K Samka

Simon Abkarian
An actor, director and author, Simon Abkarian has brought together a small circle of actors - mostly met at Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil at the beginning of the 80’s - to work in a spirit of experimentation and creation within his own theatre company "Tera".

With this artistic team, he produced Love's Labour's Lost by Shakespeare (Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, 1998), L’Ultime Chant de Troie, a personal adaptation based on Euripides, Aeschylus, Seneca and Parouïr Sevak (MC93 de Bobigny, 2000) and Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare (Théâtre National de Chaillot, 2003). He also directed Mata Hari by Jean Bescos at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (Paris) and at the Théâtre National de Toulouse (Toulouse, France) in 2010/2011.

In 2008, he wrote and directed Pénélope ô Pénélope, a theatre play published by Actes Sud papiers and was awarded the Critics Union’s Prize for best drama. The play was performed at Théâtre national de Chaillot in 2008 and toured in 2009/2010 in France, Beirut, Madrid... He also wrote Menelaus rapsody which was published by Actes-Sud Papiers in 2012. Menelaus rebetiko Rhapsody was produced in 2013 at the théâtre du Grand Parquet in Paris and was on tour in 2013-2014. He worked on the continuation of Pénélope ô Pénélope, The last day of fasting was created in September 2013 at the théâtre du Gymnase in Marseille (France) and was performed at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre (France) in March 2014. Both shows were nominated for the French Molière Award in 2014.

He worked as an actor at Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil: L’Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk (The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia) and L’Indiade by Hélène Cixous, Les Atrides (The Atreides) from tragedies by Euripides and Aeschylus... Later on, he worked with Irina Brook for Une bête sur la lune (Beast on the Moon) by Richard Kalinoski for which he won the Molière Award for best actor in 2001. He also collaborated with Silviu Purcarete, Paul Golub, Antoine Campo, Simon McBurney, Peter Brook, Cécile Garcia-Fogel, Laurent Pelly...

In 2004 and 2005, he led the improvisation class at the French Conservatoire National supérieur d’art dramatique.

He was also in many films, under the direction of Cédric Klapisch, Marie Vermillard, Michel Deville, Xavier Durringer, Atom Egoyan, Jonathan Demme, Robert Kéchichian, Serge Lepéron, Frédérique Balekdjian, Sophie Marceau, Thomas Vincent, Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, Jean Pierre Sinapi, Sally Potter, Robert Guédiguian, Martin Campbell, Eric Barbier, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Karim Dridi, Philippe Haim, Jean Michel Ribes, Hervé Hadmar, Gilles Banier...

Didier Bezace - L'Entêtement Amoureux(The Amorous Obstinacy)
A co-founder of the Théâtre de l’Aquarium – Cartoucherie in Paris, Didier Bezace participated in all the shows that the company produced as an author, an actor or a director from its creation in 1970 until 1997. He directed the Théâtre de la Commune (Paris) during 16 years while continuing as an actor in the cinema and theatre.


After leaving the Théâtre de la Commune in January 2014, he created his own theatre company L’Entêtement Amoureux (The Amorous Obstinacy).

The Amorous Obstinacy without which, according to him, nothing can emerge from the confrontation of such different, and sometimes antagonistic, implements as a book of which we turn the pages and the unitary space of the stage where fiction is incarnated. The stage is the workbench where every day, obsessively, one comes to assemble in various arrangements the disparate elements of a dream to be realised. Time and determination, reflection and love for the materials end up giving sense and meaning to this daily contortion and a form emerges which is crafted by complementary and skilled professionnals in the fields of sound, lighting, stage setting, acting. A show is coming to life, its author being that ponderous and stubborn mechanic, the director. If the support of the public comes to confer legitimacy to its fragile arrangement, it can be said that theatre exists, can be shared and perhaps even be talented.

"Many years later, after having staged many plays, I haven’t changed my mind. Every new project – be it based on a classical or a contemporary text, be it destined from the beginning to be staged or not – makes me feel inexperienced, tormented and anxious. I need to gather anew the forces of desire – for myself as well as my collaborators – to dive into the unknown and stumble along the laborious path of creation. The only experience I have gained during all those years of directing is that deep down within uncertainty, there is a certainty. There is a solution, it is hidden, and you have to find a way and means to discover it."

Didier Bezace produced numerous shows among which Le Piège by Emmanuel Bove, Les Heures Blanches based on La Maladie Humaine (La malattia chiamata uomo) by Ferdinando Camon, La Noce chez les petits bourgeois (A Respectable Wedding ) followed by Grand’peur et misère du IIIe Reich (Fear and Misery of the Third Reich) by Bertolt Brecht (for which he was awarded the best director review prize in 1995), La Femme changée en renard (Lady changed into a Fox) by David Garnett (Best Newcomer French Molière Award), Pereira prétend (Sostiene Pereira) by Antonio Tabucchi which was created at the Avignon Festival in 1997.
In 2001, he produced L’École des Femmes (The School of Wives) by Molière at the Court of Honor of the Popes' Palace at the Avignon Festival.
In 2005, he was given the French Molière Award (Best Adaptation of a Foreign Play and Best Director) for La Version de Browning (The Browning Version) by Terence Rattigan.
He also staged Chère Elena Sergueïevna by Ludmilla Razoumovskaïa, La Maman Bohême followed by Médée (Medea) by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, May based on a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi, Conversations avec ma mère (Conversations with my Mother) based on a screenplay by Santiago Carlos Ovés in which he also acted alongside Isabelle Sadoyan, several Pièces courtes by Daniel Keene, Elle est là (It is There) by Nathalie Sarraute in which he co-starred with Pierre Arditi and Évelyne Bouix, Aden Arabie by Paul Nizan, Les Fausses Confidences by Marivaux, Que la noce commence based on Horatiu Malaele’s movie and La dernière neige by Hubert Mingarelli, a solo performance.
Didier Bezace was awarded the Theatre Prize of the SACD (French Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) in 2011.

