La Traversée was created in 2005. The company performs its shows in France and abroad, at the Avignon festival and in a number of theatres in Paris: Théâtre de la Bastille, Maisons des Métallos, Théâtre de l’Échangeur, and the Théâtre de la Cité Internationale.

During the 2007 festival, the company formed partnerships with different cultural bodies from the Hauts de France region in France, which naturally led to the company moving to there in 2012. Cédric Orain is associate artist at the Phénix - Scène Nationale theatre at Valenciennes / European Creative Hub and the Maison de la Culture at Amiens, Scène Nationale theatre – European Creative hub for new productions, and in residence at Ma scène nationale theatre – Pays de Montbéliard.

Recent new productions: Notre Parole (Our Word), based on Valère Novarina’s texts, D comme Deleuze (D for Deleuze), based on the life’s work of Gilles Deleuze, l'Amour pur (Pure Love), based on the eponymous book by Augustina Isquierdo.

I originally studied engineering, but gave it all up for the theatre. I then trained as an actor at the Grenoble Conservatoire, and then took the Classe Libre course at the Cours Florent theatre school.

I founded the company, La Traversée, because I felt a curious need to create a show. I gathered together the writings of Antonin Artaud, so as to make his voice heard and to fight all imprisonment. It was a sign of things to come!

My shows are based on texts that were not written for theatre. I want to tell a story that has not yet been written, to continue to write that story on stage and uncover buried voices - voices that have disappeared and been cast out of the realm of acceptable speech. I seek many voices, both in written texts and elsewhere. That is why I enjoy taking on writing commissions and working on projects with other artists from different disciplines. It nourishes my work.