Compagnie SIYAJ – Caribbean Theatre | Touring & International Partnerships

News & Agenda

Current Season

Upcoming

September 2026 · Dates TBC

HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde

Full Production · Fort Fleur d'Épée, Guadeloupe

New venue for the full-scale production of HDN, after Édouard Glissant — staged within the historic walls of Fort Fleur d'Épée.

▶ Watch the teaser

Autumn 2026 · Dates TBC

HDN – Mofwazaj

Nomadic Form · Schools circuit, Guadeloupe

Designed for non-dedicated spaces — no technical constraints.

The nomadic form of HDN resumes its secondary schools circuit in Guadeloupe under the Pass Culture / ADAGE programme.

With Varenthia Antoine · Harry Baltus · Lucile Kancel · Klod Kiavué

Recent events

Research Support Programme

Work-in-progress presentation · Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale

Anacaona et l'astre solaire

Performance-staged reading by Gilbert Laumord

Within Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale's Research Support Programme — Martinique's national-label performing arts centre — and Compagnie SIYAJ's The Léwòz Method, at the crossroads of tradition and innovation (RAAT agreement 2025–2027), Gilbert Laumord presented a performance-staged reading drawn from his interdisciplinary dramaturgical research project — Anacaona et l'astre solaire — staged by Gilbert Laumord.

With Klod Kiavué, Joël Des Rosiers and Gilbert Laumord · Season 2025–2026

Date

Wednesday 27 May 2026 · 7:00 PM

Venue

Salle La Terrasse — Tropiques Atrium

Tuesday 19 May 2026 · 1:30–6:00 PM

Talam Amba Fèy

Student workshop showcase · Université des Antilles — Guadeloupe Campus

Compagnie SIYAJ is associated with this student showcase organised by the Mission Vie des Campus, in collaboration with SUAPS and BDE.

Venue · Amphithéâtre Gerty Archimède · UFR Roger Toumson · Saint-Claude

Saturday 30 May 2026 · 9:00 AM–5:00 PM

Dire pour exister

Oratory workshop — Léwòz Method · Association Wakalite

Dr Gilbert Laumord leads this full-day oratory workshop, organised by Association Wakalite.

Venue · Local de Mas a Wobè · Pied du Morne Lacrosse · Les Abymes

The Company

SIYAJ — wake in Creole

Founded in Guadeloupe in 2002 by Gilbert Laumord and Elvia Gutiérrez, Compagnie SIYAJ is a Caribbean producing company whose work spans original creation, doctoral research and international touring across four continents. Supported by the French Ministry of Culture (DAC Guadeloupe) under a multi-year convention, the company has performed across four continents and maintained sustained partnerships with major cultural institutions in North America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

The company's work is grounded in the Méthode Léwòz — an original performance methodology developed by artistic director Gilbert Laumord through a decade of doctoral research (Ph.D., Université du Québec à Montréal, 2025). Drawing on the ancestral Gwoka drumming ritual of Guadeloupe, Édouard Glissant's philosophy of creolisation, and the Creole oral tradition, the method provides a rigorous framework for intercultural collaboration and immersive audience engagement.

Over twenty years, SIYAJ has produced ten major works, toured extensively — the Caribbean, France, the United States, Cuba, Korea, Africa — and developed lasting co-production and research partnerships with institutions including L'Artchipel Scène Nationale, Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale, the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (CUNY, New York) and K'Arts — Korea National University of Arts (Seoul). The Ministry of Culture currently funds the research project La Méthode Léwòz au croisement de tradition et innovation (RAAT convention 2025–2027).

A theatre of the Tout-Monde — rooted in the Caribbean, open to the world.

+20

years of Caribbean creation

international distinctions

touring territories in 2025

working languages — Creole, FR, ES, EN, KO

Artistic Director

Gilbert Laumord

Gilbert Laumord is a Guadeloupean actor, playwright, director and researcher — founder and artistic director of Compagnie SIYAJ since 2002. A leading voice in contemporary Caribbean theatre, he has worked across four continents as a performer, pedagogue and scholar, and holds a Ph.D. in Arts Studies and Practice from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2025).

