Émilie Rousset
ÉMILIE ROUSSET
Currently the artistic director of the theatre company John Corporation, Émilie Rousset explores concepts and forms of dramatic and performative writing. Rousset employs documentary research and archive material to record the course of various real individuals’ trains of thought. She collects vocabularies, ideas, and observes thought processes. Then, re-choreographs them and invents setups in which performers embody these words. This creates an overlapping of reality and fiction of the original situation and its copy.
After studying directing at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Rousset worked at the Comédie de Reims as an associated artist. In 2014, she developed the performative play “Les Spécialistes” together with Maya Boquet at Grand Palais, which is rewritten according to each respective performance context. The work has been presented in a variety of theatres, museums and festivals. She co-directed with Louise Hémon a series of short films, “The Rituals,” which were screened at the Centre Pompidou, at the Côté Court Festival and at the French Cinémathèque among others. For the 2018 Autumn Festival, under the auspices of the New Settings program by the Hermès Foundation, she creates “Encounter with Pierre Pica,” which revisits her dialogue with a linguist, and then co-directs with Louise Hémon “Rituel 4: Le Grand débat” [“Ritual 4: The Grand Debate”], about the filming of a Presidential debate. In 2019 with Maya Boquet, she creates “Reconstitution: Le Procès de Bobigny” [Reconstitution: The Bobigny Trial”], based on the famous abortion trial led by the well-known lawyer Gisèle Halimi. The work premiered at the T2G - Théâtre de Gennevilliers, for the Festival d’Automne, has won a project competition by the Group of 20 theatres of Île de France. “Les Océanographes” [“The Oceanographers”], co‑directed with Louise Hémon, premiered at the T2G-Théâtre de Gennevilliers under the auspices for the Festival d’Automne, explores the archives of Anita Conti, who was the first female oceanographer in history and a pioneer in marine ecology.
Emilie Rousset has recently created two new works: “Rituel 5: La Mort” [“Ritual 5: Death”], co-directed with Louise Hémon as part of the Talents Adami program, and “Playlist Politique” [“Political Playlist”], presented at the Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris. These two pieces were part of the Festival d’Automne 2022. She also creates site-specific pieces for "Paysages Partagés," [“Shared Landscapes”], by Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll) and Caroline Barneaud (Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne), who invite seven European artists to create works in fields and forests in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain... The first pieces were presented in May 2023 at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, then at the Avignon Festival and the Berliner Festspiele. At the same time, she is writing her next piece, "Affaires Familiales," [“Family Law”], which she will premiere in Autumn 2025.
Currently the artistic director of the theatre company John Corporation, Émilie Rousset explores concepts and forms of dramatic and performative writing. Rousset employs documentary research and archive material to record the course of various real individuals’ trains of thought. She collects vocabularies, ideas, and observes thought processes. Then, re-choreographs them and invents setups in which performers embody these words. This creates an overlapping of reality and fiction of the original situation and its copy.
After studying directing at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Rousset worked at the Comédie de Reims as an associated artist. In 2014, she developed the performative play “Les Spécialistes” together with Maya Boquet at Grand Palais, which is rewritten according to each respective performance context. The work has been presented in a variety of theatres, museums and festivals. She co-directed with Louise Hémon a series of short films, “The Rituals,” which were screened at the Centre Pompidou, at the Côté Court Festival and at the French Cinémathèque among others. For the 2018 Autumn Festival, under the auspices of the New Settings program by the Hermès Foundation, she creates “Encounter with Pierre Pica,” which revisits her dialogue with a linguist, and then co-directs with Louise Hémon “Rituel 4: Le Grand débat” [“Ritual 4: The Grand Debate”], about the filming of a Presidential debate. In 2019 with Maya Boquet, she creates “Reconstitution: Le Procès de Bobigny” [Reconstitution: The Bobigny Trial”], based on the famous abortion trial led by the well-known lawyer Gisèle Halimi. The work premiered at the T2G - Théâtre de Gennevilliers, for the Festival d’Automne, has won a project competition by the Group of 20 theatres of Île de France. “Les Océanographes” [“The Oceanographers”], co‑directed with Louise Hémon, premiered at the T2G-Théâtre de Gennevilliers under the auspices for the Festival d’Automne, explores the archives of Anita Conti, who was the first female oceanographer in history and a pioneer in marine ecology.
Emilie Rousset has recently created two new works: “Rituel 5: La Mort” [“Ritual 5: Death”], co-directed with Louise Hémon as part of the Talents Adami program, and “Playlist Politique” [“Political Playlist”], presented at the Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris. These two pieces were part of the Festival d’Automne 2022. She also creates site-specific pieces for "Paysages Partagés," [“Shared Landscapes”], by Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll) and Caroline Barneaud (Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne), who invite seven European artists to create works in fields and forests in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain... The first pieces were presented in May 2023 at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, then at the Avignon Festival and the Berliner Festspiele. At the same time, she is writing her next piece, "Affaires Familiales," [“Family Law”], which she will premiere in Autumn 2025.