L’Amour à Passy

The story of the platonic affair between Benjamin Franklin and and the flamboyant, beautiful Madame Brillon (Anne-Louise Hardancourt Brillon de Jouy) in 1778 while Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were negotiating one of the great diplomatic triumphs of history: the alliance between France and the nascent United States. Spoiled by her wealthy, elderly husband and livid at having to coexist with his mistress (their children’s governess), Madame Brillon made an open show of her affection for the “good doctor,” flirtatiously calling him “Cher Papa” while perched on his lap and playing chess with him while in her bath. The events of the play invite tantalizing speculation on how Madame Brillon could have insinuated Franklin into the court of France, ultimately leading to the Franco-American alliance. Performed by its author as Franklin and Musa Gurnis as Madame Brillon, directed by Manfred Bormann.