Gascon, Jean

Gascon, Jean (1921–88), French-Canadian actor and director, born in Montreal. Abandoning a career in medicine he began acting with amateur companies, and from 1946 to 1950 studied in Paris with Ludmilla Pitoëff and at the Vieux-Colombier. In 1951 he co-founded the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), serving as its Artistic Director until 1966. Between 1960 and 1963 he was also the founding Director-General of the National Theatre School of Canada. At TNM he starred in Molière's L'Avare and Don Juan and Strindberg's The Dance of Death, and was known for his Rabelaisian productions of plays by such European authors as Brecht, Chekhov, Beaumarchais, Feydeau, Musset, and John Webster. As Artistic Director of the Stratford (Ontario) Festival, 1967–74, he repeated many of these productions in English, as well as introducing such lesser-known plays of Shakespeare as Cymbeline and Pericles. He also instituted the company's Third Stage for more experimental and youthful work. In 1975 he directed a revival of John Coulter's Riel, about the Canadian folk-hero, for the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and became its Director of Theatre, 1977–84. In the early 1980s he acted also as a consultant for Edmonton's Citadel Theatre complex. He died while directing rehearsals for Stratford's production of the musical My Fair Lady.