Loraine Pernet and Thies Stéphane

Photo: Francesca Palazzi

Loraine has always been fascinated by the theatre and doesn't know where this fascination comes from, as she grew up in a family that had nothing to do with this milieu. Even as a little girl, she gets on the nerves of her classmates because she asks them to take on the roles in the plays she writes and wants to perform for the rest of the pupils. She knows exactly what she wants to do when she grows up and is lucky enough to be accepted at the Théâtre des Teintureries school in Lausanne at the age of 18. After graduating in 2008, she seized every opportunity to work in a theatre and learned the profession of director/illuminator. She has been working as a street artist in French-speaking Switzerland since 2009. In 2012, she founded her own company, The Big Bang Company, which alternates between street, children's and dedicated theatre. She has also been working as an animator for the Magic Lantern for over ten years and is a member of the GNUNN'S, four clowns who play tricks on French and French-speaking Swiss audiences. With all these activities combined, she performs around 100 shows a year. She also founded La Rue se faufile at La Filature in La Sarraz, a festival entirely dedicated to street art. It will celebrate its third anniversary in September 2024.

Photo: Eve Mittempergher

Born in Delémont, where he also lives, Stéphane Thies started out in industrial mechanics before turning to acting. He completed his training at the Cours Florent in Paris in 2009 and directed "Angelo, tyran de Padoue" by Victor Hugo at the Théâtre de la Jonquière in Paris in 2010. In 2012, he joined the Compagnie Théâtre Français International as an actor and toured Europe for three years (Italy, England, Spain), where he helped to promote the French language in primary schools and lower and upper secondary schools. Back in Switzerland in 2015, driven by the desire to create a different connection with the audience, he trained in animation and theatre mediation. From 2016 to 2020, he worked as a theatre educator at Cours de Miracles in Delémont, a foundation specializing in theatre animation. In 2020, he founded the Compagnie jeune public En Boîte.