For its 5th edition, this unique event invites you to discover today’s theatre and dive into the rich, diverse imaginations of authors, with a packed programme: distinctive performances, original formats, readings, a writing workshop, discussions, a banquet, and an evening where words and sounds weave a night of resonant stories. Created in collaboration with numerous partners, this event offers a joyful escape to explore writing from here and elsewhere.
Over the course of these two days, take part in exclusive encounters, attend unique performances, discover original formats, join a writing workshop, enjoy a festive banquet, and be moved by a magnetic evening where words and music intertwine for a night of storytelling and resonance.
KiLLT, Mauvaise pichenette! – A show for young audiences (ages 14 and up)
11:00 am, 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm & 3:30 pm, Université d'Avignon
Free entry
This is the story of an evening when everything changes in the kitchen of the Bapst family farm. Anna violently clashes with her relatives when a small group of unaccompanied minor teenagers is welcomed by her village, in what used to be its summer camp. The fuse is lit… revealing the rise of fascist political ideas.
Text by Magali Mougel
Directed by Olivier Letellier
Text-based scenography by Mélody Champagne & Cerise Guyon
Sound design by Antoine Prost
Alternating cast Angèle Canu, Nicolas Hardy, Cécile Zanibelli
In partnership with Les Tréteaux de France and Théâtre du Train Bleu
Le Partage de midi
12:00 - 13:00 – Calade
Free entry
Meet the authors featured in La Récolte 2025: including Marine Bedon, Pascal Brullemans, Édouard Elvis Bvouma, Raphaël Gautier, Lauriane Goyet, Shiho Kasahara, Marie Lacroix, Théo Perrache
Moderated by Matthieu Mével
In partnership with La Récolte – Journal of Theatre Reading Committees
La Récolte is an annual publication that offers a window into contemporary playwriting. Its editorial board is made up of seven permanent theatre reading committees located across France, all dedicated to discovering, promoting, and supporting contemporary writing. Each issue also invites an eighth committee to present eight plays and eleven authors. The journal features substantial excerpts from the selected plays, interviews with the authors, response pieces written by scholars, and portfolios showcasing the work of visual artists. It also includes two critical sections aimed at exploring and reflecting on the act of writing.
Contxto
12:00 - 14:00 – La Mouette
By reservation
A key moment for the international network dedicated to the translation and dissemination of Francophone dramatic texts, featuring member meetings, presentations of translated texts, and encounters with three authors.
With Léonore Confino, Penda Diouf, David Lescot
In partnership with the Institut français and SACD
Reservations: invitation@artcena.fr
Mystery Readings
14:00 – BnF
By reservation
Do you have a taste for adventure? Book an appointment for a mystery reading! Let yourself be guided to an unexpected spot inside the Maison Jean Vilar to attend a reading of an excerpt from a play, the title of which will only be revealed at the end… and which you’ll be able to discover in full as part of the Festival Off!
In partnership with AF&C / Avignon Off Festival and the BnF
Youth Narratives 1/2
14:30 - 15:30 – Studio
By reservation
Discover the diversity of contemporary youth voices! Brought to life by professional performers, the diverse stories of young people aged 15 to 25 take the stage. Led by Jeunes textes en liberté and La Scène nationale de l’Essonne, this collaborative project paired groups of young participants with award-winning authors from the label and cultural institutions across Essonne, guiding them through a creative process to bring their stories to life on stage. From these encounters emerged nine texts, a kaleidoscope of today’s youth. Discover a selection of these works, written by Béatrice Bienville, Jamila Bensaci, Charlotte Buosi, Leïla Cassar, Edith Delarue, Penda Diouf, Elio Jacquel, Eric Maniengui and Esteban Okbi.
Directed reading by Anthony Thibault.
With Claire Barrabès, Maly Diallo, Yassine Harrada, Blade Mc Alimbaye, Mélody Pini and Anthony Thibault.
Project led by Jeunes Textes en Liberté and La Scène nationale de l’Essonne
In partnership with Les Bords de Scènes, Théâtre intercommunal d’Étampes, L’Espace Marcel Carné, Théâtre Sénart – Scène nationale, La Scène de recherche – ENS Paris-Saclay, Le Silo, MJC-CS Jacques Tati – Orsay and Théâtre de Corbeil-Essonnes
With support from ARTCENA and Fondation La Poste
De l’archive créatrice
14:00 - 16:00 & 16:30 - 18:30 – BnF
By reservation
Take part in a writing workshop with Léonore Confino, using archives from the Maison Jean Vilar. An exploration of what a photograph, a face, a phrase, a crowd can stir within us… An invitation to write in the joy and raw emotion of the moment, inspired by what these traces of the past awaken in us today. Between resonance and invention.
In partnership with the BnF
NRF Debate
16:30 - 17:30 – Studio
By reservation
In partnership with La Nouvelle Revue Française
RESERVATION TO COME
Lectures Cabine
17:00 - 17:30 & 18:00 - 18:30 – La Mouette
By reservation
The "Lectures Cabine" by La Commune are a setup where an author reads their text inside a soundproof cabin placed on stage. Two performers, equipped with earpieces, hear the text live and simultaneously translate it to the audience.
This setup creates intense focus on the text, alongside tension, humor, or even discomfort. It’s a unique shared reading experience between authors, actors, and the audience.
Reading #1: Les pensées by and with Nicolas Doutey
Reading #2: Loin le ciel by Marie Vauzelle
Produced by La Commune, National Dramatic Center of Aubervilliers
Co-produced by ARTCENA
Banquet des auteurs
20:00 - 21:30 – Calade
By reservation
Are you a professional author? Join us for a convivial and festive break—a moment for networking and enriching encounters, where the joy of being together is shared over a drink.
In partnership with SACD
RESERVATION: invitation@artcena.fr
Mille et un mots
22:00 - Midnight – Calade
Free entrance
One night, words. Words rising from our shifting languages, half-tender, half-sharp. Words blazing or whispered, as banners or as sparks, shaking up the grammar of the world. Eight authors take hold of them, make them resonate, craft stories that speak of a changing way of living together. Carried by music, this night-time gathering invites us to listen, to share, to feel. Echoing the choice of Arabic as the guest language of the Festival d’Avignon, Mille et un mots nods to the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, where each story becomes a form of resistance, a way of delaying the end, of extending life. A suspended night, at the crossroads of storytelling and sound, between the personal and the collective.
With Marcos Caramés Blanco, Agathe Charnet, Théophile Dubus, Raphaël Gautier, Vanasay Khamphommala, Iris Laurent, David Lescot, Lydie Tamisier
Live music by Sébastien Martel
Co-produced with Théâtre Ouvert – National Center for Contemporary Dramaturgies
Production
In partnership with AF&C/festival Off Avignon, BnF, Cie Alexandre, La Commune – National Drama Centre of Aubervilliers, La Criée – National Theatre of Marseille, France Culture, Institut français, Jeunes Textes en Liberté, La Nouvelle Revue française-Gallimard, La Récolte, SACD, Scènes d’enfance-Assitej France, Scène nationale de l'Essonne, Théâtre du Train Bleu, Théâtre Ouvert – National Centre for Contemporary Playwriting, Le Totem – nationally supported stage for arts, childhood, and youth, Les Tréteaux de France – National Drama Centre, and the publishing houses Espace 34, Théâtrales, Koiné, ETC Caraïbes, Circé, and Actes Sud-Papiers
With technical support from Radio Radio
With the complicity of the librairie du Festival