(Click
here for lancetait.com.)
Theatre Metropole began in 2002 as an international English-language theater
company in Paris, founded by Lance Tait. The company's activities diversified into video/film late in 2007 and a few months later, in June 2007,
Theatre Metropole signed a two-year royalty agreement with
Crackle,
an internet entertainment company owned by Sony Pictures. As a consequence, twenty-five digital short films were produced.
In May 2020, Theatre Metropole will be presenting a set of new comedy sketches written by Lance Tait, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Please watch this website for details.
T.M Theatre Lab in Paris is comprised of theatre practitioners and artists from various different continents. Theatre Metropole does not shy away from the ambitious or the
esoteric.
Onstage it focuses on post-absurdist drama and has a special interest in one-act plays,
epic theater and musical theatre. It believes that what is classic remains avant garde and that the best of the avant garde is truly classic. In 2003 the company presented "Synesthesia" at the New York
International Fringe Festival. In 2002-03 the company also co-presented a reading
series in Paris of ten plays written by Lance Tait based on short stories
by Edgar Allan Poe. By 2005 Theatre Metropole started its ongoing series of original comedy sketches. Plays and sketches
from these shows are now for sale in print and ebook formats.
Theatre Metropole agrees with Italo Calvino who says in "Six Memos for the Next Millennium", "Overambitious projects
may be objectionable in many fields, but not in literature. Literature remains alive only if we set ourselves immeasurable goals,
far beyond all hope of achievement. Only if poets and writers set themselves tasks that no one else dares imagine will literature
continue to have a function. Since science has begun to distrust general explanations and solutions that are not sectorial and
specialized, the grand challenge for literature is to be capable of weaving together the various branches of knowledge, the
various 'codes,' into a manifold and multifaceted vision of the world."
Ambitious works which Theatre Metropole has presented, sometimes partnering with Moving Parts, Paris, are the musical, "Helen",
and Three Essential Plays (Car Door Shave; Gambling Fever; Neither God Nor Master), available
in print and ebook formats. At present, though Theatre Metropole has presented works by other playwrights including the poet John Ashbery, its main objective is
to present works by Lance Tait, contemporary U.S. writer and director. From 2005 to 2014 work continued on seven more plays adapted from seven short stories by Edgar Allan Poe which resulted in the
publication of second volume of "Poe plays": The Black Cat and Other Plays Adapted from Stories by Edgar Allan Poe.
New volumes of Comedy Sketches continue to be published. However it should be noted that at present, Theatre Metropole has been on a break from full production
since December 2012 except for invitation-only staged readings of new works in Paris and elsewhere. Most recent thanks to the six actors and Haejoon Moon of Theatre M in Seoul, Korea for co-production help
with a staged reading in June 2014 in Seoul of new comedy sketches by Lance Tait.
Praise for Lance Tait and Théâtre Métropole: “Tait is
a playwright with ideas and intellect and challenges and excites an audience”
– Yvonne Shafer, author of “Performing O’Neill.” “Masterful
acting… superb direction by Tait – CurtainUp New York. “Fascinating,
exciting ideas” – NYTheatre.com. “Fine acting”–
Back Stage New York. “Tait's fine body of work will ultimately find a larger
and appreciative audience” – Stephanie Campion, artistic director,
Moving Parts, Paris.
II.
Theatre Metropole’s internet (mostly comedy) videos