Puce Puce Puce is a dark red or purple brown color, a brownish purple or a "dark reddish brown." "Puce" is the French word for "flea". The color is said to be the color of bloodstains on linen or bedsheets, even after being laundered, from a flea's droppings, or after a flea has been crushed. The "Oxford English Dictionary" ("OED") dates the first English use of "puce" as a color to 1778. The name comes from the French word "puce", or flea, which comes from the Latin words for flea, "pulicem" or "pulex". According to the "Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology",
The Flea Theater Other Exclamations", by Pulitzer finalist Will Eno, starring Marisa Tomei and Brian Hutchison. This transcendent collection of five short plays extended through winter 2008. Another recent Flea hit was "Mrs. Farnsworth", a timely political comedy written specially for The Flea by renowned playwright A.R. Gurney. Performed by the incomparable duo of Sigourney Weaver and John Lithgow, Mrs. Farnsworth won rave reviews and returned to The Flea for a special encore in the fall. For two years in a row, The New York Times named a Flea production as one of the best Off-Broadway shows of the season—"Mrs. Farnsworth" in 2004