In 2014, he produced Marguerite Duras, Les Trois Ages, a triptych made of Marguerite et le président, Le Square and Savannah Bay at the Théâtre de l’Atelier (Paris).
Emmanuelle Riva was awarded the Beaumarchais Prize (Best Actress) for her part in Savannah Bay.
On stage, he performed numerous contemporary and classical texts for several directors among which Les Fausses Confidences by Marivaux where he played Dubois alongside Nathalie Baye or more recently Après la répétition by Bergman directed by Laurent Laffargue with Fanny Cottençon and Céline Sallette.
As a movie actor, he worked with Claude Miller in La petite voleuse; Jean-Louis Benoit in Dédé; Marion Hansel in Sur la terre comme au ciel; Serge Leroy in Taxi de nuit; Pascale Ferran in Petits arrangements avec les morts; Claude Zidi in Profil bas; André Téchiné in Les Voleurs; Bigas Luna in La Femme de chambre du Titanic; Pascal Thomas in La Dilettante; Marcel Bluwal in Le plus beau pays du monde; Serge Meynard in Voyous, voyelles; Jeanne Labrune in Ça ira mieux demain, C’est le bouquet and Cause toujours; Rodolphe Marconi in Ceci est mon corps; Anne Théron in Ce qu’ils imaginent; Daniel Colas in Nuit noire; Valérie Guignabodet in Mariages !; Rémi Bezançon in Ma vie en l’air; Olivier Doran in Le Coach; Pierre Schoeller in L'Exercice de l'État; Justine Malle in Cette année- là... ; Delphine De Vigan in A coup sûr; Bertrand Tavernier in L627, Ça commence aujourd’hui and Quai d’Orsay.
As a TV actor, he worked with many different directors such as Caroline Huppert, Denys Granier-Deferre, François Luciani, Marcel Bluwal, Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe, Daniel Jeanneau, Bertrand Arthuys, Alain Tasma, Jean-Pierre Sinapi, Laurent Herbiet, Pierre Boutron, Gérard Jourd’hui, Marc Rivière...

L’entêtement amoureux (The Amorous Obstinacy), Cie Didier Bezace is supported by the French Ministry of Culture.

Romane Bohringer / Lisa Schuster
Romane Bohringer played, in 1991, the part of Miranda in Shakespeare’s Tempest, directed by Peter Brook. She was 18 years old and it was quite a revelation, both for her and for the audience. The following year, she was the unforgettable actress of Cyril Collard, in his film Savage Nights and, that for, got the Cesar prize as “best young feminine hopeful”.
In films, she chooses exacting works, with very different directors, as Claude Miller (the Accompanist), Martine Dugowson (Portraits Chinois), Yves Angelo (Colonel Chabert), Agnieska Holland (Rimbaud Verlaine), Bigas Luna (the Chambermaid on the Titanic), Olivier Dahan (Tom Thumb), Chantal Richard (Lilli and the Baobab), Richard Bohringer (C’est Beau une Ville la Nuit/Blues), Maïwenn Le Besco (All about Actresses), Gilles Bourdos (Renoir) and Laurent Laffargue (the Mad Kings).
At the same time, she keeps acting on stage: Again she is in a Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, directed by Hans Peter Cloos, then in Lulu with the same director. She works also, very faithfully, with Irina Brook (the Glass Menagerie, the Good Person of Setchouan, and soon Lampedusa Beach), with Pierre Pradinas (Winter’s Tale, Fantomas Comes Back, The Hell, The Cupboard Friends, Let’s Kiss, Folleville) and Michel Didym (La Marche, and very recently J’avais un Beau Ballon Rouge).

Lisa Schuster, trained in the free class of the Cours Florent, starts her career at the Théâtre La Bruyère in 1994 in a Stephan Meldegg’s production.
She meets the following year, when working on Brecht, the director Didier Bezace, and it will be the beginning of a fascinating collaboration: First at the Théâtre de l’Aquarium, in La Cartoucherie, for Noce chez les Petits Bourgeois and Grand Peur et Misère du Troisième Reich, by Bertold Brecht, as well as Le Piège (the Trap), inspired by Emmanuel Bove, and then at the Théâtre de la Commune-Centre Dramatique National d’Aubervilliers, for Pereira Pretend (Pereira claims), from the novel by Antonio Tabucchi, Chére Eléna Serguéievna by Ludmilla Razoumovskaïa, May, from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi, and more recently Que la Noce Commence (Let’s Start the Wedding) by Horatiu Malaele, all shows that will be played as well on tour, in France and abroad.
In 2000, she takes part in the crazy adventure of the famous Brèves de Comptoir (Bar-room Philosophising), second opus, conducted by Jean-Michel Ribes. She also works, on stage as well as in master-class, with Murielle Mayette of the Comédie Française, the English director Dan Jemmett, Olivier Marchal, Christophe Lidon, Laurent Gutmann and the teacher Pascal Papini.
In 2009 she adapts for the stage, and plays, Le Journal à Quatre Mains, by Flora and Benoîte Groult. The show, very warmly received by audience and critics, is nominated “Best Show” of Molière-s 2009 and gets then the prize of “Theatre revelation”. In 2012, alone on stage, she plays Eva Braun, la Banalité du Mal, a text by Christine Brükner produced by Jean-Paul Sermadiras, then it’s in the middle of 17 actors that she plays Que la Noce commence, under Didier Bezace’s direction.
During all summer 2015, at the Castle of Grignan, she plays Quand le Diable s’en Mêle (When the Devil Comes to it), 3 plays by Feydeau directed by Didier Bezace.