Trained at the Statens Teaterskole — National Theatre School of Denmark (Copenhagen, 1974–1978), he built a career spanning European theatre and television before returning to Guadeloupe in the early 1980s, where he immersed himself in traditional Gwoka music and dance practice at the Akadémi du Ka (1997–2000). This encounter with the Léwòz ritual became the foundation of a lifelong body of artistic and scholarly work.

He has taught drama and led masterclasses at universities across the United States — including the University of Georgia, DePaul University, Loyola University New Orleans, Bowdoin College and the University of Virginia — and served as visiting professor at K'Arts — Korea National University of Arts (Seoul) for two consecutive semesters.

As a performer, he has appeared in some twenty theatre productions and around ten film and television works. In 2024, he took the title role in Maryse Legagneur's Quebec feature film Le dernier repas, which went on to receive more than fifteen international awards including the Grand Prix at the Festival de cinéma de Québec and the Marimbas Award (Grand Jury Prize) at the Miami International Film Festival.

Stage credits (performer)

Under the direction of Sonia Emmanuelle (An tan révolisyon, M. Condé), Alain Timar (Lettres Indiennes, G. Dambury; Inventaire d'une mélancolie, P. Chamoiseau), Greg Germain (Le Balcon, J. Genet), Alain Verspan (Zoo Story, E. Albee), Gerty Dambury (Carêmes), Serge Barbuscia (Marche, C. Petr), among others.

Screen credits

Claude Chabrol (Rien ne va plus), A. Abela (Makibefo), Kasper Rostrup (Le Misanthrope), Pierre Unia (Cœur de couleur), Raoul Sangla, Jean Labib; and the lead role in Maryse Legagneur's Le dernier repas (2024, +15 international awards).

Directing & writing

An Siyaj a lavi (2002) · Avec le temps – Con el tiempo (2003) · Andidan Lawonn-la (2006) · Word trilogy: Chante-moi un conte (2010), L'Épreuve de Virjilan (2013), Le Sac de Litha (2017) · HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde (2022).

Teaching & residencies

Guest lecturer and workshop leader: University of Georgia, DePaul University (Chicago), Bowdoin College, Bates College, University of Louisville, Loyola University New Orleans, University of Virginia, University of Indianapolis. Visiting professor: K'Arts — Korea National University of Arts, Seoul (two semesters, 2017). Invited by UNEAC and the International Theatre Festival of Havana, Cuba.

Doctoral research

Ph.D. in Arts Studies and Practice, Université du Québec à Montréal (2015–2025). Thesis: La méthode Léwòz pour une esthétique théâtrale. Grade: Excellent. Approved November 2024; degree conferred April 2025. Access the thesis →

Ph.D. in Arts Studies and Practice — Université du Québec à Montréal, April 2025 · Thesis: La méthode Léwòz pour une esthétique théâtrale · Grade: Excellent

2008Prix Mackandal — Cuban Ministry of Culture, for his contribution to Caribbean culture

2016Best Actor — Festival Nacional de Cine, Barquisimeto, Venezuela

Available for Touring

Current Productions

Two touring formats available · Seasons 2026–2027

Two configurations to match different venues, territories and budgets.

Full production · Available for touring

HDN — Opéra d'un Tout Monde

After Histoire de Nègre (Tale of Black Histories) by Édouard Glissant

↓ View production photos

HDN is a total artwork — theatre, Gwoka music, song, dance, Mas and video — and a fully realised Caribbean opera in the tradition of the Léwòz ritual. Adapted and directed by Gilbert Laumord after Édouard Glissant's Histoire de Nègre (Tale of Black Histories), the work traces an epic journey from Africa to the Americas, drawing on Creole oral tradition, ceremonial chant and the ancestral Gwoka drum.

