Suzanne Bing - To New York and Back

To New York and Back

During the two-year stint of the Vieux-Colombier at the Garrick Theatre on 35th Street in New York City, Bing reprised the role of Viola in Nuit des rois, and seven other roles ranging from Elise in Molière's L’Avare to Astolphe in Alfred de Musset's Barberine during the first season and some thirteen roles in the second season, including Cherubin in Le Mariage de Figaro of Beaumarchais, Mélisande in Maurice Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande, and Mrs. Helseth in Henrik Ibsen's Rosmersholm. In a review, the magazine The Nation wrote on March 29, 1919: "Suzanne Bing seems to be a flame of inspiration to the group, and one comes to look for her, in however humble a capacity, in almost every performance, ..."

More importantly she continued to collaborate with Copeau on his idea of a school for young actors. She participated in activities at the Children's School founded by Margaret Naumberg, Waldo Frank's wife, who put into practice many of the concepts of Maria Montessori. Too, during the summer of 1918, while the troupe of the Vieux-Colombier was lodged at the estate of Otto H. Kahn in Morrisville, New Jersey, she and Marie-Hélène (Maiène), Copeau's oldest child, began to construct masks and work on activities that included movement and masks.

Upon their return to Paris in 1919, Copeau did not immediately re-open the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, but the desire to open a school for actors remained ever-present. Again Suzanne Bing played an important role in both areas. The theater began its season with Shakespeare's Winter's Tale on February 9, 1920 in the Copeau/Bing adaptation and acting classes for a group of adults began on the 1st of March under the direction of Copeau and Bing. When it became obvious that a suitable locale for a theater school was not available, Bing started lessons with youngsters between the ages of fourteen and eighteen the following December in space above the theater. For the next four years Bing shared her talents between the theater and her young charges at the École du Vieux-Colombier, which now had its own space several blocks from the theater and a full-blown program of studies. Although Copeau thought it best to protect his students from the influence of the professional theater, he did allow them to participate to critical acclaim in a production of André Gide's Saul in which they played masked demons. Bing's work with her students was put on display in an adaptation of a Noh play, Katan, which they presented in 1924 before an astonished Copeau and Harley Granville-Barker.