Arnaud Meunier became the Director of the Comédie deSaint-Étienne – a National Center for Dramatic Art – and of its Advanced School of Dramatic Art – in January 2011. There, he developed a new project in which creation and transmission of knowledge are intrinsically linked. The dialogue between different aesthetics and generations, the renewing of theatrical styles, the discovery of new authors, the daily presence of artists, the will to open and share Theatre with the largest and most varied of populations, are the key themes of the project he is currently implementing. After gaining a degree in political science, he began training to become an actor and, in 1997, founded the Compagnie de la Mauvaise Graine. This gained rapid acclaim from the press and professionals at the 1998 Avignon festival, and his company was then offered a permanent residency at the Blanc-Mesnil Forum in Seine-Saint-Denis, gaining the support of Théâtre Gérard Philipe (directed by Stanislas Nordey). The company went on to develop its creative work on contemporary authors and will subsequently be a resident at the Maison de la Culture of Amiens, associated with the Comédie de Reims and the Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Faithful to his commitment to living authors, Arnaud Meunier perpetuates a companionship with the authors he most cherishes – producing plays by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michel Vinaver, Oriza Hirata and Eddy Pallaro. In parallel, he also works in Opera as a stage director or associated director. Fluent in three languages (French, German and English), he has, over the past ten years, worked in Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Algeria, Italy, Austria, England, Qatar, Norway and Morocco.
Aleshea Harris (American playwright) received an MFA in Writing for Performance from California Institute of the Arts. Her work has been presented at the Costume Shop at American Conservatory Theater, Playfest at Orlando Shakespeare Theater, VOXfest at Dartmouth, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, La Comédie de Saint-Étienne in France, REDCAT, the Skirball Center and in the 2015 anthology, The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop.