A woman is alone at night, waiting. A reckless flame under heavy rainfall. Her words boil over. She talks about her wound that is forever open, the secret buried for too long in her burdened body. Today the pain won’t go away. She is waiting for the man, this carrion. She is waiting for him with thunder and a sword in her hands.
Poetic and powerful, this text by Guy Régis, Jr. invites us to listen to a woman freeing herself from her burden through the release of words. Weary to live among the “defeated,” a woman stands up and faces the executioner. In doing so, she reverses her fate. Her revolt is not just hers; it comes from faraway: it has insidiously crossed periods of time, bodies, silences. Gender and sexual violence. Assaulted, commercialized, raped bodies. Wounds that silently contaminate bodies and souls.
Moi fardeau inhérent is “a call to awareness against wait-and-see and standstill attitudes,” according to Guy Régis, Jr. It questions our capacity to position ourselves when facing odious abuse. Here a woman makes the choice to revolt.
Show performed in French with English supertitles. Duration: 1 hour.
Content Advisory: Themes of rape, abuse, and physical violence. Content not suitable for audiences under 16 years old.
Tickets and Details
Performances are free and open to the public. Advance tickets required. Reserve tickets online
Per Princeton University policy, all guests must either be fully vaccinated, or have recently tested negative (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen test within 8 hours of the scheduled visit) and be prepared to show proof if asked, or wear a face covering when indoors and around others.
Accessibility
The Wallace Theater is wheelchair accessible. Show performed in French with English subtitles. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information at our various locations. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
Guy Régis, Jr. is a playwright, director, actor and founder of NOUS Théâtre, the first contemporary theatre movement in Haiti. His avant-garde work blends radical writing with committed poetry, and his reputation has made him an essential playwright of our time.
Born in Port-au-Prince in 1974, Régis Jr. spent his childhood between Liancourt and the capital with his mother and grandmother. At school, he developed a passion for French language and wrote poems for his classmates. A few years later, while studying anthropology and psychology, Régis Jr. enrolled at the Institut français where he attended conferences for writers. In 1997, he became a stage technician and worked alongside artists such as author Syto Cavé and choreographer Karine Saporta, among others.
This unique experience led him to create the collective NOUS Théâtre in 2001. To mark the rebirth of Haitian theatre, the collective—dressed in black—walked the streets to mourn the old theatrical practices. With this act, Régis Jr. affirmed his desire to use art as a means of changing the world. In 2003, the show Service Violence Série became a great success. Sketches, slogans and rituals intertwine to denounce violence, dictatorship, corruption and injustice in Haiti. This multi-dimensional show was subsequently performed at the Théâtre National de Belgique, the Festival de Liège and the Francophonies en Limousin.
“As I got to know theatre, I realized it could get people thinking, just like real life can.” — Guy Régis, Jr.
His creativity is endless. He wrote poetry such as Le Temps des Carnassiers (2000); created short films such as Pays sauve qui peut (2001), Black out (2001) and Monsieur Le Président (2011); and translated into Créole the works of Albert Camus, Maurice Maeterlinck, Marcel Proust, and Bernard-Marie Koltès. Aiming to develop the living arts in Haiti, he also participated in the project “Migrants” in 2012-2013, became director of the theatre section of the Ecole Nationale des Arts d’Haïti from 2012 to 2014. He is currently the artistic director of the Festival des arts vivants Quatre Chemins. Régis Jr. wrote groundbreaking texts such as Ida, monologue déchet (2006) presented in 2007 on the Tarmac de la Villette stage in Paris. He also received the prize for contemporary theatrical writing in the Caribbean, awarded by the association Beaumarchais in partnership with ETC Caraïbe, for his text Le Père in 2009. He is an Open Society Foundations-Soros Arts fellow (2018) for A City of Poetry, a project he conceived that took place in the streets of Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
After the earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, Régis Jr wrote De toute la terre, le grand effarement (And the Whole World Quakes: The Great Collapse) and staged it at Festival d’Avignon. This work is part of the body of texts that mark a turning point for contemporary Haitian literature.
Régis Jr. was made a Knight of Arts and Letters in 2017 and in 20221-22 was a Resident of Villa Medicis in Rome.
His recent publications include Les Cinq Fois où j’ai vu mon père (The Five Times I Saw my Father – 2020, Gallimard) and the play Goebbels, juif et footballeur (Goebbels, Jew and Footballer – 2020), published by Les Solitaires Intempestifs.
Daniely Francisque, a French-caribbean actress, director and playwright, is one of the leading figures in contemporary theatre in Martinique. She is the co-artistic director of TRACK Company. Since 1994, Daniely has performed in around fifty theatrical, choreographic, musical plays, movies and TV shows. In 2018, she was awarded Best Actress in Toronto and Marseille for the film Torment of Love directed by Caroline Jules.
She directs and designs productions with strong visual, physical and emotional impact, questioning identity, intimacy, memory in post-colonial societies. Francisque was one of the playwrights of the Caribbean Theater Action Project at the Martin Segal Theater Center in December 2019. Her play Cyclones, performed in Caribbean Islands, France, Miami, and Congo, has recently been published by Lansman Éditeur. Cyclones (Hurricanes) as well as Ladjables (Ladjables Wild woman) have both been translated into English. Ladjables Wild woman has been published in 2022 by Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Publications (New York) in the francophone edition of the anthology New Plays from the Caribbean.
In 2019, she was named Knight of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France. In 2021, Francisque received the Medal of Equality from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities for her involvement in fighting violence against women in her artistic creations. She also received the ETC Caraïbe Award for Best Script in French with her last play, Matrices.
Francisque is currently working on a multidisciplinary artistic project with Uruguayan artists Lucía Trentini et Lucía Acuña with the support of Uruguay INAE, Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale de Martinique, the French Embassy in Uruguay, ETC_Caraïbes Agency and Institut Français.
Co-founded in 2010 by Daniely Francisque and Patrice Le Namouric, the TRACK company brings together theatrical and physical writing in creation with contemporary Caribbean aesthetics, offering works with a strong visual and emotional impact. After 3 short films, the company structured its repertoire around the theatrical triptych #Duels2Femmes, dedicated to the condition of women, focusing on sexist and sexual violence. In November 2019, the company opened a new chapter of its repertory, creating Caligula by Albert Camus, a classical work revisited in a version inspired by Afro-Caribbean mythologies. The TRACK company is supported by the Department of Cultural Affairs of Martinique and the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique.
Credits
Text: Guy Régis Junior published at Les Solitaires Intempestifs Editions Direction and Interpretation: Daniely Francisque Assistant Director: Pierre Le Namouric Sound Design: Eddie Francisque Costumes: Laura de Souza Lighting Design: Jean-Pierre Népost Light and Sound Tour Operator: Viviane Vermignon
Production: Compagnie Track Coproduction: Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale de Martinique
Support: DRAC Martinique, Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique, Fonds d’Aide aux Échanges Artistiques et Culturels pour l’Outre-mer (FEAC), Association ICAR
Partners: Théâtre Ouvert – Centre National des Dramaturgies contemporaines, Compagnie Louis Brouillard/Joël Pommerat
With the support of FACE Contemporary Theater, a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States, with support from The Ford Foundation, Institut français, the French Ministry of Culture, and private donors.
The Wallace Theater is wheelchair accessible. Show performed in French with English subtitles. Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information at our various locations. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
