Micheline Rozan (11 September 1928 – 7 September 2018) was a French stage and film producer who co-founded the

International Centre for Theatre Research The International Centre for Theatre Research, sometimes also known as The International Centre for Theatre Creation, was founded in 1970 by Peter Brook and Micheline Rozan. It is often abbreviated to the acronym CIRT, as in French the group is call ...

with British director

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Shak ...

Early life

Rozan was born into a Jewish family who had converted to Catholicism during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; however, her father was murdered in

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

in 1943.

Career

Rozan began her theatrical career as an agent, including for actors

Annie Girardot Annie Suzanne Girardot (25 October 193128 February 2011) was a French actress. She often played strong-willed, independent, hard-working, and often lonely women, imbuing her characters with an earthiness and reality that endeared her to women und ...

and

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

. She first met Brook in the 1950s, and it was later, in the 1970s, that they worked together to transform the

Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord The Bouffes du Nord is a theatre at 37 bis, boulevard de la Chapelle, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris located near the Gare du Nord. It has been listed since 1993 as a ''monument historique'' by the French Ministry of Culture. History Founde ...

in Paris into a major centre for innovative work. A significant part of Rozan's role at the theatre was to secure funding, which she achieved through approaches to the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Gulbenkian Foundation The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation ( pt, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), commonly referred to simply as the Gulbenkian Foundation, is a Portuguese institution dedicated to the promotion of the arts, philanthropy, science, and education. One of ...

and Anderson Foundation,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, the

David Merrick David Merrick (born David Lee Margoulis; November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who won a number of Tony Awards. Life and career Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick gradua ...

Arts Foundation and the JDR III Foundation. As a result of these grants, the theatre was able to operate independently without obligation to commercial interests. Rozan was also instrumental in providing Brook with introductions to key people in the Parisian theatre world; in 1960, she introduced Brook to

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

. Brook and Duras adapted Duras' novel ''Moderato cantabile'' to a screenplay and Rozan produced the film with them. Rozan retired from the theatre in the late 1990s. In 2006 she was appointed a Commander of the National Order of Merit.

Productions

*''The Immortal Story'' (feature film, 1968, Criterion Collection) *''La tragédie de Carmen'' (feature film, 1983, National Video Corporation) *''The Mahabharata'' (stage play, 1987, Brooklyn Academy of Music)

Later life

Rozan died on 10 September 2018, a day before her 90th birthday.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozan, Micheline 1928 births 2018 deaths Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite Commanders of the Legion of Honour Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French people of Jewish descent French film producers Film people from Paris