Lucien Attoun, a drama critic born in Tunisia, found his vocation in a simple idea: to give a hearing to what the theatres did not stage. For thirty-three years he brought the writing of the day to France Culture, often before any stage had taken it up. In 1971 he founded in Avignon a house that displayed not productions but texts still in the making.
The story
Born at La Goulette, in Tunisia, on 8 September 1935, Lucien Attoun became a drama critic and found his true calling: making heard the plays nobody would stage.
From 1969 to 2002 he produced the Nouveau répertoire dramatique on France Culture, the national cultural radio station — thirty-three years of new writing carried on the air, often before any stage production.
In 1971, at the Avignon Festival, he founded with Micheline Attoun the Théâtre Ouvert: a house that programmed not productions but plays in the making, read aloud, roughly staged, published.
The Théâtre Ouvert became a national drama centre for new writing in 1988 — official recognition of work for which no administrative category had made room. He was made a knight of the Legion of Honour in 2013.
He died in Paris on 28 April 2023 and rests in Division 50, avenue Saint-Morys, second row, under a stone carrying one name and two dates.
The grave
A sober stone, with nothing but the name and the dates: “Lucien ATTOUN, 1935-2023”. No France Culture, no Théâtre Ouvert, no Legion of Honour of 2013. For a man who spent thirty-three years giving a hearing to texts nobody would stage, the stone is as discreet as the trade.
On site, do not miss
A bare stone — “Lucien ATTOUN, 1935-2023” — for the man who, for thirty-three years, had the radio read the texts the theatres were not yet playing.
Visitors' questions
Where is Lucien Attoun's grave?
In Division 50, avenue Saint-Morys, second row, beneath a stone that bears only “Lucien ATTOUN, 1935-2023”. The Division is also that of Victor Schœlcher and the dancer Michael Denard, in the upper part of the cemetery.
Michael DenardWhat is the Théâtre Ouvert?
The venue he founded with Micheline Attoun at the Avignon Festival in 1971: it does not programme productions but texts in the making, read and staged in outline. It became a national drama centre for new writing in 1988.
Didier BezaceWhat did Lucien Attoun do on the radio?
He produced the Nouveau répertoire dramatique on France Culture, from 1969 to 2002: thirty-three years of putting contemporary playwrights on air, often before any theatre had staged them.
José ArturWhat was his link with the Avignon Festival?
It was there that he founded the Théâtre Ouvert, in 1971, in a festival then looking to widen its mission. The venue later settled in Paris and has accompanied several generations of French playwrights.
Jérôme SavaryAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99