We look at France in the various stages of its development, as the "eldest daughter of the Church," the child of Marianne, and a dynamic member of the transnational community of the twenty-first century. A prominent feature of our program has been our play productions, in which all our French majors and concentrators are encouraged to take part. Since the 1960s we have been putting on plays ranging in date from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. As a way of improving your spoken French (as well as of getting under the skin of a text) there are few more useful or more agreeable endeavors.