Laurie Cannac - La Compagnie Graine de vie (Life Seed)
First trained in the art of drama, especially at the Théâtre-Ecole du Passage, directed by Nils Arestrup and Alexandre Del Perugia, she learned puppet theatre just playing in the street.


First trained in the art of drama, especially at the Théâtre-Ecole du Passage, directed by Nils Arestrup and Alexandre Del Perugia, she learned puppet theatre just playing in the street.
In 1997 she founded her Company Graine de Vie (Life Seed) and produced her first “official” show: L’Homme de la Manche (The Man of La Mancha), an highly personal adaptation of Don Quixote, directed by Alexandre Picard. Very quickly the show was discovered by the Théâtre de la Marionnette à Paris. The tale of Dulcinea, travelling from town to town and trying to bring back to life the remains of Don Quixote, became then a reality for Laurie, until today.
Again in 2006 she decided to work on the play, with Romuald Collinet and Estelle Charlier, and it’s still on tour. Touring gives her meeting and learning opportunities. So she worked as a puppeteer in companies as Käfig, the Pudding Théâtre, the Chercheurs d’air, La Pendue...
From puppets on a city scale to miniature strings marionettes, from directing manipulation for international Hip Hop dancers, to founding a street theatre radio during Ideklic Festival, from problems with glue by monsoon weather in Korea, to the discovery of possibilities of aleatoric movement in manipulation, her curiosity has never had so much fun!
In 2004, she created Petits Rêves Faits Main (little hand-made dreams), and found in the spirit of puppet manipulation an ode to destitution. For years she travelled with her suitcase and little puppet theatre, as far as Iran, where she performed in hedjab and coat de rigueur!
Then, in 2007, during Momix, Ilka Schönbein discovered her, while acting in this play.
A clown-puppeteer was born! First meeting for Wolfed Down! in 2009. This show, their first work together, has already been performed more than 300 times.

Jean-Quentin Châtelain - Argos* Théâtre
Born in 1959, Swiss actor Jean-Quentin Châtelain trained at the Cours d’Art Dramatique in Geneva and at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg before impassioning French speaking audiences when performing more than fifty shows.

The actor is of the stuff the stage legends are made of, but he reaches new heights in solo performances, mesmerizing and overwhelming his audiences.

His performances in Mars by Fritz Zorn, Kaddish pour l’enfant qui ne naîtra pas (Kaddish for an Unborn Child) by Imre Kertész, Ode maritime by Fernando Pessoa come notably to mind, or in a more humoristic vein in comedies such as J’ai passé ma vie à chercher l’ouvre-boîtes by Maurice-Domingue Barthélémy at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris. Jean-Quentin Châtelain is one of the most fascinating actors of our time. He has worked for numerous theatre directors, namely Joël Jouanneau, Alain Françon or Claude Régy. More recently, he played under the direction of Bérangère Bonvoisin in Gros-Câlin by Romain Gary (Émile Ajar) at the Théâtre de l’Œuvre in Paris.

Argos* Théâtre
The Argos* Théâtre company was founded by Darius Peyamiras in 1992 in Lausanne. The city of Argos is one of Ancient Greece’s cradles, and consequently, of Greek theatre. As the wise man put it, what matters is not to reach the goal but to follow the path (steering the Argo, Jason sailed its way to the Golden Fleece). Going back to the origins to enlighten the present, that could be the company’s credo. To fulfill this mission, we travel through classic as well as contemporary literature with a total immersion into the author’s universe and extract the quintessential that we share with the spectators, in other words we make it contemporary. Theatre is a microcosm, that is why it is so fascinating. It is an invitation to be confonded with the mysteries of the world and of humanity. Indeed, drama is a face-to-face experience (between the spectators and those on the stage for example). In our attempt to generate connections between people as well as connections with the cosmic and the mysterious share within each person, we aim at exploring many different works: theatre plays, novels, epic tales, poems. Our work on stage is unconstrained, the actors and all our collaborators have a free hand. A team of people produce a show at the instigation of and under the direction of Darius Peyamiras. An empirical process, constantly moving, searching, bringing up stimulating questions (what to say about the complexity of the world and the human being? How to express, and portray it? How can we stay creative and inventive?). Each show, each project brings up some parts of the answers, but nothing definitive. Everything is on the go.

