local arts scene, a decision that shocked theater lovers in the Twin Cities and nationally over the weekend.

The company, which won a Tony Award for outstanding regional theater three years ago, decided in an emotional Saturday board meeting to cease operations at the end of July. It will get rid of all but a skeletal staff and put its Minneapolis Warehouse District building up for sale.

"The loss of Jeune Lune is really profound," said Guthrie Theater director Joe Dowling. "This is a body blow not just to the community's arts scene but to a sense of who and what we are. The arts are one of the things that make Minnesota great, and we are all diminished by its closing."

The company, which took its name from a Bertolt Brecht poem about the new moon, was founded in 1978 by three students under the tutelage of Jacques Lecoq in Paris -- Dominique Serrand and Vincent Gracieux, both of France, and Barbra Berlovitz of Minneapolis. They were soon joined by Robert Rosen and eventually Steve Epp as well as 2,000 other collaborators, according to Serrand.

The company performed in Paris and Minneapolis during its early years, establishing itself as a beacon of originality, invention and wit with shows ranging from the hilarious and bizarre physical comedy of "Yang Zen Froggs" to such reimagined operas as "Carmen."

The troupe also was known for experimentation and a communal working process.

"When I moved here from New York in 1980, Jeune Lune gave me theater that was more nontraditional and thoughtful, entertaining and provocative," said board member Susan Zemke, an executive coach who has been involved with the company for 25 years.

'A unique force'

Over the past 30 years, the company created nearly 100 productions, including classics that it reinvented and new works. It performed for hundreds of thousands in its home in Minneapolis and across the United States and France.

"The impact of Jeune Lune has been felt principally in the Twin Cities but because of their teaching and touring, they've had enormous national impact," said Gideon Lester, acting artistic director of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. "They really represent a unique force in the American theater, bringing a sense of invention and wonder, and an exploration of physical and metaphysical theater that's very profound and joyous."

Jeune Lune accumulated its debt over nearly a decade, drawing down equity in the former Allied Van Lines building that it converted to a theater with a splash in 1992, opening with a celebrated production of "Children of Paradise." Even as it changed over its later years -- it winnowed its five-person leadership structure to one -- the debt kept growing.

"Going back to the fall, we've been trying to figure out how to deal with it," said Jeune Lune board chairman Bruce Neary. "... This was the last option. And we took it with great regret."

Neary said that the building was appraised a year ago at $3 million. He is not sure what will happen to the difference if there is a successful sale and the theater meets all its debts. But he expects that Jeune Lune will return in some form.

"It's terrible, but if we go back to the Brecht poem, maybe the new moon got old and maybe it's time for a new moon," he said.

For his part, Serrand, who along with co-founder Gracieux was knighted by the French government, said he would like to stay around.

"I've spent more than half my life here, most of my life here, and I hope to continue," he said. "People have been enormously supportive and generous to us."

A wake-up call

Ultimately, Jeune Lune's closing is a wake-up call for companies, audiences and donors, not to mention civic boosters, said Lester of American Repertory Theatre.

"I'm absolutely sure that institutions all over the country will welcome Jeune Lune's brilliant artists with open arms," he said. "... But the warning bells are ringing loud and clear across the nation. If Jeune Lune falls, who's next?"

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