SERENA

Based in Nantes under the direction of director Clément Pascaud, the company focuses on contemporary theatre, with a special interest in living contemporary playwrights, as well as rewriting myths to make referenced texts more accessible. All its productions deal with the question of identity from different angles: intimate, political and social.
The company is subsidised by the City of Nantes, the Loire-Atlantique Department, the Pays de la Loire Region and the Pays de la Loire DRAC (projects funding).

In 2016, Clément Pascaud founded the AU POINT DU SOIR company, which he based in Nantes with a desire to explore texts that question identity and the quest for the self.

He has staged plays by a number of contemporary authors : "Juste la fin du monde" by Jean-Luc Lagarce - "Penthésilée" by Lina Prosa - "Jackie" by Elfriede Jelinek - "Nu masculin debout" by Bernard Souviraa.
As a companion artist at the TU-Nantes from 2017 to 2020, he created three of his own shows, which were also co-produced and presented at the Quai-CDN des Pays de la Loire.
From 2018 to 2021, he will be resident artist at the Nouveau Studio Théâtre de Nantes as part of the Grosse Théâtre label.
In 2021, Clément Pascaud commissioned the director and scriptwriter Pascale Breton to write a reinterpretation of the Phaedra myth, "La Maison de Phèdre" (Phaedra's House), a text that won Artcena's national creation grant in 2022, which also received support from the Nantes-Rennes-Brest-Rouen Itinéraires d'artistes cooperation programme, and writing assistance via a joint scheme between the Rouen CDN and the DGCA.
Clément Pascaud is an "associate artist" of the University of Angers, UA-Culture department, the Qu4tre and is accompanied by PadLOBA/Cie Loba-Annabelle Sergent, a space for creation and debate in 2023-24.
At the end of 2023, he created "Serena" in the Qu4tre, a writing commission to Marion Solange-Malenfant. In this one-woman show, Clément Pascaud examines the iconic figure of tennis player Serena Williams, a modern heroine who is a source of inspiration and emancipation. After some thirty performances this season, it will be touring again next season.
Thanks to the DGCA-DRAC compagnonnage-auteur (writer's companionship) awarded in 2023, Clément Pascaud is commissioning the playwright Charif Ghattas, with whom he has just completed a residency at La Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Ce que je sais" (working title) is the story of a political woman, newly appointed Minister, caught in the middle of a foreign policy conflict in Turkey (play for 5 characters - creation in 2026).

Committed to artistic and cultural mediation, Clément Pascaud has a number of initiatives aimed at secondary school pupils, amateurs and university audiences, particularly in Nantes and Angers : teacher-researchers, students, doctoral students and administrative staff...
Notable initiatives include the staging of Lucie Thévenet, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department, in a theatrical lecture entitled "Impossible Phaedra", in which she plays herself as a teacher for around ten dates in the BUs of the Nantes Faculty. For two years, he staged an evening of scientific stand-up, bringing together researchers to talk about their research subjects.

In connection with the show "Serena", he is involved in the cultural action projects of partner theatres. It is running an EAC with Les Quinconces / scène nationale du Mans as part of the "Les Inspirantes" festival, resulting in a podcast on female role models, written and read by secondary school pupils in Le Mans. EAC replicated in Treillières, Rennes and Machecoul.

A residency in rural areas is being run in conjunction with the Ernée cultural season in Mayenne, which will culminate in a participatory play entitled "Learning to Fall", written from interviews with sportsmen and women from the Mayenne and Angers areas, bringing together actors, actresses, amateurs and student artists on 1 and 2 June 2024 as part of the Cultural Olympiads, and premiered in situ at the Ernée Aquafitness centre and on 19 September at Angers University. This participatory play was written by Maëlle Puéchoultres and Sonia Larue.
During this residency, Clément Pascaud is inviting dozens of students from Angers to take part in the creative process, from performance to production, and thus build bridges between urban students and rural residents.

He works regularly with director Mélanie Leray (dramaturgy and artistic collaboration) and choreographer Elise Lerat (acting).

Trained at the Conservatoire de Nantes, Marion Solange-Malenfant first worked as an actress.
From 2014, she developed her writing and directing career.

In 2015 she joined the Master Mise en scène et Dramaturgie at Paris-X Nanterre. It was during this course that the need to produce her own dramatic texts became obvious. She followed the work of Tiago Rodrigues as his assistant and for 3 months wrote the logbook for the "Occupation Bastille" project.

Today, she is working in parallel as a performer, playwright and director of actors (Cie Les Maladroits, Cie Avant l'Averse...). She also writes her own shows and takes on writing commissions for other artists ("Une histoire Autrichienne", Cie les Maladroits 2026).

She wrote and directed "Et la neige de tout recouvrir" (2020). She also wrote "La plupart du temps, on tirait les rideaux" (2022).
She is the creator of "Conversation partagée/Les faux souvenirs", a conference on art and science in partnership with Fabienne Colombel, a researcher in cognitive psychology (2022, TU-Nantes).

In 2023, she took part in the research workshop on stage direction given by Joël Pommerat.

In 2019, she began working with Clément Pascaud, writing "Si les Tyrannosaures étaient restés dans l'Arche" (In Situ Reading at the Musée d'Arts de Nantes).
In 2022, Clément Pascaud commissioned her to write SERENA. (In residence at La Chartreuse/Centre National des Ecritures du Spectacle 2023).
SERENA is published by Éditions Koïné.

Written by Marion Solange Malenfant
Adapted, directed and performed by Clément Pascaud
Acting direction Mélanie Leray, Manuel Garcie Kilian
Artistic collaborator Leïla Bertrand
Dramaturgy advice Christophe Gravouil
Set design Louise Sari
Lighting Vincent Chrétien
Music, sound Jérôme Leray
Video, sound and general management Thomas Guiral
Sound and video control Lucas Gautier
Costumes Tiphaine Pottier
Voice-over recording Thierry Mathieu
Voice-over Yasmine Modestine, Clément Pascaud
Administration Production Christelle Guillotin

Production AU POINT DU SOIR – Cie Clément Pascaud
Coproduction THV Théâtre de l’Hôtel de Ville de St-Barthélémy d’Anjou, National Interest Stage for Art, Children and Youth I Le Qu4tre Cultural Service of the University of Angers
With the support of DRAC des Pays de la Loire I Département de Loire-Atlantique I Département du Maine et Loire I Ville de Nantes
Residency support PadLoba-Cie Loba Annabelle Sergent I Le Qu4tre-Service Culture-Université d’Angers I La Libre Usine-Nantes I EVE scène universitaire Le Mans I ONYX Théâtre de St-Herblain I La Chartreuse Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
Clément Pascaud is an ‘associate artist’ of the University of Angers, the UA-Culture department, the Qu4tre and will be supported by the PadLOBA space for creation and debate in 2023-24.

The text “Serena” is published by Editions Koïné