The company worked on texts written by Fritz Zorn, Marguerite Duras, Hervé Guibert, Blaise Cendrars, R-W Fassbinder, Botho Strauss, Heiner Müller, Tankred Dorst, Edward Bond, Bernard Comment, Sylviane Dupuis, Henning Mankell, Alfred de Musset, Anton Tchekhov, Paul Claudel.

La compagnie des orfèvres – Ulysse Di Gregorio
After completing his training as an actorat Eva Saint-Paul’sschool and learning about stage direction among other things, hedecides to dedicate himself to staging. His first play as a directoris Roberto Zuccoby Bernard-Marie Koltés. Followingthat, he stages Voix du sang and Une Sorte d’Alsakaby Harold Pinter. With Claudel’s plays – L’Echange et la Cantate à trois voix – he develops a meticulous approach of the speech and pays particular attention for it being accurately transposed on stage by the comedians. While commiting himself to a lyrical prose performed by the characters, he is also drawn by Sarah Kane’smore contemporary and "psychological" literature with 4.48 Psychose. In 2016, he stages Polyeucte by Corneille at the Théâtre de l’Essaïon (Paris), a play that will be performed at the Théâtre de l’Epée de Bois (Paris) in June 2017. His work is characterised by a constant scrupulousness to reproducing faithfully the original work and unclutteredaes the tics, in order to leave room for imagination. More over, in a world overwhelmed by ever more rapidflowing images, his plays promote the concepts of silence and space, returning to the spectactors the time they have been stolen, a time necessary to appreciate the work in a sensitive way. In parallel, he moves on to film-makingand produces his first short film Continuumanda film adaptation of Une Sorte d’Alaska. He is currently collaborating with the comedian Jean-Quentin Châtelain on Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell) by Rimbaud which will premiere in spring 2017 at the Théâtre du Lucernaire (Paris). Besides, he will stage the opera Orphée et Eurydiceby Gluck at the TOPF Silvia Monfort Theater of Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt (France) in April 2017.

David Géry - T. d'Or
Trained with Jean-Louis Martin Barbaz, Philippe Duclos, and at the School of the Theatre de Chaillot, when Antoine Vitez was director. As an actor he worked under the direction of Jean-Louis Martin Barbaz, Daniel Besse, Alain Rais, Brigitte Jaques.

David Géry
Metteur in scene, actor, trainer and painter
The first show created by his company, T.d’Or, was Britannicus by Jean Racine. The show was awarded the Prize for the Best Show 1998.
In November 1999, he was invited in New York by Ubu Repertory Theater to direct Murder in Mind by Xavier Durringer at the Theatre of MaMa ETC.
In January 2001, he created William Pig, the pig that had read Shakespeare by Christine Blondel.
In October 2002, he was invited in Belgium by lemanege.mons to direct La Nuit à l’envers by Xavier Durringer.
In March 2003, he produced Avoir 20 ans dans les Tranchées, adapted from Paroles de Poilus (Soldiers of WWI). In the spring 2004, he created Bartleby based on the short novel by Herman Melville. In 2007 he directed Aeschylus’s Oresteia and Dream of Autumn by Jon Fosse in 2008 as well as two one-act-plays by Marivaux : The Legacy and Sincere Actors.
In 2013, he created Fahrenheit 451 adapted from the novel by Ray Bradbury. In 2014 he directed Barrage contre le Pacifique by Marguerite Duras in Eymet, Dordogne.

Agnès Sourdillon
With Valère Novarina, Agnès Sourdillon travelled down seven great shows from 1995 to 2015. Since 2004, she also shares fidelity of work with the director Charles Tordjman and the authors François Bon (Daewoo, 2004), Bernard Noël (Le Retour de Sade, 2005 and Le Language d’Anna, 2006-2011), Antoine Volodine (Slogans, 2008) and Ascanio Celestini (La Fabbrica, 2009-2010).
She used to be a student of Antoine Vitez, and within the space of 20 years, played in about 40 shows, making her way through the classical and contemporary repertoire, from Sophocles to Yves Pagès, under the direction of Alain Ollivier (La Révolte de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam), Bernard Sobel (King Lear by Shakespeare), Stéphane Braunschweig (Woyzek by Büchner).
She worked also with Didier Bezace (L’Ecole des Femmes by Molière and Que la Noce Commence, an adaptation for the theatre of the Rumanian film by Horatiu Malaele and Adrian Lustig), with Patrice Chéreau,( Phèdre of Racine), with Claudia Stavisky,(Oncle Vania by Tchekhov), with Jerôme Bel, with by Michel Didym (Le Malade Imaginaire) and with the Czech company of the brothers Forman (Un Beau Matin, Aladdin).

Dan Jemmett - Eat a Crocodile
Dan studied theatre and literature at London University, and began performing with the theatre director Marc von Henning (Medea Material - Heiner Muller, Soho Poly Theatre; Antigone -Brecht, Battersea Arts Centre; Quartett - Heiner Muller, Lilian Baylis Theatre; Fatzer Material - Heiner Muller, Gate Theatre).

He went on to found the experimental theatre collective Primitive Science with von Henning. Work with Primitive Science included Hunger (after Kafka - Purcell Room), Spell (after Angela Carter - Young Vic Theatre) and Imperfect Librarian (after Borges - Young Vic Theatre).