25 members of Voukoum Mouvman Kiltirèl Gwadloup — one of Guadeloupe's foremost traditional performing groups — participate in every performance: Gwoka drummers, singers, Mas Boukliyé carriers, collaborating performers and children. Their presence makes each performance a unique community event, rooted in Guadeloupe's living cultural heritage. It is this collective, ritual dimension that makes HDN an opera in the fullest sense — a work that mobilises an entire community around an act of artistic and collective memory.

Co-production: L'Artchipel Scène Nationale de Guadeloupe, Centre Culturel de Sonis · Artistic partnership: Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale.

AudienceAges 11 and above

Running time1h20

Touring2026–2027 · National & international touring

SurtitlingEnglish & Spanish available · Other languages upon request

For international touring, 13 of the Voukoum collaborating performers can be replaced by local participants trained on site through preparatory workshops led by the company — reducing travel costs while creating a strong community engagement dimension at each venue. · Surtitling available in English and Spanish; other languages considered upon request.

▶ Watch the teaser ↓ Download the touring dossier (French) Technical rider & English summary available upon request — siyaj.fwi@gmail.com

Nomadic format · Available from September 2026

HDN — Mofwazaj

School and community touring format

A stripped-back, site-flexible version of HDN, conceived for schools, community venues and non-traditional performance spaces. No technical infrastructure required. Participatory and immersive: the piece draws audiences into the circle of the Lawonn, the central ritual structure of the Léwòz Method.

AudienceAges 11 and above

Running time1h

TerritoriesGuadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Metropolitan France · International

SurtitlingEnglish & Spanish available · Other languages upon request

HDN is a living work: it adapts to the spaces, communities and collaborating artists it encounters — each presentation generating a new dialogue between Caribbean intangible cultural heritage and the specific context of the receiving venue.

Since its premiere at L'Artchipel Scène Nationale de Guadeloupe, the work has evolved continuously. The original staging — a fully closed circle that placed audiences at the centre of the Lawonn ritual — opened progressively in response to each successive venue: at Centre Culturel Sonis and the Palais de la Culture Félix Proto, a semicircular arrangement extended capacity while preserving the intimacy of the performer-audience relationship.

At Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale (Martinique, May 2024), the Martinican percussion ensemble Tanbou Bô Kannal and student performers from the Tropiques Atrium theatre workshop were integrated into the company. On 27 May 2025, as part of the Month of Memory programme, the production occupied the facade and grounds of the MACTe museum (Guadeloupe) in a large-scale outdoor adaptation, with theatre students from the Université des Antilles performing alongside the professional company.

This capacity for site-responsive adaptation makes HDN particularly suited to festival contexts, heritage sites and venues with strong community engagement programmes.

Production Gallery

HDN — Production photos

HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde · © VIRAPIN.Ph unless otherwise stated

Harry Baltus, Varenthia Antoine and Lucile Kancel

Harry Baltus, Varenthia Antoine, Lucile Kancel — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Lucile Kancel — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Harry Baltus, Varenthia Antoine — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Voukoum Mouvman Kiltirèl Gwadloup — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Teaser — HDN

Harry Baltus — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Lucile Kancel, Varenthia Antoine, Harry Baltus — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Varenthia Antoine — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Voukoum Mouvman Kiltirèl Gwadloup — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Varenthia Antoine, Harry Baltus, Lucile Kancel — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Voukoum Mouvman Kiltirèl Gwadloup — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Voukoum — Mas Boukliyé

↗ The symbolism of the Mas

Voukoum Mouvman Kiltirèl Gwadloup — one of Guadeloupe's foremost cultural organisations — contributed an integral artistic collaboration to HDN. The Mas Boukliyé (Shields) performers, whose bodies are instruments encoding memory and resistance, brought the living tradition of Gwoka masquerade into full dialogue with the production's theatrical dramaturgy.

