Playing French Seattle 2009 featured the works of playwright Matei Visniec

The third annual festival of plays written in French language featured the work of Romanian born playwright Matei Visniec.  The festival ran October 19 - November 1 at the University of Washington's Ethnic Cultural Theatre.Two works by Visniec were staged:  "Le Deuxième Tilleul à Gauche" and "Old Clown Wanted."  University of Washington doctorial candidate Otilia Baraboi opened the festival on October 20 and introduced Visniec's plays.

This festival of absurdist plays by French and francophone playwrights also included work by Georges Feydeau, Honoré de Balzac, and Samuel Beckett.

Honoré de Balzac, novelist of "La Comedie Humaine," wrote five plays before his death in 1850.  The last of which, "Le Faiseur," was accepted by the Comedie Française but not staged there until 143 years later, in 1993.  This new bilingual (French /English) adaptation was directed by Steeplechase Producer Tom Ansart.  The central character of the play, Mercadet, is a stock speculator who has been swindled by his business partner, Godeau.  The play is a foreshadowing of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."

Finally Seattle Novyi Theatre staged Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days," directed by Leonid Anisimov, and starring Amy Yeater as Winnie, which closed the festival on Sunday, November 1.