Cours Simon
Cours Simon is one of France’s oldest theatre schools. It was founded in 1925 by René Simon, who led the school until 1971. After that, former pupil Rosine Margat ran it, and since 2010 it has been led by Chantal Brière. In 1983 the school moved to 14, rue la Vacquerie in Paris’s 11th arrondissement; it had previously been in the Invalides area of the 7th arrondissement.
The school offers a three-year program with about 15 hours of study each week, preparing students to enter the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique. Students study classical writers such as Aristophanes, Racine, Molière and Shakespeare, along with contemporary international playwrights like Sarah Kane, Edward Bond, Harold Pinter, Dario Fo, Samuel Beckett, Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt Brecht and Anton Chekhov. The school also offers informal weekly classes for children and adults. A new site in Marseille was planned to open in September 2024. The school has produced many alumni who have gone on to careers in theatre and film.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:42 (CET).