This text is the second of the “Trilogy of the Depopulated”* in which I tried to X-ray these Haitian families who vowed to leave the country for many destinations: United States, Canada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Chile, etc. . ..
*Depopulated: that has lost its inhabitants. Depopulated city. depopulated country.
FIRST DEPOPULATION: THE FATHER. A family gathers to watch over the man known as The Father, who left the United States years ago. Close relatives reveal the threads of their reality, creating sometimes funny, sometimes grating situations, in front of this body that returned to them inert from the United States.
SECOND DEPOPULATION: LOVE AS A FUNERAL CATHEDRAL (THE SON). The youngest son gave what his mother wanted. She managed to find him a Canadian husband through the Internet. When she learns of the violent death of this son who tried to be with her, the couple’s daily life falls apart.
DEPOPULATION THREE: WHAT IF THE DEATH OF OUR MOTHER (THE MOTHER). Years later, La Mère decided to return home. He came back, dying. At his bedside, the unloved son, the eldest, the elder brother, of his children alone now, trusted by all. The one who always denied his aura, his care, his attentiveness, which he did not appreciate. Even being sick didn’t stop her from hating him. However, the latter, following an indescribable family law, does not hesitate to accompany him, to devote himself to it body and soul.
I saw many of these people, desperate fathers and mothers, useless sons and daughters, the latter continued to stop all their activities, even leaving the school benches, learning- on English, to continue to be more ready, closer to their expected dream, this future reality. First to give up life for the new they are preparing. All my life, and even now, I have seen a real killing of them. And that’s what I want to put into writing. People who end their lives. Hoping to live again, somewhere else.
I am also from one of these families, my father left to live in the United States more than twenty years ago, and since then he has become an American citizen… In a way, I am a miracle, that escaped this lie hope. I saw him leave, I was twelve years old. When I saw him again, I was thirty. And all these years, because we never heard from him, I always thought he was dead and my mother was hiding it from us.
This is why in the first story that opens the chapter of this long journey, the father dies. He returned to his coffin. Suddenly, the one on whom all hope rests, is gone. And all this: the hope of living better in an unknown place suddenly disappeared. The second piece, THE SON, also called LOVE LIKE A CATHEDRAL FUNERAL, I finished it many years later. And nowadays, instead of parents, it is the children who are sent to life.
Note of intent from Guy Régis Jr
Love is like a buried cathedral
From and directed by Guy Régis JrAssistant director Hélène Lacroix
With Nathalie Vairac, Frédéric Fachena, Dérilon Fils, Déborah-Ménélia Attal, Aurore Ugolin, Jean-Luc Faraux
Composer and guitarist Amos Coulanges
Scenographer Velica Panduru
Director Fatoumata Bathily
Light designer and light manager Marine Levey
General management and stage management Samuel Dineen
Video director Dimitri Petrovic
US Theater production
Co-production Les Francophonie, from writing to stage; the Nanterre-Amandiers Theater – National Dramatic Center; the Union Theater – National Dramatic Center of Limousin; the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici; the 4 Paths Association; The Company of the New Moon
With the financial support of DRAC Ile-de-France, the Ile-de-France Region, the City of Paris, the International Commission of Francophone Theater, the French Institute of Paris, the SACD Stage Music Fund, the International Organization for Migration , ADAMI
And the support of Collectif 12, Théâtre 14, Chartreuse – National Center for Performing Arts, and the Cité Internationale des Arts.
Les Francophonie, from writing to stage
National Drama Center; Union Theatre
Friday September 30, 2022 – 8:30 pm.
Saturday October 1, 2022 – 6:00 pm
