Jérôme Michez
Jérôme Michez is a playwright, born in 1990 and based in Brussels. Trained from 2016 to 2018 at INSAS in theatrical writing, after completing actor training at the Brussels Conservatory, his practice has several axes. He works for and with others as a dramaturge (Laure Lapel, La Place, 2019-2022), translator (Dounia Mahammed, Salut Copain!, 2017), scriptwriter (Joséphine Jouannais, Lune d’Automne, 2018). In his writing, he is interested in the tension between the written word and the spoken word. He seeks to play with this tension to translate the conflictualities of his relationship with the world: between contemplative fictions and the need to act. The writing of his graduation text, la coupe, presented at INSAS in 2018, was sponsored by Emmanuel Régniez (Notre Château, Le Tripode, 2017). In 2020, Jérôme wrote for KANAL-Centre Pompidou Le Monde Sans-envers-et-sans-endroit, a tale for 3-5 year olds, which immerses them in the world of John Armleder and the exhibition dedicated to him, It Never Ends.
In parallel to his writing process, Jérôme is conducting stage research with Elsa Rauchs, with whom he is questioning the limits of representation, and how to reconcile representation and action. This research takes shape with AMER AMER, a performance for an actor (Tom Geels) and a guest from the audience, which will be created at the Théâtre d’Esch (Luxembourg) in January 2022.
With collüsiion, his second current project, he continues his research by attempting to reconstruct the collision between a car driver in an SUV and a delivery person on a bicycle. For this project he received a research grant from the FWB and the support of Ad Lib Diffusion. A first creation phase will take place from January to April 2022.
From 2021 to 2022 he will work as a performer for Lucia Palladino in I’ve discovered that loving means going back to repetition, with several residencies planned at Buda Kunstencentrum (Kortrijk), in France and in Italy.
Elsa Rauchs is an actress and project manager from Luxembourg born in 1989. She joined KASK in Ghent in 2014, after completing a bachelor’s degree at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.
For almost ten years, she has been an active member of the Independent Little Lies collective, with whom she launched the Nomadic Project in 2014, which was renewed in 2015 and 2017.
In 2018, she is engaged with Jérôme Michez in a research on the mode of action that theatre allows. This research will result in AMER AMER, a Michez/Rauchs co-directed production that will be presented at the Escher Theater in January 2022.
In the coming months, she is working on Doheem – Fragments of Intimacy, a participatory project with a number of non-professional participants, in collaboration with Claire Wagener. Using voice and radio as a medium, Doheem – Fragments d’intimités examines the impact of the Luxembourg housing crisis on the ways of living in Esch-sur-Alzette and the intimate nuances of our attachments to a place of anchorage.
In the theatre, Elsa has played the roles of Cate in Sarah Kane’s Anéantis at the Grand Théâtre Luxembourg, directed by Myriam Muller; and of Églée in La Dispute by Marivaux (Sophie Langevin, Théâtre National du Luxembourg). In the cinema, she has worked with Christophe Wagner, Marylène Andrin, Julien Becker etc.
