THEATER PROJECTS
Why Theater?
I have always felt an urgent need to create theater and show it to people. On many occasions, this took place in my parent's garage, in the kitchen of my small apartment, or in the living room of my grandparent's house. In these places, I was more or less protected. But creating theater within a system constantly delimitating my body, to turn it docile and compliant, is very painful. So, why continue?
Because I know that if I lose power and if I lose privileges, I will still have some. So, I can, and I should continue. I choose to make theater, and to be able to choose is extremely political and, therefore, personal. Personally speaking, doing theater is about creating possibilities and spaces of dialogue. To be inside a theater is to be in a space where both audience and performers share a risk. Most of the time, my work is comic and highly interactive. It’s invented freely and finds its own path each time. It moves between words, images, space, fiction, and reality. With theater, I open spaces for new realities, hold them, and hope that someone will join me and push them even further. I make theater for people to have a good time, to move people. I make theater for those who feel alienated from it and those who study it. I continue, therefore we resist.
Theater Projects
Make-Believe
"you could say that I was" is a theatrical project in partnership with Foyer Arabelle, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, about childhood memories. The project follows a participatory approach and is created hand-in-hand with the shelter's residents. The project entails workshops where participants play theater, sing and tell their memories. It establishes a generous space where participants can share, be heard, and feel valued. The methods used are inspired by Augusto Boal and Paulo Freire, where participants are encouraged to become aware of their position and reclaim their power on their own terms. Their stories are then staged, showcasing the power of transgression and resilience by play and story-telling.
The project started in April 2021, five workshops were held, and a presentation with the participants took place in June at Theatre Pitoëff. Now, a more ambitious production is being produced for 2024.
Directed by Naïma Arlaud
Produced and played by Nathaly Leduc
Music: Sergio Valdeos
Amulette
A contemporary choral poem about our amulets, lives, wishes, and dreams. Five actresses and singers, accompanied by a musician, read, say and sing, alone or in a moving popular choir, texts about amulets. These texts have been collected in theater and writing workshops with migrant populations in Geneva. The play is a choral text that tells these multiple stories. Through these singular stories, the mysterious weft of the amulets tells a universal story.
"Amulet" is a theater project resulting from a collaboration between the Albanian Popular University (UPA) and the Théâtre Spirale. It aims to voice the testimonies of migrant audiences of all origins.
The project started in 2021, and as the project grew, other associations such as Camarada, the Université Ouvrière de Genève, the Service Action Citoyenne de la commune d'Onex and F-Information. In February 2022, Amulette played in the many associations it partnered with, bringing the participants the result of their work. In June 2022, the play was presented for three weeks at the Theatre de la Parfumerie in Geneva. In addition to the theatrical play, a podcast and an exhibition with drawings made by the participants and photographs taken by Riccardo Willig were presented.
Click here for more information on the project.
Direction: Michele Millner
Dramaturgy: Michele Millner, with the team
Music composition and musician: Yves Cerf
Actors, singers, and musicians: Naïma Arlaud, Nathaly Leduc, Françoise Gautier, Nora Cupelin,
Amanda Cepero / Yaël Miller
Stage Manager: Jules Bovard
Scenography : Miriam Kerchenbaum, Jules Bovard and Michele Millner
Lighting: J.C. Cerutti
Costumes: Julie Delieutraz
Photographer: Riccardo Willig
Production: Spiral Theatre
Justice in Action - Beyond Impunity
“Justice in Action” was a participatory theatre project in Liberia designed and implemented by Nathaly Leduc while working at the NGO Civitas Maxima. The project is subject to Nathaly's ethnographic dissertation on the limits and possibilities of theater projects in post-conflict areas.
It was undertaken in partnership with Flomo Theatre Inc., which commenced in 2017 and continued in 2018 with the design of a theatre roadshow, public readings, and the staging of mock trials performed by Flomo Theatre actors and involving local students in Monrovia.
Then in 2019, Flomo Theatre actors, together with Civitas Maxima staff and other local partners, embarked on a roadshow across rural Liberia to share the news of the trial of Mohammed Jabbateh, aka ‘Jungle’ Jabbah – former commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) rebel faction who was convicted in the US for immigration fraud relating to his non-disclosure to US authorities of his involvement in the First Liberian Civil War.
In total, 15 towns in six different counties were visited by the roadshow. All of these towns witnessed extreme violence perpetrated by all armed groups across all factions – who raided and devastated these communities during the conflicts.