The history of École Philippe Gaulier and our teachers
École Philippe Gaulier was established in Paris in 1980 by the renowned clown/performer Philippe Gaulier. He was driven by the desire to develop and bring a new ‘wave’ to European theatre. The school rather quickly gained an international reputation and through its growth continues to uniquely influence the dramatic arts to the present day. A roster of remarkable artists- actors, writers, directors, and leading figures in the world of performance- owes much of their success to the school’s singular, unique educational program and to Philippe Gaulier’s innovative teaching methods.
Sadly, Philippe passed away in February 2026. His legacy lives on… École Philippe Gaulier continues to thrive and grow under the guidance and direction of Michiko Miyazaki Gaulier, his life partner, wife, and their remarkable team and teaching staff. All the teachers are graduates of Ecole Philippe Gaulier. They are established artists faithfully carry forward the teaching methods he developed, approaching each class committed to passing on this extraordinary experience and unique ‘place’ he created to the next generation.
Artists from all over the world gather here-professionals and amateurs, regardless of age or experience, they find the opportunity to challenge themselves and refine their artistic voices. This school is not merely a place to learn techniques, but a space for true self-discovery and artistic growth.
Michiko Gaulier
Director and Teacher
Michiko Gaulier (from Japan) is Philippe Gaulier’s teaching partner and has been co-running École Philippe Gaulier for 25 years. Michiko is a multi-talented artist – actress, director, costume and stage set designer, and teacher. As a result of her unique teaching style, people call her a “witch”.
In Japan, Michiko performed with the Japanese State Theater in Hyogo. In 1989, she won the Piccolo Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement as Best Lead Actress for her role as Hecuba in Women of Troy. In 1993, CATFISH, which she wrote and directed, was televised for a month. In 1999, Michiko was awarded the Emerging Artist Overseas Training Grant from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan and was sent to London for one year.
In 1997-2001 Michiko studied at École Philippe Gaulier and completed the two-year program. Since then, she has been performing, directing, and teaching across Europe. In 2002, she moved to France and began working as Co-Director of École Philippe Gaulier. Together with the school, she has led workshops in the EU, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Canada, Brazil, Tokyo, Hong Kong, China, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Dain Rubin
Main Assistant and Teacher
Dain Alexandra Rubin (from USA) is an actress, comedian, director, and theatre teacher. Dain has trained extensively in theatre and acting receiving a Bachelor of FineArts Degree in Acting from Emerson College in Boston Massachusetts and going on to study with many master teachers including Wynn Handman, Chris Bayes, and Kendall Cornell. Eventually she found her way to France and completed the two-year program at École Philippe Gaulier. Dain is a founding creator of the theatre collective La Tete De Babel based in France, with whom created, wrote and performed the Klietoris Ballet, a bouffon show that had a successful run at the prestigious La Théâtre De La Ville in Paris. She worked with many companies including La Mama Experimental Theatre Company, Theatre for a New City, The Greene Theatre, Narrows Theatre Company in productions such as Noises Off, The Maids, Trojan Women, The Seagull, Richard III, And Then There Were None, and more while also working in films and commercials.
Dain currently directs children’s theater in Paris, continues to create work with her creative partners, perform, and teach at École Philippe Gaulier Through games, dance, and physical movement, she instills her love of playing with the walls of story to the students. How to break the “meaning” of the words on a page or the “meaning” of an idea behind an improvisation, and bring your own unique beauty, imagination, and play to create worlds and dreams.
David Garcia
Teacher
David García Coll was born in the south of Spain in October 1973. The oldest grandson of an anarchist farmer who survived to the justice of Franco. He grew up surrounded by orange trees.
While he’s at university studying law, he participated in a successful play, with which he began to be a professional before knowing anything about theatre. For this reason, he decides to drop out of boring law studies to start Dramatic Art at the ESAD in Murcia, where he meets Antón Valén, a former student of Philippe Gaulier with whom he discovers the world of clown, buffoon and what is most important for an actor It is not living the character but enjoying and being beautiful on stage, which distances him from traditional theater and leads him to set up, with other students, Les Bouffons theatre company.