Voukoum — Mas Boukliyé — © VIRAPIN.Ph

Voukoum — Mas Boukliyé — © Jean-Pierre Listoir

Artistic Research

The Léwòz Method

A performance methodology developed at the intersection of performance anthropology and theatre research. Grounded in three ancestral Guadeloupean ritual practices — the Léwòz, the Lawonn a Kontè (storytelling circle) and the funeral wake — it was theorised by Gilbert Laumord through ten years of doctoral research and applied to actor training, dramaturgy and intercultural collaboration. The method positions the ritual circle, the fully embodied performer and collective speech as the structural principles of theatrical making — and contributes, at the artistic level, to the decolonisation of the imagination.

The Lawonn — the ritual circle

Drawn from the Léwòz ceremony, the circle places the audience at the centre of the action — dissolving the conventional separation between stage and spectator, and activating the sacred space of the Gwoka drum.

The body as instrument

Voice, gesture, Ka drumming, boulagyèl chant — every register of the body is engaged as a creative and communicative tool, demanding active physical and emotional commitment from all performers.

Collective enunciation

The spectator is not a passive observer but a co-author of the event — invited into the historical and cultural narrative, called to respond, to remember, to act. Shared speech is the work's political and aesthetic foundation.

✦

Doctoral thesis — UQAM Montréal, April 2025

La méthode Léwòz pour une esthétique théâtrale — Gilbert Laumord, Ph.D. in Arts Studies and Practice, Université du Québec à Montréal. Grade: Excellent. The thesis provides the theoretical framework for SIYAJ's practice and articulates the method's contribution to Caribbean performance scholarship, performance anthropology and the transmission of Gwoka intangible cultural heritage. Access the thesis →

Scholarly Engagement

Compagnie SIYAJ has been the subject of sustained scholarly attention within Francophone Caribbean performance studies. Stéphanie Bérard produced the first critical analysis of Gilbert Laumord's work and has since developed an ongoing research collaboration with the company. Emily Sahakian's partnership — which includes serving as dramaturgical advisor on HDN — reflects the centrality of SIYAJ's work to the field.

Stéphanie Bérard

Specialist in Francophone Caribbean theatre · Ph.D., University of Minnesota / Université de Provence · NEH Fellow · Marie Curie Fellow (European Union)

Author of Théâtres des Antilles : traditions et scènes contemporaines (L'Harmattan, 2009) and Le Théâtre-Monde de José Pliya (Honoré Champion, 2015). Co-editor of Émergences Caraïbes : une création théâtrale archipélique (Africultures, 2010). Director of the ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales project — co-developed with Compagnie SIYAJ, Frank Hentschker (Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY, New York) and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York — which presented six contemporary Caribbean plays in English translation for the first time in the United States (December 2019). Co-editor of the resulting anthology New Plays from the Caribbean (Martin Segal Theatre Center Publications, 2022).

Théâtres des Antilles (2009) Émergences Caraïbes (2010) Review: Comme deux frères Review: Marche Interview — Avignon 2007

Emily Sahakian

Associate Professor of Theatre and French · University of Georgia · Dramaturgical advisor — HDN, Opéra d'un Tout Monde

Her research sits at the intersection of postcolonial theory and Francophone Caribbean dramaturgy. She has been an active collaborator and research partner of Compagnie SIYAJ, most recently as dramaturgical advisor on HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde.

Selected publications

"Édouard Glissant's Decolonial Theatre Practice: Histoire de nègre (Tale of Black Histories)," L'Esprit Créateur 62, 2 (Summer 2022): 15–31.
"LénaBlou and Gilbert Laumord: Reactivating History through Contemporary Caribbean Performance," in Colonialism and Slavery in Performance: Theatre and the Eighteenth-Century French Caribbean, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, 2021.
Review of Chante moi un conte, conte moi une chanson, dir. Gilbert Laumord, Theatre Journal 66, 1 (March 2014): 139–41.
Tale of Black Histories →
Theatre and Revolution: Global Perspectives on Performance (ed.) →

Education & Outreach

All of SIYAJ's education and outreach work is rooted in the Léwòz Method — the performance methodology developed by Gilbert Laumord through his doctoral research. Whether in higher education, professional masterclasses or schools programmes, the workshops draw directly on the same ritual, embodied and collective principles that structure the company's stage work. Transmission is not an add-on to the artistic project: it is one of its core expressions.

