• 06/11/2022
  • By binternet
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Thanks to Adrien Grassard and his team, poetry survives at Les Déchargeurs<

Nestled in the historic heart of Paris in the 1st arrondissement, Les Déchargeurs has been revealing poetic words for more than thirty years. Young actor and author, Adrien Grassard, is the new owner. Rethink everything while keeping the very essence of the place for a hybrid theater where the sharing of the verb is done between artists and spectators.rices. See you in September.

In 2020, Elisabeth Bouchaud, director of La Reine Blanche in Paris, is selling the Les Déchargeurs theater bought in 2018. At the same time, Adrien Grassard, 24, actor and author, finds himself confined, like all of us, and his artistic projects put on hold: “I saw the announcement of the theater pass and it made me think. I said to myself, well, it could be interesting because I have time, I have the impression that I don't do much. »Thanks to Adrien Grassard and his team, poetry survives Les DéchargeursThanks to Adrien Grassard and his team, poetry survives Les Déchargeurs

An appointment made, for a visit and the crush seems obvious to Adrien, “I had already come to see a room at the time, but I had only seen the top. And I didn't know there was a room downstairs and even less the cellars. There's a space that's amazing, there's so much to do here. Then, the hall too, with the bar which was not used at that time. I was already imagining it."

The adventure can then begin. Adrien meets the team made up of Emmanuelle Jauffret in administration and communication, Rémi Prin in programming and technical management, Lou Linossier in public relations and Belkacem Abadou in maintenance. The connection between them is obvious. They are on the same wavelength to rethink the place, to fit it out and to make the theater work by really supporting the companies. The six of them draw up a business plan. Then, Adrien goes to the bank to sell this project to acquire the theater. “There was a rather grotesque first date where I arrived in the middle of covid saying “Here I am 24 years old I would like to buy a theater. The guy got married. Already you are an actor, we don't trust you, so you are 24 years old. The guy was looking at my resume and he sees bac pro sale. »

Fortunately, the young man can call on his father to be responsible for the economy of the place. And the sales agreement is signed at the beginning of 2021. Works follow, clearing of the cellars and the rental of these underground spaces, for a costume workshop, a rehearsal room where to store sets . A year in which Les Déchargeurs are preparing, establishing their artistic line and their future programming. While waiting for the reopening in September, we met Adrien Grassard to find out more about him but also about this magical place that places poetry and creation in the heart of Paris.

Adrien Grassard, the theatre, a happy escape

Adrien Grassard grew up in La Rochelle. While from a very young age, he has loved stories, he is deeply bored in the pro sales baccalaureate. Seized by a sudden fad to do theatre, the teenager typed on the internet “théâtre La Rochelle” and he came across the Théâtre de l’Alchimiste. “I signed up because it was during the summer and there was going to be the recovery and I was told, listen, we have a first session in September, come on. In this amateur troupe, Adrien experienced the stage for the first time. He tastes “the feeling of playing a text, that people are listening to you, the adrenaline that it provides. "It's a real revelation:" I went out thinking, this is what I want to do. He will stay there for three years before wanting to continue on this path, once his baccalaureate is in his pockets.

Taken during the Florent course, he went to Paris where he learned a lot about his artistic tastes and desires. Adrien discovers theatrical writing and leaves Florent with a play, then a second, performed outside of school. The epidemic is abating as he prepares new projects. He turns to forms without a direct audience: a comic strip instead of a play in preparation, the writing of a novel and the distribution of a poetry podcast, Noircir.