Dramaturgy Practices Cycle

In 2026, La Bellone is back with a new series of seminars on Dramaturgical Practices.

The role of dramaturg has become an essential part of the performing arts landscape. However, spaces truly dedicated to this role—both as a practice and as a field of research—remain rare.

What is the role of a dramaturg? Why call upon one? And above all, how does this role function today in contexts as varied as stage production, institutions, and the design of artistic installations?

At La Bellone, dramaturgy is conceived and practised as an experience of dialogue and experimentation. It does not seek to impose intellectual authority, but to cultivate a sensitivity to artistic gestures, to what is woven between ideas, forms and relationships. The dramaturg does not provide artistic advice or theoretical lessons: he or she accompanies the creative process by opening up avenues, sharing resources and offering possible interpretations of what is happening – on stage, in the texts or in working relationships.

Dramaturgy is seen as a practice of conversation, an art of circulating visions, ideas and needs.

La Bellone's seminars invite participants to practise dramaturgy through a series of experiments, exchanges and role-playing exercises. Rather than offering a history or theory of dramaturgy, the cycle seeks to enable each participant to refine their method, strengthen their practice and situate their approach within a constantly changing field.

Negotiating between conflict and creative freedom - Prisca Ratovonasy

This seminar explores how artists negotiate their creative freedom in contrasting artistic contexts — whether institutional, independent or alternative, sometimes in situ or in dedicated venues. How can autonomy be reconciled with structural constraints? How can truly emancipatory spaces for creation be invented through dialogue and sometimes friction?

Drawing on her experience as a dramaturg, author and director, Prisca Ratovonasy offers a collective reflection on the dynamics between conflict and freedom: not to oppose them, but to examine their productive tensions.

Through discussions, case studies and practical sessions, the seminar will invite participants to question the conditions of artistic freedom and the negotiation strategies that artists deploy in their careers.

Particular attention will be paid to the experiences of BIPOC artists, the obstacles and levers they encounter in the field of the performing arts, and how dramaturgy can contribute to the emergence of other narratives, other presences, other representations.

Prisca Ratovonasy

Prisca Ratovonasy is an author, director and dramaturg. Her work explores issues of diversity and the representation of diasporic identities. She is the creator of the podcast Les Enfants du Bruit et de l’Odeur (2020–2023), which focuses on racial discrimination in the education system. She currently works with several artists—Soa Ratsifandrihana, Rebecca Chaillon, Marvin M'Toumo and Nadia Ratsimandresy—as a dramaturg and mediator, and collaborates with the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. Her next project, Au fil des maux de la culture, explores racial discrimination in the performing arts through a series of audio dramas.

Who for?

For BIPOC.

People with experience as dramaturges, beginner or confirmed.

The seminar will exclusively be held in French. To know more, head to the page in French.