As director, Dan’s first production was a version of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi presented at the Young Vic Theatre, London and subsequently in Paris at the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale.

Work in France includes Presque Hamlet after Shakespeare (Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne, Théâtre national de Chaillot, Paris), Shake after Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, (Théâtre de la Ville, Paris), Dog Face after Thomas Middleton’s The Changeling (Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris), Love of the Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi (Théâtre de Sartrouville), Middleton’s Women Beware Women (Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne), William Burroughs caught in possession of the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, by Johny Brown, (Théâtre de la Ville, Paris), The Little Match Girl, after Hans Christian Andersen, in collaboration with The Tiger Lilies (Syracuse Festival and European tour). Le Donneur de Bain, by Dorine Hollier (Théâtre Marigny), The Comedy of Errors, William Shakespeare (Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne, Bouffes du Nord, Paris).

More recently, Dan has adapted Jarry’s Ubu Enchaîné at the Théâtre de L’Athenée in Paris, and created a version of Richard III for three clowns The Three Richards, which opened at the festival Printemps des Comédiens in Montpellier in 2012. He has also collaborated with french actor David Ayala on a version of Macbeth, Macbeth (The Notes), which will play at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris in autumn 2016.

In Pittsburgh, Dan directed an english language version of Dog Face in a disused steel mill, the Heppenstall Plant. The production was then presented at the Autumn festival in Madrid. Also in Pittsburgh, he worked on an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid in an abandoned porno cinema. This production was also performed at the Bouffes du Nord in Paris.

In Madrid, Dan directed Tirso de Molina’s The trickster of Seville and Fassbinder’s El Cafe, both for the Teatro de la Abadia; and in Warsaw he has directed Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and The Tempest for the Polski Theatre.

Opera productions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute, in collaboration with Irina Brook (Reisopera, Holland), Rossini’s L’Occasione fa il Ladro (ARCAL, Paris), Thwaite (Almeida Opera), The Gondoliers by Gilbert et Sullivan (Deutsche Oper Am Rhein, Düsseldorf, Germany), Un Segreto d’Importanza by Sergio Rendine (Theatro Communale di Bologna), Cavali’s L’Ormindo (Maison de la Musique, Nanterre). Béatrice et Bénédicte by Hector Berlioz (l’Opéra Comique, Paris), and Le Freischutz (l'Opéra Comique, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner).

Dan has also directed three productions for the Comédie Française in Paris. At the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier and on tour in eastern Europe he created Molière’s Les Précieuses Ridicules, and in the Salle Richelieu he has directed La Grande Magie by Edouardo di Filipo and Shakespeare’s The tragedy ofHamlet.

In 2014 Dan became artist in residence at the MAL in Thonon-les-Bains where he has founded his own company- Eat a Crocodile. Eat a Crocodile are currently preparing a chamber production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure for the Shakespeare Festival in Neuss, Germany, in June 2015, a re staging of Shake at the théâtre de Carouge, Genève, en Octobre 2015, and the creation of a new theatre piece for 2017, Clytemnestr@pocalypse, by the american writer David Turkel.

Franck Lepage
Franck Lepage is one of the founders of the empowerment education (or Popular education: a term used to classify a wide array of educational endeavors which are either composed of or carried out in the interests of the working classes) co-operative called Le Pavé.

He has been a zealous actor in the field of empowerment education and was the program manager at the French federation of the community arts centres and youth clubs (Fédération française des Maisons des jeunes et de la culture) and a research fellow at the national institute of youth and empowerment education (Institut national de la jeunesse et de l'éducation populaire) until 2000.
Recalling the memory of Christiane Faure, he moved in a critical way on the role played by culture in our society in Inculture(s) 1 - L'éducation populaire, monsieur, ils n'en ont pas voulu..., a show combining theatre play with lecture, which was performed over 400 times between 2006 and 2014.
In 2010, Franck Lepage created a similar "gesticulated lecture" dealing with the role of education, Inculture(s) 2, a mix of a lecture and a one-man-show, then Inculture(s) 5 with Gaël Tanguy, a show about the welfare system based on the theoretical works of Bernard Friot.
Within a network of four empowerment education co-operatives called "la Grenaille" (composed of "Le Pavé" in Rennes, "L'orage" in Grenoble, "Le vent debout" in Toulouse and "l'engrenage" in Tours), he participated in training programs organised by these co-operatives and assisted in the production of more than a hundred lecture/performances in 2014.
After the dissolution of the co-operative Le Pavé in December 2014, he co-founded with a group of radical lecturers and performers a new organisation of political empowerment education. The organisation called "L'Ardeur" is created in 2015, and concentrated on actions with trade unions, the organisation of training programs for the production of lecture/performances and the editing of political action tools.

