Actress Susan Poulin’s journey to find her Franco-American roots leads her to Lewiston to perform an original.
ranco-Americans have a rich and vibrant heritage, but when Susan Poulin embarked on a personal journey for her French roots, she discovered that many people didn’t attach the term to an ethnic group. For them, Franco-American was nothing more than … spaghetti in a can.
Spaghetti-Os.
“After people told us that, we had to get to the bottom of that,” Poulin said with a laugh during a telephone interview earlier this week from her home.
It took more than a week of phone calls and Internet searches before Poulin discovered the story behind the name. The company, now part of the Campbell family, was actually started by French immigrant Alphonse Biardot in the late 19th century.
That discovery is one of the many Franco-American tales Poulin uses to tell her story in “Franco Fry or Pardon My French,” her latest production. Out less than a year, “Franco Fry” will makes its Twin Cities’ debut next week in L/A Arts’ Mainstage Series.
Familiar to local audiences, Poulin is best known for her play “Ida: Woman Who Runs with the Moose,” which she brought to Lewiston for a series of performances a little more than a year ago.
While her other plays are filled with gut-busting laughter, the humor in “Franco Fry” is a little more low-key as Poulin spins tales of her family and the history of Franco-Americans in Maine.
“It’s funny, but the humor is plot driven as opposed to humor for humor’s sake,” said Poulin. “I’ve had audiences who have laughed and laughed and laughed. And then I’ve had audiences who do not laugh during the play, who really identify with the stories and the memories.”
The play was the product of two years of intense research and personal discovery. Her husband, Gordon Carlisle, wrote the songs for the play. He’s on stage during the show playing guitar, singing harmonies, providing sound effects and underscoring many of the stories.
“This is a play that I wanted to write since I started writing plays,” said Poulin. “It’s the most personal play I’ve ever written.”
Her journey begins with her attempts to relearn French, the language she spoke at home until the age of 3. The task proved daunting for a middle-aged person who had lost the language as a child. Her frustration grew as she turned to college conversational French courses, tutors, CD-ROMs and even hypnosis.
Poulin said she was about to give up her quest when she finally found the right teacher.
To further rediscover her heritage, she studied the region’s history and interviewed her relatives to get their verbal histories on tape – stories that are often lost when a family member dies.
“The language is part of the reconnection, but it’s the whole cultural heritage,” said Poulin. “The more that I learned about the history and the people in my family, the more I felt comfortable with myself, the more I learned about myself and the more I could place myself in a cultural context. It was a real coming home for me.”
Poulin, a third-generation Franco-American, was born in Jackman and later moved to Westbrook. Her grandparents owned a bar on the Canadian side of the border during Prohibition. Her grandfather also worked as a logger and her grandmother was employed in the mills in Skowhegan. Members of her family joined hundreds that helped build the liberty ships during Word War II.
She discovered that her family history was not much different from the thousands of Franco-American immigrants in Maine.
“The history of Franco-Americans is the history of Maine,” said Poulin. “Some say 40 percent of the population can trace their heritage back.”
After honing the play for the last 10 months, Poulin said she is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring “Franco Fry” to the Twin Cities, an area with a large Franco-American population and a rich heritage.
Approaching the topic by following her heart, Poulin was never certain if the play would find an audience. She admits to being surprised at the reaction she has received from the Franco-American community and others.
“People who are not Franco-Americans come up to me and say, ‘You made me smell the smells of my childhood. You made me want to go home and ask my parents about our heritage. I can relate to the play because everybody is searching for home and belonging.’
“And that’s what this play is about.”
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