Higher Education

Université des Antilles — Guadeloupe Campus

Compagnie SIYAJ collaborates with the Université des Antilles — Guadeloupe Campus through a sustained programme of theatre workshops led by Gilbert Laumord. Grounded in the Léwòz Method, these workshops go beyond skills training: they immerse students in a rigorous performance practice in which body, voice and the ritual of collective speech become tools for genuine scenic presence.

This academic partnership culminates in professional performance contexts. On 27 May 2025, as part of the Month of Memory programme, student performers were integrated into the cast of HDN — Opéra d'un Tout Monde at the MACTe museum (Guadeloupe), performing alongside the professional company in a large-scale outdoor adaptation. The collaboration exemplifies SIYAJ's understanding of transmission: not as training for performance, but as a full artistic act in itself.

Professional Workshops & Masterclasses

Seminar — The Léwòz Method

Led by Dr Gilbert Laumord. A theoretical and practical presentation of the Léwòz Method, drawing on his doctoral thesis La méthode Léwòz pour une esthétique théâtrale (Ph.D., UQAM, 2025). Open to educators, performing arts professionals and cultural programmers.

Masterclass — Léwòz Method

Led by Dr Gilbert Laumord. An intensive practical immersion in the Léwòz Method, for performing arts practitioners and advanced students. Explores the intra-lawonn, full-body engagement and collective enunciation as core elements of the creative process.

Schools & Community Outreach

Linked to performances of HDN – Mofwazaj, Compagnie SIYAJ offers a programme of workshops and sensitisation activities designed for secondary school students, developed in close consultation with teaching staff.

Performance & presence

Body in play, stage presence and improvisation within the Lawonn circle. Integrates Caribbean intangible cultural heritage as living artistic material.

Oral tradition & voice

Creole storytelling and vocal percussion rooted in the Guadeloupean tradition. Exploring the voice as an instrument of artistic creation and collective memory.

Post-show discussion

Facilitated with classroom teachers. Connecting Glissant's literary and philosophical work to local, Caribbean and world history — a structured space for analysis and exchange.

From page to stage

An introduction to the dramaturgy of HDN: how a work moves from literary source to performance, and how Caribbean intangible heritage becomes the material of contemporary theatre.

Target audience: Secondary school students, ages 11 and above — Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana. All workshops are designed in consultation with teaching staff and aligned with national curriculum frameworks.

French History Civic education Art history Theatre option

Cinema & Public Programmes

Screening with post-film discussion

The Last Meal — Le dernier repas

Directed by Maryse Legagneur — Quebec, 2024, 1h51

▶ Watch the trailer

Reynold, a Haitian former political prisoner who survived the Duvalier dictatorship, is dying of cancer. He shares his last meals with his estranged daughter, not seen for twenty years. As traditional dishes are served, suppressed memories of political violence resurface. Gilbert Laumord's performance in the title role has been unanimously recognised by international critics for its precision and emotional depth.

International recognition — 15+ awards

✦ Grand Prix — Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec (2024)

✦ Best Feature Film — Festival International du Film Black de Montréal (2024)

✦ Marimbas Award (Grand Jury Prize) — Miami International Film Festival (2025)

✦ Best First Feature — Kingston Canadian Film Festival (2025)

✦ Best Feature Film — Caribbean Tales Film Festival, Toronto (2025)

✦ Grand Jury Prize — Cinéstar International Film Festival, Guadeloupe (2025)

✦ Yellow Robin Award — Curaçao International Film Festival (2026)

A Compagnie SIYAJ public programme

Named ambassador for the film's local distribution, Gilbert Laumord and Compagnie SIYAJ propose a public screening followed by an artist discussion — an event suited to cinema venues, universities, cultural centres and festivals.

