Pénélope Biessy.
FR/EN

Pénélope Biessy

Writer·Director·Script consultant·Stage director

I design immersive worlds and stage experiences in which the audience becomes the anchor point of the story, from the theatre stage to virtual reality.

Current projects

2025, in development

Immersive VR / mixed-reality odyssey created with Circus Baobab, Guinea's celebrated circus troupe.

Writer & director

2026, in development

A single city that contains all the others. Fiction, currently being written.

Writer & director

2026, in development

After Ravel & Colette: the audience falls into the Child's body for a labyrinthine journey through the wings.

Adaptation & direction

In development

Interactive Kinect installation: gestures awaken memories made of particles.

Script consultant

Clients

ChanelAtelier DarumaSokanDark EuphoriaSmall CreativeTell Me The StoryAudemars PiguetDreamScapeAlbyonDiverSSityAlgorithmMoulla MagicBiennale di Venezia
01Bio01/07

Who I am

The dramaturgy of space, actor direction, a feel for the stage: these are the tools of theatre, and they work wherever there is a spectator.

For more than ten years I worked alongside directors as an artistic collaborator, dramaturge and assistant. I then founded my own company and directed my own productions, before discovering virtual reality.

Since then I have been writing, directing and supporting other writers' work for studios in France and across Europe, in many formats: theatre, virtual and mixed reality, interactive installations, live performance, video games.

Pénélope Biessy

Portrait of Pénélope Biessy
Pénélope Biessy, Paris
02My own work02/07

Writing & directing

The works whose text and staging are mine.

In progress

IGOO, Circus Baobab acrobats on a bamboo pole under stage lights IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show IGOO, another image of the Circus Baobab show Photo · Circus Baobab

2025, in development

IGOO

Immersive circus · VR / mixed reality · With Circus Baobab

An immersive odyssey in virtual and mixed reality created with Circus Baobab, Guinea's celebrated circus troupe. The audience moves among the acrobats in the minutes before the show, carried by their collective energy; every glance, every object touched can open a passage to Conakry, where fragments of life and memory surface. IGOO aims to become the first immersive circus experience from Africa.

Artistic direction: Claire Allante. Produced by Sokan, with Circus Baobab.

Writer & director

CITTÀ, a night city whose script-covered façades are mirrored in the water CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series CITTÀ, another city from the series

2026, in development

CITTÀ

Fiction

It all begins here: a single city that contains all the others. Since the great upheavals, CITTÀ has been plunged into near-total darkness; people walk along deserted railway lines, secret schools teach underground, and the old languages survive only as murmurs on street corners. On its outskirts, each at its own hour, ephemeral cities wake, Aerea, Miragia, Reminisca, Ecolotopia, Luminaria.

Writer & director

L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, the Child alone in a theatre where the clock, the princess and the cats come alive L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, another set from the piece L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, another set from the piece L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, another set from the piece L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, another set from the piece L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, another set from the piece

2026, in development

L'Enfant et les Sortilèges

Immersive opera · After Ravel & Colette

Freely inspired by Ravel and Colette's opera, the piece keeps the score intact along with chosen fragments of the libretto, but moves the story into the heart of a theatre turned living organism, rigged with tricks and mysteries. It all begins in the auditorium, among the audience, until the Child's outburst on stage. When the objects awaken to strike back, the audience falls in turn into the Child's body and sinks into a labyrinthine journey through the wings, where the Clock, the Fire, the Princess, the Numbers, the Animals and the Tree surge up, a stage machinery that jams and shifts shape at every step, until the final word: "Maman".

Adaptation & direction

Past

Magic 600, magician holding a luminous tube on stagePhoto · Thomas O'Brien

2022-2023

Magic 600

New magic · Moulla Magic · La Scala Provence, Avignon Festival

A new-magic show co-created with Moulla Magic, where calculation and illusion become dramatic material.

Writer & dramaturge

Theatre, directed by Pénélope Biessy

Blood Wedding, dark stage, chandelier of lights and figures in redPhoto · Astrid Biessy

2017

Blood Wedding

By Federico García Lorca, directed by Pénélope Biessy.
Premiered at Comédie Poitou-Charentes.

With Anne Le Coutour, Théodora Marcadé, Charlie Fabert, Solal Perret-Forte, Pia Lagrange, Ariane Blaise, Martine Legrand · Set design Clémence Bezat · Costumes and props Hugo Bardin, Anastasia Canellias · Lighting Anna Geneste · Sound Boris Kulenovic · Produced by Compagnie Premier Cri.

Hunting Scenes from Bavaria, actress standing on a tyre against a brick wallPhoto · Astrid Biessy

2015

Hunting Scenes from Bavaria

By Martin Sperr, directed by Pénélope Biessy.
Premiered at Anis Gras, Théâtre de Belleville.

With Ariane Blaise, Elsa Boyaval, Marthe Fieschi, Lisa Kramarz, Martine Legrand, Paul-Frédéric Manolis, Laurent Prache, Jérôme Wirtz · Produced by Compagnie Premier Cri.

03Support03/07

Artistic collaborations

I work with studios and writers on structure, character and the dramaturgy of space, from the first note of intent to the playable build.

In progress

Dusted, the title and a silhouette drawn by clouds of coloured particlesPhoto · Léon Denise

In development

Dusted

Interactive installation · Kinect

“You no longer know what day it is, you're always looking for your glasses and you've forgotten your daughter's name.” Dusted invites you to dust off the memories left abandoned in a house. The visitor moves through a fragmented memory: gestures captured by a Kinect trigger swirls of particles, fragments of recollection that rise and vanish. Rooms turn into shifting, unstable scenes, and the contrast between monochrome particles and the vivid hues of reconstructed memories stages the struggle between remembering and forgetting.

