Jean Baptiste Le Sueur Fontaine

Jean Baptiste Fontaine, né Le Sueur, (Paris, France 1745 – New Orleans, 5 July 1814), was a French actor and theatre director. He was director of the theatre in Cap-Haïtien and an actor and newspaper editor in New Orleans. He was known under his stage name Fontaine.

Born in Paris, he moved to Saint Domingue before 1775, where he was employed at the Cap-Français Theatre. In 1780, he succeeded Deforges as the director of the theatre in Cap-Français, and under his leadership, the theatre reached its greatest success, interrupted only after the great revolution. In June 1793, he was one of the 10.000. refugees evacuated from Cap-Haïtien on American ships when the city was attacked, and in 1795, he was invited to New Orleans in Louisiana to be the director of the Theatre de la Rue Saint Pierre, where he became an actor. In 1797–1811, he was the editor of Moniteur de la Louisiane. He continued as an one of the most notable actors on the New Orleans theatre until his death. several of the other actors in the cast of the theatre was from Saint Domingue, such as Jeanne-Marie Marsan, Mme Clerville, Mme Delaure and Joseph Destinval.

Fontaine married his colleague Madame Le Prévost, born Marianne de Nonancour Du Bouchet, (1741–1819) in 1775, an actress who after her debut in Brussels in 1757 was known in Paris, Wien and Copenhagen. They separated in 1776, and she returned to France in 1785. In 1803, she came to live with him in New Orleans.

References

• http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4074/is_200704/ai_n21099749/pg_2
• http://www.siefar.org/DictionnaireSIEFAR/SFNonancourt.html