Description
First steps: Getting lost in the streets of Neufchâteau
One of the specificities of this workshop will be to go beyond the traditional framework of writing in a classroom and to go visiting Neufchâteau. From the first sessions, participants will be invited to get lost in the streets of the city, to explore the neighborhoods, to let themselves be guided by the streets, buildings, monuments, and unexpected encounters. This immersive approach will allow everyone to discover or rediscover the soul of Neufchâteau from new angles.
For those who do not yet know the city, this exploration will be a real gateway to its past and present. Trainees will be able to encounter the working, farming and medieval history that still marks the architecture and social fabric of the city. They will be able to observe old or current living spaces, buildings that bear witness to an era, and engage in conversations with residents to collect anecdotes, stories or simply impressions.
These moments of urban exploration will serve as a starting point for dramatic writing. The idea is that stories are woven from places and encounters, that characters are born from observation, and that dramaturgy draws on the richness of stories hidden under the paving stones, behind windows or in the memories of people encountered along the way.
Workshop and collective creativity
In parallel, we will also work in a dedicated room where, through writing games, improvisation exercises and other theatrical practices, participants will be invited to push their imagination further. These moments in the workshop will allow us to broaden our perspectives: based on discoveries made in the streets, we will go further in creation, experimenting with different forms of narration and seeking to "push the walls" of the imagination.
These exercises will be triggers to delve deeper into the stories, invent new characters and explore dramatic situations.
Theatre and collective memory
From these immersions, dramatic writing will become a space of reinvention, where reality mixes with fiction. Neufchâteau’s past and present – its medieval history, its agricultural tradition or its working-class heritage – will be sources of inspiration for the participants’ theatrical creations.
Each participant will be able to take these elements and transform them into scenes, dialogues, and plots that reflect their own questions and their relationship to the city.
The workshop will not only be a space to tell individual stories, but an invitation to reflect together on the identity of Neufchâteau today. What does it mean to live here in 2024? How are the resonances of the past reflected in the current concerns of the inhabitants? What are the contemporary stories that we can write from the memories hidden in the streets, buildings and conversations?
Writing as a collective process
Although each participant will write their own scenes, the approach of this workshop will be resolutely collective. Dramatic writing, with its form of dialogue and staging, is an excellent way to confront different voices and allow everyone to contribute to the creation of a common work.
We will favor moments of sharing, where participants will be able to discuss their discoveries, their inspirations and their texts in progress. These exchanges will enrich individual writings, but also create collective scenes where voices intersect and where the different visions of Neufchâteau respond to each other.
Required level
From 16 years old
Any questions?
If you have any questions, please refer to the practical information!