Biography
Having studied one year at the political studies institution of the university Paris 5, and falled to pass his first year examination, he read Eastern languages and law and turned towards educational methods.
In 1974, he taught pupils experiencing scolarity difficulties at school and discovered social work and community centers in 1975. In 1977, he entered the department of Community Organizing and educational sciences (Départements Animation socioculturelle et Sciences de l'éducation) at the experimental university center of Vincennes (Centre universitaire expérimental de Vincennes) — also known as the Free and Open university of Vincennes-Paris 8 (Faculté libre et ouverte de Vincennes -Paris 8).
Community Organizing was presented as a method to "challenge all the institutions of capitalism". He turned away from Community Organizing and turned to theatre in 1980, starting theatre studies at the university Paris 8 (Vincennes and Saint-Denis). He created his company in 1985. In 1987, he joined the French federation of the community arts centres and youth clubs (Fédération française des Maisons des jeunes et de la culture), where he heard about empowerment education for the first time, but no one at that time was able to give him a satisfactory meaning of the concept.
In his attempt to approach the French Ministry of Culture with the significance of community arts centers and youth clubs, he investigated the violence of the symbolic cultural/socio-cultural division in France. With several others, he set about theorizing the concept of empowerment education as "the role of culture in the process of social and political transformation" and led research programs at the French federation of the community arts centers and youth clubs. Taking advantage of a study for the French Ministry of Youth and Sports, he met the founders of the department for empowerment education in 1994. He led a governmental study program on empowerment education, and was the co-writer of a ministerial report trying to convince the Minister Marie-George Buffet to start in 2000 a political action worthy of the name. He left the French federation of the community arts centres and youth clubs and produced a show on empowerment education, Inculture(s).
Since 2003, he's co-leader of a "civil study program on empowerment education".
In 2007, he created with 5 other people the co-operative of empowerment education and social transformation, Le Pavé.
In 2012, he described himself as a political activist: "I am a political activist, not an artist. [...]
To be an artist means a social status. The system refuses to consider me as an activist. On Wikipedia, I am described as "a French humorist". The arts and the culture destroy politics."
In April 2012, he left the co-operative Le Pavé to dedicate himself to the production of lectures/performances within the name of "La Grenaille", a network of empowerment education co-operatives.

Publications
• Rapport sur l'éducation populaire ou le travail de la culture dans la transformation sociale et politique2, 2000, rapport ministériel pour Marie-George Buffet (alors ministre de la Jeunesse et des Sports).
• "De l’éducation populaire à la domestication par la "culture", Le Monde diplomatique, mai 2009.
• Éducation populaire, une utopie d'avenir, éd. Les Liens qui libèrent, 2012.

Bibliographie
• 2007 : Incultures - Tome 1, L'éducation populaire, Monsieur, ils n'en ont pas voulu... ou Une autre histoire de la culture, Cerisier (ISBN 978-2-87267-109-0)
• Participation au Livre noir de l'animation socioculturelle, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2005
• Participation à l'ouvrage collectif Altergouvernement, paru aux éditions Le Muscadier, 2012 : Franck Lepage s'y incarne comme le ministre de la Culture de l'Altergouvernement, un gouvernement fictif composé de 18 citoyens, non politiciens de métier, tous reconnus pour leur engagement dans leur domaine.

Références
• a et b [PDF] Rapport sur l'éducation populaire ou le travail de la culture dans la transformation sociale et politique [archive]
• (fr) texte et vidéo du spectacle "L’Education Populaire, monsieur, ils n’en ont pas voulu !" [archive]
• France Culture, émission du 24 décembre 2014. [archive]
• Franck Lepage. Coluche bourdieusien [archive] portrait dans Libération, 8 juin 2014.]
• Grégoire Souchay Scop Le Pavé : l’éducation populaire dans ta face [archive] Article11, 18 mars 2011.
• Voir sur sudouest.fr. [archive]
• Page de présentation de l'équipe de la SCOP Le Pavé. [archive]
• Article sur l'éducation populaire dans Le Monde diplomatique mai 2009 [archive].
• Franceinter.fr [archive], consulté le 5 février 2013.
• Voir sur muscadier.fr. Interview juin 2009
• Radio Là-bas si j'y suis - Daniel Mermet - France Inter 2010 "Pour une éducation populaire"
• Radio Là bas si j'y suis - Daniel Mermet - France Inter 2012 " Le printemps Français"
• Radio Là-bas si j'y suis - Daniel Mermet - France Inter 2013. "Trois réacs à la FIAC" "trois réacs à la FIAC"
• Interview en vidéo, janvier 2011 par l'université populaire de Roubaix (Accès payant) Longue vidéo sur le personnage et son travail par Arrêt sur images, 2012
• Article de Sud Ouest sur les conférences gesticulées et Franck Lepage, 2012
• Intervention sur l'école à "Ce soir ou jamais", Frédéric Taddei, France 2

Nicolas Saelens - Théâtre Inutile
In 1994, the young director Nicolas Saelens founded the “Company Théâtre Inutile” (the Needless Theatre) with Amiens as a base. In 1998 and 1999 he used to work in Cameroon, where he staged reading sessions and produced Biokysedi, a show taken from texts by Cameroonian writers. These years were marked by his encountering Kossi Efoui and by the beginning of a work about stage composition and contemporary writings.

He used to work on the issue of confinement and on theatrical tools as means of answering the question. From 2011 on, he intervened in prison environment, offering the prisoners to endeavour to create their own poetical language, with Poésie en matière. He also produced Le SAS by Michel Azama. The same reflection inspired the “Compagnie au pied du lit” (the Company against the Bed), founded in 2011, which offers to young in-patients puppet shows played at their hospital bedside. The project was carried out with the cooperation of the Argentinian puppeteer Javier Swedzky. They carried on the same approach in the following years with the project “Castelet d’histoires pour demain” (Stories for tomorrow in a puppet theatre).