Written and directed by Céline Signoret, design by Léon Denise. Music by Jean Kapsa, sound design by Rodolphe Macabéo.

Script consultant

Past

Le Petit Prince, augmented stage design with luminous blue drawingsPhoto · Thomas O'Brien

2023

Le Petit Prince

Augmented stage design created with Moulla Magic, La Scala Paris.
Role: associate artistic director.

My Magic Room, isometric 3D bedroom with plants and an avatar

2024-2025

My Magic Room

MR / VR video game for teenagers on the autism spectrum, produced by DiverSSity, with Allison Crank. Role: narrative designer.

Poster of Rencontre(s), a VR experience produced by Chanel

2021

Rencontre(s)

VR theatrical experience developed by Atelier Daruma and produced by Chanel, premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
Role: artistic collaborator.

Limits VR, nocturnal virtual set with silhouettes and screens in a clearingPhoto · Simon De Diesbach

2025

Limits VR

VR work directed by Simon De Diesbach, produced by Dark Euphoria & Tell Me The Story.
Role: script consultant.

04Companionships04/07

Theatre collaborations

Fifteen years of artistic companionship with James Thierrée, Zabou Breitman, Luc Bondy, Marc Paquien, Dan Jemmett and Fabrice Murgia.

La Grenouille avait raison, an aerialist suspended above a stage of candlesPhoto · Richard Haughton

2016

La Grenouille avait raison

Created by James Thierrée, director's assistant.
Premiered at Théâtre de Carouge, Geneva.

Logiquimperturbabledufou, four performers in rabbit masks seated on a benchPhoto · Pascal Victor / ArtComArt

2017

Logiquimperturbabledufou

Directed by Zabou Breitman, director's assistant.
Premiered at Théâtre Liberté, Toulon.

Other productions

2019 La Dame de chez Maxim Directed by Zabou Breitman, director's assistant Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin
2019 Poil de carotte Directed by Zabou Breitman, director's assistant Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier
2013 Les Enfants de Jéhovah Directed by Fabrice Murgia, director's assistant Théâtre National de Bruxelles
2011 The Chairs Directed by Luc Bondy, director's assistant Théâtre des Amandiers, Nanterre
n.d. Encore une journée divine Directed by Emmanuel Noblet, with François Cluzet, assistant & coach Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens
n.d. Comment vous racontez la partie Yasmina Reza, director's assistant & dramaturge Théâtre Liberté, Scène nationale de Toulon
n.d. La Locandiera · Et jamais nous ne serons séparés Directed by Marc Paquien, director's assistant Théâtre de l'Œuvre, Paris, Théâtre de Carouge
n.d. Billy the Kid · The Comedy of Errors · Ubu enchaîné Directed by Dan Jemmett, director's assistant Les Bouffes du Nord, Athénée Louis-Jouvet, Paris
05Expertise05/07

What I bring to a project

I

Writing & dramaturgy

Script, structure, character, dialogues. Building a story that holds when the audience is free to look elsewhere, and turning that freedom into dramatic fuel.

II

XR script consulting

Dramaturgy of space, visitor journey, rhythm and interaction. Translating an intention into a system: what you see, what you choose, what happens next.

III

Artistic & actor direction

Holding the sensitive coherence of a work, from the first note of intent to the room itself. Directing performers, working with technical teams, keeping a production on course.

  • Virtual reality
  • Mixed reality
  • Interactive installations
  • Video games
  • FullDome
  • Immersive theatre
  • Live performance
  • New magic
  • Augmented stage design
  • Actor direction
  • Creative writing
  • Story development
06Background06/07

Milestones

Experience

2025Writer & directorIGOO, immersive circus in VR / mixed reality with Circus Baobab
2026Writer & directorCITTÀ, fiction, currently being written, seeking funding
2026Adaptation & directionL'Enfant et les Sortilèges, immersive opera after Ravel & Colette, seeking funding
2022-2025Script consultantLimits VR (Tell Me The Story & Dark Euphoria) · Dusted · Audemars Piguet VR experience (DreamScape & Albyon)
2024-2025Narrative designerMy Magic Room, produced by DiverSSity
2023Writer & directorMagic 600, produced by Moulla Magic · FullDome project for Algorithm studio (Ireland) · VR fiction with Small Creative
2020-2022Artistic collaboratorRencontre(s), Atelier Daruma & Chanel, presented at the 79th Venice International Film Festival
2011-2022Artistic collaborator, dramaturge & director's assistantJames Thierrée · Zabou Breitman · Luc Bondy · Marc Paquien · Dan Jemmett · Fabrice Murgia · Emmanuel Noblet
2015Company founderTwo productions directed: Hunting Scenes from Bavaria (2015) and Blood Wedding (2017)

Teaching

2021 & 2025Story Development TutorBiennale College Cinema, Venice

Education

2011-2013Studio Théâtre d'AsnièresActing & dramatic art training
2010-2012Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris 3BA in Theatre Studies
2009Lycée Victor Hugo, Paris IVBaccalauréat L, theatre option, with honours

Languages

FrenchNative
EnglishFluent
ItalianFluent
SpanishBasics
07Contact07/07

A project, an intuition, a commission?

Write to me.

penelopebiessy@gmail.com
+33 6 78 85 19 33 Paris, France LinkedIn Download CV Portfolio (PDF)