The story
The genesis of the Théâtre national de Bretagne dates back to 1940, when Georges Goubert and Guy Parigot founded a company of young actors.
In 1948, as winner of first prize in the contest of young companies, the company went on tour through Brittany.
Based on a report on the tour, Hubert Gignoux proposed a project to create a national drama center (CDN) in Brittany to Jeanne Laurent.
With a grant of 8,000,000 francs from the Ministry of Education, and 2,000,000 from the city of Rennes, the Centre dramatique de l'Ouest (Drama Centre of the West) was born on 2 November 1949, the fourth CDN to emerge after the Centre dramatique de l'Est in 1946, the Comédie de Saint-Étienne in 1947 and the Grenier de Toulouse in 1949.
The Centre dramatique de l'Ouest opened with Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (a straw hat from Italy) by Labiche, and was directed by Hubert Gignoux until 1957.
It then began a co-management under Georges Goubert and Guy Parigot with the name Comédie de l'Ouest.
In 1968 the Maison de la Culture de Rennes was created, and soon after came under common management with the Drama Centre until 31 December 1973.
Between 1974 and 1980 the director of the Maison de la Culture de Rennes was Chérif Khaznadar, who developed theatrical actions in parallel.
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From 1 January 1975, Guy Parigot was the sole director of the Comédie de l’Ouest, renamed Théâtre du Bout du Monde" (Theater of the World's End).
It is hosted in late 1979 in the new theater Parcheminerie. Taking the name of Comedy of Rennes, the company found in 1981 a dual presidency, Dominique Quehec joining Guy Parigot, while Jean-Pierre Valentin became head of the House of Culture in 1982.
In 1990 it was decided to merge the House of Culture and the Drama Centre and the Théâtre national de Bretagne was born, with its management entrusted to Emmanuel Véricourt.
From Wikipedia’s article on Théâtre National de Bretagne, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4