Together they decide to travel to Paris to grow up at Gaulier’s school in 2003. This helps to definitively change his search as an actor and teacher. Between 2011 and 2016 he teaches numerous clown, buffoon and commedia dell’arte workshops in South America, where he has lived for these years. He receives the Azahar award for acting in 2019. During lockdown, when everyone is considering what to do with his life, he decides to go back to school to ask himself the same questions he asked himself 20 years before and refresh himself as actor. Since 2022 he is part of the school’s teaching staff. Since 2023 he has on call position in the Cirque du Soleil show Kurios.
Susana Alcantud
Teacher
Susana Alcantud (from Spain) is an actress, clown, singer, director and teacher. She went to university to study Biology and started to act in theatre on the side. Susana quickly changed to Dramatic Art at ESAD in Murcia. There she met Anton Valen, a former student of Philippe Gaulier, with whom she discovered the world of clown and comedy and began her journey as an actor specializing in comedy and clown.
She founded the company Les Bouffons with Anton Valen, Pablo Bermejo, Pablo Gomis, David Garcia and Manu Hernandez, and toured throughout Spain. She continued studying in Europe with teachers such as Norman Taylor, Antonio Fava, Eric de Bont, Antón Valén, Aitor Basauri, Jos Houben and others. During this time, she also travelled to Paris to attend Gaulier’s school in 2003 and began to discover how to play with fun and lightness. It wasn’t until 2007 that she came back to Gaulier and enrolled in and completed the two-year program. From there she started to work internationally, joining the English company Freedom Studios with the show Happy and Married, directed by Madani Younis. In 2010 she began her collaboration with the company The Last Baguette for which she worked as an actress, directed by Aitor Basasuri, and continues to collaborate as a director. Since 2012 she has been co-artistic director of the Cabaret “La Puta Calle” in Paris and a member of the Rouge Rouge artists collective.
She lives near Paris and has been a teacher at École Philippe Gaulier since 2011.
Manu Figueiredo
Teacher
Manu Figueiredo (from Brazil) is an actress, producer and educator. She completed her training at École Philippe Gaulier in 2017. In Brazil, she was directed by Maristela Chelala and Eduardo Leão. Her teachers included Ricardo Pucetti, Esio Magalhães and Tiche Vianna. She studied masks in Hamburg, Germany, participating in workshops with the director John Wright. She has performed on the stage in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Paris.
In 2022, she presented “Entre-Cy” and “Cartas a ele” in São Paulo. Since she has worked as assistant director for the “Les Heroides” produced by La Cie Brutaflor. The show was part of the Festival d’Avignon 2024, played at Théâtre du Soleil and other theaters in France. Currently she is performing in “Jeux Croisés” in São Paulo, Rio and at Chaillot Théâtre National de la Danse in Paris.
Paula Lizana
Teacher
Paula Lizana (from Chile) is a singer, actress, choir director, and teacher whose work spans traditional, contemporary, and classical music.
After recording the Brazilian music album Primores with Moncho Romero’s trio in Chile, she moved to Paris in 2005. There, she performed in Latin-Parisian venues and joined a diverse community of artists. She also pursued formal training at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, earning a top singing diploma and joining the Choir of the Orchestre de Paris.
Paula has played key roles in stage productions, including The Magic Flute (as Pamina), Molière’s Le Sicilien (as Zadie), and Un cœur pour Samira. She co-created the comic show Il Concerto and performed in Coeur de chien, a French adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s work. Her collaborations with Laure Escudier led to innovative vocal projects like L’Enfant Masque.
She has participated in productions like 7 Femmes et + and will soon appear in El retablo de maese Pedro and perform Siete canciones populares españolas by Manuel de Falla. Paula teaches at Conservatoire de Musique de Villejuif, Maîtrise de Radio France, and the École Philippe Gaulier, the school closest to her heart, where she completed the two-year program in 2011.
Bianca Maria Lay
Teacher
Bianca Maria Lay (from Italy) is an actress, dancer, director, and theater teacher. She received a degree in Contemporary Italian Literature from Università di Sassari. She studied at École Philippe Gaulier from 2014 to 2018, where she developed a personal performance approach, blending physical theater, comedy, and drama. She has also studied with masters clown and theatre with masters Merche Ochoa, Nicolas Cohen, Mabel Dai Chee Chang, Michele Manca, and Eric de Bont.
