CommonPROD: new european narratives

CommonPROD

Building on CommonLAB dynamics and implemented by five Common Stories partners, CommonPROD proposes to CommonLAB artists various forms of companionship the following year. It includes residencies, support, co-production or production if the artist does not have his or her own structure. From writing to creation process and touring, our aim is to weave long-term and meaningful dialogues with these choreographers, directors, authors and performers who are shaping stories that are too rarely shared on European stages.


Out of the eight artists selected as part of CommonLAB 2023, five have been supported since 2024

Produced by the MC93, in partnership with africologneFESTIVAL and Alkantara, the choreographer and dancer Saphir Belkheir is hosted in Bobigny for several creative residencies in 2024 and 2025. His piece, Sycomore, will premiere at the MC93 from 10 to 15 May 2025. It will also be shown at the africologneFESTIVAL in Cologne on 12 and 13 June 2025. In this immersive performance, combining dance, video, sound and text, Saphir invents a chosen ancestry, revisiting real or imaginary figures from Algeria and beyond. This community of existences and histories reveals the colonial and patriarchal history that has constantly been denying the peripheral, the margins, the outcasts

Accompanied by the Théâtre National Wallonie- Bruxelles and Alkantara, choreographer and dancer Stephanie Kayal revisits with musician Abed Kobeissy the absurd adventures of the two anti-heroes of Galactic Crush. Having completely failed in their previous mission and faced with total despair as the world crumbles around them, they decide to escape in a cobbled-together intergalactic spaceship, in search of a better life in another galaxy. Galactic Crush II: Into the Cold will be shown at the Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels, in partnership with the Théâtre National, from 7 to 18 October 2025, and at the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles on 4 and 5 November 2025.

Set designer Hang Hang, based in Paris, took up a research residency at the MC93 from February to June 2024 to develop the performative installation Carré arrondi, based on nail salons. The performance will be shown in October 2025.

Nancy Ofori, an actress and playwright living in Stockholm, benefited from a writing residency at the Riksteatern between May and July 2024, and worked with the Riks’ team of dramaturges to finalise the writing of her play Gavan (The Gift) based on the historical figure of Gustav Badin, a slave who became the servant of the queen at the Swedish court.

Director Anna Ten received residencies and production support from the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles and the MC93. Portrait d’une femme ordinaire dans un océan de coquelicots (Portrait of an Ordinary Woman in a Sea of Poppies) is a tribute to Josiane, a seventytwo- year-old woman. An invaluable witness to political movements in France and beyond, Josiane is both an ordinary woman and a figure whose commitment has never wavered since May 68. By revealing the link between the personal and the political, Anna Ten shows how individual actions contribute to collective history. The play will be performed at the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles this autumn.


Seven out of the nine CommonLAB 2025 artists will be supported in 2025

Choreographer and dancer Inés Sybille Vooduness will be produced by Alkantara, with the support of the Théâtre National Wallonie- Bruxelles and the MC93. We at the Nightclub Suffer Together by Diego Bragà will also be produced by Alkantara, with the support of africologneFESTIVAL. For her one-woman show Kabylifornie, Agathe Yamina Meziani will be supported by the MC93, in association with the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles. Choreographer and dancer Nadim Bahsoun will be able to develop his solo project *Cis-tem* Error in 2025 with the support of the Riksteatern and the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Azani V. Ebengou will continue the writing of her Kongo Chroniques, supported by the Riksteatern and africologneFESTIVAL, while Jin Xuan Mao will write and direct Mon Odyssée, produced by the MC93. Finally, the dance solo Mother Tongue by Lucía García Pullés, co-produced by the Riksteatern and the MC93, will premiere on 25 March 2025 at the Théâtre de Vanves, as part of the festival Artdanthé. Discussions with Pankaj Tiwari are ongoing to show Paperplanes at different partners’ venues in 2025.