GUELPH -- A French actor who recently moved to Guelph, wants to bring a French-speaking theatre to the Royal City.

Thomas Gallezot has a vision to have Francophone centre in Guelph. While the idea is still in it’s early stages, Gallezot said the theatre would be a place for everyone, not just French-speaking people.

"It’s a place where you can have fun, enjoy French in a relaxed environment," Gallezot said.

He said Canadians should celebrate the country's bilingualism, by learning both languages and cultures.

"French belongs to every Canadian. It’s really something we should re-appropriate," he said. "It would be a place where we can rediscover a part of our culture that we're ignoring."

Stephanie Nutting, a professor of French language and Francophone theatre at the University of Guelph said theatre would be the best place for people to connect to the language, as English subtitles can help non-French speaking people understand.

"[Theatre] tugs at our emotions, and we learn through emotions. That’s what we remember when we feel something. So I could only encourage this vision of having a lived experience," Nutting told CTV News.

Gallezot started a Facebook group to gauge people’s interest, he said the response from the community has been positive.

Mayor Cam Guthrie is part of the group, he said the Francophone centre is a great idea, as it could help bring in tourism.

"I think that others would be curious, like myself, to want to go explore and experience something new," Guthrie said. "It can be a draw outside our community for tourism activity to come experience that type of theatre, but then also experience the rest of our city too."

Gallezot said the theatre would be privately funded, but he hopes he can get some government subsidies.

The next steps are building a team before presenting the idea to Guelph city council.

"French is the language of beauty," Gallezot said. "It cannot express itself in a place that’s not beautiful."