Sébastien Kheroufi

Sébastien Kheroufi grew up in the working-class neighborhoods of Hauts-de-Seine and the Emmaüs hostels in Paris, between the French culture of his mother and the Algerian culture of his father. After completing a BEP in mechanics and working for several years as a garage mechanic, cleaner, restaurant dishwasher and bus driver, he entered the École Supérieure d’Art Dramatique de Paris. Since graduating, Sébastien has enjoyed a close working relationship with the Ateliers Médicis and the Théâtre National de la Colline. In June 2023, his first production, Sophocles’ Antigone, was presented at the Théâtre du Soleil, as was his first performance at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Since September 2023, he has been an associate artist at the CDN – Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry, and winner of the FORTE program. In February 2024, he will present the second chapter of his triptych, Par les villages by Peter Handke, at the TQI, Centre Pompidou and Azimut.

Since leaving school, Sébastien Kheroufi has felt the need and urgency to create a historical, social and family fresco through a triptych spanning our different generations. His starting point is the grandparents and the Algerian war in the 60s, Sophocles’ Antigone and Ismene’s exile, and France and its large housing estates. Then to question parents and the 90s, through Nova and Peter Handke’s Par les villages. And finally, the third chapter. That of the children. Children’s scars. Writing so as not to forget. His residency at Villa Médicis will enable him to put down the first words. He wants to question our history, find the right words, far from fantasies and clichés, go beyond the permanent illegitimacy that keeps us from writing, and thus participate in the creation of the missing narratives.