In 2005 he invited the author Kossi Efoui to join him for a permanent dialog on the projects of the Company. He set up, with several partners, a creative process searching the hierarchy of writings. Mainly, he used to understand his work of director as the work of a weaver, weaving the various theatrical components. From 2006 to 2016 he produced: Le Corps Liquide (The Liquid Body), Happy End, Concessions, Enfant je n’inventais pas d’Histoires (When a Child, I’ve Never Invented Stories), Oublie! (Forget!), Voisins Anonymes (Anonymous Neighbours), En Guise de Divertissement (As Entertainment) and La Conférence des Chiens (The Conference of Dogs), shows performed on theatre stage or “cross-country shows” !

He lead an artistic project spread on various territories, a project sharing with the audiences the theatrical tools, in a spirit of equality, mind to mind. From 2009 to 2012 the Company was in residence at the Palace in Montataire. In 2011 it got State agreement and subsidies – DRAC Picardie, Regional Conseil Général de Picardie, Conseil départemental de la Somme and Amiens Métropole. At the end of 2010 Nicolas Saelens joined the new project of the SAFRAN, where the Company remained in residence from 2011 to 2015. This partnership was important as well for the SAFRAN, which got the official state status as a multidisciplinary experimental subsidized theatre.

During the residence of the Company, practice and experiments set up with the SAFRAN gave birth to the Art and Time Laboratory (2014-2016). Meeting with Miguel Benasayag, within the context of this research, prepared the creation of La Conférence des Chiens (January 2016) and Sans Ombre (February 2017). Today, he’s exploring the theatre as a form of resistance of our living bodies against the digitization of the societies and the colonization of new technologies.

The Company Théâtre Inutile

The Company Théâtre Inutile carries out a work on the manifold theatrical writings and considers the stage as a privileged place to watch new emerging forms (artistic ones as well as political and socioeconomic) sharing the same statement of fact: Our time, marked by the myth of limitless performance, causes in the daily life of our bodies violent reactions: suffering, aggressiveness (trade struggles), low spirits (suicides in the workplace).

Living art (not as a consumer good but as a way to produce a link between society, time and ourselves) ask questions reaching, for a long time, far beyond the stage and the walls of the theatre. What makes a link today ?

Le Corps Liquide, a tale where the fall of a body turns into a nursery rhyme, Happy End, Concessions, Enfant je n’inventais pas d’histoires, are all so many projects worked out on the principle of “co-construction”: simultaneity of all compositions, from plastic object to sound universe, from lights to costumes, from stage design to work of acting, an additional subtle link being created by puppets.

With the successive shows, this search for a dramatic art that would draw on several sources, become more refined. Oublie!, L’Orateur (in 2010), En Guise de Divertissement (in 2013) and La Conférence des Chiens (in 2015) lays down for good this method of operating.

And even if the process is reinvented in real-time, our glossary doesn’t change : mutual training, co-inspiration, sharing of tools – every tool being a unique look-out post, a rare language – including the “several voices translation”. Along the rehearsal sessions, when the poetical worlds blow up, writing remains a vanishing line that needs to be set in perspective by several artists. The search for the meaning supposes a reception of the contradictions. At the end, this leads to forging hybrid works, parted by breaches and smuggling moments.

We use the puppets as a principle of work. We invite this form in a quite peculiar way: it’s via the puppets that we search the stage writings. The puppet is also important because it calls the actor at the level of acting and not at the psychological one. At last it enable a projection space to stand out, a space of which we define frames and limits.

If the Company is called “Théâtre Inutile” (Needless Theatre) it’s because, for us, “needless” is not the contrary of “useful” but its double, a double without which we would be pure practicality. The same way, “invisible” is not the contrary of “visible”: As François Cheng said, universe doesn’t need to be beautiful to work, and yet it is.

Then, what would mean a strictly useful world? And for whom would be this world useful?

Ilka Schönbein - Theater Meschugge
Born in Darmstadt, Ilka learned the eurythmic dance of Rudolph Steiner, who used to advocate the union of soul and movement rather than effort and technique. Then she studied in Stuttgart with puppeteer Albrecht Roser. Once she completed her education, she joined companies on tour for around 10 years and eventually created her own company and took to the road with her own shows.

Metamorphoses was conceived as a street show, aimed at all kinds of audiences. Then, without renouncing the street, Ilka agreed to adapt her initial show for stage. She added a second character, first played by her German technician Thomas Berg, then by a French actor, Alexandre Haslé, and finally by Mô Bunte, a German puppeteer.
Each time Ilka created a new version, and with her last partner, she even did two. Masks and costumes change, certain scenes and characters vanish, others appear instead. There were successively five versions of Metamorphoses, later: Metamorphoses of Metamorphoses, all of them moving from caustic humour, so typical of Central Europe, to an intensely black vision of the world, emphasizing alternatively puppet play, mime and dance, resulting in a general balance of all means of expression. As long as she puts on a play, Ilka never considers it to be perfect: She is part of them and they are part of her.

