Jean-Paul Wenzel (b. 1947)
Birthplace:
Saint-Étienne, Loire, France
Born:
July 13, 1947
Jean-Paul Wenzel is a playwright, director, director, actor of French theater, born July 13, 1947 in Saint-Etienne, in the Loire, a German father and a French mother. He followed training at the School of Dramatic Art in Strasbourg from 1966 to 1969, then began his theatrical career under the direction of recognized directors such as Robert Gironès, Peter Brook, Philippe Goyard and Michel Raskine. He also plays in the cinema with directors like René Allio, Gisèle Cavali, Aki Kaurismäki and Gérard Blain. Wenzel then turned to dramatic writing and experienced national and international recognition with his play far from Hagondange (1974), translated into eighteen languages and played in twenty countries, which receives the Critics' Prize in 1976 . He then wrote many other pieces, of which Marianne awaits marriage (1976), Vater Land (1984, Prize for the best French creation), Faire Bleu (1999), six miniature tragedies (2004) and Margot (2005). Its theater is recognized for its popular dimension and its ability to evoke everyday life in a universal way. In addition to his author activity, Jean-Paul Wenzel is a committed pedagogue. He taught at the Comédie de Saint-Étienne, heads the school of the National Theater of Brittany from 1995 to 2000, and intervenes in several schools and conservatories in France and abroad. He co-founded in 1976, with Jean-Louis Hourdin and Olivier Perrier, the theatrical meetings of Hérisson, then codirige with Olivier Perrier the Center Dramatique National Les Federés in Montluçon from 1985 to 2002. Since 2003, he has managed with the playwright Arlette Namiand the company now, with which he pursues the creation of shows and the adaptation of literary works for the scene. Jean-Paul Wenzel also staged texts of great authors like Bertolt Brecht, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jean Genet, Odön von Horvath, Enzo Cormann and Howard Barker, as well as theatrical adaptations of works by Maupassant, Primo Levi, Arthur Koestler and Sevene Ousmane. His cinematographic career includes roles in films such as common memory (1978), a doctor of the Enlightenment (1988), La Vie de Bohème (1992) and Bazar (2009). Jean-Paul Wenzel remains a major figure in the French contemporary theater, recognized for his artistic and educational commitment, as well as for the vitality and humanity of his work.