Enquire about a screening

Twenty Years of Work

Repertoire & Archive

Since 2002, Compagnie SIYAJ has produced ten major works, performed across six territories and four continents. A selective timeline of the company's creative history.

2022 — present

HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde

A Caribbean opera — theatre, Gwoka music, song, dance, Mas and video — after Histoire de Nègre by Édouard Glissant · Adapted and directed by Gilbert Laumord · Dramaturgical advisor: Emily Sahakian · With the integrated artistic collaboration of 25 members of Voukoum Mouvman Kiltirèl Gwadloup
Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: L'Artchipel Scène Nationale Guadeloupe, Centre Culturel Sonis Cap Excellence · Artistic partnership: Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale Martinique

2017

View gallery

Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: K'Arts Theater Platform, Korea National University of Arts, Seoul · Centre Culturel Sonis Cap Excellence

Le Sac de Litha

A poetic and musical voyage across the Caribbean Sea

Written and directed by Gilbert Laumord · Associate director: Junho Choé

2015

View gallery

Production: Théâtre du Balcon, Avignon · Co-production: Compagnie SIYAJ

Marche

Text by Christian Petr · Directed by Serge Barbuscia · Festival Off Avignon

2013

View gallery

Word trilogy · Production: Compagnie SIYAJ

L'Épreuve de Virjilan

Written and directed by Gilbert Laumord and Daniel Marcelin · "Language can bless but also curse…"

2010

View gallery

Word trilogy · Production: Compagnie SIYAJ

Chante-moi un conte, conte-moi une chanson

"Too many words can lose a man"

Written and directed by Gilbert Laumord · Creole-French and Creole-Spanish versions

2007

View gallery

Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: L'Artchipel Scène Nationale Guadeloupe, CMAC Scène Nationale Martinique

Comme deux frères

Text by Maryse Condé · Dramaturgical adaptation: José Pliya · Directed by José Exélis

2006

View gallery

Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: CMAC Scène Nationale Martinique

Andidan Lawonn-la

Text by Joby Bernabé and Gilbert Laumord · Directed by Gilbert Laumord · Musical direction: Klod Kiavué

2006

Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: Usine de Beauport

Matouba 1802, une guerre perdue

Written and directed by Antonio Diaz Florian · With Jacqueline Etienne, Gilbert Laumord and Yemouna · Poster: Painting by Antoine Nabajoth

2004

View gallery

Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: Teatro Caribeño de Cuba, L'Artchipel Scène Nationale Guadeloupe

El Venerable

Written and directed by Eugenio Hernández Espinosa · In Spanish with French surtitles · Guadeloupe – Cuba

2003

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Production: Compagnie SIYAJ · Co-production: Teatro Caribeño de Cuba

Avec le temps… Con el tiempo

Text by Gilbert Laumord · Directed by Eugenio Hernández Espinosa · Creole-French and Creole-Spanish versions

International Presence

Island roots, world stage — SIYAJ internationally

Over more than twenty years, Compagnie SIYAJ has built sustained partnerships with institutions and artists across four continents — touring productions, developing co-creations, contributing to festivals and academic programmes.

Ongoing · Academic research partnerships

Masterclasses, seminars, residencies and touring of the SIYAJ repertoire in partnership with scholars Stéphanie Bérard and Emily Sahakian — a sustained intellectual and artistic collaboration documented through major publications on Caribbean theatre.

2025

New York · Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY

Lettres Caribéennes

In partnership with Macha Productions and with the support of Compagnie SIYAJ, the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented Lettres Caribéennes (10 November 2025) — a staged reading bringing into dialogue the voices of Gilda Gonfier, Maryse Condé and Édouard Glissant across generations. Directed by Magali Solignat; performed by Gilbert Laumord and Keith Joseph Adkins; followed by a public roundtable.

The Caribbean Theatre Project →

2019

New York · Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY

ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales

Directed by Stéphanie Bérard and co-developed with Compagnie SIYAJ, Frank Hentschker (Martin E. Segal Theatre Center) and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York. Six contemporary plays from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti were presented in English translation for the first time on American stages (December 2019) — by American companies and universities, in the presence of the authors. Works subsequently published in the anthology New Plays from the Caribbean (Martin Segal Theatre Center Publications, 2022).

