This summer, the cultural attaché from the French consulate in Chicago searched for an expert to discuss theater audiences. Dr. Richard Butsch of Princeton Junction, professor of sociology at Rider, was the name that repeatedly surfaced after investigation. Once contacted, Butsch accepted the invitation to participate as a panelist in an international symposium on French and American contemporary theater.

Held at the Northwestern University, the symposium ran in conjunction with the “Playing French” festival, the first event of its kind in the United States. Twenty-three plays are being presented over a two-month period through October and November. In addition to the French Embassy, many other Chicago cultural organizations participated, including Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the Alliance Française, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Humanities Festival.

The symposium, held October 28 through October 30, provided intellectual debate on the trends of contemporary theater in France and the United States.  “It was quite an honor to be a part of this,” said Butsch, one of 30 scholars, playwrights, directors, actors, translators of plays from the United States and Europe invited to present a paper and discuss his research.  “A big part of French export is culture. This was quite an undertaking for the French Embassy to put this all together. There is a lot of exciting theatrical innovation going on today.

“Over past few years, particularly during the last 18 months, theater has become highly political due a lot to 9/11 and the Iraq War. Chicago’s dynamic theater environment is right in the midst of this trend.”

Butsch spoke on “Theater as Public Sphere: Audience as Publics.” In his talk, he compared three eras in which there was much political debate within dramatic theater – the early American theater, the Federal Theater Project of the Depression and today’s unprecedented flood of political theater.

“The broad historical perspective that I presented about audiences as a specialist in this area was quite new to many of the participating scholars and theater professionals,” said Butsch. “At the same time the symposium was a highly stimulating, intellectual experience for me. For example, I learned a good deal about theater today in France and about issues regarding the difficulties of translation for playwrights.”