Artistic direction: Marina Montefusco and Magali Esteban
Since 1990, Marina Montefusco and her company Le Clan des Songes have developed a theatre of powerful, dreamlike images, working primarily with puppets and animated forms.
Their productions have been presented hundreds of times in France and at festivals around the world. They help raise the profile of a theatrical form that now embraces every area of contemporary creation.
The company’s expressive world is aimed primarily at young children, but is enjoyed by audiences of all ages.
Since January 2024, Le Clan des Songes has been jointly led by artistic directors Marina Montefusco and Magali Esteban. Each develops productions from her own ideas while sharing their research, theatrical language and aesthetic approach. They work with a longstanding team: Erwan Costadau (puppetry, lighting operation and design), Isabelle Ployet (scriptwriting and puppetry), Fanny Journaut (visual arts and puppetry), and Hervé Billerit (production and touring).
Marina Montefusco
After studying theatre at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Marina moved to France, where she founded Le Clan des Songes in 1990. Alongside creating her own productions, she continued her training, notably with Philippe Genty at the Institut Supérieur des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières.
In 1990, she also co-founded MARIONNETTISSIMO with Jean Kaplan, the first international festival of animated forms in Midi-Pyrénées, and was artistic director of its first edition.
Working with a loyal team, she writes, directs and builds productions in a sensitive theatrical language that reaches audiences beyond words. Her aesthetic choices favour a theatre of metaphor, contributing to the revival of puppetry in France. Her work has travelled the world at the invitation of international theatres and festivals.
Magali Esteban
After studying at the Conservatoire National de Toulouse, Magali trained mainly at Le Passage à Niveau and took workshops in singing, mask performance, clowning, and puppet design and manipulation with Footsbarn Travelling Theatre. A puppeteer and actor with several companies, she has been a regular collaborator with Le Clan des Songes since 2014, performing in Bella, Bout à Bout, Arrivederci and Conte Chiffonné. She also leads the company’s cultural activities. Globule, created in 2022, was her first production for young audiences within the company.
Twenty productions created and hundreds of performances in France, at major festivals including Avignon, Charleville-Mézières, Momix and Marionnettissimo, and at leading theatres and national venues: Théâtre National de Toulouse, the Scènes Nationales in Albi, Tarbes and Bayonne, Odyssud in Blagnac, Théâtre 71 in Malakoff, Le Moulin du Roc in Niort and Gallia Théâtre in Saintes.
And abroad… tours to Asia (Japan, South Korea and Taipei), Quebec, Brazil, Israel and Singapore; the ASSITEJ World Congress in Montreal; Bravo! Festival in Helsinki; Figurteater in Oslo; the Vermont festival (USA); Teatralia in Madrid; Tam Tam on Réunion Island; Festival Petits Bonheurs in Quebec; the international festival in Neuchâtel; and the New Victory Theater in New York.
The company also contributes to training for amateur and professional audiences through conferences, workshops, discussions and activities about theatre for young audiences and puppetry.
School activities introduce young audiences to the art of puppetry.
Supported through funding agreements with the French Ministry of Culture / DRAC Occitanie and the cities of Toulouse, Sérignan and Venerque, and with additional support from the City of Toulouse and Haute-Garonne Departmental Council, Le Clan des Songes is a theatre company for young audiences whose work is recognised nationally and internationally. It is hosted in residence by La Cigalière in Sérignan and by the City of Venerque, which provides workshop and storage space.
