When the City Wakes Up
In collaboration with the Scène de recherche, director and playwright Charlotte Lagrange met with residents of the Saclay Plateau—young and old, long-time residents and newcomers alike. From these stories emerged a theatrical tapestry that weaves together land development, rampant urbanization, and invisible forms of resistance.
The play follows a landscape architect involved in an urban renewal project. Her encounter with hostile farmers reignites memories of her own family’s eviction. Meanwhile, a couple finds itself confronted by a strange plant that has sprouted from their hardwood floor. These intertwined narratives explore dispossession and those who resist it.
Friday's performance will be followed by a discussion with the show's team and three researchers: Éliza Benites Gambirazio (Assistant Professor of Sociology at the ENS Paris-Saclay) Clémentine Cottineau (geographer at the Maurice Halbwachs Center) and Denise Pumain (geographer specializing in cities and urban systems worldwide, professor emerita at the Géographie-cités laboratory / University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne).
Presented in collaboration with the Scène nationale de l’Essonne
Charlotte Lagrange is an associate artist with the Scène de recherche for the third season
Presented in collaboration with the Scène nationale de l’Essonne
Charlotte Lagrange is an associate artist with the Scène de recherche for the third season