Common Stories
Newsletter #6

COMMONPROD & COMMONMOB

Producing and Presenting New Narratives...
Following on from CommonLAB, CommonPROD offers artists various forms of project support, including residencies, research grants, co-production and production schemes. Twelve CommonLAB 2023 and 2024 artists have benefited from this programme, and some performances have already been shown on our stages.

Upcoming dates in 2025!
After its premiere at the MC93 in May, Sycomore, a solo by CommonLAB 2023 artist Saphir Belkheir, will be presented at the africologne Festival (Alte Feuerwache) on 12 and 13 June.
Produced by the MC93, it has received support from africologne, Alkantara and the Riksteatern, as well as from CommonMOB. Drawing on an imaginary family tree, Saphir Belkheir reinvents his lineage. Dialoguing with personalities from the past, real or fictional, he tries to better understand the roots of his own dance to better prepare the journey ahead.

Watch the teaser

Mother Tongue by CommonLAB 2024 artist Lucía García Pullés, explores language, a troubled language that blends the need to survive and the fear of disappearing, longing for multiplicity and transformation as driving forces. Co-produced by the MC93 and the Riksteatern, the solo will be performed at: Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, as part of Nuit Blanche 2025, on 7 June, Théâtre Louis Aragon in Avignon, as part of La belle scène Saint-Denis, from 12 to 14 July.

A duet between CommonLAB 2023 artist Stephanie Kayal and musician and composer Abed Kobeissy, Galactic Crush II: Into the Cold recounts the tribulations of two Don Quixote-like anti-heroes who decide to flee mass exodus and global crisis in a DIY intergalactic spaceship...

Coproduced by the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles and Alkantara, the duet duo will be shown at:

• Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels from 7 to 18 October,
• Théâtre Wallonie-Bruxelles on 4 and 5 November,
• Alkantara Festival in Lisbon on 22 and 23 November, with support from the CommonMOB programme.

A mobility grant, CommonMOB aims to give greater visibility to emblematic shows that question notions of diversity. In 2025, four projects will receive support, two projects supported by CommonPROD, Sycomore by Saphir Belkheir and Galactic Crush II: Into the Cold by Stephanie Kayal, as well as two existing projects.

Silence, ça tourne by Chrystèle Khodr, a Riksteatern production, will be presented at:

• Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles from 18 to 22 November,
• MC93 in Bobigny from 26 to 29 November.

umuko by Dorothée Munyaneza will be shown in Lisbon at Culturgest, as part of the Alkantara Festival, on 14 and 15 November.

The Good Practices Factory 2024 Handbook is Online!

Halfway through the Common Stories project, which will come to an end on December 31st, 2025, the Good Practices Factory 2024 reviews and reflects on our production, touring, artist support, and audience development practices in our six partner cities, from Lisbon to Brussels, from Bobigny to Cologne, from Stockholm to Warsaw.

From the development of a common Code of Conduct for cultural venues in Cologne to greater accessibility of the theatre for audiences and artists with disabilities in Warsaw, from a reflection on racism within the theatre in Bobigny and Lisbon, in partnership with União Negra das Artes, to perceptions of notions of diversity within teams in Brussels and Stockholm, our journeys towards more valuable practices have taken different paths. Through texts and interviews, this publication shares the experiences that drive us and carry us forward every day, so that our stages can fully bear witness to the cultural diversity of today’s European narratives, celebrating their complexities and richness.

Download the GPF handbook / English version
Download the GPF handbook / French version

Looking Back at 2024, Watch the Common Stories Annual Film

This seventeen-minute film retraces the highlights of Common Stories second year. It includes interviews with CommonLAB 2024 artists and guest speakers, footages of the various modules in Lisbon, Maputo, Bobigny and Brussels, and highlights from the annual meeting that took place in Brussels in November 2024.

English version : Watch the Common Stories 2024 film
French version : Watch the Common Stories 2024 film

Common Stories is a Creative Europe project, supported by the European Union.

Common Stories  is presented by the Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, MC93 (Bobigny, France), in partnership with the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles (Brussels, Belgium), Alkantara (Lisbon, Portugal), Culturgest (Lisbon, Portugal), africologneFESTIVAL (Cologne, Germany), Riksteatern (Stockholm, Sweden), in association with TR Warszawa (Warsaw, Poland).