New writing

presented by guest artist Caroline Guiela Nguyen and fellow Elitza Gueorguieva

17.04.2026

Artists
Bili Bellegarde
Elitza Gueorguieva
Caroline Guiela Nguyen
Mascare

As part of a day dedicated to new forms of writing, Villa Medici presents the latest play by director Caroline Guiela Nguyen, followed by a performance reading proposed by fellow Elitza Gueorguieva, she has invited the musicians Billi Bellegarde and Mascare to take part in a musical exploration of the text she is currently writing.

Villa Medici is celebrating autobiographical writing with two brand-new performances. The guest artist Caroline Guiela Nguyen is unveiling a new production. With numerous successes, like SAIGON at Lacrimosa to FRATERNITE and Conte fantastique, the director of the Théâtre National de Strasbourg presents her new show: MELODRAME.
“Regarding pain, it is important to warn you that it will provoke a conflict of ‘reality’ within this framework. Indeed, the violence of the story has left such a mark on them that even today, when they tell it to me, it feels as though I can touch History, as though it were unfolding right there, before us. Some might speak of trauma or reminiscence, but as I am wary of the diagnoses applied to my family, I would rather speak to you about the Vietnamese language, for in this language there is no conjugation. Neither past nor future. One could therefore say that, whatever happens, everything is always in the present.” (Caroline Guiela Nguyen, MELODRAME, 2026)

Fellow Elitza Gueorguieva explores the themes and techniques of autofiction. She invited Mascare and Bili to join her for a musical experiment based on a text she is currently writing, partly inspired by her French citizenship interview. During that interview, the Prefecture official had given her a week to provide proof of her employment. Instead of complying, she immersed herself in the archives of a port city, where she discovered traces of a certain woman R.M., whose application for naturalisation had been rejected in 1939. This discovery would form the basis of a tragicomic text centred on a key question: what is a ‘useful woman’?

The literary evening is preceded by a seminar organised by the Department of Foreign Literature at Università Roma Tre, taking place on the same day at Villa Medici.

Literature

Elitza Gueorguieva

Elitza Gueorguieva (1982, Bulgaria) lives near Paris, where she devotes herself to documentary film, literature and stage performance. Her accent, oscillating between a singular gentleness and southern intonations – particularly on the words content and Pantin – permeates her writing, done directly in French. Her books include Odyssée des filles de l’Est (Prix Frontières 2025 ) and Les cosmonautes ne font que passer (Prix SGDL du premier roman / Prix Folio des lycéens de la région Centre/ sur les listes du Prix Flore), both published by Éditions Verticales (2016 and 2024). She directed the films Chaque mur est une porte (Cinéma du réel, 2017) and Notre endroit silencieux (Visions du réel, 2021), produced by Les Films du Bilboquet and widely distributed and awarded at...

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Theater

Caroline Guiela Nguyen

Caroline Guiela Nguyen, a French director of the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, writer, and producer, subtly blends theatre and collective memory. His dramatic works draw inspiration from real life and personal stories, bringing together actors and actresses from a variety of social, geographical, cultural and spiritual backgrounds. SAIGON was presented in 2017 at the 71st Avignon Festival. FRATERNITÉ, Conte fantastique is the second instalment in the FRATERNITÉ cycle, which currently comprises two other works: the short film Les Engloutis (2021) and the play L’Enfance, la Nuit, created at the Schaubühne in 2022.

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Theater

Cabaret La Bouche – Bili

Bili Bellegarde is a singer and cabaret artist. She performs at Madame Arthur’s and at La Bouche cabaret, which she co-founded. In 2024, she released Dyke, her first pop and lyrical EP. Her piano-voice solo of the same name, created in 2025, is playing this season at Les Trois Baudets in Paris. Since 2018, she has formed the duo Namoro with Mascare.

Theater

Cabaret La Bouche – Mascare

Mascare is a multi-faceted artist, an actress who has appeared in plays by Despentes, a member of the self-managed cabaret La Bouche and a DJ. She is the author of a thesis on Didier-Georges Gabily. BELGAZOU is her first book, published by Corti. With Bili Bellegarde, she forms the Namoro duo, which sets minority poetry texts to music.

Practical information

Friday, April 17
6:30 pm – 7 pm Restitution of Caroline Guiela Nguyen‘s residency project
Salon de Musique Villa Medici
Reading in French
Free: reservation

7pm – 8pm Performance by fellow Elitza Gueorguieva
Grand Salon Villa Medici
Performance in French
Free: reservation

To attend all the events, you will need to book two tickets, one for each event.

These performances form part of the seminar The Self in Question(s): New Writings on the Self, Essay and Autotheory (2000–2025), friday april 17 at Villa Medici.