Jean Baptiste Fontaine, né ''Le Sueur'' (Paris, France 1745 –

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 5 July 1814), was a French actor and theatre director. He was director of the theatre

Comédie du Cap Comédie du Cap was a theater in Cap-Français in Saint-Domingue, active from 1740 to 1793; from 1764 as a public theater. It is regarded as a prototype for the theaters in Saint-Domingue, were theater were immensely popular. History Foundation T ...

in Cap-Francais and an actor and newspaper editor in New Orleans. He was known under his stage name Fontaine.

Life

Early career

Born in Paris, he moved to

Saint Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the islan ...

before 1775, where he was employed at the

. In 1780, he succeeded Deforges as the director of the theatre in Cap-Français, and under his leadership, the theatre reached its greatest success, interrupted only after the

Haitian revolution The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...

. In June 1793, he was one of the 10.000. refugees evacuated from Cap-Francais on American ships during the Great Fire and Pillage of Cap-Français. During the incident, most of the city was burnt and the white population took refuge in the ships of the harbour, and eyewitnesses describes scenes in which the rebels put on the costume from the Comédie du Cap.
Marie Vieux Chauvet’s Theatres: Thought, Form, and Performance of Revolt
'

New Orleans

In 1795, he was invited to New Orleans in Louisiana to be the director of the Theatre de la Rue Saint Pierre, where he became an actor. He continued as one of the most notable actors on the New Orleans theatre until his death. several of the other actors in the cast of the theatre was from Saint Domingue, such as

Jeanne-Marie Marsan Jeanne-Marie Marsan, born Chapiseau (1746 – 25 February 1807), was a French dramatic actress and an opera singer, active in France and Germany in Europe, in the French West Indies and Louisiana. She was the leading actress and opera singer in ...

, Mme Clerville, Mme Delaure and Joseph Destinval. In 1797–1811, he was the editor of '' Moniteur de la Louisiane''.

Family

In 1775, Fontaine married his colleague Madame Le Prévost (born Marianne de Nonancour; 1741–1819), an actress and singer who after her debut in Brussels in 1757 was known in Paris (1766), Vienna (1768) and Copenhagen (1771) as Madame Du Bouchet. They separated in 1776, and she left Saint Domingue for France in 1785. In 1803, she came to live with him in New Orleans.

References

* John G. Cale,
French Secular Music in Saint-Domingue (1750-1795) Viewed as a Factor in America's Musical Growth
', Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, 1971 * Jean Fouchard, ''Le Théâtre à Saint-Domingue'' (1955) * Jean Fouchard, ''Artistes et Répertoires des Scènes de Saint-Domingue'' (1955)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontaine, Jean Baptiste Le Sueur 18th-century French male actors French male stage actors 1745 births 1814 deaths People from Saint-Domingue People from Colonial Spanish Louisiana 18th-century French businesspeople 18th century in New Orleans 18th-century theatre managers