The Villes en scène/Cities on stage project, initiated by the Brussels National Theatre with backing from the European Commission, brings together six Euro- pean theatres - Théâtre National in Brussels; Folkteatern in Gothenburg; Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe in Paris; Teatrul National Radu Stanca in Sibiu; Teatro Stabile di Napoli; Teatro de La Abadía in Madrid – on the theme of living together in the city.

Between 2011 and 2016, the artists Fabrice Murgia (Belgium), Lars Norén (Sweden), Joël Pommerat (France), Gianina Carbunariu (Romania), Antonio Araujo (Brazil), Emma Dante (Italy), Frank Castorf (Germany) will each take an individual, critical and poetic look at this changing continent. In this way, seven productions will cross Europe and the questions they raise will be heard in other countries, and before other eyes.

This partnership also seeks to reinforce the link between artistic creation and citizenship, by involving the inhabitants of each of the cities in the creative process. And the Moving Cities section of our project invites groups of citizens – adults and young people – to examine the challenges of today’s cities and the realities of Europe today. These citizens’ workshops are accompanied by artists from various disciplines, who will bear witness to what emerges in thoughts or in imagination. They follow the process of dramatic creation and explore the themes associated with Villes en scène/Cities on stage, such as migration, the city, diversity, new social mixes ...

Still seeking exchanges, meetings and discoveries, each theatre invites a group of young actors from one of the partner countries to work for a month with a director – Nathalie Garraud in Paris, Armel Roussel in Brussels, Mélanie Mederlind in Gothenburg, Vlad Massaci in Sibiu, David Iodice in Naples – and includes citizens who accompany the young actors as they discover the city, its inhabitants, its culture.

So Villes en scène/Cities on stage invites artists, young and adult citizens, to observe our continent and to work together to invent stories which speak of the Europe of today and of tomorrow.

This project has been funded with support from the EuropeanCommission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.