Languichatte Debordus - Languichatte Docteur Chalatan (Sketch)
Theodore Beaubrun (Languichatte Debordus) was born in Port-Au-Prince on December 26, 1918. He is known as a comedian/actor, journalist, dramatist, teacher, and satirist. Petit Seminaire St-Martial, Lycee Petion, L'ecole Tippenhauer, Antonio Vieux are the schools that he attended in his eventful formative years. His parents'creative approach to life, social awareness and physical appearance, combined with his proclivity to entertain, all conspired to his metamorphosis.
In 1938, before his 20th birthday, he composed the sketch: Languichatte Avocat. In 1941, with Jean Faublas, and Georges Karaha he used radio as the medium for his comical sketches. In 1942, he founded Troupe Languichatte and its first play "Languichatte wedding" in Rex Theatre of Port-au-Prince was sold out. That was an enormous success for a novice. His additional works include: Coup sur Coup (1942), La maison de Baca (1942), Ti Zoute (1943). In 1944 he founded Rasoir Magazine. Like the prodigal son, after 6 years of publication, he divorced journalism to return to his natural habitat, theater. By 1954, he was serving as director of National Theater of Port-Au-Prince.
In 1982, like Bill Cosby, he was the father figure of a televised series entitled Languichatte xx siecle with Azibe, Man Toute, and Melanie. This sitcom in TNH, with its theatrical effects, and its carefully crafted plot twists did, for a long time, glue us together. That same year he wrote and subsequently performed at Rex Theatre "La Vie nan New-York": a play that depicts the Hatian immigrant's struggles and suffering in an attempt to adapt to life in New York, the world capital.
A few people may question his political input. If so, they fail to understand that politics is simply the art of living together. Therefore, he was a great politician, dressed in comedic outfit. We learned from him about life, love, psychology, domesticity, sociology, friendship, social class, relationships, immigration and ourselves. This can be classified as politics at the cellular level. A sociologist in the purest sense, he has harnessed comedy to parade our pride, our bourgeois sensibilities, our macoute/lavalass bent, our antagonist inclination, our polarizing temperament, our collective bovarysm and our tendency to belittle others in order to feel great and important.
Beaubrun died on June 30th 1998 of Parkinson disease and he is survived by Lolo of Boukman, experience and all of us.
