Founded by Ariane Mnouchkine, The Theatre du Soleil was founded in the 1960s as a reaction against traditional theatrical institutions in France. Although they have never presented a formalized mission statement, from their inception they have been characterized by a commitment to long-term collaborative rehearsal processes; the merging of a wide variety of art forms both Western and non-Western, including music, dance, and puppetry; actively communicating and mingling with their audiences; and maintaining a large, hierarchy-free company that does not live together but spend a lot of time working together, and equally shares the work of creating their productions. Company members describe working for the Theatre du Soleil as "a style of life", while a reviewer for "The New York Times" said of their production "Les Ephemeres": "The aim here is not to shape life into taut dramatic form but to present lived experience intimately and without evidence of artists' interpretation and manipulation." Mnouchkine summarized the philosophy of the organization as "Theatre du Soleil is the dream of living, working, being happy and searching for beauty and for goodness….It's trying to live for higher purposes, not for richness. It's very simple, really."