Paris – spring 1944. The City of Light has been under the dark shadow of German occupation for four long years. Hundreds of thousands had left Paris in June of 1940 when Germany invaded and defeated the French army in just six weeks. Most – but not all – returned to the capital once Marshall Petain – the hero of Verdun in World War I – had signed a humiliating armistice and began a collaboration with Hitler that stopped the fighting and avoided large scale destruction in the city. Petain, and the new Prime Minister Pierre Laval, dissolved the French Republic and set up a German friendly government in the spa town of Vichy. A little known French army officer, Charles de Gaulle, had made his way to London and broadcast a call on the BBC for the French people to reject the armistice and continue to fight the German armed forces wherever possible. Few people heard his broadcast …
So began our documentary theater work about writer Albert Camus and singer Edith Piaf and their work in the underground resistance to the German occupation of France and the Vichy puppet regime. Featuring editorials written by Camus for the resistance journal Combat and songs by Edith Piaf, the show played to full houses at the ArtLitLab October 26 & 27. Thanks to all who attended, those who donated in advance of the show to help make it possible, and UW-Madison Assistant Professor of History Emma Kuby for her remarks after the Saturday evening performance.
Cast biographies
Aubrie Jacobson, piano
Aubrie earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in collaborative piano from UW-Madison and a doctoral minor in arts administration from the Bolz Center at the Wisconsin School of Business.
She earned a master’s degree in collaborative piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music. Aubrie currently works as a staff collaborative pianist at Carroll University and as a freelance pianist in the Madison community.
Amanda Lauricella, soprano/Edith Piaf
Amanda recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance with a minor in Theatre and Drama at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Amanda was the 2021 recipient of the Charles and Helen Loeb Voice Award. She is currently working as an Adjunct Professor of Voice at Carroll University and Beloit College. Amanda has worked with Opera for the Young, the Cedar Rapids Opera, the Berlin Opera Academy, Fresco Opera Theatre, and the Stoughton Chamber Music Festival. Her website is https://amandalauricella.weebly.com/
Autumn Maria Reed, bass
Autumn is a Wisconsin-based composer/orchestrator/sound designer and Berklee alumna. Autumn has composed library and theatrical music for companies in Madison and Milwaukee. As part of the 2023 MUSE Mentorship program, she was paired with Tony- and Grammy-nominated composer/orchestrator/music director Zane Mark.
She plays string bass and cello with Dayvin Hallmon’s The Black String Triage Ensemble and Black Diaspora Symphony Orchestra. This group performs string music for trauma and violence victims. Her music is available to stream under the name “AMReed8.”
Daniel Graupner, narrator
Daniel is President of the August Derleth Society and of the Wisconsin Idea Theatre. He has appeared in several Fermat productions including Albert Maltz’s radio play The Morrison Case and We Will Not Be Silent – Sophie Scholl and the White Rose. Daniel is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Conservatoire in Glasgow, Scotland and is a member of the board for WORT FM.
Alex Hancock, Albert Camus
Alex is a founding member of the Fermat’s company and played Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Pandarus in Troilus & Cressida and has appeared in many other shows. He has an MA from University of Washington and wrote the adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial for Fermats.
David Simmons, writer, director, producer, is the founder of Fermat’s Last Theater
Suggestions for further reading:
Paris at War: 1939-1944, David Drake. Harvard Univ. Press, 2015
The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach, Alice Kaplan. U of Chicago Press, 2000
Albert Camus: A Life, Oliver Todd. Knopf, 2001
No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf, Carolyn Burke. Knopf 2011
France on Trial: The Case of Marshall Petain, Julian Jackson. Harvard Univ. Press, 2023.
Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944, Robert Paxton. Columbia Univ. Press, 1972
Thanks also to these organizations:
