3 December 2025

4:15 PM – 5:00 PM

Amphi Petit Kursaal

Francis Yaiche

Francis Yaiche is currently Professor Emeritus at Celsa Sorbonne. He has taught information and communication sciences, the semiotics of advertising and political discourse, and creativity. Research Director at Doctoral School 433 “Concepts and Languages,” member of Gripic Celsa, Doctor of Language Sciences and Information and Communication Sciences, he was responsible for the “Magistère de Communication” and the Master 2 “Marketing et Stratégies de Marques” at Celsa. He has trained advertising professionals in copywriting and strategic planning, served as Dean of the Catholic University of Paris, Deputy Director of the Office of Studies for Languages and Cultures, and taught at ENA and numerous foreign universities, among other things in the fields of simulation games and the identity and evolution of the definition of relationships. He has carried out more than 400 missions around the world and is the author of some 50 articles and 15 books.

From actor to character, where is the line?

In this age of AI and the avalanche of messages on social media, we are entering an anthropological rupture, that of “belief.” It is now difficult, if not impossible, to believe in something or someone, unless, of course, you have faith, the kind that comes from deep conviction. Since its inception, the challenge of theater has been to make people believe in a performance, a story or a speech, a character played by an actor. How is this possible, achievable? How can we establish the “perception” of the limit, the “breaking point”? Theater is a mirror of a world that tests and attempts to exceed and transcend its limits. Our new world has become a shadow theater in which men, “shadows,” come to perform plays often full of sound and fury. We will therefore discuss what theater teaches us about limits in order to better understand contemporary issues and the effects of crossing borders and other boundaries, of unlocking categories, and of dissolving paradigms.