Despite New York's significant Caribbean diaspora, these dramaturgies had remained largely absent from the city's stages. The project opened a sustained cultural and academic bridge between the Francophone Caribbean and New York — one that Compagnie SIYAJ intends to continue developing.

Villa Albertine / French Culture

2017

Seoul, South Korea · K'Arts — Korea National University of Arts

Le Sac de Litha — Caribbean-Korean co-creation

Gilbert Laumord served as visiting professor at K'Arts for two consecutive semesters, leading workshops and co-creating Le Sac de Litha — an original production co-produced by the K'Arts Theater Platform, involving Korean student performers in a sustained creative process. The work toured in both Korea and Guadeloupe.

2007

Cuba — United States — France — Guadeloupe

Comme deux frères — International tour with Maryse Condé · Author's Week, Casa de las Américas

Maryse Condé — Author's Week · Casa de las Américas

Casa de las Américas — Havana

Maryse Condé · Casa de las Américas

Yo, Tituba, la bruja negra de Salem — Fondo Editorial Casa de las Américas, Havana

Comme deux frères — Lansman, 2007

Maryse Condé in Cuba — Read the article ↗

2004

Paris · Théâtre de l'Épée de Bois

Au delà des mers

SIYAJ convened four companies from Réunion, Martinique, Cuba and Guadeloupe in Paris — an early articulation of the company's commitment to Caribbean solidarity and cultural diplomacy in the spirit of Glissant's Tout-Monde.

2003

Cuba · Guadeloupe · Caribbean

Avec le temps… Con el tiempo — The founding partnership

SIYAJ's inaugural production, co-produced with Teatro Caribeño de Cuba (dir. Eugenio Hernández Espinosa). Performed in Creole-French and Creole-Spanish versions, it toured Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Lesser Antilles and Paris (Cartoucherie de Vincennes), and opened SIYAJ's lasting relationship with Casa de las Américas and Cuba's foremost cultural institutions.

The Team

The people behind SIYAJ

Co-founder

Elvia Gutiérrez

General Director & Producer

Franco-Mexican-American, Elvia Gutiérrez brings to SIYAJ a background forged across three continents. A graduate of San Francisco State University (BA, International Relations) and Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 (MA, International Relations — thesis: The dissemination of French culture in Latin America), she had already, before co-founding SIYAJ in 2002, worked in Paris, Tokyo, Caracas, Bogotá, Recife and Havana in theatre production, documentary and international cultural programming.

In partnering with Gilbert Laumord — whose artistic vision and multilingualism opened the same international horizons — she found the conditions to build, over twenty years, a project anchored in Guadeloupe and active across the Caribbean world and beyond.

Her prior experience spans: administrator of the École du Passage (Paris, dir. Niels Arestrup), where she managed professional actor training and academic exchanges with the Kyōgen School of Master Izumi (Tokyo); production manager for French Connection on Arte TV documentary series; production director of Orphée Noir (Moïse Touré, Festival IN Avignon 1998); and Latin American correspondent for Compagnie Off on the Carmen Opéra de rue tour — coordinating a 30-person team and 28 tonnes of equipment across Venezuela.

Within SIYAJ, she has been the primary driver of international partnerships: Cuba (Casa de las Américas), South Korea (K'Arts — Korea National University of Arts), Haiti and the United States — and of the editorial project New Plays from the Caribbean (Martin Segal Theatre Center Publications, 2022), produced from the ACT programme co-organised with the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (CUNY) and Stéphanie Bérard in 2019.

"From this back-and-forth between cultures, each project emerges with a renewed identity — richer and stronger." — E.G.

President · Volunteer

José Henry

President & Adviser — Compagnie SIYAJ

A long-standing figure in Guadeloupe's cultural sector, José Henry has served as president and adviser to SIYAJ since its founding, on a fully voluntary basis.