Currently, she co-produces, collaborates, and performs with major theater companies in Sassari, including La Botte e il Cilindro, Teatro Sassari, and Pino e gli Anticorpi. She is a founding member of La Tête de Babel Theatre Collective and is one of the creators of Le Kleitoris Ballet, an international production that addresses the themes of female pleasure and gender-based violence.
Concurently, she is dedicated to teaching theater to people of all ages for Bolabbola Om Studio, Ars Tribù and Botte e Cilindro. She lead the workshop “The relationship between the Actor and the Director” at the Accademia delle Belle Arti Mario Sironi.
Her film credits include a staring role in “Un dono” (2020), “A Fistful of Grapes” (2020), “L’estate di Anna” (2021), “La sedia” (2023), “Il posto” (2024).
Daniel Maseda
Teacher
Daniel Maseda is a performer and writer from Washington, DC who makes ridiculous theatre work. He trained in theatre and literature at Wesleyan University, where his studies included devising with Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento and playwriting with Quiara Alegría Hudes. Daniel completed his training at École Philippe Gaulier in France as well.
His professional work in theatre began with assistantships to playwright Young Jean Lee and director Lily James Olds in New York City, and his performances have brought him to venues on both sides of the Atlantic.
Daniel created the show “BE GOOD!” WITH PAULETTE, a social anxiety fantasia that won the inaugural Fringe award for best clown performance at the 2025 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. The show played to cult acclaim at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe (★★★★, Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe) and is currently touring the United States, Europe, and the UK.
Ben Cutler
Teacher
Ben is an Actor and Teacher from South Africa. He works professionally in Film, Television and Theatre. He was a student from 2007- 2012 at the school and has taught for École Philippe Gaulier since 2013. He teaches internationally in Singapore, Malaysia and EU/UK.
He enjoys teaching students to be light and full of pleasure so that perhaps they can discover their own artistic freedom.
Credits Include:
For the Royal National Theatre: Captain Nicholls in War Horse (West End and UK and International Tour); Jane Eyre (The National Theatre – Lyttelton); in London’s West End: Giles Ralston in The Mousetrap (St Martins Theatre); Ben (Ltd run) in Ghost Story 2:22 (Lyric Theatre) and company in Ghost Story 2:22 (Criterion Theatre); Diego in We’re Rearranging The Furniture (Young Vic).
He appears alongside John Malkovich on screen as Burdock Everdeen in The Hunger Games – West End.
UK Theatre includes: Harry Kipling in Picture You Dead (UK No 1 Tour) Passpartout in Around the World in 80 Days (Eastbourne Theatres); Hood (Nottingham Theatre Royal/New Perspectives) Ruins (The Lowry).
International Theatre: HOTEL for W!LD RICE, Singapore (Victoria Theatre and Singapore Airlines Theatre ) – (Winner of 5 LIFE theatre awards) Ben was the movement coach and choreographer ; A Midsummer Nights Dream (Honey Tongued International Tour)
Television includes: Toby Seward in Grace Season 5 (ITV) Warren in Eastenders (BBC), Luke Burns in The Sandman Season 2 (Netflix).
Feature Film include: 7 Days in Entebbe (Jose Padhila); Trois Femme (Tatia Shaburishvili ; Charlie (Short- Clementina Lugo)
Voice Over Highlights: Cold Justice by Ant Middleton (Audible); Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games).
Awards: Winner – Best Ensemble Cast at L!Fe Theatre Awards for HOTEL (2016). Best Game for 2024 (Forza Horzizon 4).
Michele Manca
Teacher
Michele Manca, made in Sardina since 1975.
He is a comedian, director, and theatre teacher.
He trained at the Philippe Gaulier school, which he attended in London from 2001, and then in Paris for various periods until 2014, as a student and, in 2007, as an assistant.
He founded, together with his brother Stefano, the comedy group Pino & gli Anticorpi, which has produced one of the most successful characters in the Italian comedy scene: Pino La Lavatrice, whose motto is also a clown axiom: you tell me what to do and I’ll do it.
He has been working in Italy for over 30 years, bringing his characters to theatres, cinema, and television, where in 2016 he participated in the most successful edition of the Sanremo Festival.
He is currently involved in the national tour of the comedy show “Zaitgeist,” on television in the comedy program “Only Fun,” and runs a theatre in Porto Torres, Sardinia, where he teaches comedy theatre courses.