King Frog was for her an opportunity to come back to young audience. The show was created in may 1998, co-produced by the Théâtre d’Ivry- Antoine Vitez, in close cooperation with the Conseil Général du Val de Marne,the Montpellier National Theatre, the festival Mimos of Périgueux and the Théâtre National des Jeunes Spectateurs of Montreuil. There have been two versions of King Frog, the first one with Alexandre Haslé, the second one with Mô Bunte.
In 2005, Ilka put it back on stage under the title King Frog III with the actress Simone Decloedt and Britta Arste, the accordion player Rudi Meier and the countertenor Christian Hilg, then later with the countertenor Philipp Kais.

Winter Journey : Production Autumn 2003 at the Théâtre Gérard Philippe of Frouard (Lorraine) in cooperation with the ABC of Bar-Le-Duc, the Théâtre Romain Rolland of Villejuif, the Prisme of Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines and the Conseil Général du Val de Marne. The play was shawn at the World Puppet Festival of Charleville-Mézières, at the Manufacture of Nancy, at the Nouveau Théâtre of Angers CDN, at the Théâtre de la Commune d’Aubervilliers and at many other theatres. The play draws its inspiration from Franz Schubert’s and Wilhelm Müller’s work, and was directed by Ute Hallaschka and Ilka Schönbein, who also created the masks and costumes and played the leading role. Christian Hilg interprets Schubert’s lieder and Rudi Meier has magnificently transposed the original work for accordion. Simone Decloedt, cast as a harpy, assists him. The French text was recorded – and then played on stage – successively by the actresses Paule d’Héria and Marie-Laure Crochant.
In spite of the immediate success of the play, Ilka decided, two weeks after the opening night, to get down to work again. She dramatised Christian Hilg’s interpretation(who took very well to his new part) and added interludes evoking both the endless journey of the character and the atmosphere of the funfair.

In 2005, with the help of the American artist Mary Sharp, Ilka included in her play actress Nathalie Pagnac who accompanied this long lyrical song and showed how this feelings of sorrow and perdition could be expressed by a body and a voice.

My Own Flesh and Blood was created in august 2006 at the Théâtre du Grand Parquet, in Paris, thanks to the Métamorphoses Singulières and ARCADI, with the support of the City of Paris, DRAC Ile de France and the Paris 18th district city council.
The play is an adaptation from a novel by Aglaja Veteranyi, Why the Child was Cooked in Polenta, a desperate and wonderfully poetical narration by a little girl under the big top, which evokes alternately the mother and daughter relationship, grief of loss, solitude, frenzy, adversity, nomadism and exile... Ilka worked on drama with Mary Sharp and entrusted to Nathalie Pagnac the interpretation of French text. The world premiere was in Charleville-Mézières Puppet Festival. In order to intensify the funfair and circus ambiance, Ilka added a third actress, Bénédicte Holvoote, for a couple of contributions in Italian. There are now four versions available, in French, Spanish, English and German. The show has been already on tour in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

The old lady and the beast was created in 2009 in Vidy Lausanne theater and The Grand Parquet with Alexandra Lupidi.

Patrick Sims - Les Antliaclastes
Les Antliaclastes are a puppet theatre company based in Maillet, France. The company is under the direction of Patrick Sims, founder and former creative director of Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes. Les Antliaclastes use a unique blend of puppetry techniques and styles, masks, machines, and original organic soundtracks. The primarily wordless performance moves ahead fluidly through its countless surprises and often violently contrasting images.

Patrick Sims (b.1975, Vermont USA) has been a practicing puppeteer for the past 16 years. He first became involved with puppets whilst studying film and animation at Middlebury College, USA. He has worked with Bread and Puppet Theatre, studied shadow puppetry in Java, and pursued a Phd at Trinity College Dublin with a thesis on the ‘Pataphysics of the Puppet, Alfred Jarry and the inhuman performer. For 5 years he was the artistic director, writer, puppet-maker and puppeteer for Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes. He is currently artistic director of Les Antliaclastes with whom he is engaged with several projects, including film, theatre, installations, music, and a multimedia electronic opera. His next project is being researched and developed with the support of La Chartreuse, Le Centre National d’Ecriture des Spectacles, Villeneuve lez Avignon.

Ulysse's Companions
It's the story of a group of friends who have embarked the same board with a common ideal : "To share with you the treasures of their travels". The troupe is composed of 6 good all-around actors, 4 boys and 2 girls who take on direction, writing, singing, music, sound and lighting design. Their number can vary depending of the occasion. Sometimes a violinist accompanies them, according to the type of event or at the request of the site welcoming them.

The artistic approach of the Compagnons d’Ulysse can be compared to a journey off the beaten track revealing the secret and personal unpublished writings of dead people (poets, artists, politicians, soldiers, scientists, explorers...). The aim is to unveil the hidden face of history and via a playful dialogue, give to all, adults as well as children, clues to thought.

Most of the time, we transform letters and unpublished manuscripts into theatre plays performed and embodied with a touch of freshness, brought up to date and accessible to everyone. Our main concern is to revive for everybody an appetite for culture. This is why our productions are innovative and subversive. We perform in places rarely used for theatre but which are "essentially" theatrical because they have a soul, a history (museums, churches, castles, medieval ruins, town squares, meeting rooms...)

Our approach of theatre is that culture can be brought everywhere, under all circumstances as long as it is playful and the places full of enchantment. Through our performances, we pass on a new "artistic charge" to sites that already have a great cultural value.