His career in the cultural sector spans the Salon du livre de Guadeloupe, the Centre des Arts, the Service de la Culture de Pointe-à-Pitre, and the coordination of the DEMOS – Philharmonie de Paris / Cap Excellence programme — an orchestral education initiative for young people. He currently leads arts education at Sonis, working to extend cultural access across Guadeloupe's territories.

Long-term partners & associates

Adviser & Associate · Volunteer

Claire-Nita Lafleur

Founding General Director · L'Artchipel Scène Nationale de Guadeloupe (1996–2005)

A defining figure of Guadeloupean cultural life — SIYAJ's closest partner since the company's founding.

Claire-Nita Lafleur was the founding general director of L'Artchipel — Guadeloupe's national stage — from 1996 to 2005. Her programming vision, articulated through the Territoire & Identité project, brought theatre across the archipelago and opened the national stage to a generation of professional Guadeloupean artists. From SIYAJ's inception in 2002, she was the company's first institutional supporter — programming all of its productions during her tenure, and giving Gilbert Laumord the latitude to develop his early collaborations with Cuba.

She remains an active voluntary adviser. Compagnie SIYAJ regards her contribution as foundational to the cultural history of the company and of Guadeloupe.

In memoriam · Partner since 2003

Eugenio Hernández Espinosa

Playwright & Director · Founder, Teatro Caribeño de Cuba

Premio Nacional de Teatro (2005) · Premio Nacional de Literatura (2020) · 1936–2022

One of the great figures of Caribbean theatre — SIYAJ's artistic elder and founding international partner.

Founder and general director of Teatro Caribeño de Cuba, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa was the architect of SIYAJ's first and most enduring international partnership. From 2003, the two companies co-produced works, shared residencies between Guadeloupe and Cuba, and performed in Paris, across the Lesser Antilles and in Havana — at City Hall, at the International Festival and at Festival Mayo Teatral. His play El Venerable entered the SIYAJ repertoire and continues to be performed.

In March 2025, the Cuban Ministry of Culture held a tribute to his work at the Teatro Bellas Artes de La Havana — attended by Compagnie SIYAJ, which presented an excerpt from El Venerable in his honour.

CompagnieSIYAJ

Current Season

HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde

HDN – Mofwazaj

Anacaona et l'astre solaire

Talam Amba Fèy

Dire pour exister

SIYAJ — wake in Creole

Gilbert Laumord

Current Productions

HDN — Opéra d'un Tout Monde

HDN — Mofwazaj

HDN — Production photos

Voukoum — Mas Boukliyé

The Léwòz Method

The Lawonn — the ritual circle

The body as instrument

Collective enunciation

Doctoral thesis — UQAM Montréal, April 2025

Scholarly Engagement

Stéphanie Bérard

Emily Sahakian

Education & Outreach

Université des Antilles — Guadeloupe Campus

Seminar — The Léwòz Method

Masterclass — Léwòz Method

Performance & presence

Oral tradition & voice

Post-show discussion

From page to stage

The Last Meal — Le dernier repas

Repertoire & Archive

HDN – Opéra d'un Tout Monde

Le Sac de Litha

Marche

L'Épreuve de Virjilan

Chante-moi un conte, conte-moi une chanson

Comme deux frères

Andidan Lawonn-la

Matouba 1802, une guerre perdue

El Venerable

Avec le temps… Con el tiempo

Island roots, world stage — SIYAJ internationally

Lettres Caribéennes

ACT / Actions Caribéennes Théâtrales

Le Sac de Litha — Caribbean-Korean co-creation

Comme deux frères — International tour with Maryse Condé · Author's Week, Casa de las Américas

Au delà des mers

Avec le temps… Con el tiempo — The founding partnership

The people behind SIYAJ

Elvia Gutiérrez

José Henry

Claire-Nita Lafleur

Eugenio Hernández Espinosa

Institutional partners

Get in touch

Compagnie
SIYAJ